A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words Katie Lambeth Brann 2 nd Grade Walkertown Elementary School Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools

Introduction My classroom library does not have any wordless picture books. Read picture books unit themesto build vocabulary Wordless picture books would be a new experience for my students. Is there instructional value? Can they develop writing skills?

Related Research Story Development Using Wordless Picture Books –develop sense of story –use higher level thinking –develop writing –longer sentences –more descriptive –used conversations

What are wordless picture books? Books that do not have text Stories that are sequenced through pictures Picture alone tells the story

Research Question  What effects do wordless picture books have on the writing process for second grade students? Are students able to write a clear story with sequencing by using this transition from oral to written language? Will their writing be more descriptive?

Method  Nineteen 2 nd grade students ages 7-8 years old  Level 1, 2, and 3 Writers  Study was conducted from roughly 8:15-9:00 in a regular classroom  Writing took place Monday through Friday for five weeks  Collected anecdotal notes during lesson  Used teacher made rubric to assess writing

Intervention/Instruction Week 1 Window by Jeannie Baker Took a picture walk as a class Discussed what the students saw on a page Mini-lesson follow-up sentences Teacher held book up for students to individually write about the page Week 2 Sidewalk Circus By Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hawkes Review follow-up sentences Mini-lesson on transition words Picture walk as a whole class Students sit knee to knee back to back- orally tell the story to their partner (4 pages at a time) then students go back to their seats to write Teacher holds up the pages the students discussed Book was written over the course of a week Week 3 School Hug The Ring Peep The Snowman Anno’s Journey The Christmas Gift Four Hungry Kittens Each pair of students were given a wordless picture book Students took turns orally reading the story A confident writer was paired with an EC student Teacher posted a list of transition words Students were given a questionnaire

Each week I asked questions and provided positive feedback. Week 4Picture from Hooway for Wodney Wat Whole class activity Teacher label a picture (nouns, verbs, adjectives) from students’ brainstorming Students wrote individually from the perspective of one of the characters Week 5Construction paper, crayons, paper books Teacher led a discussion about what students have seen in wordless picture books i.e. setting, character, problem Students worked with the same partner as in Week 3 to plan and create a wordless picture book Teacher provided planning sheet Students brainstormed on Monday, illustrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, and wrote on Thursday and Friday

Data Collection Student survey Anecdotal Notes Teacher Created rubric assessing number of words, thought units, vocabulary, punctuation/mechanic errors, and descriptive words

Data Analysis I organize my anecdotal notes in a chart format. Individually looked at student data from the rubrics to compare the effects wordless picture books had on their writing

Results Allows more small group work more confidence organization The use of w.p.b. helped spark some students imagination which helped them use more descriptive language. Work Samples

Wordless Picture books don’t: Allow students to hear good literature to build writing skills Give students complete choice about what to write about

Discussion Had more one-on-one and small group instruction I understand that for some students you have to show them they can write more than five sentences. Using the picture books can spark imaginations and provide experiences. Using wordless picture books is only one tool to help with follow-up sentences and sequencing.

Future Direction What are the reasons for using wordless picture books with ESL students? –Look at: predicting, determining the main idea,drawing conclusions, cause and effect, dictating sentences, self-confidence Can tape recording the students orally reading a picture book help them to transfer the conversations between the characters when writing the story on paper?

References Adams, D. (200). Retrieved 06 05, 2003, from Writing Techniques Web site: Andrea DeBruin-Parecki. (2005). Helping your child become a reader. 3rd ed. Jessup, MD: US Department of Education. Matulka, D. I. (2005). Wordless picture books. Retrieved September 23, 2005, from Reese, C. (1996). Story development using wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 50(2), Williams, B. O. (1994). Every picture tells a story: the magic of wordless books.. School Library Journal, 40(8),

Resources Wordless Picture Books used with research Anno, M. (1977). Anno’s journey. 1 st ed. Cleveland, NY: Collins. Baker, J. (1991). Window. 1 st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books. Briggs, R. (1978). The snowman. 1 st ed. New York: Random House. Fleischman, P., & Hawkes, K. (2004). Sidewalk circus. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. Luthardt, K. (2003). Peep!. 1 st ed. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. Maizlish, L. (1996). The ring. 1st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books. McCully, E. (2001). Four hungry kittens. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. McCully, E. (1987). School. 1st ed. New York: Harper and Row. McCully, E. (1988). The Christmas gift. 1st ed. New York: Harper and Row. Schories, P. (2004). Breakfast for jack. 1st ed. Asheville, NC: Front Street. Tafuri, N. (1983). Early morning in the barn.1 st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Other wordless picture books that were not used in research Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaula A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog by Mayer Mercer Tuesday by David Wiesner

Thank you for listening to my action research! Are there any questions?

Week 2 Some students listed things on the page while other students orally read follow- up sentences. Students asked each other questions

Week 3

Week 5

Emily *Story sentences matched the pictures *Used punctuation correctly *Personalized books by naming the characters

Summer Built self-confidence and creativity Has slowed down and looks at the detail in the pictures Gets excited when reading a book and notices details in a picture Does not consistently write follow-up sentences, sometimes lists events on a page Can write a sequential story

Nick He has difficulty getting started on writing activities. With wordless picture books he did not sit as long looking at his blank paper. More willing to revise on Week 5 than Week 1

Will Confident writing point of view Writes follow-up sentences Good imagination Logically sequenced sentences

Anecdotal Notes Week 1 Ss are writing more than they have so far Up till now many students thought they were finished if they wrote half a page Showed excitement about writing two pages Week 2 Ss are listing what they see on the page Emily and Will tell the story from the girls point of view Hard for ss to write point of view Week 3 N&D, S&S list what they see on the page rather than writing follow-up sentences E&D take turns making the story-thoughts were organized and so was writing, E uses trasition words, D has sequential oral story telling-overuses “then” S&S used adjective and follow up sentences, also noted setting changes Summer makes text to text connection; Will makes self to text connection Week 4 Writing is not as long Some ss are more comfortable writing point of view than others S&S show excitement in oral reading In a 2 min. time Summer asked Savannah four questions. More confident will discussing the book Week 5 Ss are brainstorming and talking B&A have trouble sequencing when creating picture book “Here is a title page.” Hear discussions of character, setting, and problem Asked N&D to retell wpb-story didn’t match the pictures they created

Student Survey (during week 3) Do you like to write? “I love to write.” “Yes bekos I love to write.” “Sometimes I most of the time I get a camp in my nocols.” “I like to write sometimes. But if it is a story I will write a lot.” Do you like being an author and writing a story for the wordless picture books? “I love to right, publish books very much.” “It is fun to da it aefeday it is os fun.” “Cindfo I love to do nee to nee.” “Yes because I like writing story’s without the word’s”

cont. student survey What did you find in the wordless picture books? “It seems like they show a helpful setting.” “It is showing happy, sad, crying, and excitement.” “I fond a plan and a lote of mise.” “They show action. If somethin hapins they change they smile.” If you created a wordless picture book what would you need to put in it? “If I created a book I would add setting to it. I would also add some caritores.” “Love.” “The setting. The people. The beginning. The end. The middle.” “A nice ending the best beeing.”