Wordless picture books are just what they seem to be—beautifully illustrated picture books without any words. Most tell stories with everything you’d expect from a story—a setting, characters, a plot, a crisis, and a resolution. Wordless picture books are a great way to teach reading and writing.
How can you use them to teach?
For a nonverbal toddler, show the pictures and ask the child to show what is happening by acting out the story. Let the child linger over the pictures to gain as much meaning as possible.
For a verbal preschooler who cannot write, show the pictures one at a time, and ask the child to tell you what is happening. To round out the child’s observations, ask questions about emotions shown, relationships of people and animals, and predictions of what will happen next. Ask if the story is scary or silly or serious.
For a child who can write a little, show the pictures and ask the child to write one sentence about each page. Focus on the content of the sentence. Encourage the child to figure out the main idea of a page and write about that. But remind about capital letters and punctuation.
For older elementary grade children, look at the pictures first. Discuss what happens at the beginning, middle and end. Ask about the setting (time and place), what problem needs to be solved, who is the main character/s, who or what opposes that character, and how the character overcomes the problem. Now ask the students to write an outline—not sentences, but words or phrases to remind the students what they want to include in the story. You might share a check list of elements to include. Now have them write the story.
For middle school students, show the story to them once for them to get the gist of it. Then ask the students to write (one word/phrase to a line) the following situations: exposition, inciting action, rising action, crisis, falling action, resolution. Review these words if students seem forgetful. Now show the pages of the book again, slowly, and ask the students to identify what happens in the book for each situation. When done, discuss the student choices and help students match the scenes in the book with the six situations. Now ask the students to write the story.
Where can you find wordless picture books? Search online or, if you have a children’s librarian at your school or public library, ask the librarian. Look for books with enticing illustrations that tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. Two of my favorites are The Fisherman and the Whale by Jessica Lanan and The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee.
You can also use wordless films. A favorite of mine is La Luna by Pixtar.
English Writing Teacher 