Mentor Text Archives - Ideas by Jivey

Workshop Wednesday: Mentor Texts!

March 27, 2013

It’s another Workshop Wednesday! Today: Tell us all about your favorite mentor texts you use to teach author’s craft!

Make sure to grab the button when you link up!

Ok, seriously. I think I may have to do this linky topic again, and again, and again, because there are just TOO many books I could rant and rave about, so I know you feel the same!! I’m going to try to share some of the “not so obvious” ones that people may not already use in hopes that you can get some new ideas from this post! 🙂

Today, I’m going to focus on books I use to teach WORD CHOICE. There are so many of course, but here are a couple of my favorites:

Click on the book to visit Amazon!

I think I’ve probably shared this one with you before… maybe? It is one of my all time favorites. The story is about a little girl living in a city in the summer, totally hot and dried out, begging for rain. It describes those moments before rain-you know them, where it starts to cool, the wind picks up, and the smell of rain is in the air. There is soooo much you can use this book for. I actually use it during reading and writing for a whole week! For teaching word choice in writing though, I like to use this book for figurative language, awesome adjectives, and vivid verbs. Here are some example sentences from the book that I make sure to focus on:

I am sizzling like a hot potato.
The smell of hot tar and garbage bullies the air as I climb the steps to Jackie-Joyce’s porch.
Everyone, everywhere, everything is misty limbs, springing back to life.

Want my unit for this book? 🙂 Click here or on the preview to get it from my TPT store!

This next book, I’m actually using this week. I am in love. The fabulous Amanda at Collaboration Cuties found this book last year and realized how amazingly perfect it was for our Westward Expansion Unit. It’s called Dandelions.

Click on the book to visit Amazon!

The story is about a family moving to the Nebraska Territory in a covered wagon. Mama’s emotions make it very apparent that she is not happy about leaving her former home to live in a soddie (a dirt home), pregnant, away from all her friends and other family, although this is definitely an inference. She is lonely, but these feelings remain unspoken while the author describes her actions. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, too!

As for word choice, this book is FULL of language and imagery that provide the students with opportunities to visualize. In fact, when I read it to my kiddos for the first time yesterday, I did NOT show them the pictures. Instead, I had them write down everything they could vizualize using their five senses. This helps them to “show, not tell” in their own writing. Some of the sentences that are excellent examples to focus on from this book are:

Then, on a morning when the roar of the grass seemed quieter, Papa jumped from the wagon and shouted, “We’re here!”
The town was lifting itself as if by magic out of the distance.
The sky was a burning blue and the grass seemed tinged with red fire.

Want an amazing unit aligned for reading and writing skills for this book? Check it out here at Collaboration Cuties TPT store or by clicking on the title page below

I can’t wait to see the awesome books you all link up!! Make sure to grab the button from the top to include in your post, link back to blog posts only please, and kindly follow the rule of 3! 🙂

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Mentor Texts and Mentor Sentences

March 30, 2013

I have a ~~problem~~ slight obsession with books. I LOVE reading to my kiddos, and I love for my kiddos to WANT to get books from my class library to read. 2 years ago, I did a class library inventory and put them into an Excel spreadsheet with location (if it was on my shelf or their shelf- I still have some that are “mine”) and reading level. My intention was to add to it everytime I got new books, and I did for a while… but I haven’t kept up with it… and the thought of going through all my books again to figure out which ones aren’t in the spreadsheet makes me break out in hives. There are 977 listed on the spreadsheet, but I’ve gotten many more since then through book orders and book fairs and Amazon orders…

The books that are “mine” are the ones I use for lessons. I like to use books as mentor texts- books I can refer to for many lessons over a period of time. Sometimes, I read the book more than once, but usually, I read it once and then can just refer to a few pages later since the students are already familiar with it. This saves on time and keeps my lessons true “mini-lessons.”

I say all this because I’m linking up with Collaboration Cuties today to share how I use Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in my classroom as a mentor text.

This is such a fun book and YES it can be used in upper grades!!

I use it for a week in Reading, Writing, and Grammar using the skills listed above. I have a unit in my TPT store you should check out if you are interested in using it, too!

One thing that is not included in the unit is how I use this book during grammar time (although there is an activity in the unit identifying parts of speech). I don’t teach grammar explicity very often. I use Jeff Anderson’s method of Mentor Sentences. (Have you ever seen him speak? Oh my gosh, he is hysterical and so full of information!!) I lift a sentence from my mentor text and I use it as an example of whatever skill I want them to focus on that week. The idea is that the students are seeing excellent sentences instead of sentences full of mistakes trying to figure out what’s wrong, which hopefully will transfer to their writing, as well. I HAVE seen my students imitate the authors in their own writing, which makes me so happy!

For this book, I chose a complex sentence (the book is full of them!) for the students to study.

“By the time they woke up in the morning, breakfast was coming down.”

On the first day with the sentence, the students try to figure out why I’ve chosen this sentence in particular. They might notice (among other things) that the sentence is in past tense, there are prepositional phrases, and hopefully, that it is a complex sentence!

We focus on the fact that it’s a complex sentence all week and they look for sentences in their own reading that has the same style, and during “grammar time,” we also work to notice parts of speech in the sentence (like adverbs: up and down; prepositions: by, in; verbs: woke, was coming; etc), we revise the sentence one day (they have to figure out how to make the sentence EVEN better- usually by adding adjectives or changing verbs), and they also try to imitate the sentence (in this case, they write their own complex sentence with the subordinating conjunction coming at the beginning of the sentence so that there is a comma separating the two clauses, and they also try to incorporate adverbs and prepositional phrases since the author did). At the end of the week, there is a quiz over what we worked on all week.

Click here or on either of the images below to download for free and try mentor sentences in your own class! The first page is so they can glue the sentence into their journals- they fill up that page over the course of the week with the work we do with that sentence.

I hope this is helpful to you! I’ve said I was going to share how I use mentor sentences in my room, and something else always comes up. I plan on doing another post this week (FOR REAL!) with a new mentor sentence showing actual student work so you can really see how it happens in my room! 🙂

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

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Saturdays and Teacakes – Must Read Mentor Text AND Almost 300 Followers!

April 7, 2013

Good Sunday afternoon, friends! I’m linking up with those two Collaboration Cuties, Amanda and Stacia, for their fun Mentor Text Linky!

Today, I’m sharing one of my ALL TIME favorite books, Saturdays and Teacakes.

If you have never read this book, you are missing out!! It is a heartwarming story about a little boy who goes to visit his Mammaw every Saturday. The story takes you through his small town as he rides his bike to Mammaw’s, clearly not in present-day times. (Great book to point out how the author describes setting!)
Lester Laminack uses repetition of the words “pedal, pedal, pedal” as the boy is biking all the way to Mammaw’s, emphasizing his bike ride, and almost making it poetic. The boy arrives at Mammaw’s and cuts her grass for her… and then they make teacakes together. The author does an amazing job with visualization and describing using his five senses. By the end of the story, you will love Mammaw as though she was your own Mammaw!!

I use this book to help students see an example of a good memoir before they write their own. I have them brainstorm memories they have with someone in their family (they usually choose their grandmother, too, but just in case they might not know their grandmother, I don’t want to limit their thinking). I model my own memoir about my Mema for them over the course of our drafting time (usually a few days), and show how to incorporate some of the things Lester Laminack did in his writing, in our own.

Have you used this book in your own classroom? How have you used it?

Make sure to go link up with Collaboration Cuties to share about your own favorite Mentor Texts! It was so hard to choose just one. Glad I can link up every week! 🙂

Don’t forget to check back on Tuesday and Thursday this week for Mastering Mentor Sentences with Amanda, Stacia, and me! We’ll be diving in and explaining in more detail how we use mentor sentences!

Also, on Wednesday, come back and link up for Workshop Wednesday! This week’s topic will be for Reading Workshop: how do you stay organized with your guided reading groups? (you might discuss how you organize anecdotal notes, who is in the group, or even lesson plans)

~~Annnnd last but not least, I’m almost to 300! I can’t believe it! It seems like I JUST had my 200 follower giveaway! If you are willing to donate, please fill out the form below. 🙂~~

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Mentor Text: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

April 21, 2013

This morning, I’m linking up with Collaboration Cuties to share an exciting science mentor text with you! It’s called What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

This book is great for ANY grade! Here is an example of the first page…

I have the students predict to what animal they think the nose belongs… they get VERY excited about figuring them out! This one is pretty easy actually, but later some of them get really tricky!! When we turn the page, they see if their prediction is correct, and then they learn why animals have different noses!

The book goes through noses, ears, tails, eyes, feet, and mouths. I created this freebie you can use right along with the book!

Make sure to go link up with Amanda and Stacia to share your favorite science mentor texts, and go check out the great ideas from everyone else, too!

Don’t forget, I’ve got two linky parties going on this week! First up, Workshop Wednesday!

This week, back by popular demand, let’s link up our favorite math games again, but this time, let’s focus on math partner games that use cards! 🙂

Also, this Thursday, let’s flood everyone’s bloggy feeds with Peace, Hope, Love, and Kindness. If you missed what this linky is all about, click here to find out. 🙂 Joanne, Amanda, Stacia, and I hope you’ll join us!

Follow me on Facebook!!

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Sunday Funday- SALE! and Memoirs of a Goldfish Mentor Text!

May 5, 2013

Happy Sunday Friends!

I hope the weather where you live has been better than here- it has been so disgusting and rainy all weekend. I have been down with a nasty cold though, so I suppose it was good that those happened together- there’s nothing worse than being stuck on the couch when it’s gorgeous out! I’m feeling a bit more lively today, thank goodness.

Before I link up with Amanda and Stacia for my Mentor Text this week, I wanted to let you know about my Teacher’s Notebook Sale! Now through May 10, I am offering 25% off all my products, and Teacher’s Notebook will give you an additional 10% off! They are also giving away $100 to Oriental Trading everyday! Be sure to go enter!

Now onto my Mentor Text for Language Arts! Collaboration Cuties has a weekly linky for mentor texts, and this week is devoted to books you read during Language Arts time!

The book I want to share with you today is Memoirs of a Goldfish.

This book is great for ALL ages. I fell in love with this book the first time I read it. It fits in perfectly with books like Diary of a Worm/Fly/Spider because it’s written in journal/diary entry format from Goldfish’s perspective. The book starts out with Goldfish, bored, in his bowl by himself. Things slowly start to get added to the bowl and Goldfish gets quite cramped… and aggravated! But then, something happens that makes him realize maybe being cramped wasn’t all that bad… you’ll have to read to find out! 🙂

Goldfish’s character is a great one to follow through the book because he changes from the beginning to the end.

Click here to download a freebie for Memoirs of a Goldfish!

The freebie came from my Memoirs of a Goldfish Unit, which you can download from my Teacher’s Notebook Store (ON SALE!) or my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! :o)

Make sure to head over to Collaboration Cuties to link up your favorite mentor texts, and get some great ideas from other awesome bloggers, too! 🙂

Also, get ready for Workshop Wednesday – this week, it’s a focus on Writing!

Let’s share those “tricks we have up our sleeves” for getting kids motivated to write! Common Core has such an emphasis on writing ALL the time, so how do you keep the kids energized to write?

Lastly, don’t forget to take advantage of the last day of Feedback Frenzy! Not only will you get a free item from me (valued up to $5), but you can use the feedback credits in the upcoming Teacher Appreciation TPT Sale, too!!

Workshop Wednesday: Mentor Texts!

Mentor Texts and Mentor Sentences

Saturdays and Teacakes – Must Read Mentor Text AND Almost 300 Followers!

Mentor Text: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Sunday Funday- SALE! and Memoirs of a Goldfish Mentor Text!

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