I have used a variety of wordless picture books in my room. I love the affect that have on my students. Since many of them enter first grade with few reading skills I use amny at the beginning of the year–it’s fabulous watching them look at the illustrations to tell story. Many of them have learned to read that way. Even my 3 year old daughter uses the pictures of her story books to “read” me a story.
Picture books are a great way to introduce story elements. My students sometimes get so caught up in “reading” the words that the messages are lost. Without words, all they can do is pull ideas from the illustrations. I is like a game for them!
Owly was a difficult wordless picture book for me to read. It entailed so many details that I had to go back and “reread” many of the illustrations for it to make sense. With every read, more and more details became clearer.
Graphic novels are new to me. To Dance: A Ballerina’s Grpahic Novel was a very emotional book. As with owly, I had to ‘reread” many of the part for the true meaning of the text to be revealed. Maybe I am just use to too many beginning readers books! Many upper grade students would enjoy this style of writing. As said in class, the author doesn’t have to write out each emotion, you feel the story, its brought to life through the illustrations and the content rather than the text.
To my surprise, I really enjoyed reading the assigned memiors. I was able to connect to so many of “their” stories. My Rotten Red other brother reminded me of my two older sisters. We can all relate to Shortcut, because we have all done something that has scared the crap out of us! Family Pictures was not one I enjoyed. I felt this one really lack the emotional aspect. Although I could relate to many of the pictures, I didn’t feel the author captured me.
The memior I liked the best was, I Wasn’t Always Your Mother–Dr. Frye shared this in class. I was drawn to this one because I am a mother of 2. Sometimes I feel like that’s all I am! I would really like to use her book as a mentor in writing my own. The author was very aware of her audience, unlike in Family Pictures.
