Analyzing Illustrations

Since mid-September I've had two nights of Parent-Teacher Conferences, Fall Festival, STEM Family Night, STEM Day, two field trips, and two family birthday parties. Plus throw in my everyday grading, planning, collaborating, etc. And my beloved dog, Lucy, passed away during all this commotion. Fall break is finally here, and all I can say is "Whew . . . . now I can breathe!" Thank goodness for these breaks, or I wouldn't survive!

I'm still trying to develop strategies and create lesson plans that really teach the new Common Core Standards. Sometimes I read a standard and think, "What else can I do to teach this???" or "What in the world does that mean???" One of these standards is:  

 RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

After deconstructing this standard, I decided to focus on the first part- Use information gained from illustrations to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. At first I thought that this was something I teach with every picture book. However, I researched the standard a bit more from the "Common Core Lesson Book K-5" from Heinemann. 

This is a very useful resource for teaching ELA Common Core. There's also a Common Core Writing Lesson Book available. The author gives strategies that deepen understanding of illustrations. It goes beyond the usual questions teachers may ask about illustrations. I created an "Analyzing Illustrations Set" which includes two anchor charts, questions for a Book Cover Study, a quick independent activity, and a suggested book list. Click HERE to grab this FREEBIE.

Lastly, I'd like to post this picture of my beautiful baby pup, Lucy. She was a one-of-a-kind dog. I'll always love her!