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Poetry Friday: THINGS WE FEEL Activity
Bridget at wee words for wee ones is our host for this week’s Poetry Friday. Head there for the roundup. THINGS WE FEEL Poetry Activity I love sharing and writing poetry with students. Recently, I used THINGS WE FEEL with kindergarten students. It’s the perfect…
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New Mentor Text Lessons, Mentor Texts Lists, and More!
Guest Posts Around the Web You may have noticed I haven’t been blogging much lately, but I have been doing some writing out and about on the web-o-sphere. Using Mentor Texts to Revise a Novel in Verse at Teach Mentor Texts (Jen Vincent’s blog) Author Study on Newbery Award…
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Writing Wednesday: Using SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY as a Writing Mentor Text
SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY By Jacqueline Briggs Martin Illustrated by Mary Azarian Houghton Mifflin, 1998 I use this book for many things in the classroom. It’s a favorite we return to again and again. It’s a picture book biography of Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, who lived on a farm but was…
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Verseday: Concrete Poetry Picture Books
Back in August, I did a post on resources to use when teaching LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech. I didn’t include my concrete poetry picture books because I knew it would be a post all on it’s own. Here are some of my favorite concrete poem picture books.…
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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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VerseDay: Resources to Use with LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech
One of the highlights of my year is teaching LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech. My students love reading this book and discovering that they can write poetry too. Over the years, I’ve collected some favorite books that I use while teaching LOVE THAT DOG. The resources are listed…
