I have heard from a few teachers that implementing the Invisibles at the lower levels is not easy. Corroboration came on that from Alisa this morning who was responding to a question from Jenna about it. Below is Alisa’s sage advice, which in a nutshell is to keep the Invisibles program itself above sixth grade, and just draw from it. The “fairness” reasons are basically that the younger kids melt down if their images don’t get picked for class discussion. Here’s the scoop from our elementary CI master:
Hi Jenna, if you’re talking about Invisibles in lower/ 1-4 elem grades I don’t do them for the fairness reasons you mention. I stick with OWI to story (and other strategies) and the kids absolutely love them. It’s their favorite way to co-create a story. I do the drawing initially on an easel -they can’t see it. There’s eventually a big reveal. I have given them opportunities to draw the OWI but only after having lots of exposure to the story language cuz in my experience they can’t listen and draw simultaneously… it’s too much.
Ben invented Invisibles with 6th graders if I’m not mistaken. I wouldn’t go lower. I am writing a book on the joys and idiosyncrasies of elementary CI language teaching, including teaching a wide swath of grades. In your case I would definitely insert some ‘set’ fairy tales and fractured fairy tales for ease, predictability and availability of visual material. Best and keep experimenting and reflecting. Alisa