Home-to-School Communication: Connections with Wordless Picture Books

Amanda Jones, Monett Elementary School, Monett

Home-to-School Communication: Connections with Wordless Picture Books

Introduction

The Monett community has twenty plus different languages or dialects spoken here. Newcomer families from other countries are on the rise, and there is a constant need to help students learn English as a second language. The purpose of this project is for students to practice their language skills at school and at home by using wordless picture books. These books are an impactful tool that can provide students a way to express their literacy skills. These books can build a child’s confidence while providing visual support. Wordless picture books encourage storytelling while using imagination and rich vocabulary to stimulate language development. 

 

This project has two primary goals:

  • To drive language discussions at home with families.
  • To enhance literacy skills with classmates while building vocabulary.

Step-by-Step Plan

  • Order a variety of wordless picture books, a mobile storage rack, and book pouches to transport books from school to home.
  • Organize the supplies in our English Learner (EL) classroom.
  • Create a multilingual flyer to share with staff and parents on how to best utilize wordless picture books. 
  • Let teachers know that supplies are available in our EL classroom. 
  • Create a “check-out” system to keep track of books.
  • Send books and informational flyer home with our newcomer families.
  • Follow-up with students to see how they used the books and if they enjoyed practicing their language skills with them. 

Timeline

Summer- Research the needs of EL department by reaching out to EL director. 

September- Purchase popular wordless picture books based on the needs of newcomers and emergent bilinguals.

January- Organize materials and set up display.

February/March- Create a flyer for staff and EL families on the ways they can use wordless picture books in the classroom or at home. Send home books with EL families.

April/May- Obtain feedback from teachers, families, and students.

Ongoing- Monitor student language acquisition progress. 

Budget

www.reallygoodstuff.com 

Mid-size mobile storage rack with picture book bins (1 rack, 4 bins)              

Large clear book pouch cool and calm (4 pack) 

Medium clear book pouch cool and calm (36 pack)

 

www.amazon.com 

10 Minutes Till Bedtime Rathmann, Peggy 3-6 

A Ball for Daisy Raschka, Chris 3-6 

A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog Mayer, Mercer 0-3 

Ball Sullivan, Mary 3-6 

Beaver Is Lost Cooper, Elisha 3-6

Brave Molly Boynton-Hughes, Brooke 6-9

Chalk Thomson, Bill 6-9

Field Trip to the Moon Hare, John 3-6

Flashlight Boyd, Lizi 3-6 

Float Miyares, Daniel 3-6 

Flora and the Penguin Idle, Molly 3-6 

Flotsam Wiesner, David *6-9 

Fly! Teague, Mark 3-6 

Fossil Thomson, Bill 6-9 

Found Newman, Jeff and Day, Larry 6-9 

Good Dog, Carl Day, Alexander 3-6 

Good Night Gorilla Rathmann, Peggy 3-6 

Gopher Golf Beckstrand, Karl and Brun, Jordan 3-6 

Hank Finds and Egg Dudley, Rebecca 3-6 

I Walk With Vanessa Kerascoet 3-6 

Journey Becker, Aaron *6-9 

Lines Lee, Suzy *3-6 

Little Fox in the Forest Graegin, Stephanie 3-6 

Mr. Wuffles Wiesner, David 3-6 

My Friend Rabbit Rohmann, Eric 3-6 

Once Upon a Banana Armstrong, Jennifer 3-6

Pancakes for Breakfast dePaola, Tommy 3-6 

Penguin Sets Sail Evans, Jessica Linn 3-6 

Professional Crocodile Zoboli, Giovanni 6-9 

Red Sled Judge, Lita 3-6 

Rosie's Glasses Whamond, Dave 6-9 

Sector 7 Wiesner, David *3-6 

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes Hoban, Tana 6-9 

Shine Griffin, Dagny 6-9 

Sidewalk Flowers Lawson, JonArno & Smith, Sydney *3-6 

Small In the City Smith, Sydney 3-6 

Snowman's Story Hillenbrand, Will 3-6

The Farmer and the Clown Frazee, Marla 3-6 

The Girl and the Bicycle Pett, Mark 3-6 

The Lion and the Mouse Pinkney, Jerry *3-6 

The Red Book Lehman, Barbara 3-6 

The Secret Box Lehman, Barbara 6-9 

The Snowman Briggs, Raymond 3-6 

The Typewriter Thomson, Bill 6-9 

The Wanderer Van Den Ende, Peter *6-9 

Time Flies Rohmann, Eric *3-6 

Tuesday Wiesner, David *3-6 

Unspoken: A Story for Underground Railroad Cole, Henry *6-9 

Wallpaper Lam, Thao 6-9 

Waltz of the Snowflakes Mackay, Elly 3-6 

Wave Lee, Suzy 3-6 

Where's Walrus Savage, Stephen 3-6 

Wolf in the Snow Cordell, Matthew 3-6 

What did it look like?

Sustainability

These books can be used year after year. I ordered book pouches so that the books would be protected while transporting them from school to home. Students and staff members can check out the wordless picture books from our EL classroom. These books have been organized by our ELA themed units. My plan is to apply for additional grants, so that we have a variety of themed books for classroom teachers. At school, wordless picture books will provide our EL students with extra background knowledge that coincides with our vocabulary. For home use, these books will promote future family engagement and literacy. 

Reflections

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved reading books. When I had children of my own, I took them to the library a lot, and joined book clubs that mailed books to our house. When I was brainstorming several types of projects, I knew I had to choose something that involved books. 

I love the idea of wordless picture books being flexible for each student. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to read these books. Children are using their imaginations and having fun while enhancing their literacy skills. I bring several of these books into my classroom each week. My students think they are so cool and are excited to utilize them. The best part is seeing my EL students’ increased confidence as they share them with other students in the class. 

Even though I have been a teacher for many years, this is my first year of having a newcomer student in class. At first, I was very intimidated about the idea of trying to communicate with a student who had limited English proficiency. Over the past few months, I have seen this student excel in class. During our small group time, I use the wordless picture books to practice her literacy skills. The visual cues have kept her engaged. When she first walked into my class, she was so scared. She came in with tears running down her face. I will never forget that moment. My heart broke for her. As a teacher it is so important to help our students feel loved and supported.

Over the past year I have learned so much about our multicultural families. I have learned that they want to help their children learn and excel at school. They are extremely family oriented, but they do not always know how to support their children academically. Often there is a language barrier where the parents are struggling to learn English themselves. The power of wordless picture books is that they are stimulating the child’s language development whether they are using their home language or practicing their second language. Books without words give valuable visual cues and motivate students to use prior knowledge that helps improve their comprehension. These types of books are great for all ages and academic levels. The student can successfully “read” to their parents, siblings, or other family members.

 

Resources

Gonzalez, V. (2020, April 29). The potential of wordless picture books for English learners. https://seidlitzblog.org/2020/04/29/the-potential-of-wordless-picture-books-for-english-learners/

KY3 News. (2021, September 13). Monett schools accommodate 20 different languages present throughout the district.https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/13/monett-schools-accommodate-20-different-languages-present-throughout-district/

Reading Rockets. (2013). Sharing wordless picture books.https://www.readingrockets.org/article/sharing-wordless-picture-books

See Examples of Winning Demonstration Projects

Read, Speak, Succeed: Empowering Future Global Communicators

Read, Speak, Succeed: Empowering Future Global Communicators

The primary objectives of this project are twofold: to enhance literacy and language proficiency by reading Spanish-language books and materials. Given that my students are studying Spanish with the ultimate aim of effective communication, it is essential for them to excel in both understanding…

Read, Speak, Succeed: Empowering Future Global Communicators
Using Bilingual Texts to Support Translanguaging for English Learners

Using Bilingual Texts to Support Translanguaging for English Learners

English Learners (ELs) face unique challenges in the classroom. In order for them to access grade-level curricula in their second language (L2), educators—both English Language Development (ELD) teachers and classroom teachers—provide many types of scaffolds to support students' understanding. Some…

Using Bilingual Texts to Support Translanguaging for English Learners
Reading Artwork: Using Family Dialogue to Aid Meaning-Making for English Learners

Reading Artwork: Using Family Dialogue to Aid Meaning-Making for English Learners

Visual literacy and peer conversations are critical components of early language learning.  This project creates new interactions for English Learners (ELs) between their peers and family.  First, by engaging in classroom conversations while “reading” art, followed by sending wordless…

Reading Artwork: Using Family Dialogue to Aid Meaning-Making for English Learners
Illuminating Diversity: A Mural to Share Stories through a Multicultural Lens

Illuminating Diversity: A Mural to Share Stories through a Multicultural Lens

This project included a 10-Day Artists-in-Residency with Rodrigo Alvarez and Isaac Tapia. These artists worked with students in our English Language Development (ELD) Program to design and paint a 10’x40’ mural, emphasizing the cultural and linguistic diversity of Parkview students both past and…

Illuminating Diversity: A Mural to Share Stories through a Multicultural Lens
World Fest: Showcasing Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds

World Fest: Showcasing Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds

World Fest was a beautiful and successful event! The event was a vibrant celebration of cultural diversity, filled with excitement and enthusiasm. For our Creekmoor English Learners (ELs), World Fest was a wonderful opportunity to showcase their rich cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It was a…

World Fest: Showcasing Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds
Global Welcome: Bridging Cultures in High School

Global Welcome: Bridging Cultures in High School

Given the community's ties to the tourism industry, Branson High School serves a student population with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This project advocates for multiliteracy through the creation of welcome banners and custom lanyard badges. By creating welcome banners for the school…

Global Welcome: Bridging Cultures in High School
The Language Bus: Bringing Early Literacy Skills to the Community

The Language Bus: Bringing Early Literacy Skills to the Community

In our community we recently had an increase in students who speak Burmese or Karen. As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher watching the referrals come through, I began to notice that home language literacy needed to be strengthened to develop age-appropriate communication skills. Many of…

The Language Bus: Bringing Early Literacy Skills to the Community
LEADing Internationally: Annual Spotlight Night to Support Learning in Any Language

LEADing Internationally: Annual Spotlight Night to Support Learning in Any Language

LEADing Internationally emphasizes a strengths-based approach which values learning in any language (Regional Educational Laboratory Program, 2015). This project seeks to provide materials in students’ home languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, Somali & Spanish) for student project work, required…

LEADing Internationally: Annual Spotlight Night to Support Learning in Any Language
Culturally Aware Comets: Experiencing Different Cultures through Books, Food, and Games

Culturally Aware Comets: Experiencing Different Cultures through Books, Food, and Games

Mark Twain Elementary has a diverse population of students and staff, many of whom come from different backgrounds. Our school's diversity needed to be celebrated and recognized. Many students come from low-income families. These students have yet to have the opportunity to travel or gain…

Culturally Aware Comets: Experiencing Different Cultures through Books, Food, and Games
Heritage Voices: Empowering & Celebrating Biliteracy

Heritage Voices: Empowering & Celebrating Biliteracy

The Heritage Voices: Empowering & Celebrating Biliteracy project aims to support heritage speakers in developing their bilingual and biliterate abilities. Given the large population of Spanish-speaking students in our district, our primary goal is to provide resources and guidance to heritage…

Heritage Voices: Empowering & Celebrating Biliteracy
Cross-Town Pen Pals: Support Multiculturalism in Classrooms

Cross-Town Pen Pals: Support Multiculturalism in Classrooms

The main objective of this pen pal project was to use diverse books representing cultures around the world to make connections with students in a different classroom in the district. Students used multicultural books to collaborate throughout two reading units that focused on theme, inferring, and…

Cross-Town Pen Pals: Support Multiculturalism in Classrooms
Culture Cats: Exploring Countries and Cultures

Culture Cats: Exploring Countries and Cultures

Culture Cats is an after-school club that promotes learning and exploring other countries and cultures. We are called Culture Cats because our school has many English Learners (ELs) that make up our student body and our mascot is a wildcat. We use books, guest speakers, games, crafts, and snacks to…

Culture Cats: Exploring Countries and Cultures
Activities for English Learners: Supporting ELs in the Classroom

Activities for English Learners: Supporting ELs in the Classroom

The Monett School District boasts a richly diverse student body, with English Learners (ELs) representing the fastest-growing demographic nationwide, having increased by 60% over the last decade (Breiseth, 2015). Our district welcomes students from various countries, with Spanish being the…

Activities for English Learners: Supporting ELs in the Classroom
Home-to-School Communication: Connections with Wordless Picture Books

Home-to-School Communication: Connections with Wordless Picture Books

The Monett community has twenty plus different languages or dialects spoken here. Newcomer families from other countries are on the rise, and there is a constant need to help students learn English as a second language. The purpose of this project is for students to practice their language skills at…

Home-to-School Communication: Connections with Wordless Picture Books
Wordless Picture Books: Bring Life to Language

Wordless Picture Books: Bring Life to Language

My project’s purpose is to give English Learners (ELs) access to text through wordless picture books. The goal of using these books in our class and school is to engage students who are multilingual in our classrooms. Students may work on their language skills as well as reading and writing skills…

Wordless Picture Books: Bring Life to Language
Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive School: Professional Development to Highlight Assets ELs Bring to the Classroom

Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive School: Professional Development to Highlight Assets ELs Bring to the Classroom

The Monett R-1 School District serves a large population of English Learner (EL) students; out of 2,346 students, 48% identify as a minority. Many students come from low socio-economic backgrounds and have minimal literacy exposure. About half of the students in each Monett classroom are ELs, and…

Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive School: Professional Development to Highlight Assets ELs Bring to the Classroom
Home Language Reading Skills: Creating Routines for Literacy at Home

Home Language Reading Skills: Creating Routines for Literacy at Home

As many refugee and immigrant families arrive in America, their focus on language and literacy often shifts exclusively to the English language. Multilingualism is a strength, and it is important that our families maintain their home language literacy skills in conjunction with their English…

Home Language Reading Skills: Creating Routines for Literacy at Home
Biliteracy Breakfast: Promoting Multilingual and Multicultural Literature in a Casual Setting

Biliteracy Breakfast: Promoting Multilingual and Multicultural Literature in a Casual Setting

Many multilingual families forgo maintaining literacy in their heritage language in the pursuit of English. It is important to highlight the value and benefits of continuing the development of home languages. By inviting students and families to read together and explore literature and language, we…

Biliteracy Breakfast: Promoting Multilingual and Multicultural Literature in a Casual Setting
Our Little Library: Using Little Lending Libraries to Meet Multilingual Needs

Our Little Library: Using Little Lending Libraries to Meet Multilingual Needs

Many families of English Learners (ELs) are not able to read books from school with their child or help with homework because of the language barrier. Since some families believe they are unable to help their children with English and/or homework, they can become very disconnected from their child…

Our Little Library: Using Little Lending Libraries to Meet Multilingual Needs
Rounding Up Resources: Helping Early Childhood Teachers Meet Multilingual Learner Needs

Rounding Up Resources: Helping Early Childhood Teachers Meet Multilingual Learner Needs

There are many resources available to support educators of English Learners (ELs), however, having access to those materials isn’t always easy. One cannot overstate the value of having resources available for teachers. We know that “without specific knowledge related to language development, even…

Rounding Up Resources: Helping Early Childhood Teachers Meet Multilingual Learner Needs
Multilingual Listening Library: Using Yoto audio players to support all students

Multilingual Listening Library: Using Yoto audio players to support all students

Three second-grade classrooms offered their students access to a multilingual listening library. The main objective of this project was to promote the use of home languages and encourage English language acquisition.This project had two primary goals:To provide students with frequent access to…

Multilingual Listening Library: Using Yoto audio players to support all students
Around the World: Family Literacy Night

Around the World: Family Literacy Night

Around the World Family Literacy night is a project designed to highlight differences in culture and build literacy skills. As an EL teacher in my district, I understand the importance of creating opportunities for our students and families to learn about other cultures within our school community.…

Around the World: Family Literacy Night
Home-to-School Literacy Project: Increasing family literacy with bilingual resources

Home-to-School Literacy Project: Increasing family literacy with bilingual resources

Family literacy activities are essential for student academic success in school. The Home-School Literacy Project equips students and parents with bilingual activities, books, and resources to support their literacy skills. Families participate in a literacy night to share their own experiences and…

Home-to-School Literacy Project: Increasing family literacy with bilingual resources
Many Voices, One School:  Using QR codes to give ELs a voice

Many Voices, One School: Using QR codes to give ELs a voice

Many of our students come to us from various countries, backgrounds, and cultural experiences. While some families bring educational experiences from their home countries before relocating to the United States, others, particularly our newcomers, may not have a strong literacy background or history…

Many Voices, One School: Using QR codes to give ELs a voice
A Multicultural Pirate’s Reading Night

A Multicultural Pirate’s Reading Night

Our school mascot is a pirate. My project, A Multicultural Pirate’s Reading Night, was an event in which multicultural families who have children enrolled in Preschool or Kindergarten were invited to learn about the importance of promoting literacy in their first language as well as English. The…

A Multicultural Pirate’s Reading Night
Promoting Family Conversations in Multiple Languages

Promoting Family Conversations in Multiple Languages

There is a need for deep conversation, even at a first-grade level. The purpose of the project is to promote conversations between students and their families via play, read-alouds, and everyday activities through literacy kits that students can check out. The kits include books, phonics games,…

Promoting Family Conversations in Multiple Languages
Celebrating Multilingual Magic: Nurturing the Social and Emotional Well-being of ELs

Celebrating Multilingual Magic: Nurturing the Social and Emotional Well-being of ELs

Wanda Gray Elementary stands as a cornerstone for education in Springfield, Missouri, providing a nurturing space for a diverse student population. Currently hosting 483 students weekly, with 29 benefiting from English Language Development (ELD) services and speaking languages other than English at…

Celebrating Multilingual Magic: Nurturing the Social and Emotional Well-being of ELs
A World of Languages in Our Classroom: Celebrating cultural diversity with guest readers

A World of Languages in Our Classroom: Celebrating cultural diversity with guest readers

As a model language-rich classroom in my district, it is my goal to provide a comfortable, interactive environment for our multilingual students and their families. When students see their native language in books, posters, and through multimedia presentations they feel valued and have a sense of…

A World of Languages in Our Classroom: Celebrating cultural diversity with guest readers
DEAR to Me:  Fostering biliteracy through middle school mentors

DEAR to Me: Fostering biliteracy through middle school mentors

DEAR to Me stands for Drop Everything and Read to Me and that is exactly what happened at the Monett Early Childhood Center.DEAR to Me is a special time for Middle School students to come and read in small groups.  Our kindergarten students got to hear books read to them in English, Spanish and…

DEAR to Me: Fostering biliteracy through middle school mentors
Dig Into Reading: Promoting students reading 15 minutes daily in school and at home

Dig Into Reading: Promoting students reading 15 minutes daily in school and at home

Through the Dig Into Reading multiliteracy project, we have created a culture of reading within our school and are continuing to promote reading engagement at home. We have been able to provide multilingual literacy resources and encouragement to enhance students' reading in their preferred…

Dig Into Reading: Promoting students reading 15 minutes daily in school and at home
HELLO! HOLA! XIN CHÁO! BONJOU! HALO! Connecting high school and elementary ELs

HELLO! HOLA! XIN CHÁO! BONJOU! HALO! Connecting high school and elementary ELs

As the population of English learners (ELs) continues to grow in our community, students can utilize their home language as a means to develop second language skills. The ELL Outreach Program brings together students of different ages yet similar cultures and languages to improve their English…

HELLO! HOLA! XIN CHÁO! BONJOU! HALO! Connecting high school and elementary ELs
Many Languages, One Shelf: The Building Bilingual Book Section Project

Many Languages, One Shelf: The Building Bilingual Book Section Project

This project allows English learners the opportunity to check out materials that represent diverse cultures and languages. Most materials are bilingual and include English translations on the same page. These resources promote and maintain ELs’ home languages and build English proficiency. As a…

Many Languages, One Shelf: The Building Bilingual Book Section Project
Our Cultural Heritage: Students create a bilingual alphabet book of their home country with family assistance

Our Cultural Heritage: Students create a bilingual alphabet book of their home country with family assistance

Our Cultural Heritage is a project designed for students and families to work, share, and learn together. This project is designed for students to practice various reading, writing, and speaking skills to create an alphabet book about their families’ home countries.  Using a digital online book…

Our Cultural Heritage: Students create a bilingual alphabet book of their home country with family assistance
Language Clubs: Promoting cultural diversity and biliteracy

Language Clubs: Promoting cultural diversity and biliteracy

The students in our school come to us from many different backgrounds and cultural experiences. As educators, it’s our job to make all students feel welcomed and safe at our school and in our classrooms. Promoting and valuing the first language helps English learners and bilingual children feel more…

Language Clubs: Promoting cultural diversity and biliteracy
Welcome to Our Language Lab

Welcome to Our Language Lab

How can we make our schools more welcoming, accepting, and engaging for our students and families joining us from other places around the world? With a Language Lab!

Welcome to Our Language Lab
Multilingual Garden Unit

Multilingual Garden Unit

A community garden not only adds beauty to a school but also instills pride in the students that help build it. By utilizing best practices that teach English Learners (ELs), students explored how to design a garden.

Multilingual Garden Unit
Multilingual Story Garden

Multilingual Story Garden

A community garden not only adds beauty to a school but also instills pride in the students that help build it. By utilizing best practices for English learners (ELs), students visited a local community garden in the city to learn about gardening and sustainability. They also participated in a story…

Multilingual Story Garden
Multicultural Newsletter

Multicultural Newsletter

The multicultural newsletter aims build connections with multilingual families by getting to know them and by introducing them to the school community. Amber Troye shares her protocol and experiences that can help educators deepen their knowledge about multilingual learners’ home cultures,…

Multicultural Newsletter
Family Literacy Night

Family Literacy Night

The Family Literacy Night project involves caregivers in the life of an elementary school. In preparation for the event, reading buddies in kindergarten and 4th grade partner to read multicultural books; they also learn to tell wordless picture books and author their own.

Read the full blueprint.

Family Literacy Night
Better Together Unit in Nixa Public Schools

Better Together Unit in Nixa Public Schools

Kara Griffin at Summit Intermediate in Nixa Public Schools presents the blueprint of a project that aimed to welcome new families and unite the school around exploring the home cultures and languages of the students who attend. The project contributed a multilingual collection to the school library…

Better Together Unit in Nixa Public Schools
Newcomer Welcome Kits

Newcomer Welcome Kits

Sarah Reeves at Bayless School District in St. Louis, Missouri describes her school's activities that aimed at creating a welcoming environment for newcomer refugee families by supplying them with useful items in a thoughtfully assembled backpack.

Read the full blueprint.

Newcomer Welcome Kits