Readers ARE Thinkers!

Last year we discovered this really magical video called "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore". It is a video that encourages thinking and connections, explores the power of reading and books and also the importance of stories, and leaves all viewers with a sense of something magical. Here is the video below:

After the success of this short film--it won an Academy Award--it was turned into a book- which is equally wonderful:

 Here is how we incorporated it into our library lessons for our 4th graders.

Session One: We talked about how readers are thinkers--and that same type of thinking can apply in another area of our lives: viewing. This video will have kids asking questions and making connections right from the start, so while we are watching, we have them jot down thoughts on a sheet of paper of their CONNECTIONS, QUESTIONS, and INFERENCES (things they notice) as they were watching.

Session Two: Share the app. The app that goes along with this book is the most interesting, engaging and interactive app I have seen for a book yet. I used Reflector to reflect the app from my iPhone as I projected it up to the screen. As we walked through the book with the app, we talked about the connections, questions and inferences we had from the week before. Here are some pictures:

Ticket out: As a table group, students wrote an inference, or new learning that they had from the video and book. I had them write it on a sentence strip. See below for some examples.

It was one of those lessons that I'm pretty sure will stick with the kids, and it reinforces the importance of reading and all of the stories we have for them in the library.