What Do Illustrators Do? by Eileen Christelow was analyzed in class to help reinforce the comprehension skill of sequencing and compare/contrast. "Outstanding descriptions and illustrations describing how two illustrators working on the same story can get very different results - Jack and the Beanstalk. Both illustrators talk about the book size and shape, concepts such as point of view and perspective, and decisions about typeface and medium ... Christelow shows how the same illustration would look if presented in pencil as opposed to felt-tip pen, or watercolor as opposed to colored pencil."
As a writing extension to this story, each child chose their own unique object to create a "How to Draw" booklet. Even the simplest drawing such as a smiley face was broken into six, detailed instruction pages with step by step illustrations. Students focused on using an appropriate transition word (First, next, then, after that, etc) to enhance the instructions. These adorable drawing books were traded and shared and will be coming home soon!
