List of Mentor Texts

I recently spent a week in Omaha, Nebraska conducting writing workshop inservices.   The Omaha teachers were fabulous and had so much to offer!  It was a high-energy, roll-up-our-sleeves week in which I was definitely both the teacher and the learner.  

I was reminded of what a gift a two-day inservices can be.  (I worked with teachers in grades 4-6 at the beginning of the week, primary teachers at the end.)  One day of six traits or writer’s workshop is an introduction. By the end of two days, however, I’m fairly convinced that teachers have the information and practice they need to make significant changes in their teaching. (Big thanks to Christina Warner for arranging the perfect schedule.)

With both groups, we took some time to examine our favorite picture books and identify ways in which they could be used as mentor texts.  Fourth Grade teacher Holly Sobota offered to compile a list and she’s given me permission to share this list with all of you.  Thanks, Holly!

 
Mentor Text
Ideas for how to use the text
Raising Mr. Yoder’s Barn
By Jan Yolen
Word Choice, voice
Dinosaur Days
By Liza Baker
Organization, sentence fluency, voice (artistic voice)
The Hello, Goodbye Window
By Norton Juster
Voice, beginnings, endings
The Adventures of Spider
By Joyce Cooper Arkhurst
Word Choice, beginnings
Froggy Goes to School
By Jonathan London
Beginning, vivid verbs, onomatopoeia
Is There Really a Human Race?
By Jamie Lee Curtis
Endings, fluency, conventions
Queen of the Class
By Mary Engelbreit
Word Choice
That’s Good, That’s Bad
By Margery Cuyler
Organization-patterning Word Choice onomatopoeia, adjectives
Fortunately
By Remy Charlip
Organization-text and pictures (black/white) word choice, adverbs, prediction
Falling for Rapunzel
By Leah Wilcox
Word Choice, organization
Amelia Bedelia
By Peggy Parish
Organization: Order (first, then, next)
Word Choice: idioms
Once I Ate a Pie
By Katy Schneider
Personification
Earth: Feeling the Heat
By Brenda Z. Guiberson
Organization, vivid verbs, onomatopoeias
Beardream
By Will Hobbs
 Voice, rule of 3, Native American-multicultural, beginning
Hooway for Wodney Wat
By Helen Lester
Word Choice (synonyms for talk), alliteration, strong verbs, pattern of 3
The Relatives Came
By Cynthia Rylant
Organization, “bookend” circular organization beginning and ending, symbolism, growing, ripening grapes represent the passage of time, descriptive writing, values, importance of the extended family
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
By Michael Rasen
Voice, onomatopoeia, Organization-circular writing
Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski
Voice, circular writing, word choice
Duck and Goose by Tad Hills
Conventions-dialogue, Point of View
Stand Tall Molly Melon
By Patty Lovell
Organization-Repetition, circular, word choice, voice
Moosetache by Margie Palatine
Word Choice, Voice
Foodle by Patricia Pavelka
Voice, Word Choice, Conventions
Purple Hair? I Don’t Care! By Dianne Young/Barbara Hartman
Organization-surprise ending, word choice, voice, quality details
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Grummel
Word Choice
Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup
Organization-Voice
The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolk
Voice, Conventions, Free Verse Organization: Problem Solving
You are Special by Max Lucado
Organization-Rule of 3 Voice-character development
The Tortoise and the Hare by Janet Stevens
Organization-Rule of 3, Word Choice
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! By James Solheim
Word Choice, Voice
Take Me Out of the Bathtub
By Alan Katz
Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency
Wiil Waal: A Somali Folktale by Kathleen Moriarty
Ideas, Organization
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee By Chris Van Dusen
Word Choice, Sentence Fluency
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Organization-Time Order
Lighthouse Family Series: The Whale by Cynthia Relliant
Voice
 

 

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Writing Center

I am posting my article about Writing Centers from my weekly primary newsletter  in hopes that you will share your list! What works well for you?  (scroll down)

Dear Colleague, 

 

When considering what to post this week, I stumbled upon a wonderful article by Gayle Robert  that encourages us to examine classroom spaces.

 

The article inspired me to think again about writing centers – an inviting place where all the luscious writing supplies are stored within students’ reach. Here is my thinking and a list of the items in my center.  

 

(If you need an explanation for any of the items on my list, you’ll find it in chapter 2  of my book No More I’m Done which you can read online.)

 

Happy writing!   

Jennifer

 

 

Writing Center

For a time, I secretly feared that the real purpose of the writing center was to indulge my love of office supplies. (Many of you have heard me say that I’m drawn to Staples the way other women are to shoe stores.) However, letting go of control of supplies helps your students behave independently and frees you to teach writing. After years of working in classrooms other than my own, I do believe having a supply center is essential to a well-oiled workshop.

            The writing center can be a permanent or mobile area in the classroom. I’ve seen writing materials rolled in on carts during writing time, or contained in shoe-pocket organizers that are prominently hung when needed.

            Here are the supplies I store in my writing center. I’ve divided my list into two categories: items deemed mandatory and those that are optional.

 

Mandatory

ü  Writing folders

ü  Blank paper, story paper, notebook paper

ü  Date stamp and ink pad

ü  Pencils: standard and blue or green pencils for editing

ü  Alphabet charts (may be on folders or adhered to desks)

ü  Scissors and tape

ü  Graphic organizers

ü  Editor’s checklists

ü  Scrap paper and supply request forms

 

Optional

ü  Stapler

ü  Pens (often preferred over pencils)

ü  Crayons, colored pencils, markers

ü  Sticky notes

ü  Baby name book

ü  Children’s magazines

ü  Hole punch

ü  Brad fasteners

ü  Writing offices

 

 

 

Why a baby name book? If you have ever asked your students to complete a story map before composing, you know that primary students have a tendency to fill in the character section with names of their friends. There’s usually a lot of hubbub as students show one another what they’ve recorded. (Think Valentine’s Day without the sugar.) This can be particularly disruptive in second grade, where the ups and downs of transitory friendships are often the undercurrent of the day, and feelings are easily hurt. But even if there was not a concern of social issues trumping writing, the main problem from a writing instructor’s point of view is that fiction that features one’s young friends quickly stalls after the introduction. Once students have listed the primary characters, the plot goes nowhere. Why? Well, for one, it’s very hard for any writer to use his or her imagination when the material is real flesh and blood. And perhaps, once the fun of selecting and listing the characters is over, the story itself loses energy.

            So I tell students that as an author, I never use names of people I know in my fiction. In fact, I do quite the opposite. I turn to a baby name book to find truly unique names-names that are seldom heard and will come alive on the page. (My first picture book, A Net of Stars, features Etta, Harper, and Fiona-names seldom heard where I live in the Northeast.) I place a baby name book in the writing center and suggest they try this technique. It quickly becomes one of my most dog-eared resources. (If you don’t want to invest in a baby name book, bring in an outdated phone book, which provides first and last names.)

            Adapted from the upcoming study gudie for No More "I’m Done!" Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades  by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

 

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The Murky Middle

 

As promised, I want to share another lesson I presented at High Bridge Elementary.  Lynn H.  requested a lesson  that would help her fourth graders write the middle of their stories or personal narratives.  There are oodles of lessons for teaching beginnings…
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Decalogue

I just learned the meaning of this word, decalogue, this week.  First I stumbled across the website of NNWP Teacher Consultant, Corbett Harrison who provides wonderful mini-lessons to use with mentor texts.  He recommends reading chapter four of Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie, which contains a…

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Spelling

 I received an email from a teacher this week who wrote:

I work with a great group of 2nd grade students who love to write. However, their spelling needs improvement. Do you have any suggestions?
 
Formal programs help students to see…
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Never underestimate the power . . .

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Perhaps one of your…
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Publishing Student Work

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There are a number of ways we can offer audience in the classroom. We can invite students to participate in author’s…
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Show your love

On Saturday, I participated in a "Kids Heart Authors" book signing at Children’s Book Cellar in Waterville, Maine. Also present was Maria Padian signing her first YA novel, Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress, and author/illustrator Kevin Hawkes who read from…

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Organization: Pattern of 3 (Part 4)

So once you’ve introduced students to the pattern of three in literature, and they come to you regularly pointing out the pattern in the books they’re reading, how do you help them to use this pattern in their own writing?

I…

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Reflective Endings

Perhaps you think of it as a circular ending, but one favorite technique for ending pieces – particularly short pieces – is by having the ending reflect the beginning. Here are three of my favorite examples.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by…

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Organization -- Pattern of Three (Part 3: Endings)

So, we’ve arrived at the topic of conclusions. Endings are hard. Let me say that again: ENDINGS ARE HARD! 
 

Last week I wrote the ending of my newest middle grade novel.  Observe the writer at work: she’s fidgety, she’s irritable, her brain feels incapable of functioning. She paces, she…

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Organization: Pattern of Three (Part 2)

Second Installment

Okay, so your students have come to recognize that, yes, story often begins with a character who wants something. Does this mean the character gets what he or she wants right off the bat? No way! (Not unless the…

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