Mentor+Text

Please use this page to enter the title and author of books you recommend to teach a specific writing skill.
Text: When Sophie Gets Angry---Really, Really Angry... by Molly Bang This is a wonderful text to read aloud to students. It is filled with colorful,vivid pictures and text and the students can literally see and feel Sophie's explosive anger through the bright reds, oranges, and purples. They see and feel Sophie's anger dissipating as the colorful pictures become more calming through the soft blues and greens as she finds a way to deal with her anger. I used this text to encourage idea/sentence development through expressive as well as oral language. Having my students think about a time when they were really angry helped them to make meaningful connections. It also gave my children the desire to want to more fully express their ideas through oral and written language. They drew pictures of their angry situation. This text also encourages students to discuss ways of dealing with anger (at school or at home). Marci

I use the same book as Marci as a mentor text to model the writing craft of Show, Don't Tell. (Desiree' Caldwell 2nd grade)

__Punctuation Takes a Vacation__ by Robin Pulver: I used this book as a mentor text to teach the various punctuation marks and their importance in reading, as well as, writing. The kids really enjoy listening to this as well. (Desiree' Caldwell 2nd grade)

__Quick as a Cricket__ by Audrey Wood - This story is about a boy who compares himself to different animals. He is as nice as a bunny and as loud as a lion. This book can be used to teach the use of similes. (Kim DeYoung, 1st grade)

__Car Wash__ by Sandra Steen and Susan Steen - This story is about a family who goes through a car wash. The kids pretend to be under the sea on an adventure. This book can be used to teach crafting techniques such as onomatopoeia, BIG words, bold words, and many other interesting crafts. Kids will enjoy exploring this book to find crafting techniques on their own. (Kim DeYoung, 1st grade)

The subscription database that every N.J. school should have – **//EbscoHost//** – hosts a subscription database called **//NoveList//**, this database has a “Teacher Resources” tab and it has many ideas to use novels and picture books. This site also has a listing of the text strategies and then several suggestions of books to use to support that strategy. Liz Stern