Today's guest post is brought to you by Jenna, Ashley, Abby, and Staci, DBC, Inc. authors of Keeping the Wonder and The Magic of Wonder.

These ladies connected in 2018 through a mutual love of teaching, learning, and keeping the wonder in education. They host live workshops, offer a virtual professional development library, and inspire wonder-filled classrooms. 

Learn more about the authors at keepingthewonderworkshop.com.

But for now, take a peek at this!

4 Ways to Use Picture Books in Any Classroom

Over 30 years ago, authors Beckman and Diamond wrote about the value of using picture books with kids of all ages to promote learning in English language arts. As educators whose mission is to keep the wonder in schools, we fully embrace this idea all of these years later. 

Picture books aren't just for little kids!

Picture books are for everyone, and their benefits are far-reaching! In fact, picture books provide an accessible way to add varied materials to the curriculum, improve reading comprehension, incorporate visual literacy, stimulate higher-order creative thinking, and introduce vocabulary with rich language. 

As you can tell, we love picture books! In fact, we love them so much we wrote one! The Magic of Wonder is the picture book version of our bestselling educational handbook, Keeping the Wonder.

In this post, we'll cover four ways to keep the wonder in the classroom with picture books!

Surprise with Flashbulb Content

In Keeping the Wonder, we wrote all about harnessing the element of surprise in the classroom. One of the best ways to do it is with flashbulb content, new and unique content that catches students' interests. Picture books are great pieces of flashbulb content in any classroom! 

In the elementary classroom, this can look like a new picture with a unique spin on it, like B.J. Novak's The Book with No Pictures. With adolescents, just pull out a picture book and read it to students. The novelty of the genre is sure to surprise them! They provide the teacher with an excellent opportunity to introduce new and unique lenses for learning.

Wonder Work

Want to teach about "flashbulb memories" with a nonfiction article or during a memoir unit? Surprise your students with a special read-aloud of The Magic of Wonder. Once they learn about the flashbulb memory phenomenon, ask students why they think you began class with a picture book. Chances are, they'll remember your surprising read-aloud for years to come!

Spark Curiosity

Picture books provide an accessible way to spark curiosity by extending a literary concept, theme, or unit of study. They're just the right length to add curious content anytime you're looking to spark curiosity. They can help you add a new lens to interpret important themes and concepts from any class.

Wonder Work

Place common-themed picture books around your room and have students go on a picture book gallery walk. Just like art in a museum, picture books are filled with beautiful images waiting to be explored. If you want more ideas for sparking curiosity at the start of your next unit, read on here: Using Picture Books in High School to Start an ELA Unit.

Give Freedom to Create

Give your students the freedom to create their own picture books, and you will be amazed at their creativity! This is a great standalone literacy activity for emergent readers, or it could be a helpful creativity project for short stories, poetry, or novels. Students create a picture book in a hardcopy format, or they can use a digital application. Some digital options even offer printing services. Check out bookbildr.com and storybird.com, Canva, or Google Slides.

Wonder Work

In The Magic of Wonder, we challenge students to choose a door to find their inspiration. The illustration features an array of doors, big and small. To develop this concept further, give students the freedom to create their own tiny fairy door. They can decorate it any way they choose. Then, ask them to explain what it looks like when they open the door! When given the freedom to create, they will come up with amazing ideas!

Find Inspiration

Picture books are a great place to find lesson-planning inspiration! For example, if you're an ELA teacher, here are 10 picture books that are perfect for teaching literary devices. Because you preview so many so quickly, you're sure to find a fun way to incorporate them into your classroom.

Wonder Work: 

Think about ways you can incorporate picture books into your classroom. Even if you already use picture books for read-alouds, can you think of a new way to adapt them to the classroom? Here are some final ideas to inspire you to create something new today:

• create picture books mimicking the writer's style and diction
• analyze the effectiveness of the illustrations
• write and share a critic's review of the picture book
• analyze the subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and speaker
• give choice with a free-read Friday
• complete a reader response journal entry or free write
• participate in a Socratic Seminar to compare the picture book to the traditional content

Learn More

We hope this post has inspired you to keep the wonder in your classroom with picture books! If you're ready for more, check out our new picture book The Magic of Wonder. Students will enjoy the beautiful illustrations as they discover the elements of wonder: surprise, curiosity, freedom, and inspiration. You'll love the engaging Wonder Work, which is perfect for discussions and extension activities. The Magic of Wonder will show you when you wonder through the world; the possibilities are endless!

- Abigail Gross, Ashley Bible, Jenna Copper, Staci Lamb

Thank You!

Thank you, friends!

Don't forget to connect with the authors of Keeping the Wonder and The Magic of Wonder by clicking these links--Jenna, Ashley, Abby, and Staci.

And you will want to visit their website for more incredible content at keepingthewonderworkshop.com. Plus, click the links to check out their two outstanding DBC, Inc. books, Keeping the Wonder & The Magic of Wonder!

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