Using Picture Books with Older Students (Work in Progress)

Here is a brainstormed list of ways to use picture books with older students.  My goal is to add some specific examples for each idea.  


A fast way to create a full class experience with a text

• If you make a good choice, you can read one picture book and use it over and over for many different lessons.  This is especially useful when you have students reading all different texts (reading workshop structure or lit circles), but you still have to come together as a full class for some content lessons.  

Activating or building prior knowledge (about a time period, a place, a science topic, theme for a novel). 

• This is an awesome way for teachers in the other subject areas to bring literacy into their classrooms.   A picture book is often more accessible and lively than a textbook and yet doesn't take long to read together. 
• Frederick Douglass: The Last Days of Slavery is a text I use prior to starting The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  It really sets the stage both in theme and setting. 
•  The Spinner's Daughter is a picture book about Puritans.  It actives and builds prior knowledge about the time period and culture.  I used to use it before reading The Scarlet Letter. 
• I often used The Sneetches before dystopia sci-fi novels such as Feed or Anthem.  This one builds knowledge about a theme of individuality and conformity versus setting. 

Modeling a new skill, especially reading related (reading strategy, analyzing, identifying literary terms)

• The Butter Battle Book and The Lorax are two of my favorite Suess books and I love to expose students to them when I can.  So, I often use them for mini lessons on reading strategies.  I'll read it out loud and model my thinking about connections, predictions, or theme. 

A fast full class read to use for a practice skill (reading strategy, writing a thesis statement, identifying literary terms, analysis of theme or character, summarizing, paraphrasing, citations, plot diagramming, identifying setting)

• In the past, I've read a picture book to a class and asked them to write a paragraph identifying a literary term of their choice or create a thesis statement topic.  Then, I have them pass the book around and correctly cite a line from the book.  Afterwards, we can share and everyone knows the text.  

Examples of excellent writing (time shifts, creative vocabulary, sentence variety)

• The Very Busy Spider is a great example of a book with a repetitive structure that still keeps the vocabulary interesting.   Each animal has a different verb. 
• Mr Gumpy's Outing is another wonderful example of expressing the same idea over and over, yet saying it a different way each time.  Each animal asks to come on the boat ride, but asks in a slightly different way by varying word choice and sentence structure. 

Easily accessible examples of punctuation and grammar (punctuating dialog)

• Mr Gumpy's Outing and Frog and Toad series are great ways to show a student how to correctly punctuate dialog.  
• I'll be on the look out for other examples as I read to the kids. 

A way to remind students of the simple pleasures of reading

• Grab some pillows and sit on the floor and recreate those elementary school memories.  The kids usually love it.  

Examples for students writing children's books in writing workshop

• I've used a writing workshop structure and one option for the kids was to write a children's book.  That is hard if you don't have some picture books on hand as examples.  

Examples of creative text formatting (especially good for students writing poetry)

Fun examples of rhythm and rhyme

• Dr Suess
• Llama Llama Red Pajama

Easy examples of different genres (non-fiction, fiction including genres within this category, poetry)

• Put out a whole stack of picture books and have the students work in small groups to sort them.  You can make it harder or easier by providing the genre categories or making the students generate them.  

Retellings

• You can read many different versions of the same story in picture books.  You might choose a fairy tale.  (Such as reading Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone and a different version by Lucy Cousins along with a lighter version like Three Billy Goats Fluff by Rachel Mortimer).  Or you could choose a non-fiction text about a famous person or event (Abraham Lincoln, Betsy Ross, or the first Thanksgiving for example).  This provides a way to look at the choices writers make.  

Synthesizing multiple sources

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