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Picture Book Month Day 26: Picture Books as Mentor Texts featuring WHEN MARIAN SANG
WHEN MARIAN SANG: THE TRUE RECITAL OF MARIAN ANDERSON by Pam Munoz Ryan Illustrated by Brian Selznick Scholastic, 2002 Summary: WHEN MARIAN SANG is a biography featuring the life of African-American singer, Marian Anderson, a woman who broke barriers for African-Americans during the time of the Jim Crow…
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Picture Book Month Day 25: Picture Books as Writing Mentor Texts featuring NIGHTSONG
NIGHTSONG by Ari Berk Illustrated by Loren Long Scholastic, 2012 Summary: Chiro the bat learns to fly away from his mother and how to survive by using his senses. Mentor Text Writing Skills: * Word Choice * Sensory words * Specificity * Vivid Verbs For more information…
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Picture Book Month Day 24: Picture Books as Writing Mentor Texts featuring DAVE THE POTTER
DAVE THE POTTER by Laban Carrick Hill Illustrated by Bryan Collier Little, Brown, 2010 Summary: Dave was a slave who created beautiful pottery and even wrote poetry on the pots. This is a lyrical story that mostly focuses on the creation of the pots themselves. Historical information is…
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Picture Book Month Day 2: Picture Books as Writing Mentor Texts Featuring A ZEAL OF ZEBRAS
A ZEAL OF ZEBRAS: AN ALPHABET OF COLLECTIVE NOUNS by Woop Studios Chronicle Books, 2011 Summary: This nonfiction text features a collective noun for every letter of the alphabet. A paragraph featuring interesting facts about each group of animals is also on each page. Mentor Text Writing…
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Onomatopoeia Palooza!
I am a contributor to this onomatopoeia resource. If you are a writer or a teacher of writing, I hope that you will find this helpful. It’s like an onomatopoeia encyclopedia. To download this onomatopoeia resource, click on the picture below. Onomatopoeia Sounds Like… Other Onomatopoeia Resources: Onomatopoeia Mentor…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Familiar Books
Tip: Use a book students are already familiar with as a mentor text. When I pull out a book to use as a mentor text and students say, “Oh I’ve read that book,” I’m always thrilled. You know why? The first time we read a book, we are interested…
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Guest Post on Using Mentor Texts
I write a lot about mentor texts in the classroom, but I also use them to help my own writing. Today, one of my guest posts is live on DIYMFA on reading like a writer. It’s called “Reading and Studying Mentor Texts.”
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Pictures as Mentors
Tip: Sometimes students need more than an author’s words to help them in their writing. Many students respond well to pictures. I know many primary teachers that start students out with drawing a picture first, then writing. This can work for older students too. Pictures can be mentors for…
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10 for 10: Top 10 Favorite Picture Books to Use as Mentor Texts for Word Choice
UPDATE OCTOBER 2014: This post has become so popular that I expanded it and turned it into a downloadable PDF. You can get the downloadable PDF for free when you sign up for my teacher newsletter (sign up is on the right-hand sidebar). This year, I’m participating in…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: One Thing at a Time
Tip: Revise one thing at a time. If you are working on describing the setting, then only work on composing and revising the setting. As a writer myself, revising a whole host of things at one time can be overwhelming. Many professional writers I know do several passes of…
