January Theme: Organization
Happy New Year! Over the next five months (and last month!), I will take each month to focus on picture books that you can use with each of the Six Traits of Writing. Each month will be dedicated to a new trait.
This month’s theme is Organization. How can we use picture books to model for students how authors choose to organize their writing?
Recommended Grades: 4-6
Harriet Tubman: The Life Of An African-American Abolitionist (Graphic Nonfiction)
is just that, a book about the life
of Harriet Tubman. Obviously a bit longer than a picture book, the story is told in pictures through a comic book type organization (also known as graphic novels, etc.). Since this is nonfiction, the book also has features of nonfiction including a table of contents, diagrams, photographs, glossary, and index.
Lesson idea: The graphic nature of this book is a great way to engage kids in nonfiction topics. Read aloud this book or parts of it. Discuss with students how the author organized factual information into a graphic format and still used nonfiction features. Have students choose an informational topic of their own to write about. Use this book as a model for students to write their own graphic nonfiction.
If you are looking for additional resources and ways to teach organization to students, find past posts under the Organization tag.
**Note** I provide these lesson ideas under the assumption that you are familiar with The Six Traits of Writing. If you are not, and would like more information on teaching students about organization or any other six traits component, please feel free to contact me at Dlittle[at]linkstoliteracy[dot]com. I am happy to provide more specific lessons or resources if necessary.
©2011 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.
is another book in the National Geographic Kids 
