How to Create Rebus Stories in the Kindergarten Classroom

A rebus story is a picture book or poem that combines words, pictures or symbols to tell a predictable story. In the story, a pictorial representation is used repeatedly for a particular character or item. Rebus stories are great for beginning readers in a kindergarten classroom because even students who don't recognize any sight words can follow along and "read" using the pictures to tell the story.

Instructions

1

Introduce your students to the idea of rebus stories by reading them some examples. Colorfully illustrated books like Shirley Neitzel's "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow" and "We're Making Breakfast for Mother" are not only easy to follow, but also tell realistic stories to which kindergarten children can relate.

2

Have a class discussion about how this type of book is different from other books you've read together. Make a point to have all the students closely examine all of the pages: It's important that they realize that the picture representation of the missing word is exactly the same each time it's used.

3

Choose a well-known fairy tale. Ask one of the children to tell it to the class. After he's done, ask another child to retell the story. Help the children identify the common elements that appear over and over again in the story that could easily be replaced with a picture. For example, in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," the bears, the chairs, the beds and Goldilocks could be represented by pictures.

4

Use chart paper to write out the story in simple words. As you come to one of the elements that can be replaced, ask a student to come up and use a sticker or stamp to put the picture in the correct place.

5

Provide each child with multiple pages stapled together (a book), a pencil and stickers or stamps. Write the simple starter sentence "I see" on the board and explain that they are to write a repeating story, showing them an example:

I see a (picture 1).

I see a (picture 1) and a (picture 2).

I see a (picture 1), a (picture 2) and a (picture 3).

6

Have the students trade books when they are finished and read one anothers' rebus stories.