Teaching Text Structure With Picture Books

August 18, 2022

Text structure is the way authors organize expository information for a specific purpose. Aside from the fact that it’s a required reading standard, it’s important to teach students to identify text structures in order to improve comprehension of a text.

Using quality texts as explicit models and teaching about the organization and keywords used with each type of structure helps develop student comprehension.

You know I love using picture books as mentor texts, and yes, picture books work well for this skill, too!

Teach Text Structures With Picture Books

Teaching students to identify text structure can be tricky simply because expository text is often more challenging to read (since it usually consists of content that is unfamiliar to the student).

Using nonfiction picture books for your mini-lessons to introduce (or re-teach/review) text structure is the perfect way to help students access the content of the text.

There are five overall text structures:

chronology (sequence)
comparison
cause/effect
problem/solution
description

Keep in mind, in your mini-lessons, it’s important to discuss with students that when determining the text structure, it should describe the text as a whole, not just parts of it.

One way to help students identify the text structure is to use a guide like this one:

CLICK TO ACCESS FREEBIE!

If students cannot answer the question about the WHOLE text, it helps them see that text structure would not apply to the text. It also helps set them up for success with the comprehension of the text by being able to answer the question.

You probably noticed that “description” isn’t listed on the poster- that overall text structure is usually one they don’t have any issue identifying or comprehending, so I focused on the four trickier structures.

Text Structure In Balloons Over Broadway

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet is such a great nonfiction mentor text to teach about the man behind the magic of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This is a great picture book to use when starting text structure lessons because the overall text structure is chronology (which tends to be much easier for students to identify).

Using the guiding questions, students should easily identify the chronology text structure. Be sure to remind students how the structure should describe the text as a whole, not just parts of it.

For example, in Balloons Over Broadway, even though Tony faced some problems in the book and was able to solve the problems, the book as a whole wasn’t about how to solve problems that occur during parades.

And although the author reveals the reason that we have a Macy’s Parade with large balloons, cause and effect was not the overall structure of the entire book.

Students should recognize that the overall structure of Balloons Over Broadway is chronology because it is the story of Tony Sarg growing up to make marionettes, then puppets, then using his expertise to create the balloons for the Macy’s Parade.

Continued Practice With Text Structure

Of course, spending time analyzing the other text structures is essential.

Since informational texts are typically more difficult simply because the students aren’t as familiar with the content, providing texts that access some prior knowledge tackles that hurdle.

In the weeklong mentor text unit I created for the book Balloons Over Broadway, students will read short passages providing even more information about the Macy’s parade. I wrote each passage with a specific (and obvious) text structure to help students analyze keywords and overall organization.

Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers

Viewing text structure as a craft can also improve students’ informational writing abilities.

A fun way to get students reading like writers and writing like readers is to engage in conversation over what is the same and different in a couple of images related to what you’re learning. Since the purpose of compare/contrast structure is to share similarities and differences of two things, this discussion is important because it will help spark the ideas they may want to write about for their assignment.

Below, you’ll see an example of a writing assignment in the Balloons Over Broadway Mentor Text Unit.

Pointing out some key elements they want to include when they compare, like the year, or the name of the balloon, in order to distinguish between them. For example, students shouldn’t say, “one has this, but one has that.” They need to clarify by saying, “The balloon from 1928 was filled with air and helium, but the balloon from 2008 was filled with just helium.”)

Text Structure In The Crayon Man

Another fabulous picture book to read when teaching text structure is The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow. It is not only a fantastic example of a narrative biography, but contains the elusive problem/solution text structure! (This one is always hard to find good examples of in picture books.)

Just as I suggested with Balloons Over Broadway, after reading the mentor text, read each explanation of the text structures from the poster. Remind students how the structure should describe the text as a whole, not just parts of it. Help students recognize that the structure is problem and solution.

Point out how even though chalk, pencils, and crayons were compared in the book, the overall structure of the text is not compare and contrast… and although a few steps of making the colored crayons were shared, the text overall was not written with references to time, so it wouldn’t be a sequence structure either.

Note: Problem & solution and cause & effect can often be similar in structure – and can be tricky to identify! In fact, one might argue that The Crayon Man is cause & effect because of the chain of events that led to the crayons’ creation. However, there are several problems presented in the book that Edwin works to solve – and does – so this is a great example of the problem and solution text structure!

Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers

The Crayon Man is actually a “two for one” for your text structure lessons!

In the back of the book, the author includes an explanation with ordered photos to show how crayons are made. Students should easily identify the text structure: sequence/chronology.

The caption of each image tells how crayons are made. Because they are written as captions for numbered/sequential images, and not in paragraph form, transitions are not used or needed.

Perform a shared writing exercise with students: paraphrase the captions and add transitions to write one paragraph that explains how crayons are made. This help students practice varying the start of their sentences.

Depending on your class’s ability to paraphrase, etc, you might even write out the paragraph example ahead of time with blanks for transitions to explicitly practice using transition words in writing.

Looking for more information about teaching with picture books?

Check out the site library all about maximizing your time using mentor texts!

SHOP THIS POST:

Step-by-Step: The Why and How of Mentor Sentences

July 15, 2014

Mentor sentences help you teach style and conventions in a way that is fun for the students AND you! Over the course of a week, students will work with one super sentence from a mentor text in different ways each day. Each week, there will be a focus on one or two skills, but they will still be exposed to several skills, many of which they have already learned from previous mentor sentences. This spiral learning truly makes an impact on their retention of skills and writing abilities.

With mentor sentences, you will be teaching with a well-written sentence, not a sentence full of mistakes. The problem with programs that present random sentences to students that are full of mistakes is, the students don’t even know what it is SUPPOSED to look like! Students are just guessing about what is wrong with sentences. But with mentor sentences, we are exposing students to amazing craft with correct structure and mechanics. This help students learn the RIGHT way to write, not the wrong.

I didn’t always use mentor sentences in my classroom. But as soon as I read about them back in 2010 in Jeff Anderson’s book, Mechanically Inclined, I knew I had to figure out how to make them work in my third-grade classroom. It just made sense! (His books at that time were aligned to middle grades, and didn’t include specific lessons.) I adapted a routine that aligned with our standards and what I expected students to do each day, and suddenly, mentor sentences became my favorite part of the day!

Five Reasons I Couldn’t Stop Using Mentor Sentences:

Jivey teaching mentor sentences, standing at the board

#1: I already used children’s literature to teach my mini-lessons in reading and writing. Why not use those books for grammar, too?

#2: My students were having these super deep conversations and even DEBATES about grammar and language. I’d never heard students be able to explain the functions of words so well before, or analyzing craft like actual authors!

#3: My kids didn’t know they were learning grammar during our daily Mentor Sentence time. Seriously- they looked at it as a scavenger hunt and a challenge!

#4: My students’ grammar knowledge AND WRITING improved. And not just mine… lots of other teachers saw it, too! Check out this case study to read even more about the amazing improvements that happen with mentor sentences.

#5: It only takes 10-15 minutes per day! In a world where there just isn’t “extra” time, this was easy to manage – plus it took the place of grammar lessons that weren’t effective.

WHO SHOULD TEACH WITH MENTOR SENTENCES?

Teachers who are tired of grammar lectures, Powerpoints, and drill-and-kill worksheets that don’t actually transfer to writing should absolutely throw all of that out and jump headfirst into the mentor sentence routine.

Teachers who enjoy using mentor texts to cover content and maximize teaching time will love adding mentor sentences to their toolbox.

And most importantly, teachers with students of ANY ability can use them; because of the consistency, students know what to expect each day, and the spiral learning keeps those important skills in front of them week after week. Multilingual students who aren’t proficient in English, and students with special education accommodations are DEFINITELY going to benefit from the mentor sentence routine.

WHY ARE MENTOR SENTENCES A BEST PRACTICE?

Grammar should be taught in context, NOT isolation. Studies like this one have shown that the “traditional method” of grammar workbooks, lectures, and diagramming is not only ineffective but can be detrimental to student writing!

Mentor sentences also help improve craft by revealing fantastic models of figurative language, descriptive words and phrases, and interesting sentence variation that they use as models for their own writing.

Mentor sentences allow students to soak up the language and grammar skills through noticing, conversation, and imitation, which in turn transfers to their writing.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT MENTOR SENTENCES?

The daily class discussions around language are when the students are going to learn the MOST. This is why mentor sentences should never be solely “independent work” or “morning work.” The engagement in those conversations is what will give many students a “lightbulb moment” and help those skills transfer to writing.

This also means the lessons differentiate themselves. Not all classes are going to notice the same things, and of course, not all GRADES are going to notice the same things at the same level. In the linked articles at the bottom of the post, you will find an example lesson that can be effectively used in second, third, fourth, or fifth grades!

WHEN DO YOU TEACH THE MENTOR SENTENCE ROUTINE?

I suggest incorporating mentor sentences into your writing time, as it should be directly connected to their writing. It should also replace your grammar-in-isolation lesson. Also, it will sometimes replace your style and conventions mini-lessons that you teach during writing time. For this reason, I like to START writing time with the mentor sentences routine. This also helps get students into a writing frame of mind, and often gives them a purpose for writing that day!

CONSISTENCY IS KEY! To see real improvement, you need to carve out a time in your schedule to do Mentor Sentences daily. I promise you, it’s worth it! You won’t have to teach grammar in isolation so much anymore (BORING!) and you’ll see improvement in the students’ writing!

WHERE SHOULD STUDENTS KEEP THEIR MENTOR SENTENCES?

Students should complete their mentor sentence work in a notebook. This becomes a perfect “living resource” to use during writing time. It will contain a collection of amazing sentences, skill practice, and sentence structure practice that they can apply to their own writing. Visit this post to see suggestions of setting up student notebooks.

Ready to get started with the routine?

Day One: Time to Notice

Day Two: Parts of Speech

Day Three: Time to Revise

Day Four: Time to Imitate

Day Five: Assessment

3-5, Mastering Mentor Sentences, Mentor Texts

Tying It All Together With Mentor Texts {with freebies!}

October 10, 2015

Mentor texts are perfect for students of all ages! If you don’t believe me, read here. 🙂 One of the best parts of using a mentor text is that it gives you more time to TEACH! Once you’ve read the book one time, you only need to re-read or refer to parts of it for your mini-lessons.

In this post, I am going to explain how I used the book, When Lightning Comes in a Jar by Patricia Polacco to review vivid verbs in writing (and help them implement in their own writing), review parts of speech and similes in grammar through mentor sentence lessons, and do a close reading lesson where they use text evidence to support their thinking during reading.

You can find all of the activities I will be discussing in these two freebies in my store:

The students were already familiar with vivid verbs, so I wanted them to “read like a writer” and listen for vivid verbs as I read the story to them for the first time. Patricia really has a beautiful way with words, and all of her books have great vivid verbs- this one was no exception!

Students wrote all of the vivid verbs they heard as I read, then they shared what they heard with a partner. This recording sheet becomes part of their writing resource folder, so they can use it during writing time to help them revise if they need ideas. Later in the week, I had them pull out their writing piece and work on revising their verbs.

Over the course of the week, we also used one sentence from the story as our mentor sentence:

The focus was still on vivid verbs to tie in with our writing lessons, but look at all the other great things we got to talk about with this sentence! Compound subject, simile, prepositions, proper noun, plurals… the list goes on! That’s what I love about mentor sentences- the students get so much out of it each week and it really becomes a spiral review if you consistently use them. They are also looking at why the sentence is written WELL instead of a bad sentence full of errors (trying to figure out what might be wrong with it).

One thing students always need more practice with is close reading and finding evidence… but you don’t have to only do this with a nonfiction article! As a teacher, you can legally photocopy an excerpt of a book for the students to use in an educational setting. I copied the two pages where the aunts and Gramma were telling crazy tall tales. Students read this quietly and annotated their thoughts as they read, then we discussed their thoughts. They agreed that Aunt Ivah was exaggerating her story because no one would pick up a rattlesnake with an umbrella, much less get close to one!

We did the first two jars together, then they tried it on their own with the last two jars.

There is also an activity included in the freebie where students find text evidence to support the theme of the book, if you’re interested.

So I know reading about how to do all this and actually SEEING it are two different things… so I’ve made a new video!! I have several videos on YouTube but wanted to show how I tie everything together with one mentor text. Now, I’ll warn you… this one is longer than the others with multiple lessons happening… go ahead and grab your popcorn! 🙂

Thanks so much for reading! For more mentor text resources, head over to my store or click the specific products below!

Mentor texts resources with Ideas by Jivey

Looking for ready-made, detailed, explicit mentor text lessons for the week?

Join the club!

No really… there’s a club!

3-5, Mastering Mentor Sentences

Mentor Sentence Planning Present- Using Owl Moon

December 10, 2015

Do you loathe grammar? I bet I know why. You are tired of drill and kill style grammar teaching. Or you wish students would quit guessing what the error MIGHT be in your DOL or DGP (or any other acronym that might represent your grammar program) sentence of the day, because it doesn’t carry over into their writing anyway.

Have no fear! Jivey is here! 🙂 Stop showing students sentences full of mistakes. Start using mentor sentences from your favorite mentor texts that you already use to teach other skills, and your students will actually be EXCITED for grammar and writing instruction!

Learn the why and how of teaching grammar in context, rather than in isolation, using mentor sentences! Jivey walks you through each step of the routine.

The idea of mentor sentences across all grades is for students to notice what makes it a great sentence, and then carry those great things over into their writing. You can read about where this idea originated in Jeff Anderson’s books. I am going to share how I’ve adapted these ideas to make it into a routine that fits elementary classrooms!

Most teachers will agree, style and conventions are the two areas that are the most difficult to teach and the two areas that usually suffer in student writing. Mentor sentences help you teach these two domains in a way that is fun for the students AND you! Each day, students will do something a little different with the sentence. Each week, students will focus on one or two skills, but they will still be exposed to several skills, many of which they have already learned from previous mentor sentences, so the spiral learning really makes an impact.

Today’s Planning Present is a mentor sentence lesson from the mentor text, Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

Owl Moon Mentor Sentence Lesson With Ideas by Jivey.

**disclaimer** Today, I am going to give you the “CliffsNotes” version of implementing mentor sentences. I have a TON of resources, including videos, that you can read and watch here, and detailed instructions are also provided in Unit 1 of all of my mentor sentence packs. You will be able to implement the lesson I’m including using just this blog post, but please note, consistency of using mentor sentences is what truly makes a difference in your students’ writing and understanding of grammar. The routine and repetition produces fabulous student authors!**

Day One: After reading the text, show the students the mentor sentence.

Ask students what they notice about the sentence that makes it a great one. If this is your first mentor sentence lesson with your students, you may need to prompt them more with questions like, “What type of sentence is this? What interesting words did the author use? Is there any figurative language? What did the owl do?”

Students can make a list in their notebook of things they notice, and you should also make a list of things they noticed on chart paper. The focus skills are: simple sentence with compound predicate and possessive pronouns. You’ll want to make sure students recognize these two things if they didn’t already “notice” them. The simile is also a great thing to point out. Anything they missed on their own, they can add to their list as you write them on your chart.

Day Two: Students should rewrite the sentence, skipping lines in between, and label the parts of speech they know. The idea behind this is to help them notice how words work together to make effective sentences. It is NOT necessary to label every word, especially in the beginning. If this is your first time doing mentor sentences, you might only want to label nouns, verbs, and the possessive pronoun to cover the focus skills.

If you feel the students are ready to label more, go for it!

You will also want to take some time to focus on the skills of the week. This would be a great time to pull out a writing piece the students have been working on and have them practice using compound predicates. Point out the way the mentor sentence was formed and ask them to try it. You can also have students look for possessive pronouns in their own reading and write the sentence they found it in on a sticky note to share later. (I also have supplemental interactive notebook activities in my store that you can use as mini-lessons, which are aligned with the mentor sentence lessons.)

Day Three: Students will revise the sentence. YES- even published sentences can be revised! This not only helps students’ revision skills, but it also shows them they are never “done.” I always show students my own revision of the mentor sentence so students can identify what was changed. It also gives them an idea of what they can do.

Here are some great revisions done by @MissBishopHP‘s class! You can also see the great things they noticed and how they labeled their sentence:

Day Four: Students will imitate the sentence. It’s not often students are allowed to write about any topic, so they get very excited about imitating. The only thing they MUST do as part of their imitation is to keep the structure of the sentence the same. For this sentence, students should definitely have a compound predicate and a simile.

Choose a few sentences to celebrate- give the students sentence strips to write their sentence and hang in the classroom. You’ll be amazed at the style that comes out of your students! Students should also continue practicing the structure of the mentor sentence. After several weeks of showing them that you expect them to use their mentor sentences to help them with their own writing pieces, you’ll find that students pull out their mentor sentence notebook without you even asking them!

Day Five: Assess the students’ understanding of the focus skills. A weekly quiz is included with the mentor sentence lessons. You might choose to take it for a grade, or you might use it as a formative assessment to see who still needs help. The mentor sentence DOES have errors because students still need to be able to recognize when there are mistakes… but they have seen and worked with the sentence all week so they SHOULD recognize the mistakes! It isn’t like DOL, where they have never seen the sentence before and often don’t know what would be wrong.

I hope this planning present will help you teach grammar and writing style effectively in your classroom. Don’t forget to head over to Jennifer’s blog, Teaching to Inspire, for another planning present!

If you want even more IN-DEPTH step-by-step help with implementing mentor sentences, check out my courses!

If you are looking for guidance to pick the “just-right” bundle for your needs, click below!

For more Mentor Sentences Resources and ideas, follow my Pinterest board!

Follow Ideas By Jivey’s board Mentor Sentences on Pinterest.

3-5, Mastering Mentor Sentences, Mentor Texts

Content Integration with Mentor Texts {Freebie Included!}

February 26, 2016

Are you looking for ways to maximize your time in the classroom? This post shows you how to integrate social studies content with ELA using mentor texts - freebie included for Henry's Freedom Box!

If you took a poll of current educators, one of the top things that teachers would tell you they need is more TIME. Although I can’t give you more time in your day, I can help you maximize your time!

One struggle with time is being able to teach the many standards WELL in a short amount of time. Here in Georgia, fourth grade teachers are responsible for teaching students pre-explorer days with Native Americans, to exploration of the United States, to colonization, to the American Revolution, to the creation of our government (new nation), to the War of 1812, to Westward Expansion, to abolitionists and suffrage movements… ummmm hello?! That’s over 400 years of history in one!

Mentor texts are the best way that I have found to be able to cover numerous skills at once. In this post, you’ll see how to teach standards in reading, writing, grammar, and social studies with just one book. Content integration can be a lifesaver if you are trying to maximize your time!

There are so many wonderful historical fiction books out there. We would be here all day if I started listing my favorites! But one of my favorites that I’ll focus on in this post is Henry’s Freedom Box.

If you teach about the Underground Railroad or abolitionism, this is an amazing book to use! But you don’t have to ONLY read this book during your social studies time for a history lesson…

Reading

Definitely read the book during your social studies time to relate it to your teaching about the Underground Railroad, but then refer back to parts of it to cover some reading skills!

There are some great vocabulary words in this book that students can use context clues to define.
Henry “Box” Brown is as a truly courageous man. Students can analyze Henry and determine character traits to describe him.
Students can find evidence in the story to demonstrate ways slaves were treated unfairly (which also relates back to your social studies content).
Students could compare Henry to Harriet Tubman and discuss how they both took drastic measures to escape slavery (again, goes back to social studies content, too).

Writing

This book really sparks emotion in students and gets them interested in the time period. What a great time to allow students to do some research and write an informational piece about the Underground Railroad or civil rights!

Grammar

And of course, you can’t read a good mentor text without analyzing a good mentor sentence, too! (Unfamiliar with mentor sentences? Click to read all about them or check out the ready-to-teach units in my TPT store!) This book is full of great descriptive sentences that students can use as models for their own writing.

Being able to cover all of these skills with just one book not only helps you maximize your time, but it also will help to ingrain the social studies content you need to teach as well.

Do you want to use this book for all of the skills I just listed above? Here you go! :o)

You might also love these mentor sentence mini-units to help you cover grammar and writing skills WHILE utilizing these books in other content areas!

Looking for ready-made, detailed, explicit mentor text lessons for the week that also integrate content across the subjects?

Join the club!

No really… there’s a club!

3-5, K-2, Mastering Mentor Sentences

3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Mentor Sentences…

April 26, 2016

If you're on the fence about using mentor sentences, this post by Ideas By Jivey can help you decide once and for all if using mentor sentences in your classroom is right for you.

Have you been straddling that proverbial fence about whether or not to start mentor sentences in your classroom? I’ll admit, they aren’t right for everyone. Below, I’ve listed three reasons why mentor sentences might not be a good fit for you.

If you can't live without the grammar workbook, mentor sentences aren't right for you.

If you prefer your students to sit quietly at their desk and work out of a grammar workbook, then mentor sentences aren’t right for you. Mentor sentences engage students in discussion about grammar, style, and conventions. If you were to teach grammar through mentor sentences, students would be getting a spiral review of many concepts every week, instead of just the one skill on the page in the workbook. There would be a lot of great conversation about things they notice. They would get excited about learning about style and conventions. If you like the groans and sighs you get when you tell students to pull out their grammar workbook, then mentor sentences aren’t right for you.

If you don't like reading authentic literature to students, mentor sentences aren't right for you.

If you don’t like reading authentic literature to students, then mentor sentences aren’t right for you. If you detest picture books that engage and excite students, then go ahead and stop reading here because mentor sentences just aren’t right for you.

If you love reading story after story of simple and/or run-on sentences with no description, vivid language, capitals, or periods, then mentor sentences aren’t right for you. Mentor sentences will show your students all the RIGHT things they should be doing in their writing. Students will imitate fabulous sentences (from those books in reason #2) and become authors. They will learn how to revise their writing to make it even better. But, if you prefer to read stories that put you to sleep at night, then please do not use mentor sentences in your classroom.

After reading these three reasons, if you realized that maybe…actually… you might be a teacher that is JUST RIGHT to implement mentor sentences in your classroom, click here to read all about HOW to implement them in upper grades, and even see a video of them in action in my classroom! First and second grade teachers, click here for the how-to and a video, and K-1, click here for your video and how-to post!

Ready to give them a whirl, but don’t want to jump in head-first? Try out some free lessons with your students!

Are you all-in, ready to go? Your best bet (and best bargain) is to get the bundle that best fits your needs! Check out the descriptions of the bundles to see complete book lists!

It is NEVER too late in the year to start mentor sentences! Sure, you’ll see more growth in your students if you start from week 1, but you will still see the lightbulbs come on over their heads in week 31 if you wanted to start then!

What are you waiting for?

If you want even more IN-DEPTH step-by-step help with implementing mentor sentences, check out my courses!

Teaching Text Structure With Picture Books

Teach Text Structures With Picture Books

Text Structure In Balloons Over Broadway

Continued Practice With Text Structure

Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers

Text Structure In The Crayon Man

Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers

Looking for more information about teaching with picture books?

SHOP THIS POST:

Step-by-Step: The Why and How of Mentor Sentences

Five Reasons I Couldn’t Stop Using Mentor Sentences:

WHO SHOULD TEACH WITH MENTOR SENTENCES?

WHY ARE MENTOR SENTENCES A BEST PRACTICE?

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT MENTOR SENTENCES?

WHEN DO YOU TEACH THE MENTOR SENTENCE ROUTINE?

WHERE SHOULD STUDENTS KEEP THEIR MENTOR SENTENCES?

Ready to get started with the routine?

Day One: Time to Notice

Day Two: Parts of Speech

Day Three: Time to Revise

Day Four: Time to Imitate

Day Five: Assessment

Tying It All Together With Mentor Texts {with freebies!}

Looking for ready-made, detailed, explicit mentor text lessons for the week?

Mentor Sentence Planning Present- Using Owl Moon

If you are looking for guidance to pick the “just-right” bundle for your needs, click below!

Content Integration with Mentor Texts {Freebie Included!}

Reading

Writing

Grammar

Looking for ready-made, detailed, explicit mentor text lessons for the week that also integrate content across the subjects?

3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Mentor Sentences…

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