Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lauching Writing Workshop: Mentor Texts!

Because I love finding writing mentor texts, I'm linking up with Amanda & Stacia at Collaboration Cuties for their weekly Mentor Text linky party! It's hard being a fifth grade teacher sometimes... there are so many wonderful writing mentor texts but often the younger grade level teachers snatch those up! Owl Moon, The Relatives Came, Fireflies, Amelia's Journal and The Dot... have all been gobbled up by fourth grade teachers. Ugh. I love my fourth grade teacher friends but save some good ones for us too! But, I was tired of rehashing fourth grade with my fifth graders! So, last year, I was on a mission to find new resources that would help with our heavy nonfiction writing curriculum and launch my workshop... hence, my {new} favorites for launching workshop.


I found Stuck last summer at a literacy workshop I attended. I instantly fell in love with the pictures and concept of the book! It's about a boy who gets his kite stuck in a tree. So, he tries everything he can think of to get his kite down but everything he tries seemingly gets the kite MORE stuck! Until... well, I can't ruin the ending for you!

I use this book to teach about writer's block. I let my students know that sometimes, you're just stumped or stuck and that's okay. It's all about how you deal with your problem. The boy in the book never gives up, although he does get frustrated, it's all about using your schema and strategies to help you solve your problem. After reading, my students brainstormed all the different strategies they use to help themselves get "unstuck" while writing. Love, love, love this book!



Not a Box was an Amazon recommendation for me. At first, I was like, really Amazon? You gotta do better than that! But alas, Amazon knows me better than I know myself. Before grabbing a copy, I checked it out from the public library! It's a super creative book. The rabbit in the story does everything he can to prove that the square is NOT A BOX. I kin this book to The Dot or Ish. There is also a sequel called Not a Stick. The rabbit comes up with clever rebuttals when ever someone asks "Why are you sitting in a box?" It's a short read that's great for teaching about creativity, imagination, or point of view. It's a good text to have handy for fiction or even non-fiction writing.

Don't forget to link up your favorites with Amanda & Stacia! 

How do you start your Writing Workshop? Any favorite must-have-in-my-cart-and-on-my-shelf titles?


Share:

24 comments

  1. Hi Amanda,
    I am not familiar with Stuck- looks like a winner, especially in first grade when learning to read can seem overwhelming for some students.
    I love Not a Box, and didn't know there was a sequel!! I must check it out.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Karli
    Creating a Thoughtful Classroom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh wow! Two books that I have never heard of!! I am going to have to check these out for sure! And I know exactly what you mean about the younger grades taking all of the good books! I feel like the third grade teachers do that to us too! (probably because we used to teach 3rd and we all worked together)! I love learning about new books (although my bank account doesn't love it so much!)!

    Thanks so much for linking up!!
    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your suggestion for Stuck as a mentor text for writer's block - a very common problem for my reluctant writers. I will add that one to my Amazon cart.

    Thank you! (Hopefully, the fifth grade teachers at my school won't mind if I grab another one.)

    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love Not a Box! I haven't used it in class, but I did give it to my nephew for his birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those look like great books! I wonder if the Grade 5 teachers will be mad if I buy them...
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

    ReplyDelete
  6. Stuck is such a cute book-- I actually haven't used it in my classroom yet, but read it with my little niece. I think I'll be getting my own copy this year to add to my classroom library though!
    Aylin :)
    Learning to the Core

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the great suggestions - I think I will be using Stuck this year :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm a teacher, and I always let my students explore their artistic view in writing essay. I used writing mentor text, it is a powerful tool that allow me to teach ideas, structures, and authentic writing skills to my students. I am an advocate of bringing essay in the classroom.

    Jessica M. Millis
    Adviser
    4667 Corbin Branch Road
    Contact Site: www.goproofreading.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. One needs to invest plenty of time for preparing an awe-inspiring write-up, which is not always possible for the college students who participate in various social activities or do a part-time job. Therefore, they buy buy papers online, so that it helps getting a degree without any complication.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Have you ever tried writing a college paper on your own? I did, and it made me realize that it is time-consuming process to carryout proper research to create a marvellous write-up. Visiting https://collegepaperworld.com helped me to get over with all hardships under ma tight budget.

    ReplyDelete
  12. thank for information is the nice post, amazing very nice i like it and you like like obat supaya bercinta tahan lama

    ReplyDelete
  13. Finding writing mentor text is very good habit. For writing essay, custom essay writing service is the best place. They provide different tips and statements to improve your essay writing skill.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Please delete the plaigerism companies trying to convince students to cheat!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think that people who write books for children are geniuses. I work at essay service and I know how difficult it is to write the text. But people who write for children should have great imagination. They have to feel the desire and the feelings of the children, and this is very difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I wanna thanks for this so beautiful and amazing post! Children are flowers in our life)) Earlier I felt the problem with the homework my children (when they needed help). But I began to use writingleader.com and it's so easy. Now I have more time for my children and family)) And people writing children's books worthy of respect.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi there! What a cool books! It think they might help a lot with studying kids. Because when I was a students it was easier apply to the site where you can find all necessary information. But with these nice books studying process is more interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I went over this website and I believe you have a lot of wonderful information, saved to my bookmarks writing

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your article very well and good, bringing inspiration to many. I hope people visit my website. picbear

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's very difficult to stumble upon the right essay service for your college needs. That's why reddit lovers prefer best essay writing service reddit

    ReplyDelete
  21. These were conservative white males, who listen to shows like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and other right wing talk. Direct Response Copywriting

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love to Launching Writing Workshop and writing mentor texts, so I will use your suggested ideas to boost my writing skill. Dissertation Writing Service

    ReplyDelete

Please leave me some blogger love. Your comments give me great ideas for making this blog even better! -- Amanda

Design by Laugh Eat Learn // Theme by Pipdig