This is a simple and powerful project to engage kids in reading aloud and to integrate drawing into your class, especially with younger children. Kids create their own pictures from reading along in a chapter book.

Recommended Time

Approximately 15 to 20 minutes per day.

Goals

• To more actively engage children in classroom reading
• To provide practice in drawing.

Materials and Equipment

• An appropriate chapter book
• Sheets of blank paper
• Markers and crayons.

Before You Begin

You can do this project without prerequisites, but you may want to save it until you have covered the basic compositional forms for drawing.

Step 1: Select a Book

In addition to other daily activities, we suggest reading one chapter a day from a book. Select one that's appropriate for the age of your kids and has many good illustrations, such as Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. Other good choices for younger kids are The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. For children in the upper grades, try Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis or Holes by Louis Sachar. Also see our list of recommended children's books.

Step 2: Read Aloud and Discuss

In class, read the chapter aloud. When finished, begin a short discussion of what you just read. Start with a simple, broad question, such as, "Can you tell me what happened in the first chapter?" Follow by asking more specific questions until you've reviewed such basics as introduction of new characters and any major events.

Step 3: Create a Template

With the kids watching, use a word processor at the computer to create a page for drawing. Most of the page should remain blank. At the top, type the title of the book and the chapter number and name (if it has one), in medium-sized type, like this:

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Chapter 1: The Three Farmers

Talk to the kids while you're doing it, asking them to supply the information for what you're typing. When you are finished, print out one copy of the page for each student.

Step 4: Draw the Illustrations

Pass out the pages and have the kids work in pairs to copy one of the illustrations in that chapter. Have several copies of the book available, or simply photocopy the illustrations from that chapter the night before and pass them out as models.

Repeat this process every day with each new chapter.

Step 5: Make a Book

Once you've finished reading the book and the kids have drawn the last page, have them create their own covers, either on paper or on the computer, including their own names as the illustrator. Work with the kids to bind the cover and pages together into their own books.

Variations

• Compose and print the blank pages the night before.
• Instead of copying drawings, have the kids draw a picture of their own that reflects the activity in the chapter.
• Instead of giving the kids a choice of illustrations every day, from time to time lead a guided drawing exercise in which you have them draw a particular illustration using the basic compositional forms.
• Have the kids draw the pictures on the computer in a program like KidPix, adding the titles themselves.