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!
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
- 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
Grammar
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Introduce Finding Specific Text Evidence With Do Unto Otters
If you want even more activities to use with this book, you can get the mentor text unit here. It includes a mentor sentence lesson as well as reading, vocabulary, and writing activities. You can also visit this blog post to see how I teach the mentor sentence lesson at the beginning of the year, using the lesson from Do Unto Otters!
Are you looking for ready-made mentor text lessons for the week?
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Flipping For Fall Mentor Texts: The Stranger
Inferring
Reading between the lines… putting clues together to solve a mystery… whatever you may call it, I’m sure you will agree, students need a lot of practice with inferring! A great mentor text to use for this very skill is The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg! The Stranger is the story of a mystery man who stays with the Baileys after he was accidentally hit by Farmer Bailey’s truck. The accident has caused him to lose his memory. While he stays with the Baileys, very strange things are happening with the weather… it doesn’t seem like fall will ever come! Finally, the stranger seems to remember who he is, and with his departure, cold air comes in and green leaves turn red and gold!
Lesson Introduction
Tell students that as you read the book, The Stranger, they are going to try to solve a mystery. A man loses his memory and you are going to try to figure out who he is!
Working with the Text
Use this freebie to work with the text!
I suggest reading the book first. Some of the “clues” won’t be obvious right away on the first read, but after you’ve read the book, you can go back through the book and see if there is anything that helps prove his identity. This also helps reaffirm to students the importance of returning to the text to find evidence! (You might even want to read the book one day, and do the activity the next day since it requires a re-read.)
As you re-read, have students give you a signal (maybe thumbs up or snapping) when they hear something that seems like it could be a clue to identifying the stranger’s identity. Of course, you will want to start off the activity by doing a think-aloud or two…
Mrs. Bailey stopped the doctor as he left the house. He’d forgotten his thermometer. “Oh, you can throw that out,” he answered. “It’s broken, the mercury is stuck at the bottom.” Oh! That seems important! I know that the mercury in a thermometer rises with heat but if it’s stuck at the bottom, that must mean it’s very cold. That must mean that the stranger’s temperature is very cold!
He watched Katy take a spoonful of soup and blow gently across it. Then he did exactly the same. Mrs. Bailey shivered. “Brrr,” she said. “There’s a draft in here tonight.” Another clue about the stranger being cold! He blew on his soup, and it seems that when Mrs. Bailey felt his breath, it made her cold!
Complete the activity during the second read to show the evidence you find to prove the stranger’s identity:
Next Step Options…
Of course, I can’t pass up an opportunity to use an awesome text for a mentor sentence!! (Not familiar with mentor sentences? Click here to read more about them!) You can grab this FREE bonus mentor sentence lesson to go along with your inferring activity!
I also have hundreds of activities you can use with your favorite mentor texts in these three sets:
Or maybe you’d like to get ready-made explicit mentor text lessons for the week…?
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Integrate With The Text: Come On, Rain!
One of the most common struggles teachers face is tackling TIME. There simply isn’t enough of it to cover all the skills and standards we need to teach! One way to address this problem is to integrate as much as possible. Being able to address multiple skills and standards through one or two lessons truly helps maximize time as well as often helping the students to practice true application.
In this post, I will share tips, lessons, and even free activities you can use to integrate science, reading, writing, and grammar with the book, Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse. **affiliate link- Amazon gives me a couple cents when you use this link and I use that money to help pay for my giveaways!**
First, I have to brag on the illustrations of the book. They are watercolor sensations! It’s easy to get “stuck” in the comprehension of the text as teachers and forget about the pictures… but it is important to “read” the pictures as well!
And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out the BEAUTIFUL figurative language and imagery throughout the text. This is definitely a great book to use when teaching about these skills, as well as writing in prose.
Students can “collect” the awesome adjectives and vivid verbs from the book as you read- making a list they can refer to later for their own writing.
Then of course, focus on how to use that figurative language and those vivid verbs during mentor sentence time!
If you teach about weather, this is a great mentor text to use to discuss a bit of science- yes even though it’s fiction! There are clues Karen Hesse gives in the text that show a rainstorm is coming, like the gray clouds rolling in and the wind picking up…
And if you teach about fronts and forecasting, a fun writing prompt I always did with my kids is to have them pretend to be the meteorologist on the news forecasting Tessie and Mamma’s weather! And of course, you can also discuss the drought that is occuring in the book, too.
There are some fantastic vocabulary words that the students will be able to learn and understand through context clues… and also look at the words’ parts of speech. Sometimes, words that can be verbs are also adjectives!
Talk about how you can tell these words are adjectives or verbs based on how they are used in the sentence.
This is definitely a “don’t miss” book. If you would like the print-and-go activities pictured in this post, you can get the entire mentor text unit in my TpT store!
Looking for ready-made explicit mentor text lessons for the week?
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Strategies at Work: The Bear Ate Your Sandwich (K-2)
I am teaming up with The Reading Crew to bring you all you need to teach some amazing mentor text lessons this fall!
Does your school participate in Read For The Record? It’s on October 27, 2016, and this year’s book is such a fun one! Even if you don’t join in with Jumpstart, you will still love to use this book with you K-2 kiddos.
The Bear Ate Your Sandwich is the story of a bear, lost in a city. He comes across many things in this “strange new forest,” and one of them is YOUR SANDWICH! But wait… was it really a bear that ate it? You’ll have to read to find out! 🙂
This book is full of wonderful vocabulary words that your young kiddos should learn. I have created a lesson to help you teach some of the words in the story.
Before reading the book, help students understand the words they are going to hear in the story. Display the sandwich cards with the sentence and picture clue. Talk to students about what they think the word might mean based on the context and the picture.
While reading the book, students should listen for the vocabulary words. They can snap when they hear it. Talk again about the meaning to make sure they understand the word and how it is used.
After reading the book, give students the vocabulary activity. They should shade the sandwiches with the word and definition that match the same color.
Grab the cards and activity here!
And, of course, you have to get the mentor sentence for this book, too! (Not familiar with mentor sentences? Check them out here!) It will be a great way to extend the vocabulary word, “interesting” as they use it in their own sentences.
Make sure to check out the rest of the mentor text lessons from this year below! This is The Reading Crew’s Second Annual Fall Mentor Text Hop! (Did you miss last year? Click here to see all the great fall texts from last year!)
PIN FOR LATER:
Never Smile at a Monkey! Close Reading Practice
Don’t forget to grab the free bonus resource!
Are you looking for more close reading activities? Check out my paired texts!
This post is a part of The Reading Crew Blog Extravaganza! You can see other helpful ideas, tips, tricks, and lessons by visiting the links on the calendar below (click the calendar to open!):
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