"FLOTSAM" by David Wiesner

The wordless book and me chilling in the home-schooling corner.

THE BOOK:

"FLOTSAM" is Wiesner's award-winning wordless picture book that follows a boy's discovery of a washed up camera--the flotsam--at the beach. The boy soon discovers the camera is special, perhaps magical, camera film that has miraculously survived the ocean. He devlops the film and discovers photos of an underwater world, living, mechanical, and fantasy. (I would also like to point out this book has the first-ever documented use of a selfie-stick... well... kinda.)

USE THE BOOK:

This book is great for sharing with groups or one-on-one with kids, grades preK to third grade. I can see this being liked by upper elementary children who still have a love for fantasty, and perhaps again in art classes, grades 7-12--it is a beautiful piece of art.

Focus on The Writing Process: 

I like to use wordless texts to support writing and storytelling. One of the best tips I have for teachers who are trying to build writing into their classrooms is to SLOW IT DOWN and BREAK IT APART. Often we throw kids into writing without the pre-thinking that is required. Plus, we need to model the WRITING PROCESS and what real writing feels like. So here is one way to do this...

Grade Levels: 1, 2, 3

Materials Needed:

Chart paper
Markers

1. "Read" the book by showing the pictures. Don't add a verbal narrative; let the pictures do the talking--remember, silence is golden.

2. Afterwards, ask the children to turn to a neighbor and "tell the narrative" in five sentences or less--explain the narrative is the storyline and the major events.

3. Have kids share their points of interest in the story. Tell them this is what writers call, "brainstorming".

4. Now validate their ideas by "reading" the book again. As you read, stop to note what happens on each page. On the chart paper, write one to two sentences explaining what has happened. Have the children construct these sentences by calling on one child to dictate the sentence (or two). They needn't be perfect--you will edit them later. Tell the kids this is the "draft".

A sample page of the "draft".

5. After you have written a sentence for each page, have the children analyze the complete story. Ask them, "If we only wanted to keep the sentences that were essential to the narrative, which would we keep?" Then circle the five essential sentences. In many cases, you will decided to edit your list--for instance, you will probably take the pages with all the photos of the sea creatures and sum it up into one, cohesive sentence: "David saw pictures of animals, machines, aliens, and more in the photographs." Either way, tell them "This is editing."

The first round of editing.

Round two of editing, with circled essential sentence.

6. Next, tell the kids these points are essential to the story, without them we would be unable to understand the narrative. Illustrate this by reading through the book once more. Read their sentences for each of the "non-essential" sentences and skip over the pages that contain the five sentences that are "essential". (In some cases you will literally show three pages of the book.)

7. Now tell the class everything circled is essential, but all of the additional sentences are supporting details that elaborate and enhance the work--basically, they make the story better. Ask the children to each identify their favorite detail on the list and share it with a partner. Tell them when a storyteller adds these details it is another form of "editing".

8. Talk to the kids about how what they did was the writing process: They identified the main story with a partner (brainstorming), wrote it out in sentences (drafting), fixed it when something needed to be clearer (editing), and selected details that would make the story more interesting to readers (further editing).

9. Now that they have gone through the process with the group, have them write out the full story of "FLOTSAM" on their own. Have each child use the five essential sentences in their stories--you may wish to even type these out and leave gaps in the work like the sample below. Between each sentence, the child must provide at least one sentence (or if doing this with older kids one paragraph) elaborating on the big idea.

The ideas the kids share are typed out.
They fill in the details in between sentences.

    
Discussions/Writing Prompts:

Use these prompts to talk about the book with your kids, or you can have them write their responses. Remember, picture books don't need to stop in second grade!

One of many "photos" from the book.

1. If you could be there when one of the photos was taken, which photo would you pick? Why?

2. Do you think David (the boy) can convince others of his experience? Why or why not?

3. What elements of this book let you know it is a fantasy?

4. What happens after the last page? To the boy? To the girl?

5. Look at the title page of the book.  Most of them are not featured in the actual story. Why would the illustrator include them?

I hope you enjoy "FLOTSAM"... And remember to keep your eyes open the next time you are walking along the beach!


Happy learning! 

"The Flower Man" by Mark Ludy

THE BOOK:
Mark Ludy created a wordless picture book about a man who moves into a colorless world and brings color to it through his care, kindness, and foliage that follow him.  There are a bunch of random story lines, if you look for them, and kids enjoy looking at the Hallmark-lady-styled characters (Maxine is her name, I guess).  The story goes quickly, in this 10-12 page double-spread story (21 printed pages in all), and has dozens of characters whose lives are changed by the Flower Man coming to town. It is perfect for ages 5 on up to enjoy a unique story--younger kids, however, seem a little bored and slightly overwhelmed by all the details.

Me and "The Flower Man"

USE THE BOOK:

This book would be a good one to start conversations with your kids. It is not one that I'd use for large groups of children; it would work well in small groups or for writing and discussion. I highly suggest using it in groups of 4-6 during writers' workshop. Here are some ideas for you to steal...

1. Write the Words to the Wordless Picture Book:
This would be a fun, visual writing prompt. Have each follow the full story of The Flower Man, and then have them each write what is happening holistically. Don't let students just focus on one small storyline; have them consider what a picture book author would say for the entire page. For an added bonus, have each child create a "secret last page" for the book. They can each draw an accompanying picture of what happens after the book ends. I find this is an interesting task to consider what the author would have said in his narrative. With older children you can consider narrators (e.g first, second, third person limited, third person omniscient). This will help them focus on the BIG IDEA of the work.

2. Characterization Activity:

Ask the kids to write a narrative, at least four sentences in length, focusing on one subordinate character. My suggestion is to have kids first find a character they think is interesting on page one. Without telling anyone in the room (this becomes important later), the child will write one sentence for each page of action. Once each child's description is complete, have students read their writing in front of the class without physically pointing out which character they have chosen. If the class can identify who the character is by the end of a child's piece, there is enough detail in the child's writing. If not, the child needs to add more detail to his/her work. For instance, a child may write:

He dozed off. Nothing could wake him. He sat there, ignoring the world around him. 

If this is all a child wrote, there isn't enough to distinguish this character from the others--it could be the old man on the bench or the fat man in the tub. Thus, she/he needs more description. Like this:

He dozed off on the bench. Nothing could wake him. He sat there, ignoring the world around him. That is, until The Flower Man tiptoed past him. He lifted his left eye and smirked at the old man.

The above sentence, thanks to the specific nouns of "bench" and "Flower Man", let us know which character is described.

The game can develop into which student can identify the character first (thanks to the great descriptive narrative), or which writer can keep his/her character a secret until the third or fourth sentence. Whatever the task, the fun is in the sharing and revealing that word choice matters. 

For younger kids, they could verbalize their ideas, but encourage them to write! Gibberish to you is writing to them! Write, write, write!

3. SWBSTF:
Have students select three characters in the book using the SWBSTF Method (Somebody wants, but, so, then, finally) to understand the structure of story lines embedded in the book. For instance, the obese man in the bathtub may be a good example... we'll call him Herb.  A student who selects Herb would write: 

One of the many characters from the book.

Herb is bored and wants something to do, but he is alone and in a bathtub. A bird comes to Herb's window, so Herb doesn't feel alone. Then the bird gives Herb the idea to see the outdoors. Finally, Herb climbs up to the top of the roof, clad only in his bath towel, and joins the birds. Thankfully, Herb doesn't feel alone anymore.

This process helps students see the basic structure to any story. I suggest modeling it with The Flower Man himself.

4. Discussions/Writing Prompts:

Use these prompts to talk about the book with your kids, or you can have them write their responses. Remember, picture books don't need to stop in second grade!

1. Why does the community change when the Flower Man comes to town?
2. How can that change happen in our community?
3. Do you think everyone is happy about the change in the community? Why or why not? Support your ideas with evidence.
4. Since we only get one view of the street, we don't see what is happening anywhere else. What other stories do you think are happening behind the buildings?
5. What is the difference between a community and a city?




I hope you enjoy "The Flower Man"... And I hope you and your kids learn something from this quick and quirky tale.


Happy learning!