Mentor Text Linky Party!

I'm linking up with Amanda and Stacia at Collaboration Cuties!

I love mentor texts! I teach a Read Alouds workshop at my local Teacher Resource Center, so if you're ever looking for a chapter book or picture book on any topic, please come see me! I have a book buying problem as well, so I own them all!

I'm supposed to be sharing Social Studies texts, so I will start with Social Studies texts, but I just can't help myself...and I'm going to share some awesome mentor texts to use in writing, as well!

Toliver's Secret is PERFECT for teaching the American Revolution! My kiddos make instant connections and it is just ideal for fourth grade! Click on the link to find my sweet novel study.

Eagle Song is included in the grade 4 ELA modules from EngageNY. I read it along with our Iroquois unit and it truly sparked some deeper level discussions about bullying, customs, and traditions. Check out the novel study that goes along with the text!

One of my all time favorite read alouds for teaching inferencing!

Depending on the class, we also use this text for teaching students how to hook the reader with a captivating introductory statement.

If you haven't read this one, it's about a boy and his father who are homeless and live in an airport.

  

Flotsam and Tuesday, both written by David Wiesner, are two of my favorite wordless picture books for teaching questioning in the beginning of the year. We spend time brainstorming question words and record them in a giant cut out Q that we hang in the classroom. Next, my fourth graders spend a week working on this skill through whole group meeting area lessons. We sit in a circle and there is no hand raising. I sit in the circle and turn the pages and show the kiddos the pictures. As I show them and kind of rotate around the circle, they can call out their questions as the book passes by. It's a lot of fun, and some questions get reactions from the other kids like, "Oh yea! Now I'm wondering that, too!"

I love using The Important Book to teach main idea in the beginning of the year. I've used a variation of the lesson on The Writing Fix, which is an awesome website for getting ideas about a gajillion different mentor texts and teaching the 6 +1 Traits of Writing! If you haven't been there, explore that website!

I could go on and on and on about different picture books that I adore and use to teach writing!