Mentor Sentences Lessons Daily Grammar Skill Practice for Early Emergent Readers

$8.50

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Category: Grade Level: Mentor Sentence:

Description

Mentor sentences model writing through excellent sentences from your favorite read-aloud books! This set is just what you need to implement mentor sentences in your Kindergarten classroom. I created these with kindergartners in mind, but they would also be appropriate for early emergent readers in first grade, or even ELL students!

These mentor sentences are part of a balanced literacy approach. Students will listen to you read the mentor text, identify/notice letters, words, and parts of a sentence, read the words of the mentor sentence, arrange the words to re-form the sentence, learn other words that could fit into the sentence, imitate the sentence by writing in their own words, read their sentence, illustrate their sentence, and even create a class book that can be read over and over again. Your emergent readers WILL BE reading AND writing every week!

Not familiar with mentor sentences? Read all about them here!

**Watch a video of Mentor Sentences in ACTION with ELL students in Kindergarten!**

TRY ONE WEEK FOR FREE with The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog.

Are your readers past the EARLY emergent stage? Check out these units!
Ten Weeks of Lessons for Emergent Readers
Unit 2: Ten Weeks of Lessons for Emergent Readers
Unit 3- Ten Weeks of Lessons for Emergent Readers
Ten Weeks of SEASONAL Lessons for Emergent Readers

Not sure if you should get the Early Emergent or Emergent Mentor Sentences? Read this post to see which set you should get!

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WHAT’S INCLUDED?

I walk you through each day’s lesson for 10 weeks- all the work is done! Each lesson includes the teacher sentence page, directions/guidance for each day for the teacher, the student sentence page with words out of order (students cut and glue them back in order), vocabulary picture clue word cards (when applicable) in color and black and white, the student imitation page, and a class book cover in color and black and white.

Please download the preview to see the layout!

There is a 5-page introduction in this unit with pictures included of how to use mentor sentences (VERY detailed, day-by-day), followed by 10 lessons for the following books:

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
-name

Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
-emotions/feelings

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems
-food

The Napping House by Audrey Wood
-places

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
-vehicles

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
-school supplies

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman
-animal homes

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
-colors

Mary Wore Her Red Dress by Merle Peek
-clothes

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
-fruit

As a former first grade teacher, I used to LOVE reading these books, so I know many of you do, too! They are definitely some of my favorites. I chose books that would be in most personal libraries or school media centers. Ideally, this unit would work best at the beginning of the school year (based on the skills especially), but it could really be started at any point.

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WHAT ELSE DO I NEED?

Don’t forget to get the fall/winter holiday seasonal mini-unit, the mini-unit with snowy winter themed lessons, and a set of Spring themed lessons!

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HELP ME PLAN!
You don’t need to do all of the mentor sentence lessons in the order they come in the units. When I created the units, I put them in an order that progressed in difficulty, so these lessons spiral, but it is not necessary to stay in that order.

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WHAT ABOUT OTHER GRADE LEVELS?

Mentor Sentences can be done in ALL grades! Please tell your teacher friends about mentor sentences for their grade:

Kindergarten & ELL (Early Emergent Readers)
First Grade
Second Grade

There are three volumes for grades 3-5 to help prevent repetition of mentor sentence lessons among grades in the same school.
Check out what’s in Volume 1!
Check out what’s in Volume 2!
Check out what’s in Volume 3!

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Please remember, this purchase is for the use of one teacher. It is not intended to be shared. Please use the ‘additional license’ purchase if more than one teacher will be using it. Thank you!

*The mentor sentence lessons I have created are adapted from the ideas of Jeff Anderson. These lessons were born from the routine that worked well in my classroom, and the demos and examples I present are variations of Jeff Anderson’s methods. This is not the only way to “do” mentor sentences in your classroom.*

Copyright © 2015 Ideas By Jivey, LLC
All rights reserved by author, Jessica Ivey.
Permission to copy for single classroom use only.
Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.
Not for public display.

★★★★★ TpT buyer review

Wonderful resource

I have enjoyed using the activities for these books. I especially like the activities for Chrysanthemum. Thank you
Janel W. Grades taught: 1, 2, 4 · July 2, 2026
★★★★★ TpT buyer review

Amazing Resource

I used mentor sentence in my second grade classroom and decided to give it a try in kindergarten. What a great resource! I love the "what do you notice" day and how that grows over the school year!
Shayanne E. Grades taught: K · June 4, 2026
★★★★★ TpT buyer review

Just take my money

Anything you buy from this creator is gold. Worth it 100%. I've used this with whole class teaching as well as small group intervention.
Jemagic Resources Grades taught: K, 1, 2 · February 27, 2026
★★★★☆ TpT buyer review

Easy step by step modeling

This was a easy way to introduce writing without it being a lot.
Serena W. Grades taught: K · July 29, 2025
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
I loved getting to use Mentor Sentences with my kindergarten students. We paired this with our Mo Willems author study and it was a huge hit! My class loved creating the class book together.
Short and Sassy Teacher Grades taught: K · July 27, 2025
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
Great resource. It is engaging for kids and easy to differentiate.
Ryanne C. Grades taught: K · May 21, 2025
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
My students loved this activity. They were engaged and enjoyed every Minute !!!!
Brandon T. Grades taught: K · April 11, 2025
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
Great activities to extend language and vocabulary.
Lisa C. Grades taught: K, 1, 2 · December 5, 2024
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
I love using your mentor sentences. The kids love the stories and these get my kids talking, (Speaking is one of my ESL standards/domains).
Patti J. Grades taught: K, 1 · December 3, 2024
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
This has been a great help with my students that are not at grade level.
Deborah O. Grades taught: 3 · October 22, 2024
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
I homeschool my kindergarten and she's had so much fun with this! I'm a veteran public school teacher with a lot of experience with jivey's mentor sentence set up, so I've started simple parts of speech with her using this file, too! THANK YOU!!!
Tiffany F. Grades taught: K · October 12, 2024
★★★★★ TpT buyer review
This has been a great addition to our daily routine.
Greg M. Grades taught: K · December 28, 2023