Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students create a wall story as a means of retelling a story. After hearing a picture book read aloud, students sketch their favorite part of the story. The pictures are shared with and sequenced by the class. Gaps in the storyline are identified and filled by groups of students. The entire story is then posted on a wall, in pictures, for use in a variety of later learning center activities, such as sequencing sentence strips, story mapping, performing reader’s theater and/or creating written retellings of the story.

Length of Lesson:

One to two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particulary suitable for grades K-2.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• create illustrations to accompany text.
• convey elements of a story such as character, setting, and plot through illustration.
• use techniques and/or symbols to create an illustration in the style of a studied illustrator.
• sequence the events of a story.
• critique their own and one another’s illustrations.
• participate in a variety of independent literacy-building activities.

Supplies:

• Drawing supplies
• A variety of picture books, without text (Teacher selected)
• A picture book, with text (Teacher selected)

Instructional Plan:

While any storybook of your choosing is suitable for this lesson, you may wish to choose the book to introduce or complement an ongoing author study. This will allow students to learn more in depth about the style of a particular author or illustrator, and will also strengthen the arts component of the lesson. An author or illustrator with a distinct style such as Faith Ringgold, Jan Brett, or Walter Dean Myers/Christopher Myers. (Click here to hear Walter Dean Myers reading Harlem online and view Christopher Myers' illustrations) would be particularly well suited, as student-created illustrations could explore techniques such as creating quilt-like illustrations, including borders with clues in their illustrations, or making a collage, respectively. However, any picture book can be used.

Read a storybook of your choosing to students, preferably more than once. Ask students to illustrate their favorite part of the story, using as much detail as possible. Refer back to the previous lesson, Reading Illustrations, in which students discussed important elements of storybook illustrations and how they help us understand more about the characters, setting, and plot of the story. Remind students to include these kinds of elements in their own illustrations and be sure that they illustrate just one event from the story.

When the activity is completed, allow students to share their illustrations one at a time. As each student presents his or her work, the rest of the class should guess the part of the story that is being depicted in the illustration, and comment on one thing the student did particularly well in creating the illustration. Encourage the students to be specific. Rather than saying, "I like the picture," have students point out specific things such as, "I can tell it’s nighttime/winter/raining because of the way he/she drew the trees and the sky," or "He/she did a good job of showing the girl was sad/happy/tired. I can tell by her eyes." You can do this by asking follow up questions and/or modeling more specific kinds of comments. You may also wish to have students share why they chose to illustrate the part of the story that they did.

As each student presents his/her illustration, have him/her position the picture on a chalkboard ledge or post it to the wall/board. As each student adds their picture to the growing storyline, he/she will have to determine, with the assistance of the class, where the depicted event falls within the sequence of events. You can prompt students as needed, helping them to determine first whether the event came closest to the beginning, middle or end of the story, and then, whether it came before or after the other illustrated events from this part of the story. (Several students may select the same part of the story. This can present an interesting challlenge for the class. Have them examine each illustration carefully, looking for small details that help them determine which illustration should come before the other, i.e. the illustration could represent the beginning, middle or end of the event itself. If the pictures are extremely similar, you may simply need to make the call for the students.)

When each student has added his/her picture to the storyline, have students view the story in its entirety. Are the events assembled in the correct sequence? Are there any parts of the story that are missing? Which? Are all of the characters represented? Are important parts of the setting included? Are there any gaps in the storyline or information that would need to be added to make it easier for a reader to understand the wall story? If gaps are identified, assign students or groups of students to fill them in with additional illustrated pages.

Post the wall story in a safe location where students can access it for one or more of the following learning center activities:

• Create a set of sentence strips by copying the actual text of the story or using student-generated sentences from a class retelling. Have students sequence the sentence strips in the appropriate order, using the wall illustrations as a reference point.
• Allow students to work in pairs, orally retelling the story to one another. You may wish to have them tape their retelling on a tape recorder and then play it back, listening through headphones while checking their retelling against the wall illustrations.
• Have students create a Reader’s Theater piece based on the story. Include simple props, costuming or puppets in the center – or have students make their own. Allow students to work in groups to dramatize the story, and if appropriate, to share their performance with the class.
• Have students practice vocabulary related to the story by tacking flashcards or sentence strips beneath the corresponding pictures in the wall story.
• Have students write their own retelling of the story, using the wall illustrations as a reference.
• Have students write the ‘next chapter,’ building on the storyline through either illustration, text, or both.

Assessment:

Photocopy several illustrations from a storybook of your choosing, representing the beginning, middle and end of the story. Present to students out of order and ask them to sequence the events of the story. Have them explain their rationale for ordering the pictures the way they did, pointing out specific elements in the illustrations that revealed information. You may also wish to have them write a short story to go along with the illustrations.

Assess students’ understanding based on the following criteria:

• Does the student appropriately order the illustrations?
• Can he/she identify elements of the story such as character, setting and plot?
• Can he/she explain how the picture revealed information about the storyline?

If the lesson is conducted as part of a larger author study, you may wish to have students create an illustration “in the style of (illustrator)” to correspond with one of the student’s own stories. Assess students level of mastery based on the following criteria:

• Does the student choose appropriate materials for the illustration?
• Does the illustration depict elements of the story such as character, setting and plot?
• How well is the student able to use techniques taught in the lesson?
• What symbols or techniques used for the illustration can be readily identified with the studied illustrator?
• What level of effort was put forth by the student?

Authors:

• ARTSEDGE, Education Department
  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
  Washington, DC