If you want to help your kids improve their writing, you'll find using picture books to teach writing is a must! Picture books are a fantastic teaching tool you and your kids can have in the classroom.
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you integrate picture books into your writing routine.
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Picture Books As Mentors
Picture books used for teaching reading and writing are mentor texts. The author is the mentor, and the book is the tool to provide that mentorship. A teacher's role in this process is to show the kids how to analyze it and try the writing techniques. This process is what makes kids become better writers.
Related: How to teach writing without a writing curriculum
Preparing to Use Picture Books to Teach Writing
Beginning with the end in mind is one of the best ways to plan your next writing lessons using picture books. And by this, I mean having a clear idea of what proficient writing looks like at your grade level.
The worst thing to happen for a teacher is to spend time teaching the wrong skills.
Before gathering picture books for your next writing mini-lesson, follow these steps.
Steps To Teach Writing With Picture Books
Step 1: Select Writing Genre
The first step is to know which writing genre you are going to teach. The writing genre will help you narrow the pictures books you will be selecting.
First, start by looking at your state's standards to select a writing genre for the grade you teach.
Step 2: Make A List Of Writing Skills
By knowing the writing genre you will be teaching, the next step is to make a writing skills list. These are the skills you want your kids to show as they write.
You can first start by analyzing the writing standards. Then look at your class writing samples and see which skills they haven't mastered. Write down those writing skills.
This list will come in handy in step 6 when matching your writing standards to the picture book.
Step 3: Gather Picture Books
Search for books fitting the writing genre. Give yourself a week to search among the books you have and books from the library.
As you look for books, some titles will stand out immediately, and others you will have to research.
A quick google search will give you a list of suggested titles. I recommend giving yourself a couple of days to search for and collect these books.
Step 4: Read the Picture Books
The next step in using picture books to teach writing is to read the picture book. Now don't glance at the book but read every word. As obvious as this step might seem, it is often the one skipped.
As you read the picture book, decide if the book is a good fit for your kids and grade level.
Step 5: Reread To the Find the Author's Craft
Step five is to reread the book and make a list of potential writing skills the book has. Here are some examples of writing skills you will find in picture books.
- The way an author introduces a character
- Use of simile to show how something happens
- Inner dialogue and punctuation
- A strong lead sentence
- Ending with a question
These writing skills are examples of the author's craft. In other words, the text organization is an example of a tool used to develop and support their text or story.
As you read the picture, make a list of the tools the author uses in the book. You can place sticky notes on the page where you notice them or write down the page number. On my sticky notes, I include the author's craft and the page number.
Step 6: Match Standards to Picture Book
Now you are ready to pick the author's craft that matches your standards' writing skills.
You can do this by putting your list of writing skills and looking at your sticky notes. The sticky notes with writing skills not matching the standard get remove. You can save the sticky notes you remove by placing them on a paper with the book title.
The picture book with the most writing skill gets read first. This book is the leading book you refer to throughout the writing unit. Many of the author's craft found in picture books overlapped. So, The other picture books will reinforce the writing lessons found in the main text.
Step 7: Teach the Author's Craft
The final step is to teach the kids the tools authors use in books. There are many ways easy and engaging ways to do this.
One idea is to showcase the overlapping writing lessons in the picture books is to create a T-chart. The T-chart will help kids see how different authors use the same strategy in the book.
Next, as you read the picture book, you can analyze the sentences you have chosen as a class. Do this by stopping and pointing to the author's craft on the page and saying the author's move.
As a follow up have the kids rewriting the sentence and trying it in their writing. I recommend doing this once the kids are familiar with the story.
The goal of using picture books to teach writing is for kids to have a model to refer to when they need it.
Wrapping It Up
Using picture books to teach writing has many advantages for kids. They are excellent models of the tools authors use to communicate their story or message.
