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  • Ideas by Jivey

    Jivey shares ideas and lessons to make literacy accessible for all.

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    Mentor Texts

    Growing Readers and Writers with Mentor Texts

    March 18, 2016

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    The book I am using for my lesson is Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco.

    Although not a traditional Easter story, this book is a great one to read around that time of year. Patricia commonly recounts stories from her own childhood in her books, and this is no exception. Her childhood neighbors, Stewart and Winston, are much more like brothers to her, despite her Russian Jewish heritage and their being African American boys. The boys’ grandma, Miss Eula, is raising them, and Patricia looks to her as another grandmother as well. The three children decide they want to buy Miss Eula an Easter hat that she has had her eye on. Unfortunately, their good intentions are misunderstood, and the children learn a lesson about kindness and humanity, as well as how to make Pysanky eggs. The story is filled with family values, and it bridges racial and religious differences in a beautiful tale about building relationships.

    Even before the day you read the book, it is important to discuss theme vs. main idea, as these two get confused often. Mary from Teaching With a Mountain View has a great post about this, and this gorgeous anchor chart, too!
    Theme vs. Main Idea anchor chart from Teaching With a Mountain View
    The day you read the book, remind students of the meaning of theme before beginning, and ask them to think about what lessons are learned, or what is the message in this book as you read it aloud to help guide their thinking.
    After reading Chicken Sunday, ask students to think about the message of the book. Sometimes it helps to talk about the problem of the story and how it was solved to help see the “big picture,” or theme. Give students the activity and discuss (you also may want to return to parts of the book) the evidence that shows the theme they suggest.
    Ideas by Jivey walks you through a reading comprehension lesson with the mentor text, Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco, and includes a free activity to use!
    There are certainly several themes that could be supported in this story, but the one I saw the most was kindness.
    The children wanted to get Miss Eula the hat she had been wanting to show thanks and kindness.
     
    The children make Mr. Kodinski the Pysanky eggs to show kindness – even though he was mad at them for something they didn’t do.
     
    Mr. Kodinski gives the children the hat to show kindness.
     
    You can do this activity together as part of a mini-lesson if you are early on in teaching theme, or you could have students complete it on their own. As long as students can support the theme with three pieces of evidence from the story, I would accept any theme that is suitable to the story.
    Ideas by Jivey walks you through a reading comprehension lesson with the mentor text, Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco, and includes a free activity to use!

    I included a graphic organizer for theme that can be used with any book in your free download above! You could have students use the organizer with their own book, or with another read-aloud.

    You might also like to show the students THIS VIDEO about how Pysanky eggs are made!

    You can find more activities for this book, along with 29 others in my Volume 2 Better Than Basal (collection of mentor text activities)!

    You might also love to use Patricia Polacco’s books during your grammar and writing time with mentor sentences!

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

    Join the club!

    No really… there’s a club!

    Join the mentor text club to get detailed explicit lesson plans using one book all week in reading, writing, grammar, and more!

     

    Ideas by Jivey walks you through a reading comprehension lesson with the mentor text, Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco, and includes a free activity to use!

     

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    Mentor Text Reading Reading Workshop
    by Jessica Ivey 

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    Welcome!

    Welcome!

    Hi, I'm Jessica, also affectionately known as Jivey! I am passionate about making literacy accessible for all students using research-based strategies. Students learn best through content integration and in-context skills, and my goal is to help you deliver your instruction with these best practices!

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    Recent Posts

    • Teaching Grammar that Supports the Science of Reading
    • Teaching Text Structure With Picture Books
    • Planning a Language Arts Schedule (How To Fit It All In!)
    • Mentor Sentences Routine: Break It Down (Assessment)
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    Ideas By Jivey

    15 hours ago

    Ideas By Jivey
    Surprise! 🥳TPT is having an early spring sale! 🌷🌸If you've been saving a big bundle on your wishlist, now is the time to add it to your cart! 🛒👩‍🏫Everything in my store is 20% off, even already-deep-discounted bundles, then use code FORYOU23 to get the extra 5% off at checkout!Happy shopping! 😍 www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ideas-By-Jivey ... See MoreSee Less

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    Ideas By Jivey

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    Ideas By Jivey
    😍 For today's Mentor Text Monday, let's look at a book you should use this week to celebrate National Crayon Day on Friday! 🖍 The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow is a fabulous picture book to read when teaching text structure. 🔎 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.) Get a weeklong #mentortext unit to use with the book in my TPT store: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Crayon-Man-Mentor-Text-Unit-for-Grades-3-5-7391557Or in my website shop: www.ideasbyjivey.com/product/the-crayon-man-mentor-text-unit-for-grades-3-5/ ... See MoreSee Less

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    Ideas By Jivey

    3 days ago

    Ideas By Jivey
    🤷‍♀️Why do I recommend students complete their mentor sentence work in a notebook?🤷‍♂️📓It 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.Read more about the way my students set up notebooks here: www.ideasbyjivey.com/mentor-sentence-notebooks/ ... See MoreSee Less

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    Surprise! 🥳 TPT is having an early spring sale Surprise! 🥳

TPT is having an early spring sale! 🌷🌸

If you've been saving a big bundle on your wishlist, now is the time to add it to your cart! 🛒

👩‍🏫Everything in my store is 20% off, even already-deep-discounted bundles, then use code FORYOU23 to get the extra 5% off at checkout!

Happy shopping! 😍 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ideas-By-Jivey

#teacherspayteachers #ideasbyjivey #teacherspayteacherssale #iteach #iteachtoo #mentortexts #mentorsentences #ELAteacher
    😍 For today's #mentortextmonday, let's look at 😍 For today's #mentortextmonday, let's look at a book you should use this week to celebrate #nationalcrayonday on Friday! 

🖍 The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow is a fabulous picture book to read when teaching text structure. 

🔎 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.) 

Get a weeklong #mentortext unit to use with the book in my TPT store, or at the link in my profile! https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/product/the-crayon-man-mentor-text-unit-for-grades-3-5/

#ideasbyjivey #upperelementary #picturebooks #iteachtoo #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers #iteach345 #iteach3rd #iteach4th #iteach5th
    🤷‍♀️Why do I recommend students complete 🤷‍♀️Why do I recommend students complete their #mentorsentences work in a notebook?🤷‍♂️

📓It 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.

Read more about the way my students set up notebooks at the link in my profile!

#ideasbyjivey #teacherspayteachers #iteach345 #iteachtoo #mentortexts 

https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/mentor-sentence-notebooks/
    🤓Teachers are aware that understanding vocabula 🤓Teachers are aware that understanding vocabulary is crucial to reading comprehension, but we want students to do more than just “know it when they read it.” 

💬✍️We hope our students can adopt these words into their repertoire and improve their writing and speaking vocabulary as well.

🥰With over 150 mentor text units with contextual vocabulary lessons included in the All-Access Membership, you'll have everything you need to help students do just that! (Link in profile.)

#ideasbyjivey #mentortexts #teachermemberships #upperelementary #iteach345 #vocabularyteaching #teachvocabulary 

https://members.ideasbyjivey.com/all-access
    🤩Just ONE reason that I never looked back once 🤩Just ONE reason that I never looked back once I started the mentor sentence routine in my classroom:

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! 🤯

👀Read more in the post at the link in my profile!

#ideasbyjivey #teachersfollowteachers #mentorsentences #iteach345
https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/5-reasons-mentor-sentences
    😍Teachers LOVE using the paired texts I've writ 😍Teachers LOVE using the paired texts I've written! 

📖With original passages (differentiated for two reading levels) and multiple-choice & constructed response questions that require students to go back into the text for the answers (not basic-level comprehension), you are able to tackle rigorous reading standards while integrating social studies and science content into ELA to maximize much-needed time!

Plus, bonus!! Students actually enjoy the passages' topics (no yawns through lessons)! 🚫😴

Check out this set for Westward Expansion at the link in my profile!

#ideasbyjivey #fabulousfeedback #pairedtexts #pairedpassages #iteach456 #upperelementary #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paired-Texts-Print-Digital-Westward-Expansion-Grades-4-6-1811055
    Happy World Poetry Day!! 📖🖋️☕️ Need a Happy World Poetry Day!! 📖🖋️☕️

Need a ready-to-teach close-reading poetry resource? Grab it at the link in my profile! 

#worldpoetryday #worldpoetryday2023 #ideasbyjivey #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo #iteach456 #poetryintheclassroom 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Poetry-Through-the-Year-Printable-Digital-2216146
    🦎Here's another fantastic book you won't want t 🦎Here's another fantastic book you won't want to miss for #womenshistorymonth  on this #mentortextmonday!

🐉Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles by Patricia Valdez is the inspiring biography of the pioneering female scientist who loved reptiles.

Get the resource I've made to go along with the book to have:
★a mentor sentence lesson for the book

★an interactive notebook activity to review/teach abstract nouns

★eight reading ideas suggested with three activities provided: supporting an inference, key details and main idea, and vivid verbs

★one writing idea suggested with a writing prompt given

★contextual vocabulary activities

This is just one of over 150 books in the All-Access Mentor Text Membership! Join at the link in my profile! https://members.ideasbyjivey.com/all-access

#ideasbyjivey #picturebooks #mentortext #mentorsentence #teachersfollowteachers #iteach345
    When do YOU teach grammar? 🤓 📓If you're usi When do YOU teach grammar? 🤓

📓If you're using the #mentorsentences routine, I suggest beginning your writing time with it! You want grammar and language to be directly connected to their writing.

This also helps get students into a writing frame of mind, and often gives them a purpose for writing that day! ✏️

Read more about the mentor sentences routine at the link in my profile!

#ideasbyjivey #mentortexts #teacherspayteachers #upperelementary #grammarteacher

https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/routine
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