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Concept Book

Concept Book


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Definition:

Books containing pictures to present a class of objects, a single object, or abstract ideas in concrete, understandable ways through accurate description, repetition, and comparison.

Purposes:

  • To increase background knowledge about a concrete concept
  • To develop insight about an abstract concept
  • To offer opportunities for generalization
  • Develop vocabulary

Characteristics:

  • Often presents one abstract idea (e.g., spatial relationships)
  • Often provides no story line
  • Class of objects (e.g., colors, shapes, farm or zoo animals, an animal characteristic, leaves, etc.)
  • Concrete representation
  • Description, repetition, comparison
  • Examples/non-examples
  • Labels
  • Illustrative photos
  • Clear, attractive pictures
  • Simple words
  • Symbolic graphics
  • Text features: layout, white space, font and font size, sentence length, lines and contours, tactile qualities

Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPREHENDING the Genre and Text of a Concept Book:

Grade K

Opportunities to Teach:

Understanding the genre

  • Visual/symbolic representation
  • Sequence
  • Categorization
  • Use of repetition
  • Use of comparison
  • Use of examples

Understanding the text

  • Simple graphic representations
  • Activation of prior knowledge
  • Connections to personal experience
  • Connections to content areas
  • Predictions
  • Summarization
  • Concepts of print: cover, title, author, left to right, front to back
  • Vocabulary

Booklists:

Access to the Documents:

Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education

Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District


Page last modified on September 13, 2010, at 04:15 PM