How can picture books be used in the classroom

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Information for parents and carers including learning and wellbeing resources, advice, study skills, a quick guide glossary, homework help, learning from home tools, support for additional needs and more. Trisha Templeton , a teacher librarian, considers the value of examining sophisticated picture books in secondary classrooms.

Picture books are frequently used in learning and teaching for young children. However, this style of narrative is pushing the boundaries in educational practice. Research has shown that picture books can be used to teach multiliteracies and other curriculum content to older students. Picture books can also operate as a means of broaching sensitive subjects Marsh, As Dawn Marsh suggests, both images and written text are required for decoding the story.

Their format is ideal for younger children as the illustrations assist the reader in decoding the written text. These are designed to provoke and stimulate the reader with absent or contradictory text Aitken, Devices and techniques used by authors and illustrators of postmodern picture books can include: a non-traditional plot structure, intertextuality, parody, pastiche, metafictive devices, unusual design layout, pictorial fonts, or surprising perspectives.

Sometimes they even omit the written text altogether. In Flotsam , the reader is required to apply prior knowledge and understanding of the beach to decode the illustrations Panteleo, Older readers may perceive the overt message of escapism and fantastical stories as well as the underlying message of tradition and conservation.

This retelling of a well known tale has several contradictions between words and images, compelling readers to re-read the page and search for details previously missed Aitken, The lack of written text encourages a reader to engage more deeply with the storyline and characters, and the visual text is more likely to activate the experience of different emotional responses or cognitive thought processes. These books are particularly useful in secondary school classrooms.

They have great capability to provide learning and teaching experiences and can be used as a vehicle to teach content, multiple literacies, and to influence social and emotional development Pantaleo, Such texts often integrate postmodern elements, encouraging readers to question both the content and the format in greater detail. The ability to decode and make cognitive connections is not inherent.

Children and young adults often need to re-read such books multiple times and have discussions with others in order to understand the various nuances McDonald, Such subtleties will manifest differently with different readers.

Interpretations will depend upon personal cognition and experience. This means that sophisticated picture books are ideal for classrooms with diverse needs, as the book itself may be an aid to differentiating learning.

There are many advantages to using picture books in a secondary classroom. The obvious advantage is their brevity.

These concise books can be useful for introducing engaging thematic units of work. Brown, A. Vosniadou and A. Ortony Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , — Google Scholar. Domain-specific principles affect learning and transfer in children. Young children's mental models determine analogical transfer across problems with a common goal structure. Bus, A. Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: a meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy.

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Gerrig, R. The representation of fictional information. Goswami, U. Analogical reasoning: what develops? A review of research and theory. Gripshover, S. Teaching young children a theory of nutrition: conceptual change and the potential for increased vegetable consumption. Herrmann, P. Anthropocentrism is not the first step in children's reasoning about the natural world.

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Khu, M. Learning from picture books: infants' use of naming information. Kotaman, H. Impact of storybook type on kindergartners' storybook comprehension. Early Child Dev. Care , — Informational and fictional books: young children's book preferences and teachers' perspectives. Kummerling-Meibauer, B. Towards a cognitive theory of picture books. CrossRef Full Text. Labbo, L. Literacy Res. Larsen, E. Storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters fail to promote prosocial behaviors in young children.

Mantzicopoulos, P. Reading picture books and learning science: engaging young children with informational text. Theory Pract. Mar, R. The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Mareovich, F. Early referential comprehension: learning words through pictures with different levels of iconicity.

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Learning from fantasy and real characters in preschool and kindergarten. I assessed the students' success by the lines drawn and their ability to communicate and describe what was going on in their drawings.

I thought it was interesting that some of the students stopped their rain lines on top of the cat's head, not realizing the rain would be falling all around the cat.

Next, I read Our Dog a nd conducted a brief picture walk. I asked the children ho w a wet dog dries off and they responded by "shaking all over. The kindergarteners and several of the 3 and 4 year olds now include water features such as rain, splashing and puddles in their dra wings in a more descriptive way visually, orally and in writing.

Rosenthal and Lichtenheld, T h is book pushes children to really "see" by creating optical challenges for the reader to decide whether they are looking at the head of a duck or the head of a rabb it While the children are engaged in deciding which of these two animals is depicted on each page it forces them look between the two and decide if they are looking at the ears of a r abbit o r the bill of a duck.

The illustrator uses simple curved lines t o support the visual clues for both the rabbit and duck by strategically placing these lines in the appr opriate places to show whether they are seeing the rabbit or the duck moving. During the picture walk discussion, I asked the children if it is a duck, how did the illustrator show us that the duck was flyin g?

T hey responded, "the rou nd curved lines under his ears. I discovered that this book, throu gh it's captivating concept, e mpowered each of our young artists to use some form of "curved lines" to demonstrate their understanding of motion. I felt that the students needed a little more practice with making curved lines so that they better represente d "motion" in their drawings.

However, each student seemed to draw with conviction and was confident that the lines he or she drew to indicate "motion" were in the drawing s for that specific purpose. This new understanding of motion was evident to me and the classroom teacher by looking at their drawings and was supported by discussion s I had with the students in the art room When they returned to the classroom, w ith prompting and support from the classroom teacher the kindergarten students were able to incorporate motion lines into the drawing component of their writing production work.

They were then able to discuss and name the activity in which they were engaged in and talk about why they place d the "motion" lines in an appropriate area in their drawing. Many of the 3 year olds and 4 year olds also incorporated some type of line work to show motion in their drawings.

I have included a photo of a student 's art work demonstrating the use of curved l ines under the feet to show "jumping" and the curved lines around the balloons to show "floating" and "lifting" the figure off the ground See Figure 5. Additional examples of artwork documenting "motion" in student drawings can be found on my website at elaineweeks. As students start our P ubic Montessori program at three and four years of age, the younges t ones are given assessments to determine their proficiency levels in all areas of learning.

My collaborator shared that she was concerned about the learning deficits that some of the kindergarteners generally the ELL students were presenting after the summer hiatus. Specifically, she was looking at the students' beginning reading levels that included letter and sound recognition. Art and the AB C's became the motivation for our next creative project, focusing on reading readiness The classroom teacher suggested a fun rhyming book that motivates children to recognize their letters.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Martin, Archambault and Ehlert, was a good visual resource to integrate oral language and art by pairing it with the "ma gic" of crayon resist and water color. Some of her concerns revolved around whether three and four year olds would be able to sit on a stool and work at an adult size table?

Wo uld the students listen and follow the directions and use the materials in an adequate manner? I rema ined optimistic and together we embrace d an important Montessori philos o phy : process over product!

Each student was given the opportunity to trace the alphabet with crayons reinforcing the recognition of the letters and then paint a w atercolor wash over each letter The classroom teacher and I observed the students begi n to "read" the letters out loud and we appreciated the student s' enthusiasm when the group began to sing the ABC song without prompting on our part.

The children's singing prompted the classroom teacher to play the music that goes along with the book, prompting the children to sing along with the CD. The classroom teacher was surprised when one child, who is typically a quiet observer in the classroom, began to recite the letter sounds from the Montessori sound baskets, an activity that is an integral part of their daily work. I was surpr ised to see our young students so engaged in the art making process of hand writing the letters, tracing over the letters with different colored crayons and applying a watercolor wash to create a resist M y newest and youngest students remained engaged even though they had very little prior contact with me, and limited exposure to the art room and the materials.

The students listened to my directions, observed the example s of the project and sat on the stools at the larg e tables working with the watercolor paints and brushes successfully. This particular project show ed both of us that our 3 and 4 year olds do rise to the technical and creative skill level, with minor modifications, necessary to complete a p roject geared more toward the kindergarten student The students par ticipated with enthusiasm in this multi sensory project, beginning w ith a picture walk, followed by a crea tive project and PAGE 33 THE POWER OF PICTURES 33 unexpectedly incorporating music and singing.

The classroom teacher and I felt that this proje ct influenced every one of our students, reaching them at their own level of learning. By using the letter and number insets, the children were creating positive and negative shapes of letter s and number s in addition t o tracing the alphabet. One kindergartener took the concept a step farther and traced the word "name" and the n traced her name on the paper see F igure 6 This was significant because the alphabet template is one piece and she not only selected specific letters to trace, but she also had to line them up on the paper to form the words.

M y collaborat or and I decided to try to push the st udents in a new direction by asking students to create artw ork that would be observe d by other students and teachers but now I was asking my youngest artists to do just that. Would Pre K and kindergarteners work freely and collaboratively on a large mural style project? This translated into an installation that the children worked on as a class out in public view and displayed on the wall outside of their classroom.

First, we int roduced our young students to the artis t Jasper Johns, and his paintings Numbers In Color and 0 9 W ould they see his work and their alphabet paintings as inspiration to create random letters and numb ers in a bigger art piece? W ould they feel comfort able enough to do it outside of the classroom?

In order to work big and accomplish the goal of this art piece, it would have to take place in the hallway. The wall outside of the classroom was a perfect space and would allow the children to see their work progress.

I thought if the s tudents pa ssed by their art piece every day, several times a day, they would have a chance to inspect their work, discuss it with each other and get feedback from other people. I also hoped that they would see something during the development of this creat ive act that would encourage and develop their visual thinking skills.

They began by drawi ng the alphabet letters freehand on the 10 feet of brown paper that hung on the wall During each session, the students worked with a different medium : crayons, cha lk pastel, oil pastel and paint. I heard the term "graffiti" used several times. Two teachers asked when their students were going to have an opportunity to work with me on a similar project All in all, this project generated a lot of conversation, in the hallway, but also sparked a lot of interest from the other students who asked me about it when they came to art class.

This particular project provided our young artists with a unique, creative learning experience where they made art outside the traditional classroom, freely and with experimentatio n. While all of the projects in this capstone research study served to support the important role picturebooks play in the development of the young learner, I think the collaborative nature of students working together on the Jasper Johns inspired wall painting exemplifies the true purpose of this study ; to us e picturebooks in the classroom in order to entice children to read and interact with the text and to allow picturebooks to serve as an effective tool to stimulate and promote children's creativity.

It was very exciting t o see how motivated the children we re to explore new concepts and work in an unusual environment This particular class of three, four and five year olds came together to create artwork that required confidence, trust and imagination. It was inspiring to lead them, with the help and suppo rt of their classroom teacher, on this amazing, creative and educational journey.

I believe one of the most important benefits of this multi faceted project was its capacity to reach beyond the classroom, and engage the whole school culture. This project, along with the other projects presented in this research study, are all compellin g reasons to consider the power and efficacy of picturebooks in the classroom.

This study proved to me that students enjoyed participating in the picture walks and that the picturebooks informed them how illustrators us lines and shapes to communicate meaning. This analysis of the picturebook asks the read er to consider "why" the ill ustrator s made the choices they did and "what" the artist s were trying to communicate Eubanks, Our little people embraced the concept of learning through visual images and successfully carried out each project with minimal support and guidance from their teachers.

Throughout my research I have also found picturebooks to be very use ful as a starting po int to create and implement various a rt projects. Examples of high quality picturebooks ca n be found on my Pinterest page at www.

My daily blog C. I have discovered that picturebooks c an promote both oral and visual literacy by enticing the young learner to interact with the images and text within the pages of the book. I now use picture books in conjunction with a picture walk and the students become inspired and their c reative practices are enhanced. The picture walk is an invaluable tool in the classroom and art room, helping the students to really see the visual information on the page in order to build comprehension and meaning making skills.

This project has empowere d both the classroom teacher and myself to include building visual thinking skills in our young students through the use of picturebooks. Picturebooks are a resource in virtually every classroom because they are valued as a tool for learning to read that involves interpreting both wo rds and pictures Children can become sophisticated readers and connoisseurs of picturebooks even before they know how to read words.

I hope this research will encourage other educators and parents to consider the power of p icturebooks as an effective tool in the development of their young learners. Learning to "read" a visual story is certainly as important as learning to read the words as the images provide scaffolding that helps the reader become engaged in the story Euba nks, The world of picturebooks invites interpretation and exploration because the book as an art form is conceived as a total package, a visual verbal entity Eubanks, Discussion and Interpreta t ion of Findings In t he course of this study, I have observed my young art students associate illustrative techniques found in picturebooks with their life experiences and construct new meaning based on their prior knowledge.

This is evident in the unique and sometimes wildly creative interpretations the children depict in their original artwork. Reading to children in any capacity is a worthwhile and educational endeavor.

By collaborating with the Pre K classroom teacher, our studen ts benefited from the picture walk in a ne w way. Our combined strengths of art and literacy provided our students with a n invigorated a pproach to exploring the components of a picturebook. Original student illustration 4 year old Over the course of the project t he children became confident in their drawing abilities regardless of their naivety or minimal mark making and were eage r to discuss what they had created and writ ten about.

The children continue to reference what they learned from the picture walks discussions and creative sessions conducted. Weeks after the project's conclusion, the classroom teacher continu es to update me, and is happy to report that she observ es the students discuss ing elements in their class production work an d qualifying those elements by stating; "Mrs.

Weeks taught us that or identifying the name of the picturebook that inspired their illustrative technique The students also continue to use lines, shapes and marks to convey water motion and mood in their artwork in new and inventive ways, creating thematic compositions based on their own experiences or topics discussed in school.

Both the classroom teacher and I have observed the students enjoy re reading the picturebooks that were PAGE 41 THE POWER OF PICTURES 41 used in this s tudy and s eem to "look" at illustrations from other picturebooks with a new perspective Through my shared experiences, I discovered that integrating the art and illustrations found in picturebooks into the reading curriculum of a pre k and kindergarten classroom was a challenge given the time constraints place d on the fine arts schedule this year.

It takes considerable time to design a worthwhile curriculum and building upon a collaborative project requires an understanding of the respective core subjects. I have embraced collaboration in the past and looking back, I see that the classroom teacher "infused" art into their lessons in order to incorporate a hands on activity for the students. While this is pleasurable for the children, it is not true integration of art.

The collaboration between myself, the classroom teacher and our 18 pre k and kindergarten students integrated art into the reading program by aligning ou r instruction to the standards. This collaboration, while not my main focus in this capstone resea rch project, became a driving force and upheld the integrity of the study.

I now clearly see the importance of reaching my youngest studen ts right where they are on that first day of school. Images provide countless opportunities for me to encourage commu nication and engage my new students. The illustrations found in picturebooks can be used as an effective motivator to encourage our young learners to communicate and interact throughout their learning experiences.

By using picturebooks in the classroom, ar t room and at hom e, we can build up our student s' comprehension and meaning making by encouraging them to interact with the illustrations found on each page as an early reading strategy. Incorporating creative p rojects in this process motivate s students and promote s literacy while stimulating creativity. I believe that the efficacy of the picturebook as a medium transcends beyond elementary school through high school and even into higher learning.

Significance, Implications, and Recommendations The r esearch conducted in this study focused on observing youn g children in the Pre K and kindergarten classroom setting interacting with picturebooks as the classroom teacher takes them on a picture walk. Through my investigati on, I determined how the illustra tion s in children's picturebooks could be an effective tool in the development of meaning making in bo th the classroom and art room.

The goals of the study were to provide young children with opportunities to interact with text and illustrations in childre n's picture books and to explore effective ways to use these illustrations as rich resources in both the art room and classroom I hoped to motivate young children to gain meaning from using children's picturebooks by showing them how to begin to comprehend the nuances between the rich visual imagery and limited text.

The results established picturebooks as an important tool in the development of the young learner. The illustrations enticed young children to read and interact with the story in a way that allowed picturebooks to serve as an effective tool to stimulate and promote children's creativity. In doing so, the students beg an to use illustrations in their own story telling, while strengthening their comprehension and meaning making skills.

Conclusion I have always thought collaboratin g with other teachers is a powerful way to design and implement lessons that engage, motivate, challenge and inspire children to learn. My research supports that young learners interact with picturebooks by visualizing, making personal connections, inferring meaning and significance and by asking and answering questions about the illustrations.

I am not suggesti ng that my art program be replaced by the reading program, but based upon my research, I see the need for my students to receive extra support and I feel that I can infuse reading and meaning making with visual thinking skills and stay true to the National Visual Arts S tandards. In their book Using Art to T each Reading Comprehension Stra tegies Jennifer Klein and Elizabeth Stuart help to define art integration as objectives in one art form matched with objectives in another subject area and taught to gether in a meaningful w ay, making strong connections.

Klein and Stuart confirm my belief that art teachers should be aware of not only the National Visual Arts Standards, but also the Common Core Standards for English and Language Arts, and the National R eading Standards when planning an art curriculum.

This project has made me rethink the role I want to have in my school's culture. By incorporating these standards into my art program, I believe I legitimize visual thi nking as it pertains to teaching and l earning As an art educator, I embrace t he power of picturebooks as an essential educational re source found in classroom s from Pre K and kindergarten through higher e ducation.

It is the role of the art educator to find the connection between the visual and the goal s of the educationa l standards in order to help students think, learn, create, and reflect. Through this stud y, I have successfully learned how to implement picturebooks to achieve those goals in my art program and I hope other art educators will consider doing the same.

By doing so, we can create rich, memorable learning opportunities for our young learners. Strategies for supporting early literacy development. Y oung E xceptional Children, 14 3 29 Library Resources. Picture books for young readers are building blocks that promote literacy, vocabulary skills, sentence structure and story analysis.

November 8, Want to add more picture books to your collection? Contact us. Category: Librarianship. Tags: School libraries Libraries eBooks Collection development.