Making Movies in Your Mind

Have you ever thought about making a movie in your mind while you are reading a book?  It's actually an incredibly important comprehension strategy and skill known as visualization or mental imagery and first graders are learning all about it!  We read the book, Grandfather Twilight, and students practiced focusing on the pictures they made in their minds. The first read was without seeing the book's illustrations.  This gave students a chance to really focus in on what they visualized during the story, and then they drew their most vivid image.  The second reading allowed them to see the illustrations which they could compRe to their own.  Our mental images are each so unique!