Story Boards
By: Lindsey Jones
What are they??
- Story boards are a literacy strategy used to sequence and retell the events of a story.
- Allows students to manipulate and examine illustrations more carefully.
- There is no set length for a story board (Few Squares--> Many Squares)
- They can be adapted to fit many tasks and organized in different ways to display content.
Grade Levels
Pre-K through 2nd grade
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
3rd through 5th grade
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry,
6th through 8th grade
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.c Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
Instructional Focus
- Comprehension**
- Summarization
- Retelling
- Writing
Story Boards for English Learners
How to Implement This Instructional Strattegy
1. Collect two copies of a book.
- Picture books
- Paperback copies are less expensive
- If illustrations are located on opposite pages, only one copy is needed.
2. Cut the Books Apart.
- May choose to cut away text that appears next to illustration
- Use pictures that have significant meaning to the story
3. Attach the Pages to Pieces of Cardboard
- Teacher glues page/picture to piece of cardboard
4. Laminate the Cards
- Aids in helping materials withstand use
- Materials can be recycled over the years
5. Students Place Cards in Sequential Order, Retelling Story
- Story Structure
- Sequencing
- Rereading
- Word-study
Another Way to Use Storyboards
1. Group students into equal groups. (Depending on class size and number of pictures, you may choose to vary number of groups.)
2. Using a piece of literature that students have recently read or are familiar with, find pictures that represent main ideas from the story. Cut them out.
3. Distribute pictures to the groups. (one per group)
4. One by one, teacher will call upon a group to explain what is happening in their picture from the story.
5. Once each group has summarized or retold what their picture represents, students collectively will form a class storyboard by putting pictures in sequential order.
Storyboards in ACTION!
References
- Creating a Storyboard for Narrative Writing. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQoUiIln1XM
- Essley, R., Rief, L., & Rocci, A. L. (2008). Visual tools for differentiating reading & writing instruction. New York: Scholastic.
- Tompkins, G.E. (2004). 50 Literacy Strategies: Step by Step (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/ Merrill/ Prentice Hall
- Using Storyboards: Thinking Through Visual Storytelling. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://youthlearn.org/activities/using-storyboards-thinking-through-visual-storytelling