Here is a book you must read because it will amaze you. This is author partners Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss's third book of artwork engineered out of letters and, because it's all about dinosaurs, it is naturally the greatest book ever.
Alphasaurs and Other Prehistoric Types
by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss
Published November 26, 2012 by Blue Apple Books (978-1609051938)
The Story: Authors Werner and Forss shares a plethora of dinosaur facts alongside their now trademark artwork comprised solely of single type characters. It's an ABC book, yes, but it's also densely populated with descriptions, statistics, and factoids about the earth's most intriguing creatures: dinosaurs. (okay... so I may be a tad bit interested in dinosaurs.)
What He Loves: "Leh-ders? Dinosaur leh-ders, daddy?" That's my boy. He knows a keeper when he sees one. The book's layout also includes plenty of lift-the-flap and fold-out pages that evidence that these prehistoric giants are even too big for the confines of the book's standard dimensions. Of course, he just likes to flip the pages open and shut. While not a book I can read to him that will actually hold his attention yet, the layout is definitely a major win in our toddler's eyes.
What I Love: I was a fan of Werner and Forss since Alphabeasties and this book pays off of in all the right places. Interesting facts. Plenty of tie-ins to the alphabet letter. Appealing layout. Expert use of the artistic style. I'm quite literally fanatical about this book. One look and you'll understand why.
And look! There's more by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss for you to enjoy!
So now I'm wondering if there might be a way to do this with my students. Do a little research. Play with font and spacing. Imagine a table covered with cutouts of a letter in all shapes and sizes. Now that would be something!
What I Love: I was a fan of Werner and Forss since Alphabeasties and this book pays off of in all the right places. Interesting facts. Plenty of tie-ins to the alphabet letter. Appealing layout. Expert use of the artistic style. I'm quite literally fanatical about this book. One look and you'll understand why.
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| Alphabeasties |
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| Bugs by the Numbers |
I've used a site called Tagxedo with students to present their research in the shape of the animal they studied. They have some common animal shapes already created or you can upload an image to create shapes of more unique animals. The students learned about layout, orientation, cutting and pasting text from a Word document, etc. (Side note: I recommend typing notes in Word and then cutting and pasting into Tagxedo as some students cannot type all their information in 20-25 minutes.) Love that Tagxedo lets you save your creation as an image instead of having to do a screen capture like Wordle. Thanks for the book tip!
ReplyDeleteCool tip, Tammy! I've used Tagxedo before, but haven't ever broken it down all the way to letters to make a project work. That will be a fun area to explore!
Delete- Matthew