Read, Visualize, Draw: Another Fun literacy center- freebie

Another center that is really popular in my class is Read, Visualize, Draw. It's a great way to practice visualizing while reading, which is such an important comprehension strategy! Make sure you've taught and modeled this strategy before introducing this center. Especially for those struggling reading, stopping to visualize can be so helpful.

Keep in mind that your students who do not like to draw probably will not be huge fans of this center, but I really don't put a lot of emphasis on drawing ability for this center. It's more about their ability to read text, make a picture in their minds of what they are reading and then communicate that visualization through drawing. Some kids think they aren't the best artist, so I encourage them to to label parts of their drawings.

While teaching this center, I tell them to first read it all the way through. Then I reread it and model the process of stopping to visualize. I think out loud so my students know what's going through my head while I read. When I finished reading, I start to draw. When I'm finished drawing, I reread a third time to check my drawing. 

Here are a few examples of this center from later in the year:

This is from my May literacy menu. It is a pond scene. Students read the description below and added to the pond scene. See how both look pretty unique, yet they both included everything.

 These are from our rainforest unit.  This is one of my favorites! The kids do such a nice job with these animals because we are studying the rainforest when they do it so they are really into the animals. The trees are the only thing that given to them, then they add the rest. It helps to have pictures of the animals available for them, too.

 

Here are some spring-themed texts to visualize. 

 

Here is an example of using Read, Visualize, Draw with a book of your choice. In this case, we were reading another version of Cinderella with our fairy tale unit. There was a part in the book Yeh Shen where they described the main character. It was the perfect opportunity to practice visualizing! I read it slowly and had them create a picture in their minds. Then I passed out the page and read it again as they drew.

 This was made while reading Jack and the Beanstalk. It's hard to see here because the top isn't colored, but this student drew details of what he visualized at the top of the beanstalk.

I have a first grade version and a kindergarten version. The first grade version starts out with several levels of difficulty, as shown below. Then it continues to seasonal themes and progresses with difficulty. Most have at least two levels of difficulty. The kindergarten version remains simple with picture clues and simple sentences.  

  

 

Click HERE for Kindergarten.

Click HERE for 1st grade.

Click on the PREVIEW to get the apple pages shown above for FREE!