Reading, Writing, And Art Experiences Around Picture Books

The child knew how to turn the pages, show me the title of the book, and show me the title page of the book. The child struggled in holding the book right side up, showing me the front cover, and the back cover, and finding the first page of text. The child was not able to tell me what the author or the illustrator did. With the conventions of print the child was able to tell me where it tells the story at, where we start to read. Lastly the he could tell me that we read from left to right and top to bottom. The child struggled with the return sweep when reading. The child excelled in showing me the spaces between words, and pointing out letters to me. The child struggled in one on one reading, and finding word boundaries around a word. The child also had problems with finding the first word on the page, and the last word on the page, and with counting the words and letters for me. The child was not able to show me the difference between a capital and lowercase letter. The child was able to identify the letters on a page, some of the specific letters that I pointed to, and also was able to identity some of the letters in his name. The child was also able to name some of the letters on a page, some of the specific letters, and some of the letters in his name. He was able to

Children draw upon their use of text everyday Flint, Kitson, Lowe, & Shaw, 2014 specify “In order to read proficiently readers need to develop their repertoire of practices for interacting with text.” As suggested in Luke and Freebody’s Code breaking, children use of text emphasise on; decoding and encoding the codes, symbols and conventions of written, spoken, visual

Introduction to reading comes through phonetic reading boxes. The reading boxes are cleverly organized, going from simple to the complex. Reading does not follow the same process of writing, which is taking our own thoughts and symbolizing. When we read, it is not our language with which we are working with, it is the author’s language. Reading is the analysis of the language followed by a synthesis. Story telling and socio-dramatic play in the environment can help the child develop an imagination that fosters a higher capability to understand what is being read to them.

Furthermore, the illustrations paint a beautiful picture that I like to think is an insight into a child’s mind, which I is a key element in this book and what makes it so great. Since the book is narrated by a child the intentional simplicity of the words and the controlled chaos that is the illustrations breathes unadulterated life into a rather normal children’s book.

Imagine living in a simple world with no color, no imagination with truly no meaning to life, just taking everything day by day. Now relate that to reading, without knowing how to read you would not be able to learn about people, places, past and present events, or even the great unlimited things that go on in this world. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” ― Dr. Seuss. When we read our brains automatically translate the words into pictures. Some may be able to do it better than others but that is something we all do when reading. If you are a person who has reading and writing challenges it is best to tackle that obstacle quickly. Not being able to read or write is a

“ Models of the reading process often depict the act of reading as a communication event between a sender and a receiver of information ”(Vacca et al., 2012). Models are developed to describe the reading process and how a reader interprets language and gains meaning from print. Bottom up models of reading “assume that the process of translating print to meaning begins with the print”, where as a top down model of reading, “assume that the process of translating print meanings begins with the reader’s prior knowledge” (Vacca et al., 2012). The bottom up model of reading is driven more by data where as the top down model is more conceptually driven. When using a bottom up model, letters, syllables and words are used in order to initiate reading. The use of letters, syllables and words helps the reader to form meaning. Where as the top down model is based off of a reader’s prior knowledge and experience. With many different literacy programs, a teacher’s belief system helps to determine how students can best be taught how to read. “One way to examine your beliefs about reading and learning to read is to connect them to theoretical models of the reading process” (Vacca et al., 2012). Depending on the teacher, he or she may have a bottom up approach or a top down approach. Teachers, who feel a bottom up method is best, may feel that his or her students must decode letters and words and feel

With his opening sequence McCloud illustrates that because the acting of showing is instinctual, incorporating visuals with literature would be logical. The series of panels in which the boy is struggling to explain verbally, not visually, what the toy is capable of captures McCloud’s audience instantly because it is an experience that many have had. It is not unusual for a child to use visual markers like “this” and “that” when explaining objects, events, etc. McCloud then goes on to explain that it is expected for children to graduate from books with mostly pictures to novels with no pictures at all as they mature with time. This is attributed to the cultural perception of comic books. According to Stephen Weiner in his book Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel, “newspaper comic strips were always

Phonics advocates have been arguing that in order for children to learn to read, they need to have an explicit instruction in the rules of printed text in order to read properly. The phonics approach has been described as “bottom up” as it teaches the children to decode text and then the meaning and understanding will follow while the whole word approach is described as “top down,” as the children depend on the pictures within the book, form hypothesis and make predictions of the words with the text of the book being read (Wren, 2003).

In Scott McCloud 's graphic essay, "Show and Tell," he explains how words and images work together in the form of comics to convey a message. An example where he demonstrates this is during the first 16 slides. Without the use of images, the reader would not know what 's going on because the boy is not specific in his dialogue. Without the use of words, the reader would have no context about what 's going on in the pictures. A great analogy that McCloud uses on page 745 is that words and images are like dancers. He explains how both partners work together and support each other 's strengths so that they can be presented well as a

Ever analyzed a picture book before? The colors, shapes, and underlying message on every inch of the page create a story. A story that makes your brain tick and contemplate what exactly you’re looking at. These things are significant to the constant development of a human being, but the specifically to a child.

Reading comprehension may be the most important skill for any student to acquire and is therefore an area of particular interest to educators. Without adequate comprehension skills, students are limited in their reading, analytical and occupational abilities. To many, including the student’s themselves, comprehension or “good reading” skills begin and end with simple decoding. It is thought that if students can ‘read’ and define the vocabulary they are reading, then they also comprehend what is read. True comprehension goes far beyond decoding, however. True comprehension requires visualization of a text, predicting events in the text, making inferences about the text and clarifying what is not

Like many of my fellow classmates, I too was a bit skeptical of the idea of analyzing picture books. After reading countless amounts of picture books throughout my lifetime, I never thought twice about the possibility that those pictures that I would casually skim over would actually have much more meaning and depth to them. While reading Moebius’, Introduction to Picturebook Codes, I found myself recalling two picture books, Verdi and Stellaluna; these two books were read to me every night when I was a child. I really enjoyed reading about all the ways one can interpret different parts of a picture in a picture book. I thought it was very fascinating that a character’s experiences may be represented by the thickness and thinness of lines.

I chose to read and comment on Barbara Kiefer’s “Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.” Kiefer’s main point in writing this essay was to get the message across that children enjoy picture books that allow them to identify and make connections with the characters or the plots, and that while reading and analyzing the pictures, they gain a better sense of aesthetics and how to interpret them.

Encourages children to read familiar stories independently by relating illustrations to the text. (Vukelich & Christie, 2004, p.8)

Even before a young child can read or write they learn the alphabet as the beginning of interpreting the process of reading and writing. Equally a small child can generally recognise popular signs and symbols, such as the “M” for McDonalds or the Coke symbol before they can read. Just as society associates signs and symbols with various meanings, artists convey their thinking, beliefs and feelings to the audience through their works. This can be described as visual language or how images are used to communicate messages. This communication is vital to