Activity Plan 4-5: Books Without Words

Materials:

• holiday greeting cards
• oaktag or construction paper
• children's safety scissors
• hole punch
• glue sticks
• yarn

Objective: Children will recycle greeting cards to create Wordless picture books that encourage language development, storytelling, and math skills.

In Advance: Send a note home to families and school personnel requesting donations of used greeting cards that the children will use to create wordless books. Place several wordless picture books on the classroom bookshelves so children can become familiar with this genre.

ACTIVITY

1 "Read" a wordless storybook to your class and encourage them to engage in the storytelling process as the book progresses. When you're finished with the story, ask them what they enjoyed about the process of "reading" a wordless book. What are the differences between a wordless book and a book with words? What are the similarities?

2 Select a few greeting cards and use them to tell a story. Encourage the children to help you build the story. Then, ask them to imagine how they could use the greeting cards they have collected to make a wordless book.

3 Invite children to choose several cards each. Then provide the class with scissors, glue sticks, and construction paper for them to use to mount their cards. Help children write a title for their book and number the pages. Offer them different options for binding their books by providing a stapler or a hole punch and yarn.

4 Now, children can share their wordless books during group time-or any time. If you keep the books available, you will probably find that children will enjoy taking turns reading their classmates' books, aloud and listening to the variety of stories that can be told with one book.

5 Children might also enjoy creating wordless books to use in various curriculum areas in the classroom. For instance, a book in the block area might show the geometric shapes that correspond with the block shapes or diagrams for building different kinds of structures.

Curriculum Connection: CREATIVE THINKING

On the Calender: The start of a new year is the perfect time to ask parents to donate last year's calendars! Use interesting calendar photographs at meeting time to engage children in discussions that build language skills. Invite them to describe what they see in the pictures.