“A Talent For Quiet” – Guardian Angel Publishing on BeThereBedtimeStories.com
I was recently co-teaching in a middle school classroom where the teacher reminded his students that looking at pictures is not a bad thing. I thought it very insightful of him to anticipate that his students might feel this way. They may think that lingering over pictures is babyish or considered “cheating” because it is easy to do. In fact, it is a very powerful reading strategy that comes very naturally to most of us as we are visual creatures.
It would be a huge lost opportunity if students don’t take in the visuals that are on a page before reading the text. Kids seem to go to pictures more easily the younger they are, and then, as they get older, they seem to want to prove that they can just rely on the actual text. So whatever age your young reader is, encourage them to take full advantage of all that photos, pictures or visuals have to add to the page.
“What If…” – Illumination Arts Publishing on BeThereBedtimeStories.com