VISUALIZING

This year we began talking about visualizing with our students. There are some amazing books out there which are great for this strategy.
One is Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsberg, however our kids read this in 3rd grade, so I was looking for something else.
Helen Ketteman writes some hilariously funny stories, and visualizing them is equally as enjoyable.
I introduced the strategy by reading Luck With Potatoes aloud. I didn't show the students the cover or any of the pictures. While I was reading, they closed their eyes in order to "make a movie in their head". After every few pages I had them turn and talk to a neighbor about what they were picturing.  I also had them draw a scene from the story. The language the author uses really helped them to picture the small details about the story events.

Students then got the opportunity to practice visualizing with another story by Ketteman, Heat Wave. Instead of reading the book to them, I typed the book out and gave them each a page, picture free (Click here for the Google Doc). Students then took turns to read their pages to the class, and then illustrated each. We were then able to make a class book with their visualizations.

It was so neat to have the kiddos make their own book. After having it displayed for the duration of our lesson, I hole punched the pages and put them into a 3 clasp folder to make a "Class Book". And voila. The best part is, the kids love to read and reread the story because the art came from them.