Picture Books in the Secondary Classroom

About a month ago I was harassing folks to come out and support my proposal for Basic Literacy through Picture Books at the Open Innovation Portal (not too late! you can still be an educational activist!). I posted my (obviously) hand-made video here at Teach with Picture Books and also at the English Companion Ning.

Educator extraordinaire Jenna Gardner was kind enough to respond to my video by sharing a Prezi of her own on Picture Books in the Secondary Classroom, and she's allowed me to post it here as well.

Be sure to click on More in lower right corner of video viewing window to go full screen!

Terrific research snippets supporting the use of picture books with the upper grades! Thanks, Jenna.

Picturebooks in the Secondary Classroom on Prezi

Signed Stories and Online Read-Alouds

Signed Stories is a colorful, interactive site which allows children to enjoy dozens of high quality picture books online. What makes it special is that in addition to narration, music, and images, all stories are accompanied by British Sign Language.

While its home page allows readers to select a story by theme (by choosing a window or door of the house), stories can also be searched and selected by title, age level, or topic.

Some stories, in addition to the written text, provide questions and comments by the narrator (indicated by red text in the passage) to guide the reading of the book. For example, in Noah’s Ark the narrator makes reference to the food and animals in the ark, and in Chimp and Zee children answer some of the questions posed in the text. This is similar to the questions and think-alouds employed by storytellers, teachers, librarians, and parents as they share books aloud with children, and is a pretty cool addition which I've not seen in other online renditions.

What I particularly love (apart from the fact that this site is free, supported by publishers such as MacMillan, Walker, and Scholastic) is that these stories are "real literature," not simplistic, contrived narratives. Some of my personal favorites on this site include Mr. Wolf's Pancakes, Amazing Grace, Farmer Duck, and Suddenly: A Preston Pig Story.

Note two things: One, British Sign Language differs from American Sign Language. But students will still enjoy seeing that many signs naturally match instinctive actions (for example, rubbing the tummy shows hunger, or "yummy." Two, many stories have British spellings which differ slightly from American spellings (for example, favourite rather than favorite). Again, in no way a problem, but instead an opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between two cultures.

Looking for other online read-alouds? Don't forget the Screen Actors Guild Foundation's superb Storyline Online, which features television and movie stars reading aloud picture books.

Another read-aloud site you may not have seen yet is Mrs. P., which features actress Kathy Kinney reading classic children's literature aloud. While the Magic Library is quite cool, you may experience trouble viewing on slow connections, so you may wish to access only the videos of the books directly from a list. For a behind-the-scenes overview, use the home page.

Coming Attractions: Book Trailers

I wrote about book trailers at my How to Teach a Novel blog, and the response from teachers was extremely positive. Like a movie trailer (aka movie preview), a book trailer provides just a glimpse of the overall story, with plenty of visuals and just enough hook to draw in the viewer (or, in this case, the reader).

Dr. Mark Geary has collected a terrific list of picture book trailers to get you started. You'll find lots of new and old favorites there (for example, Tuesday by David Wiesner; Diary of a Worm and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, and The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman).

If you dig these and want more, YouTube has several, searchable by name and (not as often) by author or publisher. Publishing houses offer them as well, and most publishers provide search functions to help find them. The Scholastic site, for example, has over sixty terrific, professionally published videos. You can also check out my recent series on Publishers' Resources: parts I, II, III, and IV to see which children's publishers provide videos.

The video below shows how music, movement, and selected text can create anticipation for Farmer George Plants a Nation, written by Peggy Thomas and illustrated by Layne Johnson.



If you're a middle grade or high school teacher, definitely check out the Scholastic site, and also take a look at 60 Second Recap, a hip new site which breathes life into high school classics.

Suggested Uses for Book Trailers

So how can classroom teachers make the best use of these videos?

• Book trailers can create a sense of anticipation for an upcoming novel or even picture book. A teacher can whet appetites for the next day's reading by showing a book trailer at the end of each day.
• By their short nature, book trailers provide a clear model of summarizing. Trailers may additionally provide models of other literary techniques including cliffhangers, foreshadowing, mood, pacing, and tone.
• Prior to the introduction of a novel, the trailer is an alternative way to provide a general story outline, apart the back cover blurb. This allows students to focus less on the overall "story line" and to concentrate more intently on literary elements. After seeing a preview for a movie, we often feel that we can predict the entire movie's story line, yet we go to see it anyway. Why? Because we want to fill in the gaps that the preview intentionally created. We also want to enjoy the visual elements, the witty banter, the twists and turns that the trailer only hinted at.
• When using a novel as a mentor text, a trailer can scaffold the overall story line. How is that different than the idea above? When teaching my students the importance of using alternatives to "said," for example, I assigned pairs of students two chapters from Gordon Korman's Swindle. Korman is a master at crafting realistic dialogue, and in one chapter alone a student found thirty speaking words other than said, and the word said itself was used just five times (and most often with an adverb). Although students only skimmed to collect the words, they still wanted to get an idea of the overall plot (some students, after all, were assigned Chapters 15 and 16, pretty deep in the action!). The Swindle trailer not only helped students see how their chapters tied into the overall story, it also encouraged over a dozen of them to sign out the book that day.
• Trailers can be used to build critical thinking skills. Allow students to compare the books to their trailers, guiding the discussion with questions such as Did the trailer give you the same feeling as the book itself? Do you feel that the narrator was right for the video, and why or why not? What did the trailer leave out? Why do you suppose those elements were chosen? For what audience is this trailer intended: teachers, librarians, parents, students, booksellers, others? How do you know? What would you change in this trailer and why?
• In some cases, students can even compare one trailer to another for the same book. This alternative book trailer for Swindle can be found on YouTube. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Which segments from each could be combined to make a new trailer that's even better than either of the originals?

Have your own source for book trailers, or other ideas for using them in the classroom? Email me or leave a comment below.

UPDATE: My new Twitter friend Tara Lazar (@taralazar) pointed out that there's now a Kids' Lit Book Trailer Ning. How cool is that? Thanks, Tara. See? Twitter is a good thing!

Free Teachers' Resources from Children's Book Publishers

I'm not lazy, and I'm not cheap. But I really appreciate it when publishers back up their titles with solid, easily accessible teaching resources. With that in mind, I've listed some publishers which I feel really "knock it out of the park" with their online resources for teachers. Have I forgotten your favorite? Are you a publisher that feels you should be on this list? Email me and let me know. I'd love to give credit where credit is due.

Annick Press is a Canadian Publisher with a wide variety of titles. Although most titles in this list have a lesson plan link below them, be sure to click on each title to access additional resources including teachers guides, printable activities, and related links. Made You Look How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know is one title that I would personally and highly recommend for anyone teaching media literacy (see my post on Dollars and Sense, which features picture books and ideas for teaching about financial literacy).

Big Guy Books is a small press specializing in titles for boys. Their time traveling Time Soldiers books are perfect for those reluctant readers in your class, and the professionally written teaching guides are a definite incentive for further exploring these titles. You can even preview the first title of that series (Rex) via a free ebook.

Candlewick Press is one of those presses that flies under the radar, but you've probably read and loved many of their titles. Their resource page features tons of links, including reading levels, teachers guides, reproducible activity sheets, audio and video links, and more. An easier way to see the quality of resources made available to teachers is to click on a single title, such as the landing page for Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant. There you'll find a separate discussion guide, teacher's guide, and activity kit, as well as the book's first chapter, an additional excerpt, audio and video links, and a whole lot more. A truly exemplary site from a publisher that supports its teachers.

Charlesbridge features a page of free materials correlated to many of their picture book titles. You can also view by title on their web site; clicking on any title gives you a pretty decent summary of the book, as well as a note from the author, reviews, a sample page spread, and links to related free materials. A pdf of Curriculum Connections provides exactly that, but also some thematic details as well as a convenient look at all the book covers. (Participants from my workshops will recognize Galileo's Leaning Tower Experiment and What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? from among the titles).

Children's Book Press is a small, nonprofit independent publisher specializing in multicultural books. While their titles may not be familiar to you yet, they're worth a look; this single page of resources is a good jumping off point to get started.

Crabtree Publishing has a series of high quality, curriculum aligned teaching guides that provide lesson plan ideas as well as blackline masters. While there, also check out the printable graphic organizers. If you like what you see, you can create an online wish list for parents and friends.

Dawn Publications specializes in science and nature picture books for the younger crowd, although I would still highly recommend their titles for classroom use through the upper elementary grades. Several of their titles would be a great way to prepare students for field trips, and I've also see their applications in summer camp settings. As Nature Director at a summer camp, I put Joseph Cornell's books to use on an almost daily basis. Sharing Nature with Children and Sharing Nature with Children II are classics which belong on every nature lover's bookshelf.

Harpers Collins Children's boasts a huge list of titles with Reading Guides or Teaching Guides. Note that at the top of the page, another tab reads Book Activities; this contains printable activities (mostly for picture books) which may or may not appear in the Teaching Guides for each title. This site allows you to preview most books online before purchasing.

Houghton Mifflin Publishers (which includes Clarion) features a teacher/librarian section, with questions and extensions for many of their titles.

Hyperion Books for Children (now affiliated with Disney) features a variegated collection of picture books and graphic novels as well as novels, and all teacher resources are linked from a single page. You'll find resources there for contemporary favorites such as Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and John, Paul, George & Ben.

Lee and Low Books (About Everyone, For Everyone) specializes in high quality, multicultural titles. Their teachers' page gives an idea of the resources they provide, and by choosing a category (such as African American, Middle Eastern) you're directed to a list of Active Learner Classroom Guides, "designed to help you, the teacher, deliver useful and practical information to your students." Their titles are highly recommended for teachers and librarians looking to round out the scope and perspectives of their libraries. I've blogged about some of their titles including Heroes and Baseball Saved Us, and George Crum and the Saratoga Chip will be featured in an upcoming post on Invention.

MacMillan (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) allows teachers to search teaching guides by title, author, or grade level. On this resource page you'll also find a calendar of ideas, as well as a guide for preparing for an author's visit. The calendar is pretty neat, as it names monthly observations (mostly secular) and recommended books for those observations.

Orca Book Publishers (out of Canada) is a new name to many, but their books can be seen increasingly in U.S. collections. The U.S. website includes a number of teaching guides, as well as books by themes, and teaching tools and free books.

Penguin Books lists all of its titles in a single page, which is fine with me. I found myself clicking mostly on books I hadn't read yet, which for the publisher is a pretty good reason to format teaching guides in this way (versus hunting for individual titles). Lovers of the Miss Bindergarten books will find a teaching guide here, as will fans of the new Astro Boy movie.

Random House's Teachers at Random site is a well-designed resources for teachers at all levels. In addition to teaching guides for the various titles (see the pdf for one of my all-time favorite tall tales New York's Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne), teachers will also find Classroom Cast, which features videos starring popular children's authors and illustrators discussing their work. For those elementary teachers who teach with themes, you'll find a theme list searchable not only by theme name but also grade range. Lots of other resources here for reading teachers at all levels.

Scholastic is the undisputed champ of children's publishing, its heavyweight belt earned monthly with school book club orders and book fairs. Its site, however, is a bit daunting; there's an awful lot there, and it's not real easy to search. Sometimes even when you know what you want, and you know it's there, you can't find it! So while I would recommend an unguided browse, there are two features you shouldn't miss. The first is the Teacher's Book Wizard, which you can read about in an earlier post. A second feature is the collection of sixty-five Book Videos. These were created to serve as mini-commercials for book fairs, but they're also a pretty cool way to get kids excited about books.

Simon and Schuster's site isn't the prettiest or friendliest around (I think they use too many serious fonts that are too often capitalized for no reason), but don't be scared off. The resources are worth the visit. Books can be searched according by several categories, and many resources are available including group discussion guides, printable activities, and audio and video links. The resource page for Andrew Clements' No Talking will give you a pretty good idea of what's typically available.

Sylvan Dell is a small publisher of science and nature titles, but what they lack in quantity of titles they absolutely make up for in quality. I blogged about the company in general, and then later about a stand-out title called One Wolf Howls. For teachers in the lower grades looking to bring some life and depth into their scinec programs, I can't recommend these books enough. You'll be amazed at the supporting resources provided at their site.

I've blogged about many Sleeping Bear Press books; not only are they impressive as picture books, but they're backed by a well-organized site of resources. I mentioned their huge variety of content area ABC books, and also individual titles such as The Listeners and America's White Table.

Thanks to all of these publishers for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Transitional Books: The Best of Both Worlds

It's not a bad place to be: stuck between the vast and varied worlds of the picture books and the complex and conflicting worlds of the novel. That's where many children find themselves at age eight (give or take), when they're trying to make the independent reading leap from picture books to more difficult chapter books. Is the language in chapter books that much more complex? Not necessarily. But gone are the beautiful contextual clues provided by picture books' illustrations. Fortunately for these readers, we have what can be called transitional books.

Transitional books may, in fact, be chapter books, but chapter books which are liberally illustrated. One of the finest examples I've seen in recent days is Rosemary Wells' Lincoln and His Boys. Historically factual yet unswervingly human, the short and easy to follow chapters are punctuated by detailed full-color paintings (by P.J. Lynch, the talented artist behind The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey). The life of Lincoln and the terrible costs of the Civil War are skillfully interwoven as the years of Lincoln's election and presidency are viewed through the eyes of his sons (read an excerpt here). This is a apt choice for any classroom study of our 16th president, the Civil War, or the universal theme of perspectives (see a recent post on universal themes at my How to Teach a Novel blog).

Be sure to visit Candlewick for additional print and video resources and activities on some of your students' favorite books. My favorite: popular authors such as Kate DiCamillo discussing and reading from their upcoming books.

Okay Gals, Play Ball!

I received a couple enthusiastic emails about my Women in Baseball post, so when I ran across this little documentary of the Racine Belles, thought I'd drop it in here for my readers.

Picture Book Previews

Originally created as book talks and mini-commercials for book fairs, the sixty-five book videos at Scholastic provide power previews and instant incentives for young readers.

I recently used the book trailer for Swindle by Gordon Korman to get my students excited about that novel. This video in particular plays out like a movie preview. Other videos, such as that for Chasing Vermeer, are traditional book talks with engaging questions for the reader, while others, such as Lily Brown's Paintings, provide students a peek behind the author's process of creating a book.

For whatever reason, these videos aren't easy to find on the site, and typically don't show up in the search results for the individual authors. But now you've got the link to explore them all, so off you go! See for yourself what great resources these videos can be.