As I was looking through my teacher planner from a previous year, I remembered dedicating a week to wordless books with Grades 1-5. Wordless books, are as the name suggests, books WITHOUT words. But the good ones have very intriguing and engaging illustrations.
Barbara Lehman’s ‘The Red Book’ is one of my favorites. To get the most out of such a book, you’ll need some pre-planning. As you focus on each page, pause and jot down some questions you may ask (tailor them to each grade level). Also write down some helpful sentence starters that can help your ELs express themselves. Depending on the level/age of students, you may simply name some nouns in
the picture and go from there. Write the nouns down. Bring realia to the classroom to make the words pop in their minds.
In Lehman’s ‘Red Book’, she skillfully illustrates a scenario where a child finds a red book. Opening it opens up a world of adventures for her.
The illustrations are simple and amazingly engaging! I have seen students with zero English LOVE this book, and open themselves to language acquisition simply because they are bursting to solve the mystery of the story.
David Wiesner is another wordless book author I recommend checking out. Meanwhile, the image shows the first couple of pages from the book. Have you read wordless books or used them as a teaching tool yourself? Would love for you to share your thoughts!
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