Why Picture Books Picture books are non threatening
Why Picture Books • • • Picture books are non threatening (shorter, pictures) Picture books are focused Picture books set a purpose for learning Picture books provide a common knowledge background Picture books activate thinking on a visual level Picture books build reading comprehension Picture books provide examples of figurative language and writing techniques Picture books can breathe life into dry facts and figures Picture books can make abstract concepts concrete Picture books can teach critical thinking skills Picture books can tell their stories with amazing illustrations Picture books are fun
Universal themes (Picture books Across the Curriculum p. 16) • • • • • • Abandonment Acceptance Accomplishment Adventure Anxiety Appreciation of Nature Attitude Balance Belonging Brotherhood Cause and Effect Challenge Change Choices Collaboration Coming of Age Commitment Communication Community Culture Compassion Compromise Concern • • • • • • Conflict Resolution Conformity Connections Consequences Consideration Cooperation Courage Cycles Denial Determination Devotion Differences Dignity Discovery Empathy Enthusiasm Environment Escape Excellence Exploration Facing Fear Fairness Faith • • • • • • • Fame Family Fear Forgiveness Freedom Friendship Generations Goals Gratitude Heroism Honesty Honor Hope Humility Humor Identity Imagination Individuality Influence Ingenuity Initiation Innocence Innovation Inspiration Integrity • • • • • • • Interdependence • Isolation • Justice • Kindness • Leadership • Loneliness • Love • Loyalty • Magnitude • Memory • Nature • New Experiences • Opportunity • Optimism • Order vs. Chaos • Origins • Parallelism • Patience • Patriotism • Patterns • Peace • Peer Pressure • Perseverance • Perspectives • Point of View Possibilities Power Prejudice Pride Problem Solving Reciprocity Reflection Relationships Relativity Resourcefulness Respect Responsibility Self Awareness Self Discipline Self Esteem Self Respect Self Sacrifice Sensitivity Social Change Structure Success Survival Sympathy Systems • • Tolerance Tradition Tragedy Transformation Uncertainty Virtue Wisdom Work
Writing Techniques • Adding details -Adding a details after a fact makes it more interesting to read • Similes - Using like or as to compare two things that are not really alike (wise as an owl, busy as a bee) • Anchor lines- a repeated line throughout a story (There was an old lady who swallowed a …) • First Impressions- books that start with a problem, dialogue or conversation, simple statement or fact, a question, an action , a sound • Voice- Characters have a voice and give great meaning to the story • Six senses- Words that describe the six senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, feeling) vocabulary • Writing in the third person – First person is when the writer is telling the story, third person is when the person sounds like they are outside of the story
Writing Techniques • Personification- when writers write about an object as if it were a person , they add human qualities to an inanimate object (The Tortoise and the Hare) • Dialogue- when characters are talking in a story • Onomatopoeia- when the writer uses sound words (oink, bang) • Alliteration – Repetition of initial consonant sounds (she sells seashells by the seashore) • Flashback- Interruption of a present action to insert an event that happened earlier to make the current situation make sense • Irony- A contrast - between expectation and reality- between what is said and what is meant, between what appears to be true and what really is true, between what is expected and what actually happens. Cinderella is a good example. • Parody – a humorous , but recognisable, imitation of literature, art or music for the purpose of amusement or ridicule. The True Story of the Three little Pigs and fractured fairy tales
Activities 1. Distribute and read over the handout 2. Divide into two small groups. Each teacher will read a story. Listen to the story and record examples of literary devices on the handout. Suggested read alouds The Matchbox Diary- 10 min • Students: Think about the universal theme(s) in the and look for writing techniques The Peace Book- Todd Parr- 10 min for both stories • Students: Think about the universal theme(s) in the and look for writing techniques Mmm, Cookies!- Rober Munsch • Students: Think about the universal theme(s) in the and look for writing techniques
Whole Class Activity Explore and read the picture books • find examples of all the writing techniques (if you can) and record on blackline master • write down the main universal theme “big idea” of the stories you read on blackline master Closing: Present a book of choice • - Share the universal theme and writing techniques used (can read the whole story or just summarise)
References • Workshop notes from Picture Books Across the Curriculum, presented by Keith Schoch • Reading and Writing Power by Adrienne Geer
- Slides: 7