Science:

• Composition and structure of Earth: processes of change (erosion, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.), rocks and soils, fossils provide evidence of the past
• Heredity and genetics: some characteristics are inherited and some are environmental
• Cells and organisms: life cycles (butterfly, frog, bird, etc.), body structures for flying, walking, swimming
• Organisms and physical environment: food chains and webs, patterns of behavior related to environment (food sources, physical characteristics), environmental effects on organisms, all organisms cause changes in environment
• Diversity of life: fossils can be compared to each other and to living organisms, grouping of organisms (plants/animals, bones/no bones, insects/spiders, land/water)
• Energy: heat is a byproduct of energy conversion, conductivity of heat, light (reflection, refraction, absorption), pitch and frequency of sound
• Forces and motion: magnets, gravity, force and motion, relationship between strength of a force and its effect on an object
• Scientific knowledge: replicable results, evidence, review of others’ results, models can predict changes
• Scientific inquiry: different kinds of investigations (observation, data collection, experiments), plan and conduct simple investigations, use tools (thermometers, magnifiers, calculators), explanations come from evidence and interpretation
• Scientific enterprise: biographies of scientists and engineers, science is ongoing

Social Studies:

• How communities in North America varied long ago:
  –Native (Iroquois, Sioux, Hope, Nez Perce, Inuit, Cherokee) customs, language, food, clothing, homes, crafts, ritual
  –Colonial (Plymouth, Williamsburg, St. Augustine, San Antonia, Post Vicennes)
  –Pioneer farming communities: challenges encountered (Old Northwest, prairies, Southwest, Eastern Canada, Far West)
• How geography contributed to establishment and growth of communities: mining towns (Sacramento) and trading settlements (New Orleans, Vincennes, Astoria)
• Daily life of ethnic groups in urban areas long ago: Free Africans in Philly, Italians in New York, Chinese in San Francisco
• Principles of democracy (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness; freedom of speech and religion; majority rule w/protection of minority rights, etc.)
• Major figures in fight for rights: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T Washington, Susan B Anthony, MLK, Rosa Parks, etc.
• Ordinary people in history: James Armistead, Sybil Ludington (this is a great story!), Nathan Beman, Lydia Darragh, Betty Zane
• Events and values commemorated by holidays: MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, 4^th of July, Labor Day, Vets Day, Thanksgiving
• History and personalities involved in major documents: Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Emancipation Procl.
• Pledge of Allegiance and patriotic songs, poems, and sayings (history and significance)
• Songs, symbols, and slogans in democracy: Boston Tea Party, abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, labor movements, civil rights movement
• Reasons for and leaders of Revolutionary War (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson)
• Ordinary people creating or enhancing national symbols: French school children raised money for Statue of Liberty, Lee Iaccoca’s work to restore Ellis Island
• Movements of large groups of people in history of US
  –Forced relocation of Native peoples
  –Experience of immigrant groups; why they came to US
  –Why people moved from farms to cities in different times
• Folk heroes and popular figures: Daniel Boone, cowboys, mountain men like Jedediah Smith, Native chiefs like Geronimo, outlaws like Billy the Kid
• Culture from US history and how it shaped region and nation: stories, legends, songs, games, tall tales, arts, crafts, music, language
• World cultures and achievements: Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Taj Mahal, Egyptian pyramids, Greek temples, Roman aqueducts
• 15^th and 16^th century European explorers: Columbus, Marco Polo, Eric the Red, Zheng He, Magellan, de Gama, Jacques Cartier
• Influence of science and technology on world: invention of wheel and basic tools, agriculture, use of fire, industrialization, shipping, road systems, rail, communications, printing press, computer
• Personalities/inventions in communications: telegraph, telephone, Braille, radio, tv, computer, satellites
• Personalities in transportation: Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, John Glenn, Sally Ride
• Significant achievements: invention of paper in China, Mayan calendars, mummification in Egypt, astronomy in Moslem world, steam engine from England
• Chance events that influenced history
• Types of primary and secondary sources and their value: eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, magazine articles, newspaper accounts

Mathematics:

• Strategies for problem solving: draw pictures or visual representations, restate problem in own words, model with physical objects, identify a pattern, trial and error (guess and check), break into smaller parts, use similar problem type as model
• Word problems: how to pick out relevant information, set up equation
• Prime numbers; odd and even numbers
• Place value
• Fraction/percentage/decimal equivalency
• Types of numbers: whole numbers, positive and negative integers, fractions, ratios, decimals, percents, exponentials
• Number systems other than base ten: Roman numerals, clock faces, base 60 for angles
• Estimates reasonable results of a problem
• Relationships between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Multiplication as repeated addition; division as grouping
• Measurement: perimeter, area, volume, angle, circumference
• Measurement tools: ruler, measuring cup, protractor
• Relationships between measurements: inches/feet, metric/standard
• Geometric shapes and solids: trapezoid, parallelogram, cube, sphere
• Motion geometry: turns, flips, slides
• Characteristics of lines: parallel, perpendicular, intersecting
• Statistics and data: mean, median, mode, range, bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, sample size, stem-and-leaf, box-and-whiskers, scatter plot
• Faulty arguments, common errors, and misleading representations of data
• Probability
• How math has been helpful over the centuries

Language Arts

Writing:

• Stages of writing: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing
• Writing for a variety of audiences and purposes
• Forms of writing: expository, narrative, autobiography, response to literature, personal letters, opinion
• Descriptive language: concrete words, figures of speech, sensory details
• Conventions of writing (punctuation, grammar, capitalization, etc.)
• Gathering and analyzing information for research papers

Reading:

• Visualizes as he or she reads
• Makes predictions about text
• Uses context clues to figure out new words
• Knows defining elements and structures of a variety of literary genres (rhyme and rhythm in poetry, setting and dialogue in drama, make believe in folktales, fantasy, and sci fi, perspective in biography)
• Understands character development
• Language use: personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, imagery, hyperbole, rhythm, allusion

Reading With Pictures is returning to Kickstarter, and we want you (Yes, YOU!) to be part of it!

Our first Kickstarter campaign funded the production of the RWP Anthology, which was nominated for two Harvey Awards and has become a fixture in classrooms nationwide. It also provided the start-up capital to get the fledgling Reading With Pictures organization off the ground.

I’d say we did pretty good, but this time, “pretty good” isn’t nearly good enough. We’re taking things to a whole new level, and we need your help to do it! We’re soliciting tax deductible donations – both personal and corporate – of high-value rewards to offer on Kickstarter and seeking creative submissions to the following projects:  

1. The Graphic Textbook, a comic-based textbook that gives students the high-quality content they want and teachers the standards-based content they need.
2. Open Source Comics, a collection of quality comics made available to students, educators and librarians everywhere under the Creative Commons license.

For more details on our projects, including the guidelines for art and story submissions,click here. To find out how you can make tax deductible contributions to our Kickstarter effort by offering rewards like original art, merchandise and one-of-a-kind fan experiences, click here.

We can’t do this without you! Please respond by no later than February 20 to join the cause and help us eliminate illiteracy once and for all!

Sincerely,

Josh Elder
Founder and President

Reading With Pictures is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 to promote the use of comics in the classroom. We do that by facilitating academic research, providing resources and training to educators and developing high-quality content for the classroom. The funds raised through this Kickstarter campaign will fund our ongoing operations and allow us to expand those operations even further in 2012 and beyond.

Oh, and we’ll be funding three revolutionary educational comic projects at the same time.  And that’s where you guys come in…

THE GRAPHIC TEXTBOOK

What Is It?

A graphic novel textbook that brings top-notch creators together with the experienced curriculum developers to produce a classroom-ready textbook that students will actually want to read. We’re going to take this into schools around the country and get kids everywhere learning with comics.

And this is just the beginning. In 2013, we intend to expand this concept into an entire series. Each subject will have its own book and each book will be correlated to core educational standards. At that point, we won’t just be adding comics to the curriculum, comics will be the curriculum.

In order to maximize revenue on Kickstarter, creators are encouraged to make your original art available to use as rewards. You are also encouraged to provide as many “cameo appearance” opportunities for Kickstarter backers in your stories as possible.

All genres and styles are welcome. Moreover, RWP isn’t seeking ownership over any of the content in this book, so feel free to use your own characters as well!

In summation, there are only 3 rules: 1) Make your story educational without being overly didactic; 2) Make it age appropriate; 3) Make it good.

Book Specs

• Format: Hardcover and softcover w/ multi-platform digital
• Page Count: 144
• Audience: Grades 3-6
• Story Length: 12 short pieces of 8-12 pages each
• Subject:
  • Science 
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Language Arts
• Educational Content: A digital teacher’s edition containing lesson plans designed specifically for each piece and a series of research-backed general guidelines on how and why to teach with comics.
• Curriculum Guidelines: Click here for standards-based story topics grouped by subject

Timeline

• Feb 20: All proposals due.
• Feb 29: Proposal approvals given. Work on scripts and promo art for Kickstarter begins.
• Mar 7: Promo art for Kickstarter due.
• Mar 26: First drafts of scripts due.
• Apr 13: Final drafts of scripts due.
• Apr 16: All stories go into full production.
• Jun 15: All finished stories due.
• Oct 10: Book is released across all platforms and formats.

Rights and Compensation

Reading With Pictures is a non-profit entity, but we feel that in order to be successful, The Graphic Textbook needs to operate as a commercial venture. In order to achieve our goal of creating the first in what will become an entire line of gamechanging graphic textbooks, we need serious commitments of time and effort from seriously talented people.

To that end, we will be offering an upfront page rate and backend revenue participation to all the principals involved in the project – from creators and editors to educational consultants. We want to do right by everyone who works with us here at Reading With Pictures.

In keeping with that ethos, creators will retain ALL rights to what you produce. You can republish your stories elsewhere without paying Reading With Pictures any kind of royalty or even seeking our consent. Reading With Pictures will ONLY retain non-exclusive rights to publish your stories in any medium and in any territory into perpetuity. Creators will, of course, continue to receive income from every reprint as per the backend revenue participation agreement.

Submission Guidelines

• We regret that due to the tight turnaround time of this project, our RWP editorial board will not be accepting any unsolicited submissions for this volume.

OPEN SOURCE COMICS

What Is It?

An ever-growing, curated, tagable and searchable digital database of high-quality comics made freely available to schools, libraries and the general public to use however they wish pursuant to the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license.  This will vastly increase the number of comic titles available to teachers looking to use the medium in their classroom. It will also give them considerably more freedom to adapt the content to fit the specific needs of their classrooms.

This fantastic resource will be overseen by Reading With Pictures and will be hosted on our site. We will make the content available in all major file formats and for all major devices, operating systems and browsers. All of it DRM free. We will also curate the content by tagging the stories according to topic, general academic subject area, genre and grade/reading level.

Though free to the public digitally, physical copies of select stories will be available for purchase through a print-on-demand service, with all proceeds going to support Reading With Pictures’ various not-for-profit educational initiatives.

Book Specs

• Format: DRM-free, multi-platform digital database
• Page Count: Constantly expanding
• Audience: Grades 3-6
• Story Length: Any length is acceptable, though 8-12 pages is recommended
• Educational Content: Explicit educational content is welcome as per the content guidelines of The Graphic Textbook, but not required.

Timeline

• Feb 20: All proposals due.
• Feb 29: Proposal approvals given. Promo art for Kickstarter begins.
• Mar 7: Promo art for Kickstarter due.
• July 1: Final pieces due.
• Aug 1: Open Source Comics goes live.

Rights and Compensation

Open Source Comics  is a public resource rather than a traditional commercial product. As such, we will be relying entirely on volunteer effort and donated content. All of which can be tax deductible as per the rules laid out here.

In keeping with our philosophy regarding intellectual property, creators will retain ALL commercial rights to your content pursuant to the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license. You can republish your pieces elsewhere without paying Reading With Pictures any kind of royalty or even seeking our consent. Reading With Pictures will only act to maintain your content on the Open Source Comics database.

Submission Guidelines

• Submissions are open to all.
• Please limit proposals to a one page story description.
• Please send a 50-70 word bio and additional art samples along with any proposal.
• Due to constraints on editorial resources, we will only be accepting submissions from full creative teams or all-in-one cartoonists.
• Previously published pieces are acceptable so long as they fit our guidelines.
• In order to maximize revenue on Kickstarter, creators are encouraged to make your original art available to use as rewards. You are also encouraged to provide as many “cameo appearance” opportunities for Kickstarter backers in your pieces as possible.

To be considered, please must submit all proposals to info@readingwithpictures.org with the subject line “Open Source Comics submission” by no later than Feb. 20.

Reading With Pictures makes an evolutionary leap on March 1st with the launch of RWP 2.0. – and we want YOU to be part of it!

What You Will Find

In addition to a snazzy new look, the revamped ReadingWithPictures.org will offer an unprecedented array of open source resources for the educational comics community:

• Searchable databases for research papers and course materials
• Book reviews and recommended reading Lists
• Forums for guided discussion
• Educational consultation services
• A speaker’s bureau for cartoonists
• Curated links to external resources
• And much more!

Get In the Know

The second phase of RWP 2.0 begins in April with the launch of our Kickstarter campaign to fund two gamechanging educational comic projects:

THE GRAPHIC TEXTBOOK

A graphic novel textbook that brings top-notch creators together with experienced curriculum developers to produce a classroom-ready textbook that students will actually want to read. We’ll be taking this into schools around the country in order to get kids everywhere learning with comics.

And this is just the beginning. In 2013, we intend to expand this concept into an entire series. Each subject will have its own book and each book will be correlated to core educational standards. At that point, we won’t just be adding comics to the curriculum, comics will be the curriculum.

OPEN SOURCE COMICS

An ever-growing, curated, tagable and searchable digital database of educational comics made freely available to schools, libraries and the general public to use however they wish pursuant to the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license. This will vastly increase the number of comic titles available to teachers looking to use the medium in their classroom. It will also give them considerably more freedom to adapt the content to fit the specific needs of their classrooms.

This fantastic resource will be overseen by Reading With Pictures and will be hosted on our site. We will make the content available in all major file formats and for all major devices, operating systems and browsers. All of it DRM free. We will also curate the content by tagging the stories according to topic, general academic subject area, genre and grade/reading level.

Though free to the public digitally, physical copies of select stories will be available for purchase through a print-on-demand service, with all proceeds going to support Reading With Pictures various not-for-profit educational initiatives.

Most of our backers on Kickstarter will be comic fans and/or educators and librarians. We’re seeking rewards that will appeal to those audience

Rewards will be considered tax deductible donations under the rules specified below.

All donations worth $25 or more will be recognized on our website.

If you wish to donate a reward to our Kickstarter campaign, please contact us at info@readingwithpictures.org with the subject line “Joining the RWP Kickstarter campaign” 

And thank you!

How Can Comic Creators Help?

• Submit a proposal to one of our educational comic projects.
• Donate original art for auction.
• Name a character in an upcoming story after a backer.
• Draw a backer into an upcoming story as an “extra.”
• Donate signed and personalized books and/or merchandise.
• Critique a backer’s script.
• Review a backer’s portfolio.
• Provide a custom illustration of the backer’s choice.
• Fully produce (pencil/ink/color/letter) a backer’s short script.
• And anything else you feel would serve the cause!

How Can Comic Publishers Help?

• Donate sets of books and/or merchandise.
• Have one of your experienced editors provide a professional critique of a backer’s script and/or portfolio.
• Enlist one of your creative teams to name a character in an upcoming story after a backer and/or draw a backer into an upcoming story as an “extra.”
• And anything else you feel would serve the cause!

What About the Rest of Us?

• Donate goods or services (high-end merchandise, custom action figures, etc.) that appeal to comics fans, educators and librarians.
•  Spread the word about our efforts.
• And anything else you feel would serve the cause!

Rules for Tax Deductible Donations

Reading With Pictures is a Section 501(c)3 nonprofit. As such, your donation of goods and/or services can be considered a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes. This includes the goods/services donated as well as any expenses incurred in making the donation. When making a donation, please supply a description that lists all goods or services provided. Reading With Pictures will then supply a letter of receipt for tax purposes.

If you have any additional questions regarding this process or what qualifies for a tax deduction, please consult with your tax advisers or the IRS.gov (IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions) for more detailed information.

If you’d like to be part of our story,  here’s how you can participate:

1. Send proven lesson plans, intriguing articles and testimonials on your experience with comics in the classroom.
2. Volunteer to assist with developing and importing resources to our website.
3. Make a financial donation.

Civilian $25.00 USD   Sidekick $50.00 USD   Hero $100.00 USD   Superhero $250.00 USD   Legend $500.00 USD   Icon $1,000.00 USD

 

The Graphic Classroom will be changing soon as we have forged a partnership with the national non-profit comics-in-education agency, Reading With Pictures. Josh Elder, award-wining graphic novelist and nationally syndicated cartoonist, founded RWP in 2009 to revolutionize the role of comics in education.

Sound familiar?

That is the same goal as The Graphic Classroom and TGC is not alone in that endeavor. There are many experts out there fighting to change the way education approaches reading, writing and discovery. I consider many of them friends. Our efforts, all our efforts, can at times feel very fragmented and disjointed –– worker bees writing, speaking, influencing educators to significantly impact students lives using comics as a tool in the teacher’s arsenal, but doing so more independently than collectively, at least most of the time.

This fragmentation is changing. Those of us in the movement are talking, sharing, and collaborating on books and speaking engagements. We are becoming friends. Through those friendships, it is becoming apparent that we must become more united in our efforts and supports. It’s time for comics-in-education experts to level up and meld our efforts more officially than tangentially.

After all, there are those who oppose our efforts, despite the academic research demonstrating that comics significantly and positively impact the reading motivation, reading skills of students and leads to reading of other modes such as novels, short stories, poetry and the like. As I have stated before:

“Not reading never leads to reading. Reading leads to reading.”

I look forward to forging more friendships and partnerships so we can stand united behind what we know changes the lives of our students and prepares the for the 21st century. I see that vision coming true and accepted Elder’s invitation to partner with Reading With Pictures. More details on the changes are on the way in January and February. Stay tuned and stay strong. Your willingness to use comics to help your students is research based, innovative, exciting, and beautiful.

The Graphic Classroom and Reading With Pictures stand with you.

We have visited hundreds of schools, libraries, universities, conferences and conventions across the country offering workshops, professional development seminars and consulting on best practices. We created critically acclaimed classroom content with our Reading With Pictures Anthology. Now we’ve taken the final steps in becoming a full-fledged non-profit organization by submitting our 501(c)3 application and hiring Laura Harper, an experienced non-profit professional, as our Executive Director.

In early 2012, we’re launching the next major phase of Reading With Pictures, and we invite you to be a part of it. We call it RWP 2.0, and the focus will be on creating a central hub of online dialogue and resources for educators, publishers, academics, cartoonists and parents. This includes:

1. Developing a discussion board hosted on RWP’s website
2. Building online databases that aggregate white papers and academic research abstracts as well as lesson plans and curriculum guides, book reviews, recommended reading lists and links to external resources.
3. Taking what we did in the Reading With Pictures Anthology to the next level and laying the groundwork for a game-changing study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University.

And we’re very proud to announce our formal partnership with Chris Wilson of The Graphic Classroom, Chris will be bringing his energy, expertise and enthusiasm to Reading With Pictures where he will be tasked with overseeing all our educator resources. We couldn’t be more excited to have Chris on the team, and we know you’re going to feel the same once you see him in action! 

Will you be part of our story? Here’s how you can participate:

1. Send proven lesson plans, intriguing articles and testimonials on your experience with comics in the classroom.
2. Volunteer to assist with developing and importing resources to our website.
3. Make a financial donation.

Civilian $25.00 USD Sidekick $50.00 USD Hero $100.00 USD Superhero $250.00 USD Legend $500.00 USD Icon $1,000.00 USD

All donations will be retroactively tax deductible upon approval in early 2012.

Together we will spark an education revolution. Thank you for your contribution and happy holidays!

“It’s hard to find quality kid-friendly titles that are as delightful to read as this one is.”
- Jeff Marsick, Newsarama

A lot of reviews have gone up for the Reading with Pictures anthology in the first year it’s been available. The book has sold out in the direct market, but still has some distribution through amazon.com and at comic conventions with some of the contributors.

The organization has been featured in Wired, Publishers Weekly, iFanboy, G4, and many more news sites.

The book was called one of Chicago’s most innovative ideas by Time Out Chicago, and continues to generate press and reviews.

The book makes a great gift for teachers, librarians, parents, and kids of all ages. The suggested reader level is 7-12, and the content is appropriate for all ages.

With Volume 2 in the works and many more projects in the pipeline, be sure to check out what everyone’s talking about.

“an excellent classroom accessory.”
- Greg Baldino, BleedingCool

LINK