Hi everyone! Emily from The Literacy Nest (formerly The Reading Tutor/OG) and today I'm talking about graphic novels. Your kids love them, your librarian has a hard time keeping them on the shelves, but maybe you're not so sure which are the best ones for your students. Or maybe as a parent, you're wondering what merit they have. Are graphic novels just glorified comic books? Does graphic mean inappropriate for kids? I'm going to talk a little bit about what they are, their benefits, and provide some suggested lists by age/grade level.
What are graphic novels?
Let's flashback to the early 1990s. My older brother was in high school and positively glued to a book called Maus by Art Speiglemen. I picked it up and breezed through it. What was the big deal? As a teenager back then, it just looked like a thick comic book to me. I recall him passing them onto my Mom to read. They went through the whole series together and were constantly chatting about it! What was the appeal? Little did I know it then, but Maus was a groundbreaking graphic novel. Using the Holocaust and World War II as the backdrop, this GN paved the way for new an exciting plots, characters, and series. GN was not just for superheroes. (If you haven't read Maus by the way, please pick up a copy, It's amazing!)
A graphic novel is a book in novel length which can be any genre, but written and illustrated in a comic book format. They are written for both children and adults. For those kids in your class burdened by text heavy books, graphic novels may be just the format they need.
Five reasons to choose graphic novels:
They appeal to both reluctant and advanced readers. The picture format and text presentation will appeal to kids who struggle with reading, or have a hard time maintaining motivation and stamina. Your advanced readers will be interested in the complex characters and rich plot development that many graphic novels have.
Traditional books and series have been turned into graphic novels. Series like The Boxcar Children are in graphic novel format, but so are classics like Journey To The Center Of The Earth or The Iliad and The Odyssey.
They're excellent teaching tools. Graphic novels are great for teaching inference. They often have complex vocabulary and can be used to teach literary devices.Their non linear layout offers a different flow than a traditional book without illustrations.
The graphic format is helpful for English language learners and children with special needs. The use of graphics with text and rich dialogue help with language acquisition developing social skills.
They're not just big comic books with superheroes. Some graphic novels do have superhero characters with superhuman powers. And those are highly appealing, especially for boys. But many aren't. They are written in many different genres with highly engaging plots and diverse characters. You almost get the sense you're reading and watching a film when you get wrapped up in a graphic novel. For some readers, that's the best of both worlds.
Hello Readers (and Writers)! Carla from Comprehension Connection here today to share one of my all time favorite websites, Writing Fix, with you. I have been using lessons from Writing Fix for almost two years now, and if you have not explored it yet, it is time to check it out!
Writing Fix is a resource site that freely shares ideas, resources, interactive apps to be used for lessons, and teacher tested lesson plans. It has been in existence since 1999 when the founder, Corbin Harrison, purchased the domain name and began collecting resources other teachers had designed.
Fast forward to today, and you will find materials that will take you through each year to grade twelve. If you have favorite literature you enjoy, you can locate writing resources to go with them using the site bibliography that is linked to the resources. It is amazing just how much is included. The preview below is just a snapshot! So many great titles!
I first learned about Writing Fix when I ran a weekly blog link up on my blog called Six Trait Sunday. Teachers linked up their favorite books and how they used them to model writing traits. I had just started blogging at that point, so it somewhat fizzled, but it helped me learn the depth of resources available. If you have a certain type of writing you need to address (persuasive say), you can easily scan through to locate what you need or search the site. I did this, and although it hopped me over to Google, it gave me a list of 195 links. A favorite of lesson of mine features the book, My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza.
I used this writing lesson set at Thanksgiving. Of course, I began the writing assignment with the book of course. I didn't have a copy of the book on hand, so I used this youtube video clip which works well since you can pause and discuss writing examples, and students can better see he pictures as well. Plus, I think my students truly enjoyed hearing this author read it.
Once you introduce the assignment with the book, Writing Fix offers the full step by step lesson plan and materials you need for each writing stage as well as anchor papers for modeling. I love that the site gives multiple grade levels of papers too as it provides my students with a "road map" for where their writing needs to go. I am truly impressed by the growth my students (who are struggling readers) have shown, and I can't help but believe that the repeated modeling and practice connected to strong literature helps the children better understand how to improve their writing and actually enjoy it. For this plan, you can see a little synopsis below.
Summary of this Lesson's Mentor Text:
In the picture book, My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza, a hungry and naïve fox is surprised to find his dinner knocking at his door. Could this be his lucky day? Unfortunately, an intelligent and somewhat sly pig has other ideas. Using the power of persuasion, and a keenness for trickery, the pig outwits the fox and ultimately ends up clean, fat and happy. The fox, exhausted by the persuasive suggestions of the pig, collapses and is unable to “roast” his guest. A formidable opponent, intelligence clearly wins over stupidity, or an empty stomach in this case.
After the students have analyzed the text, it's time to begin the prewriting stage. The website includes all of the graphic organizers you need like this one. Students can work to plan out their papers. Then, the teacher can use the anchor papers to demonstrate where the assignment is heading and what works well. Here is an example of one story.
My Lucky Day!
by Jaynee, third grader
One day, a hungry spider was about to go get himself dinner. Then he got startled by a knock on the door.
“Hey, hey ladybug, what’s doin?”
The spider thought to himself, “A ladybug? If a ladybug lived here, I would have eaten it already. This must be my lucky day!”
The spider got up and opened the door. The cricket who had knocked tried to run away, but the spider quickly grabbed him and brought him in the house.
Next he said, “Hop in this pot so I can cook you.”
“Ok, ok, ok,” said the cricket, “but first, shouldn’t you give me dinner? I am on the skinny side.”
“You are on the skinny side,” said the spider. So the spider got busy and made cookies, brownies. But he needed a salad so he ran to the store, got a salad, ran back home and made the salad. ”Ok, now hop in this pot so I can eat you.”
“Alright, but shouldn’t you give me a bath? I’m very filthy.”
“You are pretty filthy,” said Mr. Spider. So the spider rushed upstairs, ran the bath, poured some bubbles and threw in a rubber duck. Then he ran downstairs and carried the cricket upstairs into the bath. When the cricket was clean, they went back downstairs and the spider once again said, “Hop in this pot.”
“Ok,” said the cricket, “but…”
“What, what, what?”
“Shouldn’t you massage me first? My skin is very rough.”
“You have a point,” said the spider. So he rubbed and pushed and pounded.
The cricket said, “Just a little to the left, just a little to the right.”
But the spider was no longer there. He had passed out.
The cricket ran home, saying, ”What a dinner! What a bath! What a massage! This must be my lucky day!”
I love hearing my students critique the papers, but it is interesting how spot on they can be. They are able to identify weak hooks and arguments, analyze the sample for word choice, sentence fluency,etc. They can also reread is they find they have a little writer's block.
For the revising stage, this author shared checklists for Voice and Ideas. Handy huh?? For publishing, you can even add your "star" papers to the lesson site
So...what are you waiting for?? Hop on over and see what's all included. Be sure to check out this tab to see the featured mentor text lessons. They are my favorite!
The Writing Fix helps students see the Reading-Writing Connection, and it makes writing just plain fun!
Hello! It's Jen from An Adventure in Literacy. I'm here
today to share a series of books from my favorite math author, Stuart J. Murphy.
Stuart J. Murphy has 63 books in the MathStart series. If
you are unfamiliar with his books you MUST visit his MathStart website to check them out.
The MathStart books cover a variety of math topics in three different levels
(ages 3+, 6+, 7+). All of Stuart J.
Murphy's books are amazing because they provide eye catching visuals to help
students better understand math concepts. He also gets story ideas from kids to
help relate math to real life situations. There is a great "Meet the Author" video about him on TeachingBooks.net.
Each of the MathStart books has two pages at the end with
activity suggestions. These activities are meant to reinforce the featured math
skills from the stories. You can also download his ideas and activities from
the MathStart site.
If you're teaching a certain math skill you can find the
appropriate books listed by skills and standards under the "Books" tab. There is also a math bibliography that includes additional math books by
other authors for each skill.
On Family Math Night a few years ago I did
a Stuart J. Murphy session. I briefly shared his website highlighting some of
the family resources. The majority of the time families could read his books
together. Everyone seemed to enjoy the session and the children were super
excited to share some of the books they had read in class. Plus, it was super easy to prepare for the session. The MathStart website has
some great resources, articles, and handouts for parents if you are planning a
math night.
Stuart J. Murphy says it best with his motto
"Math=Fun!". I totally agree and am so glad to have his great books
to add to my math lessons. Do you have a favorite math book or math author? Let
us know in the comments so we can check it out!
Hello, Royal Readers! It's Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars here today with some books to help you start planning for next month ~ Women's History Month!
Last month, Deniece from This Little Piggy Reads highlighted some great books for Black History Month, so I thought it would be fitting to highlight some fun books for Women's History Month, which is in March.
I love biographies, and these Time for Kids biographies are perfect for many young readers. They pictures are great and really show a lot about the person. How can you go wrong?
This book A is for Abigail has a great deal of information about various women in history. Students will love the short blurbs of information that will help them want to learn more about some amazing women in history!
This book about Amelia Earhart is perfect for introducing young readers to a heroic woman in history. I love that they even have one about Lucille Ball as well! I love Lucy!
For older readers, the Who Is/Was books are perfect for them. This one about Jane Goodall helps transitional readers understand her life. There are plenty others in this series as well.
I hope this short list has gotten you excited about Women's History Month. It sure has gotten me excited! I would love some other great book recommendations. What are some other books you like to use for Women's History Month?
highlights the accomplishments of many women inventors. What a great way to get young girls to think scientifically! 
