Stories Without Words

1
Stories Without Words

• Ways to incorporate wordless books into your
  classroom
• Deborah Buckman
• Latham School

2
Definition

• Wordless books (stories without words) are books
  that contain illustrations but no text, allowing
  students to use their imagination to create their
  own stories.

3
Benefits

• Illustrations can be read with varying story
  lines, which makes them appropriate for readers
  of all ages.
• Creativity is encouraged. There is no perfect
  storyline.
• Pre-readers, struggling readers and ELL students
  can be successful with them.
• Universally understood, able to read foreign
  versions.

4
Mini Lesson Ideas

• Dialogue (Speech Bubbles)
• Setting development
• Character descriptions
• Sequencing of events
• Story development
• Alternate storylines
• Comprehension

5
Projects

• Digital Storytelling
• Using scanned images from the book, student
  writes story and records using Photo Story or
  iMovie.
• Great for portfolios and Parent nights.
• Collaborated Classroom Books
• Take book apart and laminate the pages for
  protection. Each student receives 1 page of the
  book and writes what is happening. Collect
  pictures, place on document camera as each
  student reads their corresponding story.

6
More Projects

• Pair Share Writing
• 2 students work collaboratively to write the
  words for the story.
• Author/Illustrators
• Younger student draws their own book and the
  older student (5th grade buddy) writes or types
  the dictated story.

7
Activity

• Pass out a page or two from a wordless book.
• Write a brief paragraph or sentence about the
  picture you received.
• Collect the pictures but keep your written paper.
• Show the picture on a document camera and have
  the person read what they wrote to correspond to
  their picture.
• Collect the papers and bind into a class book.