The Power of Series Books and Wordless Picture Books in the Reading Workshop--Gretchen Taylor and Franki Sibberson

1. The Power of Series Books and
Wordless Picture Books in
Reading Workshop
Gretchen Taylor and Franki Sibberson

2. Welcome!
5 minutes Text Complexity + Close Reading
15 minutes Series Books
15 minutes Wordless Books
15 minutes Browse + Think

3. District Goals
● Establish and communicate relevant learning
goals
● Create differentiated experiences to
maximize the learning for all students

4. How can series and wordless books support readers in
reading more complex texts?
● Qualitative: structure, language,
knowledge demands
● Quantitative: readability
● Reader: motivation, knowledge,
experiences
● Task: complexity generated by the
task assigned, questions posed

5. What Does Text Complexity Mean in
Grades 3-8
Reading across an entire, longer story
Struggling through meaning
Author’s meaning-text evidence
Longer intro to story/action
Inferring events in a plot
Understanding beyond what is written on the page
Keeping track of characters, change in setting, dialogue
Internal and external conflict
Follow a characters’ changes over time/Really knowing characters
Metaphor and symbolism
Understanding big message and theme of a book
Settings that are unfamiliar and settings that are more important
Reading about topics/issues unrelated or uninterested in
Beyond pulling facts
More complex vocabulary and text features
Text Structure-flashbacks, elapsed time, different chapters focus on different character, etc.

6. “Students deserve instruction that
moves them forward as readers and
thinkers and values their unique
experiences and needs. Finding the
balance is not impossible. We can teach
students how to read closely and fall in
love with reading.”
Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts
Text Complexity + Close Reading

7. Supporting Independent Reading

8. Text Complexity + Close Reading
Close reading is when a reader
independently stops at moments in a
text (or media or life) to reread and
observe the choices an author has
made. He or she reflects on those
observations to reach for new
understandings that can color the way
the rest of the book is read (or song
heard or life lived) and thought about.

9. Curators, Not Collectors
“We should be curators of our libraries, not just collectors.
Offering students an engaging, diverse classroom library
requires more than buying books and putting them on
bookshelves….Managing a classroom library requires curation-
selecting the best most current materials for both curriculum
needs and student interests.”
Donalyn Miller, Reading in the Wild p. 80

10. The Power of
Series Books

11. Series Books...
“After a couple of books, the central
character becomes familiar, predictable.
It is easier to predict how DW will
respond after having read several Arthur
books, which means that you have read
a lot about DW and her brother”
Richard Allington

12. Moving Readers Forward by Valuing Series Books

13. Identity and Agency

14. Wordless and Series Books
Reader Identity

15. Agency
What do you bring to the text as a reader?

16. What can you expect as a reader?

17. “The goal of reading ladders, is to slowly
move students from where they are to
where we would like them to be. With
reading ladders you start with the
authors, genres, or subjects your readers
like then connect them to book after
book—each a little more complex or
challenging than the last.”
Teri Lesesne
Text Complexity + Close Reading

18. A Year of Read Aloud-3rd Grade

19. Rump by Liesl Shurtliff
How can this book expand the
conversation?
How can this book help students
meet the standards?
How can this book meet the needs of
students at different levels of
reading?
What have we read that they can
build on?
What charts might support good
talk?
Why is this the best “next read”?

21. Wordless
Picture Books

22. Teaching the Reader, Not the Book...
“We need to teach each
student the way readers think
as they read, not what to
think, helping them to
experience texts as readers,
rather that putting specific
thoughts about texts into their
heads.”

23. Instructional Considerations
Teacher modeling
Reading with intention
● Details that make us wonder
● Details that repeat
● Consider message as we read
Experience/practice

24. Fueling Inferential Thinking
When I predict…
● I unpack the story one bit at a time
● I slow down and notice details
● I keep my mind in the text -- use evidence to put my ideas together
● I notice patterns in the text
● I ask myself, is this reasonable? What’s probable?
*Brainstormed with Donna Eltringham, RSE

25. Unpacking the Standards
Reading Anchor Standard 3
Key Ideas and Details
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or
ideas develop and interact over the course of a
text.

26. Unpacking the Standards
Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5
RL. 3.3. Describe characters
in a story (e.g., traits,
motivations, or feelings)
and describe how their
actions contribute to the
sequence of events
RL 4.3. Describe in depth a
character, setting, or event in
a story or drama, drawing on
specific details in the text
(e.g., character’s words,
thoughts, or actions).
RL. 5.3. Compare and
contrast two or more
characters, settings, or events
in a story or drama, drawing
on specific details in the text
(e.g., how characters
interact).

27. Unpacking the Standards
Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
RL. 6.3. Describe how a
particular story’s or drama’s
plot unfolds in a series of
episodes as well as how the
characters respond or
change as the plot moves
toward a resolution.
RL. 7.3. Analyze how
particular elements of a story
or drama interact (e.g. how
setting shapes the
characters or plot).
RL. 8.3. Analyze how
particular lines of dialogue
or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action,
reveal aspects of a
character, or provoke a
decision.

28. Sidewalk Flowers: Complex Thinking
First read: What does it
say?
(Notice/Wonder/Enjoy)

29. Sidewalk Flowers: Complex Thinking
Second read: What do you
notice about how each of
the two characters interact
with the setting and with
each other?
RL. 5.3. Compare and contrast two or more
characters, settings, or events in a story or
drama, drawing on specific details in the text
(e.g., how characters interact).

30. Thinking About Characters

31. Scaffolding Instruction: Problem and Solution

32. Evaluating Wordless Books
● A Good First Look at Title
● Significance of word
“circle”
● Accessible theme