Sunday, July 7, 2013

Language Arts Mentor Text

Someday by Eileen Spinelli is a precious mentor text to use for language arts. I came across this book at a Scholastic Book Fair and immediately I could see a writing lesson.

It is a simple book written in free verse poetry. This book could be used at any grade level. It depends on where you want to go with it. I used it with 4th grade and 3rd graders in my school used it as well. This book makes you feel great about the possibilities about growing up.  But most importantly, it leaves you glad about what you are doing right now. We all have dreams about what we will be doing someday no matter what age we are.

Someday would also make a great book to use for a community unit. This book has endless possibilities if it speaks to you. I think it is key that a book speaks to you in someway and then you are able to pass it along to you students.

We wrote books and used Student Treasures to publish them. They were a wonderful company to work with.  A student of mine used Someday as her inspiration. It was precious and her voice was all through it. The quality is not great because I scanned it, but you can get the idea.













Isn't it precious! The 3rd grade class did a class book and each student had 1 page with their dream. Sorry I don't have any samples of those, but it was an adorable class book .
I'm attaching some documents for you to use if you'd like.  A comparing and contrasting graphic organizer, a search for adjectives and verbs, and an organizer to write their own poem. You can create what fits for your classroom. The possibilities are endless!












https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4zJcxF1OSdmVy1nVXY3ZEFydmM/edit?usp=sharing




Head on over to see Collaboration Cuties they have wonderful posts and link ups to several great mentor texts. You will enjoy all they have to offer!




8 comments:

  1. Love the ideas with this book! I'll have to see if I can get my hands on this book. It's a new one to me!
    Jivey
    ideas by jivey
    Follow Me On Facebook! :)

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  2. What a sweet book! I don't think that I have this book but you have convinced me to buy it. I love the books that they made and the one you scanned is adorable! Love the freebies!

    Thanks so much for linking up!!
    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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  3. Love your student sample! She did such a great job. I will have to add this book to my wish list!

    Gwen
    Learning With Mrs. Brinn

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  4. Hi~ Found you via the linky. Great to meet a fellow fifth grade teacher blogger.
    I'm following you via Bloglovin. :)
    ~Brandee
    Creating Lifelong Learners

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  5. Thank you so much for sharing this text, Paulina! It looks wonderful--just added it to the list of my books to buy this summer... I just found you through the mentor text linky and am so glad I did. I am a new follower with bloglovin! Thank you again for sharing how you use this book and the possibilities for others to use it--like me...

    Smiles,
    Sarah @ Hoots N' Hollers

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  6. What a cute book. It is new to me, I am going to have to check it out. I'm a new follower!

    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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  7. I thought Someday was a sweet book, too! I read the book Mindset by Carol Dweck this year and it made me really think about my mindset and my focus on my goals. It's so important to share with students that if they have a goal or something they want to do, that if they really set their mind to it, they can work towards that goal. I think by sharing this with them, we help them see that we believe all kids can learn and all kids can achieve their dreams if they put their minds to it. I love this book, even if you don't go super deep with it, it still is great to share the message that something you do today can lead to a dream you can do someday. So great to share this book! I love Eileen Spinelli.

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  8. Fun! I have this book and got it a few years ago to do this...and I still haven't. Maybe I will now. I a friend do it several years ago and I know the kids loved it.

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