Action! Make Movies as you Read

What You Need:

• Pencil
• One sheet of lined paper
• Six sheets of unlined paper

What You Do:

1. After your child has finished reading a book or completed a lesson within a textbook, ask her to make a movie in her mind. Think that sounds crazy? It’s something your child may be doing already unconsciously. By “making a movie,” we mean imagining the story, frame by frame. What angle is the camera? What does the lighting look like? How about costumes and setting? Have her close her eyes and imagine six important parts of the book.
2. On the drawing paper, have your child sketch a scene that shows each important part. Use one sheet of paper for each scene, creating a movie shot, like that of a storyboard used by movie makers to plan every frame, down to the second. Remind her that details that she sees, feels, tastes, and hears are important to include.
3. Once she has completed her movie clips, write a short title for each scene on the top of the clip. Try to be as descriptive as possible.
4. Use all the sketches and titles to help your child write a summary of the story on a separate sheet of lined paper. Guide her as she uses each movie frame and title to keep her focused on the six most important parts of the book or lesson.

An activity like this one allows children who learn best with visual aids to demonstrate that they can comprehend what they read. It gives visual learners a way to organize their thoughts through pictures before they start writing. This activity is also great for children who are artistically-inclined. They're especially likely enjoy themselves and may even forget they're building important comprehension skills in the process!