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Picture Book Month Day 1: Picture Books as Writing Mentor Texts Featuring THESE HANDS
November is Picture Book Month. For the main site, click on this link. I’ll be highlighting a picture book a day here at my site, focusing on ways you can use them as mentor texts for writing. THESE HANDS by Margaret H. Mason Illustrated by Floyd Cooper Houghton…
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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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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…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Use Non-Book Resources
Tip: Use examples from non-book sources like newspapers and magazines. I tend to focus a lot of my energy on fictional mentor texts. However, much of what students will have to write and read in their school career will be non-fiction. So I’m working on incorporating more non-fiction into…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Poetry Stations
Tip One of my favorite units that I did with my class last year was on poetry using Tamera Will Wissinger’s GONE FISHING as a mentor text. But I also incorporated many other mentor texts in this unit as well. I created poetry stations for different forms of poetry.…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Scavenge the Books
Tip Scavenge your favorite books for good writing. In a recent onomatopoeia lesson, one of the activities includes creating a Noisy Words chart—looking for onomatopoeic words for every letter of alphabet. But looking for onomatopoeic words is just the beginning. Young writers can go on a scavenger hunt for…
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Mentor Text Tip Tuesday: Make a Chart
Tip When I’m introducing a mentor text to students for the first time, we talk together about the things we admire about the writing. One way to do this is by making a chart. It gives us a chance to color-code phrases or words and talk about it in…