Lesson Overview:

This lesson, designed for first grade, opens students’ eyes to the world of illustrations, while giving them a way to showcase what they learned from a book. Each group creates an illustration for a book of their choice and presents it to the class. This is a great opportunity for reading groups to show other groups in the class what they’ve been reading, and get others interested in new books. They will use it as a form of advertisement to draw students to the book. The students have a fun and creative way of showing their knowledge.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Instructional Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• demonstrate comprehension of a story through designing and participating in an advertisement for the book.
• use shapes and color to retell a fictional story.
• use proper conventions of print through labeling or writing about their illustration.
• use appropriate language to convey meaning through describing their illustration.

Supplies:

• A favorite book for each group
• Drawing paper for preliminary sketches
• Construction paper for final copies
• Crayons or colored pencils

Instructional Plan:

Introduction

Begin by discussing the role of an illustrator. Show the students several illustrations from books that they have not read. Ask if they have an idea of what the story is about from the illustration. Most libraries have a book on Norman Rockwell. Explain to the students that Rockwell was an artist who told stories through his art. Ask if they can come up with story ideas behind Rockwell’s pictures. Ask them “So what does an illustrator do? What do they work with? What are their tools?" Explain that their job is to be an illustrator for a book their have read in their reading group.

When dividing students into reading groups, it is always helpful to have an aide or parent to work with the other groups while you are getting the first group started. While the other groups are waiting for you to work with them, they should discuss which book they might like to illustrate and why, so that they have some ideas when you get to them. When meeting with each group to further discuss the assignment, first choose a favorite book with the group. They should all agree on the book in order to make the project work. As a group, have students make a list of why they chose this book (you can do this on chart paper as they call out their ideas). If one or more disagree on the book selection, have the others ask them why, and see if it can be worked out. If they can not agree on one book, and their argument is legitimate, have the group select another book. Remember that the book chosen should be appropriate reading for any child in the class. Explain that the group’s job is to get the rest of the class excited about reading the book that they have chosen. Explain to the students that in order to do this, they will each have a job (can be in pairs, depending the number of students in the group). The hard part is choosing which job each student will be assigned. Have the students write down what part they would like.

• Setting: This student’s job is to draw a picture of the setting.
• Characters: This student’s job is to draw a picture of the characters.
• Beginning: This student’s job is to draw the beginning.
• Middle: This student’s job is to draw the middle or problem.

If two students choose the same job, have them roll a die or draw from a hat. Discuss ideas with the whole group before they start working, then individually discuss with each child what they will draw. Let them work together in order to help each other out, but everyone should still have his or her own part.

Talk to students about what ideas to think about when compiling ideas for their part of the drawing, including:

The Setting: what season was it…what part of the country; rural or urban; where did the book take place…outside inside, street, farm, etc.; what year; how would things look etc.

The Characters: male, female, age, any pets, how they look, how they dress, their jobs, hobbies, special traits that make them interesting, how are the characters connected etc.

Beginning: How does the story begin; both for the characters and the setting?

Middle: How is the story progressing towards the end for both the characters and the setting?

Explain to students that they need to keep the ending of the story in mind, but they should never tell the ending of the story or book. The audience should stay interested, and be surprised when the ending is presented to them, or an individual reads the story. Have them each read the story once more, and ask them to visualize the story. Ask them what they see, and what would they draw to represent the ideas that they are visualizing.

After each group member has fulfilled his or her task, the group will present their pictures and describe their part of the story. The object is to give the other students in the class a small description of the book and to create an interest without giving away the ending of the story.

Summary

Have each group share their artwork and information about their favorite story in the front of the room for their classmates, who will be listening to see if this is a book they’d like to read. This lesson is successful if the students comprehended the text through their explanations and accurate labels and drawings.

Differentiation

Low Readers: Reading level differentiates these groups; however, it is important that the book each group chooses to advertise is appropriate for all readers in the room. Because of this, higher reading groups will need to choose books a few levels under their current reading level so that the lower groups can enjoy the books also!

Assessment:

• Visually assess each student’s comprehension by checking to see that all of the important information is included in each picture (i.e. are all characters present in the picture?)
• Assess the students’ ability to use color and shapes to retell the story by looking at the accuracy of the pictures (i.e. do they use the right colors as described in the text?)
• For those that were asked to label their illustration or include a sentence, assess their knowledge of the conventions of print by checking to see if letters are formed correctly, proper spacing between words is used, capitals are used appropriately, and punctuation is used.
• Assess progress in each student’s listening and speaking abilities as they present their advertisement. Look for the students to speak in complete sentences and listen while others are sharing. Each objective may be assessed with an S+, S, or S-.

Extensions:

High group: Because these students are fully capable of writing, ask them to write a sentence that goes along with their picture. Words should be spelled correctly and the sentence should start with a capital letter and end with a period.

Middle-High group: These students will label their picture rather than write a sentence. All of the words used in their picture should be spelled correctly.

Sources:

Print:

• Cornett, Claudia E. Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts. New Jersey. Merrill Prentice Hall, 2000.

Authors:

• Lisa Huddock
  Old Bridge Elementary/George Mason University Graduate School of Education
  Woodbridge/Fairfax, VA