Thursday, January 31, 2013

Small Moment Writing (mentor texts)

During writer's workshop last week, I started to share small moment stories with my class. Writing small moment stories is one of my favorite things to do for writer's workshop. 

We've done three mini lessons to build up to our small moment stories so far. During those mini lessons I shared 3 of my favorite mentor texts for teaching small moment stories. 

The first one, which is my favorite, is called Salt Hands by Jane Chelsea Aragon. Unfortunately, it is out of print. But, if you watch amazon or ebay, you can often get a used copy for around $30. Believe me, it is worth it! It is the kind of story that makes the kids beg to hear it over and over. This year, my students clapped all three times that I read it to them.

Another great story for modeling small moment writing is Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee.  I use this story for word choice and wrap up sentence (closing) mini lessons at different times throughout the year.  It's also a good story to show how an author builds suspense through writing.  But, I'm stashin' that mini lesson thought away in case I ever get transferred to another grade.  


Fireflies by Judy Brinckloe is another great book to include when teaching mini lessons for small moment stories.  I use it to demonstrate the idea of "zooming in" on a small moment in life.  



I'll be sharing other mentor texts that I use for reader's and writer's workshop in my classroom over the next few weeks.  Last year, I hosted a writer's workshop mentor text linky party.  You can find the old linky party here.  When the linky party was finished, I compiled a list of all the books different bloggers shared.  You can find the post with the list here. I'm planning to do that again to add to the list.  So, watch for the linky party to start sometime next week.  I'd love it if you would link up with your favorite mentor texts!

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