Mentor Texts

What are Mentor Texts?

Mentor texts are exactly that: they are “groups of words …. texts” singled out from a certain author’s works, therefore becoming a mentor by his or her written text. They are an excellent way to teach a variety of skills and lessons in your classroom.  Some of the books below I've used to introduce or model very specific skills.  However, some of them I return to again and again for a variety of lessons.  Having  mentor texts that you know inside and out is like inviting that author into your classroom to learn from again and again.  It is standing on the shoulders of that author to demonstrate new techniques and strategies.  Before you know it the students are saying things like, "I wrote like Steven Layne when I used a repetitive phrase to create voice."   Or "I used the organization of Eric Carle when I wrote my story using the days of the week."  Learning from the best of the best is a great way to make your reading and writing workshop come to life!  I have attached several ideas to each of the Mentor Texts below that I have used in my classroom.   

MENTOR TEXTS TO BE USED FOR COMPREHENSION/WRITING

 Love The Baby can also be found under the Steven Layne author study.  It is one of my favorite books - especially when you listen to the audio of Steven Layne reading it himself.  This is an excellent Mentor Text to teach voice in writing and inferring and reading.  It's a classic sibling story that many students can make connections to.

 Love The Baby lessons




My Daddy Snores is an excellent Mentor Text to teach similes in a fun and creative way.  The organization of this story is also by the day of the week so it lends itself to a good sequencing activity.  There are many other stories such as The Hungry Caterpillar that organize stories by the days of the week that students could use as a structure to stretch the middle of their stories as well.

My Daddy Snores lesson plans

Library Mouse Activities

The Library Mouse is perfect to kick off Writing Workshop!  It is a great way to get students to think about the various kinds of books they can write and teach them that they are an author, too.  Each year we write the Library Mouse a letter.  Every year he responds and our librarian mysteriously finds the letter he writes back to us along with a bunch of blank little books and little pencils that he left for our class. 

My Penguin Osbert is an adorable story about a boy that writes Santa a letter asking for a Penguin.  It is a great story for students to determine the importance and infer the classic message 'be careful what you wish for.'

My Penguin Osbert lesson plans

Scuttles Big Wish is another story that illustrates the message "Be careful what you wish for." It is also a perfect mentor text to be used to teach common fictional story element such as characters, setting, problem and solution.  Third grade students took this book idea and used the below brainstorming form to create a "Big Wish" story of their own.

Scuttles Big Wish brainstorming form
3rd grade student example of this story.

For Just One Day could be used for a variety of purposes.  It is an excellent example of sentence fluency and using rhyme to create a pattern.  It is also great to use for descriptive words such as adjectives.  The author's message is also clear.  It is a classic message of the importance of being yourself done in a way that students will be predicting each upcoming animal.

Click here for a student sample of this book and the template to print.