It is January.
You're back at it, whether that's your homeschool table or your classroom,
and you've got this feeling already.
You know this one, that mix of fresh start energy and already
exhausted before you even begin.
Here's what usually happens.
We start the year with grand plans.
We're gonna be more organized, more intentional, more everything.
And by week three, we're scrambling.
We're overwhelmed and wondering why we thought this year would be any different.
Today we're going to talk about planning for starting in a way that actually works.
Planning that gives you energy instead of draining it.
And we're going to focus on one practical strategy that can transform how you
teach multiple subjects using picture books as the foundation of your lessons.
Now, let's be honest about what planning often looks like at this time of year.
You've just coming off a break.
Maybe you're still on your break.
Maybe you've had some rest and you've had time to recharge, or maybe you didn't.
Either way, you're facing the pressure to hit the ground
running for classroom teachers.
You've got curriculum and planning documentation breathing down your neck,
standards to cover, and maybe even some assessments already looming in your mind.
You're trying to plan for literacy, science, social studies, art,
all as separate subjects, and it feels like you need about 40
hours in a day to do it well.
If you're homeschooling, the pressure looks different, but feels just as real.
You've got multiple grade levels, you've got different learning styles,
and you are trying to create something meaningful without burning yourself out
or spending a small fortune on materials.
You want your kids to love learning, but you also need structure.
That doesn't require you to reinvent the wheel every single week.
And here's the thing we don't talk about enough.
Most planning methods add to your workload instead of simplifying it.
We're told to plan each subject separately to have different
resources for each area to keep adding more and more to our plates.
It's no wonder we burn out.
But what if there was a different way?
What if you could plan lessons that hit multiple learning goals at once that
actually made your job easier and that kept both you and your students engaged?
This is where picture books.
Become your secret weapon.
But I'm not talking about just reading a cute little story and
then calling that literacy time.
I'm talking about choosing books strategically.
Books that can carry weight across multiple subjects and teach far
more than we give them credit for.
Not every picture book is worth centering a week of learning around.
You want books that can do heavy lifting.
Here's what to look for.
You want rich vocabulary.
So look for books that introduce words that your students wouldn't
encounter in everyday conversation Books with precise language, interesting
verbs, descriptive adjectives.
These are books that expand vocabulary naturally in context without
needing separate vocabulary lists.
Strong story structure.
You really want this.
You want books with clear beginnings, middles, and end structure, you
want a clear cause and effect, a problem and a solution.
When students can identify these patterns, they're learning to think like writers
and to understand how narratives work.
You want content connections.
This is key.
Look for books that connect to science concepts or historical
periods, or mathematical thinking or art and design or cultural studies.
These are the books that let you teach English and
something else at the same time.
Let me walk you through what this looks like in practice.
So let's say you choose a book about building or construction,
something like Iggy Peck Architect or Rosie Revere Engineer.
You start with a story.
You read it for enjoyment first, you let your students experience it as readers.
You talk about what they notice, what they wonder, what they connect with.
Next, you mine that language.
You go back through it and you identify the vocabulary that's worth teaching.
Not every word, just the ones that are useful and interesting words like.
Blueprint or structure or foundation, and you teach these words in context
and you use them in different sentences and let students use them in their
own writing and oral language.
You explore the structure.
Talk about how the story is built.
What problem does the character face?
How do they solve it?
What obstacles come up along the way?
This isn't busy work.
This is teaching students how to think about stories, how stories
work, which helps them in turn become better readers and writers, and
then branch it into other subjects.
This is where it gets exciting.
If your book is about building, you can move into design and technology.
Let students plan and build their own structures.
You can connect it to maths, you can measure materials, you can
calculate area and perimeter, explore shapes and geometry.
You can link it to science, you can investigate stability, um, materials,
balance the properties of materials.
You can explore humanities.
You can research famous buildings, discuss why humans build, look
at architecture across cultures.
And suddenly one book is teaching literacy, math,
science, and social studies.
You're not planning four separate lessons.
You're planning one integrated unit that flows naturally
from one subject to another.
And here's why this matters for preventing burnout in general, you're planning
less, not more, instead of creating separate lesson plans for each subject.
You're building one cohesive unit around a strong text that's less
planning time, fewer materials to gather, less mental juggling.
Students make deeper connections also.
When learning is integrated, students see how the subjects relate to each other.
They're not just doing math problems about buildings.
They're using math as a tool to actually build something They've read about.
That's what makes learning stick.
You can reuse and adapt and once you've planned a strong picture
book unit, you can use it again.
You can adapt it for different age groups, you can share it.
The work you do now keeps paying dividends.
It's actually more engaging.
It's more engaging for you and for your students.
When you are teaching connections instead of just isolated facts,
it's so much more interesting.
You're not just checking boxes, you're creating learning experiences that
matter and you're making it work in your context for your classroom.
This approach works beautifully within your curriculum.
You take the standards you need to cover, you look for the picture
books that connect to those concepts.
You're not adding extra work.
You're finding smarter ways to teach what you are already required to teach.
And if you're homeschooling, this gives you the structure
without rigidity.
You can follow your students' interests, you can adapt the depth.
Based on their age and ability, and you can still feel confident you're
covering important learning goals.
Let me give you some concrete steps that you can take this week as you
plan for the coming year or semester.
Step one is to audit your bookshelf or your library.
Look at the picture books you already have.
Which ones have rich vocabulary?
Which ones could you connect to multiple subjects?
Start with what you already have.
Step two is choose one book for this month.
Don't overwhelm yourself.
Pick one strong picture book that connects to something you need to teach, just one.
Step three is map out the possibilities.
Spend 15 minutes brainstorming.
What vocabulary could you teach?
What's the story structure?
Where could this book take you in maths or science or in other subjects?
Step four is plan one, integrated lesson.
Just start small.
Plan one day where you use the book to teach two or three
subjects and see how it feels.
Notice how much less stressful it is to plan this way.
Step five is reflect and adjust.
Afterwards, try and think about what worked, what you
could do differently next time.
This is how you build a sustainable practice, one lesson at a time.
If you are thinking, oh, this sounds great, but I don't have
time to plan all this from scratch.
I hear you, but that's exactly why I've already created, some
integrated picture book lesson plans that do the work for you.
They aren't just cute activities to do after reading a book, they're full
units that show you how to teach rich vocabulary, story structure, and make
authentic connections to maths and science and design and technology and humanities.
And you can find these lesson plans on my website.
I'll leave a link for you in the show notes.
They're designed for both homeschool and classroom teachers, and they're
built to make your planning simpler.
Not more complicated.
January and February don't have to be about being burnt out by Easter.
It can be about finding smarter, more sustainable ways to teach.
Start with one book or one of my lesson plans and see where it takes you.
Thanks so much for listening today.
If you found any value at all in this episode, please share it with
a friend or colleague that will really help us to grow the show.
So until next time.
Stay blooming, curious.
Take care of yourself and go and check out the link in the show notes and
start planning those integrated lessons for the coming semester or year ahead.