Visualize and Connect with Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorite children's authors. Her literature is so rich!
Let's Go Home walks you through each of the rooms of the house. She beautifully describes the features of each room in a house, starting with the porch, continuing into the living room, etc. The descriptions are precious and they really will make you feel sentimental about your own home.

SO, there are three ways I have used this book:

1.Visualize...You can have the kids divide a piece of paper into sections. As you read about each room, have students draw or write about what they are visualizing as they listen to the descriptions. I don't show them the pictures. I love to ask them questions about what they are seeing, such as "What color is the couch you are seeing?" or "Does the living room you are seeing have a fireplace?" They may not even be aware of how they are picturing things until but you draw attention to what they are picturing in their mind. The kids loved this.

2.Connect...After I have done visualizing, then I like to use it for connecting. Students can easily make connections to the text because they all have a home. Students can discuss what the story reminds them of in their lives. The pictures are super detailed and lend themselves to discussion. Even my most beginning English Language Learners can use these pictures to point to objects that they know. Just makes for great conversation!

3.Writing Ideas...Going right along with connecting, you can have students connect to the text by thinking about memories they have of each room in their house and writing them down. Seriously, the pictures in this book get your mind going, it made me come up with several memories about my home that I could write.


**I have done these lessons with 2nd graders and with 5th graders and both enjoyed it very much! You could probably even do it with K-1 and just discuss the pictures and have them describe their own homes.

***I can't read this book without thinking of my parent's home. So, I gave it to my mom last year for Christmas to thank her for the nurturing home she has always provided for our family. The book even has a page about a home at Christmas. Love it!

The Movie in Your Mind: Visualization Activities

I know I know I know, I have probably posted about this book 4 times, but seriously, SO GOOD. Every lesson in here is so valuable, and I'm working through all of them...



So, in this book she discusses the importance of teaching kids about visualization. I feel like many of my kids struggle to form good mental pictures as they read which hinders their comprehension. It is great to discuss this and make them aware of their own mental pictures. I took several ideas from her book and made them my own.

One idea I love is having students write or draw their mental images as they hear various pieces of music. I used music from The Nutcracker, The Jurassic Park theme, and a few other pieces that had different tones. I LOVED hearing what kids were picturing when they heard the music. I think it is so cool to make them aware of what they are seeing in their mind.

Then, we used this book to help us continue our practice...



This book is perfect for visualization because it is hilarious, the chapters are short, and the descriptions of the students and teachers definitely paint a good picture in your head!



Here is what a few of my kids drew to represent their thoughts! Fun!

Reflection Art

Oh blog friends, life has been CRAZY! I have neglected this little blog due to me putting together my Master's Portfolio/Presentation. I am almost finished, and will present in three weeks. I have so have many posts to catch up on! We have been doing many fun things lately; similes and metaphors, visualizing lessons, history, etc. But for today, I will show you a little art lesson that my kids did recently. I thought it was neat, because it really made them think outside the box as they put together a design. My E.A. taught this lesson, so I'm not sure where exactly it came from, but here is how we did it!

First, fold a piece of paper in half and write your name on the fold. It works best if your name is in cursive. It also works best to use a pastel or go over it multiple times to help with the next step...



Fold the paper in half and rub on it, so that the crayon/pastel transfers to the other side, making the reflection! Then, you can go over it to make it bold.



Then, encourage the kids to create a design, creature, monster with their name reflection. If you want the lesson to really really focus on reflection you could have them incorporate that into their coloring. Or, you could simply let them have at it. However, we tried really hard to have them color it reflectively. Super cute!



I thought they turned out super cute!!



I think they all look like cute little monsters!



Happy Friday!!