| Literacy Training: Frozen Pictures |
Context: |
| When reading a story to groups of students, tutors may find that children often become restless. Allowing students to create "frozen pictures," or tableaux of the action, can provide physical activity and creative play, while still maintaining focus on the story. After a "frozen picture" break, children will settle back into listening, reading, or other quiet work with renewed attention. To train tutors in this activity, model the technique with them as you would do it with children. |
Goals: |
The "frozen picture" activity allows children to:
- Build verbal and collaborative skills through discussion and negotiation with their peers
- Use their bodies in space to create visual images of the action or plot
- Interpret visual images and relate them to story sequence
- Create unique and individual expressions related to the story
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Materials/Preparation: |
| Pick one good, award-winning children's book to use in this session (adventure stories and stories of children in the community work well). For suggestions, consider your tutors' favorite books, ask a children's librarian, or consult one of the many Web sites with recommended book lists, such as:
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Activity: |
| Read the story aloud to your tutor group (the larger the group, the better). Either complete the book or stop after reading a significant "chunk" of story. Inform the participants that the story publishers are looking for new ideas to illustrate the book and ask if they would be willing to help. Divide the large group into smaller groups of 3-4 tutors/children. Tell them that a good way to discover new ideas for illustrations might be for them to create "frozen pictures," using their own bodies to capture moments from the story. Ask each group to: 1) decide on a favorite scene or event in the story, and 2) create a "frozen picture" to depict it. Check with groups often to answer any questions.
Ask each group to show its "picture" to the whole group, allowing the observers to discuss and interpret what they see. When you have viewed, discussed, and given titles to all the pictures, you can arrange them in sequence for a final viewing to help children recall the sequence of events. |
Key Questions and Points to Remember: |
In groups, the frozen picture activity allows students to:
- Stand up, move, and use physicality and activity to create visual images
- Collaborate and negotiate verbally with peers about story sequence and meaning
- Create new work that interprets existing texts based on shared understanding
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Developed by LEARNS, a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1-800-361-7890) and Bank Street College of Education (1-800-930-5664). For additional activities or assistance, please call. |
