Hello, and welcome to another episode of blooming curious.
I want to start today by thanking you for tuning in.
It's wonderful to have you here, and I truly feel honored that you are choosing
to listen to this podcast when you have so many others to choose from.
So thanks for listening and being here.
Now, as I mentioned in last week's episode, episode 34, teachers
are currently enjoying a very well-deserved break from the classroom.
But as a teacher, I also know that it doesn't last long before we
start thinking about going back to school and our lesson plans.
In last week's episode, I gave you some tips about how to approach your
planning so that you lighten the load, not just by sharing it with
colleagues in the same year group, but also by using an integrated approach
when it comes to your planning.
Today, we're going to talk about the role of picture books in our planning.
Picture books are a valuable provocation for any lesson.
They can be a powerful catalyst to spark wonder and curiosity
and get kids thinking.
And of course, be a powerful resource for teaching a variety of literacy skills.
Did you know that there is scientific evidence for the powerful benefits
of reading picture books, to children on their brain development.
In a study done by the reading and literacy discovery center of Cincinnati
children's hospital, they discovered the children who were ready to
often, showed growth in the language and literacy areas of their brain.
Whereas children who spent two hours per day on screens, which
actually included television, showed under development in the organized
white matter area of their brains.
Now the white matter area, which actually, I only thought that we only
had gray matter, but no, apparently we have a white matter area as well.
That's the area that's really important because that's where the
brain communicates with other areas.
And if this white matter is not well-developed, then the brain's
processing speed slows down and learning is negatively impacted.
I'll link to the study in the show notes so you can read it for yourself.
Now in the same study of 47 children, I know it's not huge, but still it's
a study found that children who use screens for more than one hour a
day and let's face it most do, had poorer emerging literacy skills,
poorer expressive language and tested lower in the rapid naming of objects.
On the other hand, they found that children who were read to frequently
scored higher on cognitive tests.
But it doesn't just end there.
In another study done by the same institution, they studied the
effects of three different formats of stories on children's brains.
Audio only, a picture book being read to children and an animated cartoon version.
Can you guess which format was best for learning?
If you guessed the picture book being read to children, you would be correct.
Now I have written a blog post about this topic where I have linked the
studies, so go to the show notes and read more about it in the blog post,
once you've listened to this episode.
Now, when it comes to using picture books in our classrooms, it's safe to
say that not all books are created equal.
So as educators, we do need to find those books that have rich language,
great illustrations, and also work to help us meet all the other criteria for
planning our lessons around a curriculum.
When you think and plan for setting up your provocations in your room remember
that picture books, just like your non-fiction texts are also provocations.
They can be the starting point for exploring nonfiction topics.
And a good picture book provides a well constructed narrative that can
be used to teach narrative writing and it should have that clear story
mountain so that the children can easily identify the events that happened in
the beginning, the middle and the end,
and it should lend itself to rich character descriptions and analysis and
make it easy for children to spot the dilemma or the problem, and of course
the resolution at the end of the story.
I love using picture books as a catalyst for inquiry too.
For example, as you plan for the term or your quarter ahead think
about picture books that you can use that do a lot of heavy lifting.
This is where it's really helpful to chat to your school librarian, so that
you can use picture books that not only have high literacy value, but
simultaneously link to other subject areas like your humanities or your social
studies or your science or maths areas.
In the blog post that I've linked, I also linked to Kath Murdoch
was she has a fabulous list of books linked to inquiry topics.
So don't forget to go to the show notes once you've listened and follow that link.
Now I have two integrated lesson plans on my website under
bloomingcurious.com/resources
you'll find them there.
One is for a delightful picture book, Q Pootle 5 by Nick Butterworth, which is
great if you're learning about the letter Q for example, or perhaps you've got
children that are interested in aliens or space as a fun topic, then this is great.
The integrated lesson plan provides you with inquiry questions, problem
solving tasks, and a scope for creativity through hands on tasks
and experiences across English.
Mathematics and Design and Technologies.
Another integrated lesson plan on my website is around the picture book
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown.
This is great for integrating Science where you and your students
could plan and plant a garden, explore the seasons and the needs
of living things, especially plants.
Both these lesson plans are suitable for K to two, and I will place links to
both these resources in the show notes.
So how often should we be reading picture books to our students and children?
The answer of course is daily.
You will probably also in addition to other stories, want to be reading
the picture book that you're linking your planning to every single day.
Young children, begin learning the rhythm of language, the rhythm of the story.
And it's great in the early years, because as we know talk comes before writing.
Phonological awareness comes before writing.
And when they are being read too often.
Just like that research I mentioned in the beginning of the episode shows,
it helps them brains to organize that information and benefits that
processing, which is so important for understanding and language development.
So, yes, a good picture book, has a rich language and literacy
component, but it should also lend itself to other curriculum areas
to make your life easier when it comes to cross curriculum planning.
And so the children can make connections to different areas and they can see how
different areas are actually linked.
Now, aside from picture books that link to other subject areas, that you will
be planning your learning experiences around for the term or quarter ahead,
picture books also useful when you're having to talk about or introduce
sensitive topics to children, things like bullying or death in the family or
friendship issues and rhyming picture books also play a crucial part in
the early years when we are developing children's phonological awareness.
And here rhyming picture books are not just fun to read, but
they're crucial when it comes to developing phonological awareness.
I have a list of rhyming picture books in my resource library.
And I'll leave a link where you can download your free PDF
of that in the show notes too.
So let's do a quick recap of the most important takeaways here.
When you're planning your learning experiences and your provocations
find picture books that not only lend themselves to rich literacy experiences
but also link to other subject areas so that you can plan integrated
units of work across the curriculum.
Try and include hands on experiences in all your lesson
plans that link to the story.
For example, in The Curious Garden, It lends itself to planting
and planning your own garden.
So when you're looking for those picture books, make sure you can link them
to hands on experiences, to design and technology and other areas which
are really going to save you time.
And lastly, remember that picture books and reading to children are
essential for creating those neural pathways in the brain that ultimately
benefit brain development and learning in a much better way than watching
a video or a cartoon of the story.
And if we truly value children and they're learning switch off the smart board,
switch off the screens get out the books and let's read them because
they are far superior to screens.
As the research now shows.
So hope you found this episode useful as you begin thinking and planning for
the new term or your quarter ahead.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
And if you have any other ideas that you would like to share around picture
books and their use in planning, an integrated learning experience you can
send me an email at contact@edlessons.com.
It hasn't changed yet.
It will change soon to blooming curious.com.
And once again, thanks so much for listening.
And if you found anything in today's episode useful, could you
please do me a favor and share it with a friend or colleague?
You can also go to bloomingcurious.com/podcast where you will
find all the links and an easy to read and easy to share link for this episode.
I look forward to being in your ears again next week.
And until then, remember to stay blooming curious.