Building tension or suspense in a narrative is an advanced writing skill but one that can be explicitly taught, even to young writers. Once students understand 1) that stories have beginnings, middles, and ends and that it is time that navigates the reader through a narrative (story) and 2) how to elaborate by adding specific details like action, …
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Mentor Texts
Planning Sheets
Writing Trait/Strategy:Adding details; organization Mentor Text Suggestions:Your own modeled writing—see description belowThe Quilt Story by Tony JohnstonLaura Charlotte by Kathryn GalbraithKnots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr.,The Hickory Chair by Lisa FraustinoEvery Friday by Dan YaccarinoA Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams Description:To give students more practice in asking questions to help …
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Apostrophe Detectives
Writing Trait/Strategy:Writing conventions Mentor Text Suggestions:Alphie the Apostrophe by Moira Rose DonohueThe Girl’s Like Spaghetti by Lynne TrussGreedy Apostrophe by Jan CarrThe Perfect Pop-Up Punctuation Book by Kate Petty and Jennie Maizels Description:This lesson focuses on apostrophes, but the procedures can be used for any writing convention. I noticed that my students were very confused …
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Walk Around in the Author’s Syntax
Writing Trait/Strategy:Sentence fluency; conventions Mentor Text Suggestions:The Whale’s Song by Dyan SheldonCrab Moon by Ruth HorowitzShortcut by Donald Crews Description:This strategy, described in Mentor Texts by Dorfman and Cappelli, is an effective way to help students try out a variety of sentence structures and help them begin to internalize language conventions. Lift an excerpt from …
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Be Specific
Mentor Text Suggestions:Beach by Elisha CooperBig Mama’s by Donald CrewsOutside, Inside by Carolyn CrimiIn the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise FlemingLilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin HenkesBunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells Description:One way to dramatically improve student writing is to teach them about specificity of nouns and verbs. Many students have been taught that adding …
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Paint a Picture
Writing Trait/Strategy:Word Choice; Sentence Fluency Mentor Text Suggestions:Come On, Rain! by Karen HesseThe Storm Book by Charlotte ZolotowTwilight Comes Twice by Ralph FletcherWhite Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin TresseltAll the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlanHello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan Description:To introduce this technique, select a picture of something from a catalog or magazine. …
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Show, Don’t Tell
Writing Trait/Strategy:Ways with words; creating mind pictures for the reader Mentor Text Suggestions:Night Noises by Mem FoxWidget by Lyn Rossiter McFarlandThe Painter by Peter CatalanottoDad and Me by Peter CatalanottoChrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes Description:Mark Twain said, “Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.” In other words, show, don’t tell …
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Gradual Release of Responsibility
The optimal learning model or gradual release of responsibility takes Vygotsky’s ideas about the zone of proximal development and puts theory into practice. In this research-based model, the responsibility for task completion shifts gradually over time from the teacher to the student. The following steps describe this shift: Teacher Modeling: Explain the strategy, demonstrate how to use …
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