A student found Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden in my classroom the other day and reported in, "there are no words". We talked about how he could read it and he told me he could use the pictures. I think this bothered the child and even though we talk about reading using the pictures and preview books with a picture walk. I wonder if he grasped or understood this story. The book is organized in a series of pictures, comic or graphic novel type format. The reader follows Bow-Wow through his day, almost creating mini stories with the book. He encounters other dogs and people on his journey not really getting along with anyone he runs into. He also follows a bug and it's interesting to see the bugs perspective on their day. I now understand why my student seemed a bit puzzled. There is a lot of information and thinking on each page. The reader has to infer at times and think bigger than the immediate page story. I have to think about the just right mini lesson to use this book with.
Hi Mandy, I love reading your blog as I also teach kindergarten. In writers workshop, we start the year with a study on oral story telling; then, we study wordless books. I use Bow Wow during this time to shows how the story can change several different times on one page. I've found this study and creation of wordless books has enhanced by students ability to create a more thought out piece of writing later in the year.
ReplyDeleteNicole, thanks for the thoughtful comment and suggestion of wordless picture books to follow oral story telling. It makes sense.
ReplyDelete