Exploring Early Childhood Books in the Middle Grades

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So, you know that picture books are great for students to read, no matter what grade level they’re in. But there’s different types of picture books, and you wouldn’t use the ones aimed at early childhood with older readers, right? Right?

Well . . . not necessarily.

While you wouldn’t use some of the very simple picture books - like the ones aimed at babies and young toddlers which simply match a word and image - any early childhood picture book with more of a story can be used in the middle grades classrooms. 

Here’s how you can do it.

 
Exploring Early Childhood Books in the Middle Grades. A teaching and learning blog post looking at how books aimed at early childhood readers can be used by upper primary and middle grades teachers #picturebooks #readingcomprehension
 

The first thing you would want your older readers to do when they’re exploring a picture book aimed at preschoolers is to think about who the book is written for. Students will know that they are not the ideal audience, but this gives them some insight into the language and the pictures used in these books and allows them to start comparing them with other books aimed at a similar audience.

When students are thinking about the audience for a picture book, they are learning to assess the audience of other types of text - for example - who is that advertisement aimed at? Why does it make kids want to buy something and make adults shudder? Learning that authors use different styles for different audiences is important to know both as a reader and as a creator of texts.

Students might also question whether these books are really aimed at an early childhood audience alone. They might draw the connection with many kids movies and television shows which entertain (and sometimes teach) adults. Are these books just for young children, or can older children and adults learn from them as well?

Once students have assessed the audience of the book, they can start exploring the author’s intentions in writing the text. For example, Mem Fox’s Good Night, Sleep Tight introduces the reader to a range of nursery rhymes. Why has she chosen to do that? What does she want the audience to learn? Why has she put them into a story with characters rather than just editing a book of nursery rhymes?

Students can assess whether the author is aiming for the audience to learn something - many early childhood books are based around enhancing literacy or social and emotional skills - or whether they’re just written to entertain the audience (a lot of books about farts lean more towards entertainment).

 
Exploring Early Childhood Books in the Middle Grades. A teaching and learning blog post looking at how books aimed at early childhood readers can be used by upper primary and middle grades teachers #picturebooks #readingcomprehension
 

Part of looking at the intention of the author is examining the word choice. Many early childhood books look like they’d be easy to write. Afterall, there’s not many words in them and the words aren’t very difficult. But when you hear the authors of these books talk about how they were written, you hear that they can spend serious time making sure that they’ve chosen the best possible words and that they’ve put them in the best order. Students can explore this by rearranging the words in the book to see how it changes the text or they can experiment with putting in their own words and seeing what happens.

When students have a really good understanding of picture books for younger students, they can be challenged to write their own early childhood picture books. From coming up with an idea for the book, to planning it out, to finding the best words and creating illustrations to go with them, this is a great activity for students to engage in to explore the challenges of picture books and looking at how picture book authors and illustrators meet them.

Have you explored early childhood picture books with older students? Share your experiences in the comments

 
 
 
 

Asking Students to Create their Own Picture Book Questions

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Do your students ask questions? 

Not the questions about going to the toilet or when is it lunchtime or “why did you do that to your hair, Miss?”. Questions about the topic they’re exploring, about the concept they’re learning about . . . or the picture book they’re reading?

And if they aren’t asking questions about the picture books . . . how can we get them to start asking?

 
Asking Students to Create their Own Picture Book Questions. A teaching and learning blog post about getting students to engage in the reading comprehension practice of asking their own questions #readingcomprehension #picturebooks
 

The Value of Asking Questions

When we’re exploring a text we usually ask students to answer a range of comprehension questions. There’s the who, what, where style simple recall questions, but we also ask them to think more deeply about the text they’re reading.

But one skill we need students to develop as they are reading is learning to ask their own questions. Good readers ask questions all the time when they’re reading - questioning helps readers to monitor their own comprehension and to create connections within the text and outside of the text.

For example, I recently read Pink! By Margaret Wild. As I was reading the book, I found myself asking questions about the colours of dinosaurs (“Hasn’t there been research done on dinosaur colours recently?”), about where the story might go next (“I wonder if the author will make it easier for Pink to hide?”) and hide and seek (“They played hide and seek earlier, will that come back to that?”) Even with a text that is essentially easy for me to read, I can ask questions of connection, prediction and author choices.

 
Asking Students to Create their Own Picture Book Questions. A teaching and learning blog post about getting students to engage in the reading comprehension practice of asking their own questions #readingcomprehension #picturebooks
 

Starting With a Brainstorm

There are many ways to teach students to ask questions when they are reading - from demonstrating questioning to talking about different types of questioning. But one way for students to think more about questioning is to ask them to brainstorm before, during and after their reading.

Provide students with a familiar picture book and ask them to brainstorm all the topics they might ask questions about before they read it. As you are reading the book to them, ask them to keep brainstorming, then provide them with more time when you finish. Students can share their brainstorm ideas, allowing the class to see that there are many different areas of questioning when it comes to a text. You can then repeat this with an unfamiliar text, asking students to engage in the same brainstorming process.

Who, What, Where, When, How: Recall Questions

Once students have a brainstorm, they can start formulating more formal questions. The easiest to start with are the recall questions - the who, what, where, when, how types of questions. These can sometimes be dismissed as too simple, but while we wouldn’t want to only ask these questions, they’re important when it comes to having a solid understanding of the characters, setting and plot of a picture book.

 
Asking Students to Create their Own Picture Book Questions. A teaching and learning blog post about getting students to engage in the reading comprehension practice of asking their own questions #readingcomprehension #picturebooks
 

Asking Prediction Questions

Good readers are often asking - and answering - prediction questions as they read. One of the easiest to ask questions is ‘based on the cover and title, what do we think this book is about?’ Students might dismiss prediction questions because they find they’re answering them as soon as they ask them (What will come next? I think it’ll be . . . ) but it’s important that they know they are asking these questions and they do play a part in how they are reading.

If students are writing prediction questions for other people to answer, they might like to reflect on where the best places to ask those questions are. Should they ask them at the beginning of the book? During the book - and when during it? At the end? This is a great way at taking a closer look at how an author might have structured suspense or anticipation into a book 

The Things Which Aren’t Obvious

The inferring and author intention questions are the harder questions we ask ourselves when we are reading. Why did that character do that? Was that foreshadowed earlier in the book? Why did the author make that choice? Sometimes it can be hard to ask those questions because you need to go back to the text once you have the recall questions down. Other times it’s hard to ask those questions because you’re not sure if you’re overthinking it!

One thing we can let our students know is that it’s ok to ask ‘do you think’ questions - open-ended questions which different people might answer in different ways. Those might be the questions which get us to think the most about the book - even if the book looks simple on the first read. ‘Why . . .’ questions with many different possible answers are some of my favourite - every time I read Mem Fox’s Where is the Green Sheep I wonder why the slide sheep is wearing skis (it just doesn’t look safe!).

By modelling, encouraging exploration and explicitly teaching question asking when we’re reading picture books, we can help our students become better readers of these - and more complex texts.

Do you teach question asking? Share your experiences in the comments

 
 
 
 

5 Ways to Introduce Reading and Books at the Beginning of the School Year

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It’s the beginning of a new school year and you know you want to make books and reading an important part of your classroom environment. But how can you establish that from the beginning? How can you help your students to know that reading is valued in your classroom? How can you encourage a community of readers? Here’s 5 ideas to help you introduce reading and books as a back to school activity.

 
5 Ways to Introduce Reading and Books into your classroom at the beginning of the school year. A back to school literacy and literature post for all teachers.
 

1. Start With A Favourite

You’ve introduced yourself to your students, checked all their names, put books and stationery into some sort of organisation. It’s time to start teaching. You might have a great getting to know your students activity planned, but it’s worth waiting for just a moment to read them your favourite picture book.

Why? First of all, picture books are great transition tools. They show the students that it’s time to move from organisation mode into learning mode. They’re a quiet and calm way to get things moving. Secondly, you’re letting your students get to know you a little through your book - they know that you value reading and that this is one of the books you really value. And finally, it gives you, the teacher, a moment to breathe and enjoy what you’re doing.

As a bonus, it never hurts when someone from administration pokes their head in and sees reading happening on the first day

2. Create a List of Topics to Read About

In the first few days of school ask your students what kind of books they would like to read or what topics they would like to read about. Use this list as a display in the classroom, use it to guide some of the reading choices or book choices throughout the year and return to update it as the year progresses.

By asking students what books or topics they want to read, you’re giving them some ownership over the reading environment. You’re telling them that their reading preferences are valued in the classroom and that it’s a safe place to read all kinds of books.

 
5 Ways to Introduce Reading and Books into your classroom at the beginning of the school year. A back to school literacy and literature post for all teachers.
 

3. “Sell” a Book or Two

Book talks are one of my very favourite tools for encouraging reading in the classroom. I love them so much, I wrote a whole post about them and how to give a book talk. At the beginning of the school year it’s good to use books which might be unfamiliar to the students. This lets the students know that you love finding books they might not know about and that it’s ok to read and enjoy unfamiliar books. 

Book talks are great for generating excitement about a book and therefore excitement about reading. With lots of enthusiasm, or a well placed preview of a book, you’ve shown students that it’s ok for books to be exciting. Be aware that a really exciting book talk might generate a lot of enthusiasm for the book - you might need to create a ‘next in line’ list for potential readers. 

4. Ask Students to Write About their Ideal Book

What would the best book in the world look like? This is a great question to pose to students early in the school year. As well as getting students interested in what books could be (or what books they may not have found yet) this is a great way to learn a bit more about your students.

Be aware, though. There’s a very real possibility that you’ll have a students or two who’ll say there’s no such thing as a good book. It’s ok to get them to explain why that’s the case (they’re still writing and you’re still learning about them!) or to challenge them a little to write about what a book would have to have to be readable by them - they might like to link it to what they like about games, television shows or other activities.

5. Let Students Know Where They Can Find Books

Once you’ve got students excited about reading, you need to let them know where they can find books. You may have a complete classroom library or a small collection of books in the classroom - let students know what they can access at any time or what books you’ve set aside for classroom lessons. Take your students to the school library and talk about some of the borrowing they can do there.

You might also like to introduce the local library to your students. You can do this by visiting yourself and taking some photos of the different areas or you might like to arrange a visit from a librarian at the library who can help your students to understand what’s available to them there (it’s not unusual for people to think they need to pay to borrow books from the library.

How do you create a reading environment in your classroom at the beginning of the school year? Leave a comment below to let us know!

 
 
 
 

5 Galarious Goods Back to School Posts and Why I Love Them

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So, this is a blog post about back to school blog posts? Of course, it’s a recap show! Seriously, though, I’m quite proud of the different back to school blog posts I’ve written and shared here at Galarious Goods and I wanted to make sure my favourites were all in one place. Plus, add a little commentary on why they are my favourites.

 
5 Galarious Goods Back to School blog posts and why they're my favourites. A post looking back at some of my favourite content for Back to School time
 

1. 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

This is definitely a mindset blog post - a good post to read and reflect on before you get anywhere near the classroom. Joy can sometimes be an elusive concept, something which doesn’t gel with the day to day processes of teaching in a classroom. This post provides some ideas for finding that joy, even if it’s just in little pieces.

Why is it a favourite?

It’s actually a great reminder to myself to find the joy in small things - whether it’s creating a beautiful or calm or colourful space for myself or dancing it out. Those little things won’t change the world, but they can give us a moment of respite.

2. 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

It’s a bit terrifying to be a new parent in a school! Especially at the moment as our orientation processes may have been changed due to the pandemic or we might be facing the kinds of first days and weeks we never would have imagined a few years ago. This blog post highlights 5 questions new school parents might be worrying about and some ways you can relieve those worries.

Why is it a favourite?

I wrote this one when my eldest was heading off to his first year of school. Now it’s time for my youngest to head to her first day. While some of the worries are gone (I’ve got the school shoe thing down perfectly!) I’m still unsure just how she’ll go when she heads into the classroom on the first day. I’ve also received some excellent advice from her school - get the little ones to practice fastening and unfastening their seatbelts in case they’re restricted to the drop off and pick up zone!

 
5 Galarious Goods Back to School blog posts and why they're my favourites. A post looking back at some of my favourite content for Back to School time
 

3. Starting a New Teaching Job on a Limited Budget

This blog post was inspired by a news article highlighting how much money teachers were spending to set up their classrooms. In the post I look at many affordable or free ways teachers could set up their classrooms for the new year when they didn’t have a lot of money (or were looking to save their money for other purposes - you don’t have to spend all your own money on teacher things!) I highlight my ‘must buy’ essentials (spoiler: not much) and some ways to create an effective learning environment without spending much at all.

Why is it a favourite?

It reminds me so much of what it was like to walk into my first real classroom. I very much had to ‘make do’ with low cost or free items and I know this is the case for so many teachers.

4. Classroom Organisation for the Unorganised

I’d love to say I’ve become more organised since I wrote this post, but not really! I do however follow many of the tips in this organisation post and can honestly say that they’re super helpful (my children do, however, scoff at how many times I label their things. They have never lost a school or kindy hat, though!)

Why is it a favourite?

I was chatting with one of the cleaners at the school I used to work at and was pleased to learn that I’d lost the title for messiest teacher desk at the school. However, it was a reminder that other teachers might find this organisational information useful!

5. Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

This is such an important post as we enter the new school year in Australia, unsure of what might happen, what new rules teachers might need to follow and still coming up for air after an incredibly hard 2020. This post looks at a number of practical ways to take care of yourself, from pulling positivity into your social media to making sure you have a great water bottle.

Why is it a favourite?

Finding ways to take care of myself is something I need to be regularly reminded of. I can easily fall into a spiral of ‘doing all the things’ while forgetting to stop occasionally to do things which take care of my physical and mental health. If it gives a few ideas to make life a bit easier for teachers anywhere, then this post is worth its weight in gold.

Do you have any great back to school advice for 2021? Leave a comment below to let me know!