In my first posting, I mentioned "picture walks" as being one way of enjoying a book with your child before reading it with them. When you take a walk in the woods with someone, I would guess that you usually talk about some of the things you see along the way. A "picture walk", then, is time you spend looking at the pictures in the book together and talking WITH your child about what you see. Sometimes when I do this, especially with my two year old, we might just point at pictures and I will ask her to name something. For instance, using Brown Bear, I might point at the bear and ask, " What animal is this?" If she did not know what it was, I would tell her, "It's a brown bear." More often, though, I EXPAND, or talk more about, what we see on a page. This is very important to do often as you read with your child, because it builds up your child's vocabulary, which over time will immensely help with learning to read later on. For instance, today I walked through Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? together with both of my children. The cover of the book shows a large brown bear. I started by asking Megan(age 2) to name the animal, which she did right away. I then pointed to the claws and asked her what they were. She did not know, so I told her they were claws. Then I told both of them that a bear has sharp claws to DEFEND itself from bigger animals. Megan asked, "Why?"
I told her that DEFEND means the bear uses the claws to keep himself safe.
She said, " From lions? Roarrrrr!"
I answered, " Maybe from lions, and other big animals, too." ( I forgot to talk about how a bear uses claws to help catch it's food. This goes to show just how many directions a picture walk can go in.)
Next, I asked Josh, age 5, what time of year it might be in the book. He shrugged his shoulders, and then said, "Summer???"
"Why do you think summer?" (I paused, but got no answer) "What do bears do in winter?" I added.
Josh laid his head on the couch and quickly began snoring- so of course his little sister had to do so too.
Then I added to the idea of bears sleeping. I said, "Yes, you are right. Bears hibernate, or sleep, all winter long."
On the page with the red bird, I asked Megan what color the bird was. After she answered correctly, I asked her to point to the wings. After she pointed to the wings, I gave her more information. I said, "Birds use their wings to fly." Next, I asked her what a bird uses a beak for, and she said, "Tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet." Once again, I repeated her answer and then added more.
I said, "Yes, a bird does use it's beak to say tweet-tweet. It also uses it to eat. It's their mouth."
Next, my children and I talked about the webbed feet on the duck. When I asked them why the duck's feet are webbed, which means all parts of it are connected together, neither of them had an idea. Well, it just so happens that we just got back from an ocean vacation where I went snorkeling in a beachside coral reef, so my kids had seen me using flippers. I asked, " Why did I wear flippers last week when I was snorkeling?"
Josh thought about it, and then, being the active little boy that he is, started pretend swimming. I then said, "Yes, they helped me swim easier, and that's what webbed feet do for ducks, who swim alot.
As you can see so far, using just a few pictures really led to meaningful conversations that helped my kids learn new words and ideas (hibernate, webbed feet, uses of claws and beaks, defense, etc.) Many times today in my picture walk, I had to fill in the answers to my own questions. That is fine. I know many of you reading this may have a child who does not yet talk. That's OK. By asking them questions and waiting for an answer before you say the answer, it lets your child know that you know they will be talking someday. Also, it makes children feel valued when adults talk with them and not AT them.
Now it's your turn. You didn't think this blog was just about reading all my yickety-yak, did you? Using the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? , it's your turn to sit your child on your lap and walk through this book together. I would love to hear how you talked more about one of the animals from the book as you looked at the picture. Let me know! For all of you into technical terms, the technique I used to picture walk through this book today was elaboration. Over time, I will use picture walks for other purposes.
After you walk through this book with your child, keep it handy- we will always use the same book in at least three different ways.
