Interactive Read-Aloud Lesson: How Do Illustrations Add to Our Understanding of the Story?

This week my third graders and I are taking a deeper look at STORIES, particularly at the clues that illustrations give us about the setting, the characters, and the plot. I was looking for picture books that would generate thoughtful discussion--fortunately we had a book fair last week, so I had several brand spankin new picture books! After reading Mr. Tiger Goes Wild! with the kiddos, it was obvious that this one was a perfect fit for the discussion I wanted.

Learning Goal: I can explain how illustrations add to the text in a story.
Key Questions:
What clues do the illustrations give about the characters?
What clues do the illustrations give about the setting?
What clues do the illustrations give about the plot? 
Can you make predictions based on the illustrations?

FYI, these are the ELA Common Core Standards for Reading: Literature that this lesson meets:
1st Grade: RL 1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
2nd Grade: RL 2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
3rd Grade: RL 3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

We started by talking about our learning goal 

{I can explain how illustrations add to what is written in a story}.

QUESTION: What clues can we find to help us understand the CHARACTERS, especially Mr. Tiger?Student responses included . . .

• Mr. Tiger has his eyes open and everyone else has them closed.
• The colors are dull except for Mr. Tiger.
• Everyone looks posh.
• Most of the animals are herbivores (I was so delighted with this observation by several of my students!). Mr. Tiger is different because he is a carnivore. Maybe this makes him more wild.

QUESTION: What clues can we find to help us understand the SETTING?

We looked at many pictures throughout the book, and made the following observations:

• He lives in a town or city.
• It is very dull colored and boring at the beginning.
• Guesses as to which city it might be included: New York City, Paris, and London. The kids guessed these cities mostly because of the pigeons. :)

QUESTION: What clues can we find to help us understand the PLOT?

The previous page says that Mr. Tiger has a wild idea . . . and then we turn to the picture of Mr. Tiger walking on all fours. No words. Just an illustration showing us what his wild idea was. I read it once without showing the picture (the kids agreed that there was missing information) and then again, this time showing them all the pictures. They understood so much more! (Just the learning moment I was looking for! ZING!)

Then we compared these two illustrations: one of Tiger being wild in the city and one of Tiger being wild in the wilderness. How are they the same? How are they different?

Reading and talking about this book was a BLAST! The children were riveted. Success! Thanks to Peter Brown and Mr. Tiger.

What kinds of questions do you ask during read aloud?

Curl Up with a Good One

I thought that I could outrun the common cold this time. Every school year it is a race of endurance to see how long I can keep ahead of the germs. Eventually it catches up with me, and this week I found myself working around a raspy voice and constant sneezing. What a perfect time to pull out A Sick Day for Amos McGee!

This 2011 Caldecott Medal winner by Philip Stead is a delight to read, especially when I am under the weather. The story follows Amos McGee through his daily work routine, and he is easy to love immediately, for the care he puts into simple jobs. The smallest details make up the heart of the narrative. He makes a breakfast of oatmeal and tea. He waits for the bus. He plays chess with the slow-moving elephant and tends to a sniffly rhino (no small task). There are many jobs to do, but Amos makes time to care for each animal one by one. He knows exactly what they need. When one day Amos stays home sick, roles reverse, and he is taken care of by the very friends who are usually looked after by him. It is tender and beautifully accompanied by the woodblock and pencil drawings of first time illustrator Erin Stead. Not only is this book a nice reminder that good things often come back around to help you, it also happened to solve a puzzle for me. Once I found myself in Barnes and Noble, searching for the perfect thank you gift. I needed a book that was warm and real and delightful. It needed to have emotional depth but also be buoyed up by lightness and ease. As soon as I pulled A Sick Day for Amos McGee off the shelf, I knew it was a perfect fit.

A Look Back at 2014

2014 has come and gone. When I started this blog last March, my goal was to find and share really great books, AND share how things are going in my classroom. So much has happened in the past year!

Let's take a walk through some of my favorite posts of 2014 . . . 

Why Books?

Ah--the very first post, a very good place to start. I go back occasionally and read this post to remind myself what my intentions are and why I write about books.


What Every Child (and Adult) Should Learn About Being Brave
I loved writing this post, and LOVED reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to prep for it. Fictional stories really do help us navigate through our own world and our own personal dragons. When I read this book to my class, I wanted them to get a sense of their own power to overcome trials, like the characters in the book do over and over again. Children need that. And so do I.

Getting Into Poetry
When April arrived, I was ready for National Poetry Month! We wrote 7 different forms of poetry as a class. Each student made their own poetry booklet. It was amazing to see them take ownership of their writing!

 


Teachers. We Need to Slow Down.
This post hits home for me, especially as I get ready to dive into end-of-year testing.  I need the constant reminder to slow down and find BALANCE.

Review #43: Mysterious Traveler
One of the best books that I read in 2014 is written by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham. Mysterious Traveler is a beautiful story, and one that I would recommend to everyone.

Staying Healthy Through the Winter Months: 6 Tips for Teachers
Stay clean, stay strong, stay healthy!

Here's to a fabulous new year! I hope 2015 finds you learning and growing!