Today during our literacy focused curriculum meeting today we talked about wordless books and how they allow children to project their own imaginations on a story. Here are some key reading skills kids build when they read wordless books:
- Comprehension
- Print concepts (in English, we read top to bottom, left to right)
- Sequencing
- Inferring
- Predicting
- Vocabulary
How can a wordless book build a child’s vocabulary? Research led by professors Sandra Gilliam, Ph. D. and Lisa Boyce, Ph. D. from the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University showed that mothers used more complex language when sharing a wordless book with their children than they did when they made comments while reading a book with words. (Utah State University Study Shows Parents Are More Engaged With Their Children When Reading Books Without Text June 07, 2011,http://www.Businesswire.com retrieved June 15, 2012)
And of course, they draw us into a world where even those who struggle with letter recognition can successfully read a fantastic story. Here are some of my favorites
The Tree House by Marije Tolman
The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett
Flora the Flamingo by Molly Idle
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pickney
