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by Cindy 6 Comments

Using Picture Books to Teach Writing Styles

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I {heart} picture books for so many reasons.  One giant reason is their ability to teach so many in depth concepts in such non-intimidating ways that students often don’t see fear in the lessons that follow.  One such example is writing.

I can’t tell you the times I’ve been asked by homeschooling parents to tutor their children in writing or teach a writing class or point them to the perfect writing curriculum.  It seems as if writing is one of the big, scary monsters of homeschooling.  But it doesn’t have to be hard!

You have masters of writing at your fingertips every single day who can help guide much of the writing instruction in your home.  These masters are the authors of really good living literature!

Picture books are great tools to teach writing styles! Great lesson ideas here!

Over the last several months, I’ve been sharing ideas to help you learn how to use living literature – picture books specifically – to teach various writing styles to your middle and high school students.  In those posts, you can read much about my reasoning for using picture books in the upper grade levels.  Suffice it to say for now that if the goal is teaching good writing, you want writing lessons that are manageable and picture books provide wonderful examples of writing styles within a reasonable time frame.

I just know you’re going to enjoy these lesson ideas – and I think your children really will too!  As I write new posts on this topic, I’ll add them here.  You may want to pin this post so you can check in for new lesson ideas.

Using Picture Books to Teach Writing: The Posts

NarrativePersuasiveBiographyExpositoryVoiceLiterary techniquesText Structure

 

Using Picture Books To Teach Writing: The Training

If you need a little extra help to understand how to use picture books to help your children learn to write well in various styles, I put together a video training for you! In the 90-minute video, I walk you through several examples of picture books as mentors and how to practically add them to your schedule.

  • Teaching writing to children doesn't have to be hard. Learn how to use picture books to help children in 5th-12th grades learn to write well.
    How To Teach Writing With Picture Books Masterclass
    $15.00
    Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 1 customer rating
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Last Updated: August 15, 2020 Filed Under: Charlotte Mason, Creative Homeschooling, High School, Language Arts, Middle School Tagged With: biographies, literature lessons, living books, living literature, mentor texts, picture books, Writing

Previous Post: « Using Picture Books To Teach Biography Writing
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  1. Emily R. says

    December 29, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    Hi, Cindy!
    I have followed you for years and really appreciate all you do! Your blog has educated me in so many ways.

    I’m wanting to use your picture book method to teach my middle schooler writing. I hope this doesn’t seem like a ridiculous question, but I’m just wondering where you would recommend starting. Literary technique?

    Thanks so much!
    Emily

  2. Cindy says

    December 29, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    Emily, it warms my heart to know you’ve found some useful things here! 🙂

    Not a ridiculous question at all! You can certainly begin teaching whatever you like first, but I tend to find narratives the easiest for children to understand. Then, I typically move right in to biographies or persuasive writing. Once my children have a little experience with each of these, I’ll go through a few lessons in literary techniques and text structure so they begin learning how to spice up their writings a bit.

    I like them to have the basics of each type of writing down before adding in the spice. It’s fun to watch each subsequent narrative/biography/persuasive writing get SO much better after the literary techniques and text structure is introduced!

  3. Bernadette M. Green says

    September 22, 2018 at 8:41 am

    I would love to try this with my 8th grade class. This may sound dumb but how would you model this? I’m thinking about gradual release before they actually y apply the skill on their own. I’m trying to figure out what the best way is to roll it out for the first time.

  4. Cindy says

    September 22, 2018 at 10:13 am

    Bernadette, if you’ll click on one of the images for the writing style you’d like to teach, you should find the information you’re looking for. 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. 100 Resources, Lessons, and Ideas for Teaching Language Arts Naturally - Heart-to-Heart Homeschooling says:
    May 17, 2019 at 6:53 pm

    […] Make it fun even for older students. Check out Using Picture Books to Teach Writing Styles from Our Journey […]

  2. Practical Ways to Implement the Charlotte Mason Method with Cindy West ~ says:
    July 1, 2019 at 11:00 pm

    […] books are a favorite of Cindy’s to collect and she even has a wonderful article about how you can even teach high school age children writing styles using picture […]

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When my boys were little, I loved reading these “letters from God” to them as blessings to start the day.
As I was sorting bookshelves earlier this month, I stumbled across this sweet book again. I decided the blessings are still as pertinent today for my bigger boy as they were years ago. So, we’re starting our day yet again with a quick, but powerful “letter from God” before jumping into our daily Bible studies.
Do you do anything special to start your day off on the right foot? I’d love to hear about it!
Click the link in my bio for a link to the book.
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Winter homeschooling can be tough in normal years. Winter homeschooling can be tough in normal years. It’s cold, the days are dark, and everyone’s cooped up together 24/7. That’s a recipe for the winter blahs to march right into your house and wreak havoc on attitudes and motivation.⠀
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This year’s winter is unlike any other and those blahs may have actually settled in long before now. If you or your children are feeling down, anxious, or bored with school, are “at” each other constantly, bouncing off the walls, or tears and fighting are the norm…the blahs are there.⠀
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We’ll tackle all sorts of problems the blahs bring with them with very practical  ideas that are easy to implement! ⠀
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Oh, what peace this quote brings to my soul. It’ Oh, what peace this quote brings to my soul. It’s true, you know. I’ve told my children for years that it only takes a nature walk to see God through His handiwork and to know that His promises are true.⠀
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When the world seems to be falling apart around you, the sun never stops shining. The seasons never stop moving. Without a single, solitary effort of human hands, the woodlands still buzz with life.⠀
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A student of nature can see the consistency in cycles and notice the incredible and creative intricacy of even the smallest specimen and be in awe that we truly serve a God who isn’t unaware of even one tiny detail in our world right now. ⠀
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Life kind of seems overwhelming, though, I know. Remember when I said my motto lately has been to just put one foot in front of the other to do the next right thing? Nature walks (even when it’s cold) never fail me as a right thing. ⠀
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Breathe, friend. Take a nature walk today and let God speak to your soul.⠀
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It might seem trite to post a winter picture book It might seem trite to post a winter picture book list right now, but I’m a big believer in keeping things as normal as possible in my home when things aren’t so normal otherwise.⠀
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It’s the principle of putting one foot in front of the other as you simply do the next right thing. Good books almost always can be a “next right thing” choice.⠀
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Even though I’m not homeschooling younger children anymore, I’ll probably never stop sharing wonderful picture book ideas with you. 🤓 I’ve spent way too many hours reading and collecting to ever stop loving them!⠀
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Eli and I may not be using these books right now, but they are still some of my favorites for winter reading. Whatever may be going on around you, the winter months are always a good time of year to get in lots of extra reading. Snuggling and hot chocolate are optional, but encouraged.⠀
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Click the link in my bio to find a blog post about these books + some of our favorite winter chapter books, too!⠀
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We celebrated a 14th birthday over Christmas break We celebrated a 14th birthday over Christmas break! 🎉🎁🎂🏀🥰
I love being auntie to a sweet baby again! 😍 I love being auntie to a sweet baby again! 😍
Merry Christmas from the Wests! 🎄 Merry Christmas from the Wests! 🎄
Christmas picture books are some of my very favori Christmas picture books are some of my very favorite books of all time. I’ve spent years collecting new ones here and there (and will probably continue collecting for years to come because there are at least a few favorites I still don’t own).🤗🤫⠀
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When the kiddos were younger, I would sometimes wrap each of the books and place them in a basket near the Christmas tree. 🎁 Each morning during December, one of my children would choose a book to unwrap and that was the one we would read for the day. Oh, such precious memories!⠀
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This year, even though my youngest is in 8th grade, the books are not hidden away! I’ve found a creative way to read them with Eli. We’re using them as mentor texts for his own stories during language arts. #sneakysmart (He’s writing some pretty great stories, too!)⠀
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Click the link in my bio if you’d like to see my entire list of picture book favorites for the Christmas season!🎄If you’d like to know more about using picture books to teach writing to older kids, search “writing with picture books masterclass”on my website.⠀
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