The Joys of Sharing Expository Nonfiction Mentor Texts with Students + a Giveaway
Consider sharing these six books with your fact-loving students.
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win all six books for your classroom library.
New Mentor Texts for Information Writing
The books featured in this post, all of which were published in 2015, represent a variety of information writing. All of these are texts that can pull double- and even triple-duty in your classroom, thereby allowing you to use a text during read-aloud time so you can revisit it during a writing workshop minlesson and/or in a content area.
Crafting Nonfiction: Conducting Research and Organizing Information
Melissa Stewart, award-winning author of more than 150 nonfiction books for children, steps into our Author’s Spotlight today. In her post, she shares about the chunk and check process, which will help your students conduct research.
Giving Students Choice in Note Taking
Tomorrow marks the last of our research days in writing workshop. When we return to school next week, my sixth graders will begin the process of sifting through their research … Continue Reading Giving Students Choice in Note Taking
Inspiring Independent Writing Project Mentor Text (Part 3 of 5)
If you’re planning to launch independent writing projects in your class during the final weeks of school, then you’ll most likely have several students who might want to write a … Continue Reading Inspiring Independent Writing Project Mentor Text (Part 3 of 5)
Informational Writing that Dazzles + a Giveaway
A couple months back I promised to be more intentional about finding nonfiction picture books to recommend as mentor texts for writing workshop. I’ve been looking at a lot of … Continue Reading Informational Writing that Dazzles + a Giveaway
Approaching Common Core + PARCC
Yesterday I heard James Kofi Annan tell his story of child slave to business man to freedom fighter for the children in Ghana. Check out this CNN video for a … Continue Reading Approaching Common Core + PARCC
Martha Horn!
Martha Horn is coming to NE Indiana on October 14, hosted by the All-Write Consortium. I’m super excited to hear her thoughts about teaching our youngest writers. If you are … Continue Reading Martha Horn!
A Tough Conference
Today I conferred with a fourth grade girl who was doing her best to write a feature article. I watched her for a few minutes before I conferred with her … Continue Reading A Tough Conference
Nonfiction Writing Celebration
I’ve just gotta tell you, I attended an incredible writing celebration today. Not only was the celebration itself cool, but the way it evolved rocked too. It was a true … Continue Reading Nonfiction Writing Celebration
Journey Around a Topic
Earlier this month, The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice, which is written by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Linda Bleck, was released by Dutton Children’s Books. The Longest Day … Continue Reading Journey Around a Topic
The Truth Matters!
My students published their research-based essays on the Holocaust this morning, which was not a small feat! I was so incredibly proud of their diligence and desire to produce a … Continue Reading The Truth Matters!
Rubric Creation for “This I Believe” Essays
I was at the computer this morning when my students created a pretty basic rubric for their final unit of study’s essays. The following is what they created. They’ll use … Continue Reading Rubric Creation for “This I Believe” Essays
Submission
After three – four weeks of crafting, drafting, revising, and editing my “This I Believe” Essay, I finally submitted it for publication tonight! 🙂 It felt great to finally submit … Continue Reading Submission
Timelining Helps Kids Write Factual and Moving Concluding Paragraphs
I attended Beth Moore‘s Session on Social Studies in the Writing Classroom at the March 2009 Saturday Reunion. It was an exceedingly useful session with tips I’ve been using in … Continue Reading Timelining Helps Kids Write Factual and Moving Concluding Paragraphs
Feedback
My students and I agreed to a form that I would use to provide them with feedback on the drafts of their research-based essays. We decided that it was a … Continue Reading Feedback
Two Things That Feel Good to Hear…
(1) Yesterday afternoon one of my students lingered a little bit after dismissal. She said, “You know, I thought this research essay would be mad hard.” “What do you mean?” … Continue Reading Two Things That Feel Good to Hear…
Here’s what’s happening in my room this week.
This-Coming Week’s Teaching Points Turned Into “I Can” Statements Originally uploaded by teachergal By the end of the week, these are the things my students will know they CAN do … Continue Reading Here’s what’s happening in my room this week.
Thesis Statements
3 out of 18 Folders + Typed-Up Thesis Statements for the Entire Class Originally uploaded by teachergal Each of my students spent an extended time on the rug yesterday, crafting … Continue Reading Thesis Statements
Values & Thesis Statements
Bubbl.us: Values and the Holocaust Originally uploaded by teachergal My students will be crafting their thesis statements for their essays today. As a pre-cursor to thesis creation, I had them … Continue Reading Values & Thesis Statements
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 