This idea comes from Mary Lee Hahn’s book Re-Considering Read-Aloud. After each chapter book read-aloud, draw a name out of a bag and have that child create a 12” x 18” illustration of a favorite part of the book. Hang the picture along with a sentence strip with the title and author in chronological order around the classroom. Have the remaining students make a 9” x 12’” picture of their favorite part and put them all into a spiral bound class book. The wall display makes a great reference tool when referring to books, comparing books, characters, themes, etc. The titles and authors are instantly available for class discussions.
Here are a few samples from a second grade class:
A teacher from Portland, OR shared an adaptation of the read-aloud gallery with me. She combined this with the Choose-a-Book ritual. She prints miniature re copies of the front covers of her daily picture book read-aloud and hangs them under her white board. As the display grows throughout the year, she finds this to be a great way to keep children talking about the books all year. This gives them the opportunity to linger longer with each book and make many connections.
