A Community of Readers

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Kicking back with a new book

Students enjoy new books while sitting on the new couch! Very comfy....

From Cover to Cover with Brown Bear

On April 24th Rosemary Agoglia from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art visited SES to teach us about the Museum's Whole Book Approach. Using Bill Martin's and Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? she led us through the book noting importing details. Had you noticed that the end papers of this book are a visual table of contents of the animals inside? Or that the bear's head on the cover points to where to open the book for non-readers? It was fun to see the level of visual detail that is included in the book and even those of us who have read it many times learned something new!

Agoglia also presented the idea that storytime be interactive: reading the book with the child instead of to him/her. Asking open-ended questions and allowing children to comment during the story allow them to be included, rather than using the book as a performance piece.

The workshop was a good reminder of the power of a picture book, and how special and educational reading one can be.