Combining Self Portraits with Book Recommendations

I'm a little art obsessed, so it's no wonder I find myself looking for the art connection to every activity or assignment I plan. I have been getting through the First 20 Days (Fountas and Pinnell), to kick off my reading program. We have been reading, and buzzing, and writing our Reader's Responses, but we're getting tired of all the 'work' involved in reading. I don't want to overwhelm my students with too many routines while they're reading that might take away from the shear enjoyment of reading, so we took a break from reading and responding. I went out and bought a bunch of pillows to comfy up the reading section, found some awesome ways to turn chairs into upside down reading benches on pinterest, and got my art on.

Snuggle Up

The mysterious upside down chair.

Shared Reading!

I noticed that my students loved to "buzz." They loved to partner read, and talk about the books they are reading. I thought, why not share this passion in the form of a book recommendation? I have actually seen classrooms write book recommendations for books in the library and attach QR codes to the backs of books that opened a book recommendation on the reader's device. Pretty cool!

We decided to combine the art of self portraits with Language Arts. Students chose a book they were reading or a favourite book, and used a book recommendation graphic organizer to organize their thinking and ensure that they included all the important details.

Then students re-wrote their recommendations in good copy form, and attached it to the back of a paper book. They added a picture to the front of the book -many forgetting which side of the book is the front -it's funny what you forget needs to be taught explicitly.

After our books were created, we needed to create self-portraits of ourselves reading. I was all ready to go, when I realized I didn't have any mirrors. How was I going to teach self-portraits without mirrors? Enter the iPads!

We took 'selfies' on the iPads, and used these pictures to help focus on different features of our faces. I loved watching my students refer to their iPad selves, pinching and zooming the photo to shrink or expand it.

The final product was a construction paper self portrait, holding a book recommendation. The resemblances were uncanny! My students are so proud of their self-portraits and are excited to read each other's favourite books!