Orbis+Pictus

The Orbis Pictus Project Over the month of October, students will select, read, and report on an Orbis Pictus award winning, nominee, or recommended book.

The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award was established in 1989 for **promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children**. The name Orbis Pictus, commemorates the work of Johannes Amos Comenius, //Orbis Pictus—The World in Pictures// (1657), considered to be the first book actually planned for children. **Although only one title is singled out for the award, up to five Honor Books are also recognized.**
 * What is the Orbis Pictus Award?**

**What are some of the books?** **[|Orbis Pictus List]**

This is a student led project – not a parent project. However, as students, you might benefit from the guidance of your family in organizing your schedule to complete the elements of the project in a timely fashion. They will also help you acquire supplies (or even the specific book you are interested in reading) and rehearse your presentation.
 * What is the project? **

Success in this project will be dependent on an appropriate book selection. The OP award is given to shorter picture book texts as well as to larger, denser material. When choosing your book consider topics of interest to you as well the difficulty of the text. Every student must select a different book from each student. Please select about three to four possible books for Friday’s book selection date.

Our goal is to truly understand and enjoy the book you are reading. The hope is that you will come to enthusiastically persuade others to read your choice.

Once you have read your text, you will create a presentation to share to the class. The presentation will be a choice of the following:


 * 1) 1. Create a “science board” like display with a five minute rehearsed presentation of the book.
 * 2) 2. Create a digital Prezi presentation.
 * 3) 3. Create a short video discussing the text.

Material to discuss in your presentation:


 * Basics: Title. Author. Publisher. Topic. Year of award.
 * Summary of the text layout (picture book, special features, timeline of events) and how these features helped you to understand your topic better.
 * Discuss what you learned from the text. This should be meaty. Lots of good details and coverage of the main ideas of the text.
 * Explain why you feel this is deserving of the highest praise as a non-fiction text?
 * Include key vocabulary learned from the text. (Try to incorporate about 5-10 words.)

I want you to be creative in your presentation. It should run no longer than five minutes. Remember, your audience would like to enjoy your presentation so GO FOR IT! Be surprising and find something special to add a little charm to your project. For example, why not create an alternative book cover for your book, video your self interviewing the “author”, add research that you have done from other texts, provide a take away gift for your audience.

Check out these incredible projects!