Help me give my students mentor texts that demonstrate the six traits of writing- ideas, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
My third grade students love to read about and discuss passionately the world around them.
Third grade students grow so much over the year socially and intellectually. They are introduced to new genres and authors through read-clouds and mentor texts, and they love to read about different places, cultures, traditions, and perspectives. They especially enjoy engaging texts that use vivid photos and illustrations, authentic sources, and stories about children around the world that they can connect with easily.
I have a diverse classroom which is departmentalized by subject area. I am their Reading/Language Arts/Social Studies teacher and teach 38 students. Our school values inclusion and diversity, and my students include gifted and talented students, students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and students with special needs such as dyslexia and autism.
My Project
My students need mentor texts to teach the traits of writing- ideas, organization, voice, word choice, conventions and presentation. Each of the books in this project have been specifically chosen to engage and inspire students in their own writing. These mentor texts also support students in their understanding of different genres like narrative, informational and argument (opinion) writing.
"The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did.
It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary." - J.K. Rowling
Picture books can be especially successful in giving students a model for their writing- by inspiring their own writing topics, demonstrating vivid and specific language, organizing their stories in unique ways, and supporting their learning of conventions like capitalization and punctuation. These mentor texts also have interesting characters and topics, inventive stories, and beautiful illustrations to engage students. I have chosen books like Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street to inspire new ideas for writing, Brave Margaret to model a strong beginning to a story, Tough Boris to show an example of a strong, memorable character and vivid language, and Cave Detectives to demonstrate effective word choice.
These books can also be used to support my students' reading skills- such as comparing and contrasting characters, summarizing and inferring. These mentor texts will be used with students for years to come to support their reading and writing skills.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Cooper and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
