Wordless Picture Books As a Key Literacy Element in Kindergarten

In this article in The Reading Teacher, Judith Lysaker and Elizabeth Hopper (Purdue University) say they have no problem with the “pushdown” of literacy expectations to kindergarten, noting that “in many classrooms around the world, children read at the age of 5 and 6.” But they disagree with pushing down parts of the primary-grade literacy curriculum that are developmentally inappropriate. “An early emphasis on specific aspects of print processing and reading subskills may crowd out opportunities for children to develop more broadly as meaning makers,” they say. “The intensity of a code emphasis reflects the assumption that print reading is a completely new experience, demanding a distinctively different set of strategies, separate from the meaning making children have been engaged in since birth.” 

The bridge, say Lysaker and Hopper, is wordless picture books. When kindergarten teachers use these books well, students get practice at reading images and developing a number of early print-related strategies – searching, cross-checking, self-correction, and rereading. Lysaker and Hopper share this selection of wordless books for young readers:

• The Snowman by R. Briggs (Random House, 1978)
• Pancakes for Breakfast by T. DePaola (HMH Books for Young Readers, 1978)
• The Zoo by S. Lee (Kane/Miller Publishers, 2007)
• Yellow Umbrella by J. Liu (Kane/Miller Publishers, 2002)
• Frog, Where Are You? by M. Mayer (Dial, 1969)
• A Boy, A Dog, A Frog, and a Friend by M. Mayer (Dial, 1971)
• Frog on His Own by M. Mayer (Dial, 1973)
• Frog Goes to Dinner by M. Mayer (Dial, 1974)
• One Frog Too Many by M. Mayer (Dial, 1975)
• The Lion and the Mouse by J. Pinkney (Little, Brown, 2009)
• Good Night, Gorilla by P. Rathmann (Putnam Juvenile, 1996)
• Jack and the Missing Piece by P. Schories (Boyds Mills Press, 2004)
• Breakfast for Jack by P. Schories (Boyds Mills Press, 2004)
• Jack and the Night Visitors by P. Schories (Boyds Mills Press, 2006)
• Jack Wants a Snack by P. Schories (Boyds Mills Press, 2008)
• Deep in the Forest by B. Turkle (Puffin, 1992)
• Free Fall by D. Wiesner (Morrow, 1988)

“A Kindergartener’s Emergent Strategy Use During Wordless Picture Book Reading” by Judith Lysaker and Elizabeth Hopper in The Reading Teacher, May 2015 (Vol. 68, #8, p. 649-657) available for purchase at http://bit.ly/1SRAmZF; the authors can be reached at jlysaker@purdue.edu and hoppere@purdue.edu. 

From the Marshall Memo #589