The Power of Series Books and Wordless Picture Books in Reading Workshop

Gretchen Taylor and Franki Sibberson

Welcome!5 minutes Text Complexity + Close Reading15 minutes Series Books15 minutes Wordless Books 15 minutes Browse + Think

District Goals● Establish and communicate relevant learning

goals● Create differentiated experiences to

maximize the learning for all students

How can series and wordless books support readers in reading more complex texts?

● Qualitative: structure, language, knowledge demands

● Quantitative: readability● Reader: motivation, knowledge,

experiences● Task: complexity generated by the

task assigned, questions posed

What Does Text Complexity Mean in Grades 3-8

Reading across an entire, longer storyStruggling through meaningAuthor’s meaning-text evidenceLonger intro to story/actionInferring events in a plotUnderstanding beyond what is written on the pageKeeping track of characters, change in setting, dialogueInternal and external conflictFollow a characters’ changes over time/Really knowing charactersMetaphor and symbolismUnderstanding big message and theme of a bookSettings that are unfamiliar and settings that are more importantReading about topics/issues unrelated or uninterested inBeyond pulling factsMore complex vocabulary and text featuresText Structure-flashbacks, elapsed time, different chapters focus on different character, etc.

“Students deserve instruction that moves them forward as readers and thinkers and values their unique experiences and needs. Finding the balance is not impossible. We can teach students how to read closely and fall in love with reading.”

Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts

Text Complexity + Close Reading

Supporting Independent Reading

Text Complexity + Close ReadingClose reading is when a reader independently stops at moments in a text (or media or life) to reread and observe the choices an author has made. He or she reflects on those observations to reach for new understandings that can color the way the rest of the book is read (or song heard or life lived) and thought about.

Curators, Not Collectors “We should be curators of our libraries, not just collectors.

Offering students an engaging, diverse classroom library requires more than buying books and putting them on

bookshelves….Managing a classroom library requires curation-selecting the best most current materials for both curriculum

needs and student interests.” Donalyn Miller, Reading in the Wild p. 80

The Power of Series Books

Series Books... “After a couple of books, the central character becomes familiar, predictable. It is easier to predict how DW will respond after having read several Arthur books, which means that you have read a lot about DW and her brother”

Richard Allington

Moving Readers Forward by Valuing Series Books

Identity and Agency

Wordless and Series BooksReader Identity

AgencyWhat do you bring to the text as a reader?

What can you expect as a reader?

“The goal of reading ladders, is to slowly move students from where they are to where we would like them to be. With reading ladders you start with the authors, genres, or subjects your readers like then connect them to book after book—each a little more complex or challenging than the last.”

Teri Lesesne

Text Complexity + Close Reading

A Year of Read Aloud-3rd Grade

Rump by Liesl ShurtliffHow can this book expand the conversation?

How can this book help students meet the standards?

How can this book meet the needs of students at different levels of reading?

What have we read that they can build on?

What charts might support good talk?

Why is this the best “next read”?

Wordless Picture Books

Teaching the Reader, Not the Book...“We need to teach each student the way readers think as they read, not what to think, helping them to experience texts as readers, rather that putting specific thoughts about texts into their heads.”

Instructional ConsiderationsTeacher modelingReading with intention

● Details that make us wonder● Details that repeat● Consider message as we read

Experience/practice

Fueling Inferential ThinkingWhen I predict…● I unpack the story one bit at a time● I slow down and notice details● I keep my mind in the text -- use evidence to put my ideas together● I notice patterns in the text● I ask myself, is this reasonable? What’s probable?

*Brainstormed with Donna Eltringham, RSE

Unpacking the StandardsReading Anchor Standard 3Key Ideas and Details

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Unpacking the Standards

Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5

RL. 3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., traits, motivations, or feelings) and describe how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

RL 4.3. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., character’s words, thoughts, or actions).

RL. 5.3. Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Unpacking the Standards

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

RL. 6.3. Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

RL. 7.3. Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g. how setting shapes the characters or plot).

RL. 8.3. Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Sidewalk Flowers: Complex Thinking

First read: What does it say? (Notice/Wonder/Enjoy)

Sidewalk Flowers: Complex Thinking

Second read: What do you notice about how each of the two characters interact with the setting and with each other?

RL. 5.3. Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Thinking About Characters

Scaffolding Instruction: Problem and Solution

Evaluating Wordless Books● A Good First Look at Title● Significance of word

“circle”● Accessible theme