There are a variety of ways to construct a storyboard. One method is to attach hook-and-loop tape to the backs of picture pieces for use on a felt board, allowing students to manipulate the pictures and rearrange them to create different stories. A similar method is to apply magnetic tape to the backs of pictures for use on a magnetic board, such as a cookie sheet, allowing children to move the pieces around freely. Children can also create individual storyboards simply by drawing pictures with crayons and paper, or using dry-erase boards to allow for multiple uses.
Kindergarten storyboards aid in teaching various lessons, such as counting, colors and shapes. For example, you might create a farm scene on the storyboard using pictures of a farmer, a barn and farm animals, then give an instruction such as, "The farmer needs to feed two goats. Can you bring the goats to the farmer?" Students should work together or take turns locating the correct pictures and placing them in the appropriate spots on the board. You might place shapes of various colors on the board, then instruct students, "Move three yellow triangles to the side," or "Remove all the orange shapes." This method of hands-on learning encourages students to interact with each other and their environments, enabling increased retention of the subject matter.
Judy Dodge, author of "25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom," states, "The more parts of your brain you use, the more likely you are to retain information." Activities that combine movement, talking and listening stimulate connections in multiple areas of the brain. Storyboarding improves a child's motor, oral and listening skills by providing tactile and visual aids while encouraging group discussions. As children work to remember key elements of the story, they exercise their memory skills, and their social skills improve when they work together rather than individually.
Teach kindergartners about the weather cycle using a storyboard. Describe how the sun warms up water, causing it to evaporate into the air and form clouds. Once the clouds get heavy, the water falls as precipitation. Then the sun warms it up again and the cycle continues. After telling the story, instruct students to place pictures on the board in the order the events occurred. Include such pictures as clouds, bodies of water and the sun. Use a storyboard to teach "The Three Little Pigs." As you read the book, encourage students to move pictures of the pigs, the wolf and the houses around on the board to correspond with the action in the story. Help students create a storyboard of their own based on the activities they did the previous weekend. Whether they draw their own pictures or cut ones from a magazine, encourage them to share their stories with the class.