
Cross Posted from innovatingplay.world Written By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey
As we explored the concept of winter, we used books by Jan Brett to build connections to literature and her craft as an author and illustrator. In this Extended Reading experience, children were given the opportunities to make connections to the author and define their own craft. Jan Brett’s work is inspired by places in her home, so children drew and labeled special places in their homes. Jan also illustrates the pictures in her books, so students took on creating their own characters with two mediums: drawing and sculpting with Play Doh/clay. Children were also given the opportunity to compose their opinions by leaving a book review rating on Flipgrid. Our goal was to help the kids transfer the experience of literacy beyond the words in a book by looking closely at how Jan Brett creates so they could see how THEY can create. Children rotated through these small group centers throughout the week and utilized these slides:
innovatingplay.world/janbrett
This author study does not have to stop at school, it can be continued at home so that they can discover together in new ways. Jessica created an Adobe Spark Page to share what was happening in class with the Jan Brett author study, and how it can be furthered at home with families. Check it out here!