Learning to be an Illustrator
Recourses and Materials
· Book: Ruby Lu, Brave and True
· Construction paper
· Markers, colored pencils, crayons
· Great imagination
Discussion
Art is a great example of how someone can express themselves, or a situation that they are in. Children’s books are wonderful because there is a picture on every page. Each picture allows the reader to view the feeling of the story that the author is trying to portray. Not all books are picture books. Books without pictures leave the illustrations up to our imagination. In this craft lesson, we will be reading a portion for the text, Ruby Lu, Brave and true, and drawing an illustration we think best fits the reading. Not only will it work on our creative skills, it will stretch our reading comprehension skills at the same time. Ruby Lu uses a lot of details to describe why she loves her street. I want for them to be able to read what she is saying, and to show me that they understand what they read, not by words, but through with own unique illustrations.
Actual Reading from the Text:
The best thing about living on 20th Avenue South was everything. Ruby liked her house. She had lived there since kindergarten. Tomato slugs lived at the bottom of the front steps. A plum tree lived in the backyard. The kitchen smelled like jook and ice cream. Ruby liked the rain. It rained often on 20th Avenue South. The rain sprinkled diamonds on spiderwebs and poured silver of the sidewalks. At night the rain was a lullaby of a billion grains of rice falling on the roof. Ruby liked the sunshine. It was not often sunny on 20th Avenue South, but when it was, all the bottle caps in the street played like coins. Windows opened. Radios played. Laundry dried. Plums ripened. Mothers rook their babies out.
The best thing about living on 20th Avenue South was everything. Ruby liked her house. She had lived there since kindergarten. Tomato slugs lived at the bottom of the front steps. A plum tree lived in the backyard. The kitchen smelled like jook and ice cream. Ruby liked the rain. It rained often on 20th Avenue South. The rain sprinkled diamonds on spiderwebs and poured silver of the sidewalks. At night the rain was a lullaby of a billion grains of rice falling on the roof. Ruby liked the sunshine. It was not often sunny on 20th Avenue South, but when it was, all the bottle caps in the street played like coins. Windows opened. Radios played. Laundry dried. Plums ripened. Mothers rook their babies out.
How to teach it: (3rd-5th grade)
Today we will be reading a small portion of chapter 1 in Ruby Lu, Brave and true. The first two paragraphs explain, in great detail, why Ruby Lu loves living on her street, 20th Avenue South. There is only one problem; there are no pictures to show us what her street looks like!
Next, I will instruct the students to pretend that they have been hired to be the illustrators for this portion of the book. I want them to use their imaginations, and draw the best picture they can of what they think Ruby Lu’s street looks like. I want them to put on their thinking caps and draw exactly what they were imagining when we were reading Ruby Lu’s description. I want this assignment to be a fun exercise to get to draw and color. While using their imaginations they can work on their reading comprehension by reading the text, and putting in on paper with an artistic twist.
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