Writer’s Workshop

Mentor Text – Dorfman and Capelli

1. There are a total of 25 lessons, outlined by chapter. I have given a description of each lesson, as well as the suggested books that go with each lesson. You will still want to flip through the chapters before you teach each lesson, but this will at least help you with lesson planning (see #2 below).

2. The idea is to help you use this with your lesson plans. You can glance at the outline while you are doing your weekly lesson planning to see what the lesson is as well as what books you may want to get together for the lesson (s).

3. If you follow the book, and do 2 lessons a week, that will get you through approximately the first two marking periods. You can then use the last two marking periods to go more in-depth and follow up on these lessons or combine them all.

4. Another suggestion is to print this out and highlight all the books that you currently have, then get together as a grade level team in your building to see how you can share books. In addition, you could give a list to your librarian to see if she has any of the books as well.

Chapter 2

Brainstorming Ideas

Lesson 1 – pg 39 – Drawing and Talking to Find Topics – Students sketch a picture then write a short paragraph to go with it. Suggested books include:

· In Our Backyard Garden – by Eileen Spinelli

· In My Momma’s Kitchen – Jerdine Nolen

· All the Places to Love – Patricia MacLachlan

Lesson 2 – pg 41 – Finding Topics from a Memory Chain – to find topics to write about. Suggested books include:

· Letter to the Lake – Susan Marie Swanson

· Night Tree – Even Bunting

· Bigmama’s – Donald Crews

Lesson 3 – pg 43 – Finding Topics and Using Senses to Create First Memories – Create a web of ideas organized around the senses. Students can use them as writer’s notebook entries, eventually finding seeds of ideas for narratives, poems, and even informational pieces. Suggested books include:

· The Seashore Book – Charlotte Zolotow

· Crab Moon – Ruth Horowitz

· Hello Ocean – Pam Munoz Ryan

· When This Box is Full – Patricia Lillie

Lesson 4 – pg 45 – Every Picture Tells a Story – This lesson will show your students how to create stories from pictures. Collect pictures from magazines or newspapers that are rich in detail that might inspire places, characters, or events for stories. Suggested books include:

· Journey – Patricia MacLachlan

· Best Friends – Loretta Krupinski

· Dirt on Their Skirts – Doreen Rappaport

Chapter 3

Narrowing Your Title/Topic

Lesson 1 – pg 60 – Using an Inverted Triangle to Find a Specific Writing Topic – An inverted triangle is a useful graphic organizer to help you refocus your camera lens from wide angle and zoom in on a specific subject. Suggested books include:

· One Lucky Girl – George Ella Lyon

· When I was Five – Arthur Howard

· I’m in Charge of Celebrations – Byrd Baylor

· Dad and Me – Peter Catalonotto

Lesson 2 – pg 63 – Creating a Heart Map – A heart map is a way to remember what is in your mind and your heart so you will always have something to write about. Return to any personal narrative read-alouds you have used in the classroom and talk about where the author might have gotten the idea for the story. Focus on “big ideas”. Some suggested books include:

· When I Was Little: A Four-Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth – Jamie Lee Curtis

· Goin’ Someplace Special – Patricia McKissack

· In Momma’s Kitchen – Jerdine Nolen

· Dance Man – Karen Ackerman

Lesson 3 – pg 65 – Creating a Hand Map – Use a hand map as a prewriting technique to help writers bring memories to a conscious level. Some suggested books include:

· First chapter of Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White

· Crab Moon – Ruth Horowitz

· Shortcut – Donald Crews

· Fireflies – Julie Brinckloe

· I Remember Papa – Helen Ketterman

· “Mrs. Buell” in Hey World, Here I Am! – Jean Little

Chapter 4

When Writers Use a Magnifying Lens

(Studying Descriptions, Appealing to the Senses, Focusing on a Moment)


Lesson 1- pg 92 – Adding Details Through Questioning – Writing w/out details leaves too many unanswered questions. This lesson will show students how to ask questions as they write. Asking questions will help the students think of the details to add to their writing. Some suggested books include:

· Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse – Kevin Henkes

Lesson 2 – pg 94 – Building Content Through Show, Not Tell (Using Illustrations) – Writing by telling alone is boring. Authors try to balance telling with showing. One of the easiest things that authors can show is emotions. Today we will use the emotions that illustrators reveal through their pictures to help us describe in words so we are showing, not telling. Some suggested books include:

· Widget – Lyn Rossiter McFarland

· The Painter – Peter Catalanotto

· Dad & Me – Peter Catalanotto

· Yo!Yes? – Chris Raschka

· Chrysanthemum – Kevin Henkes

Lesson 3 – pgs 96 – Building Content Through Show, Not Tell – Today we will find ways that reveal the emotions of our character through showing instead of telling just like Roald Dahl did. Some examples include:

· The Witches – Roald Dahl

· Dad & Me – Peter Catalanotto

· The Memory String – Eve Bunting

· Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse – Kevin Henkes

· Crab Moon – Ruth Horowitz

Chapter 5

Creating Powerful Beginnings

And
Satisfying Endings

Lesson 1 – pg 126 – Creating a Physical Description of Character Using Roald Dahl – One important strategy to build a beginning is to create descriptions for the characters and settings. Suggestions include:

· Matilda – Roald Dahl

· The BFG – Roald Dahl

· The Witches – Roald Dahl

· Stone Fox – John Reynolds

· That Magnetic Dog – Bruce Whatley

Lesson 2 – pg 129 – Crafting a Lead Sentence – Today we’re going to practice writing an opening sentence that helps the reader visualize the setting. Suggested books include:

· Too Many Tamales – Gary Soto

· Owl Moon – Jane Yolen

· Cocoa Ice – Diana Applebaum

Lesson 3 – pg 131 – Adding a Satisfying Ending – Since the ending is the last thing you will leave your reader with, it must be memorable and satisfying. A story without a good ending is like eating cake w/out icing – there is something missing. Some suggested books include:

· Suggested to use other mentor texts that are used with lessons 1 and 2 in this chapter.

Chapter 6

Using Scaffolds to Organize Text

Lesson 1 – pg 152 – Using a Seesaw Structure to Organize Writing – The same words are used back and forth – over and over. Suggested books include:

· My Mom Travels a Lot – Caroline Feller Bauer

· Fortunately – Remy Charlip

· That’s Good! That’s Bad! – Margery Cuyler

· Tough Boris – Mem Fox

Lesson 2 – pg 154 – Using Repeated Refrain as a Scaffold to Create Paragraphs – show students how an author uses repeated phrases to organize the information presented in a text. Suggested books include:

· In November – Cythia Rylant

· Up North and the Cabin – Marsha Wilson Chall

· If You’re Not from the Prairie – David Bouchard

· When I Was Young in the Mountains – Cynthia Rylant

Lesson 3 – pg 156 – Writing in the Persona of Another – This type of writing ties easily in with science or social studies. It is a different way for students to demonstrate what they have learned and is a fresh alternative to report writing. For example, after you have studied a particular topic, ask students to take on the persona of an animal, plant, etc. and write about things they have learned. Some suggested books include:

· Atlantic – G. Brian Karas

· My Light – Molly Bang

· Sierra – Diane Siebert

· I Am the Mummy – Heb-Nefert – Eve Bunting

Chapter 7

Poetry: Everybody Can Be a Writer

Lesson 1 – pg 191 - Creating a Color Poem – Teaching students to use color in their poems. Suggested poems include:

· Hailstones and Halibut Bones – Mary O’Neill

· My Many Colored Days – Dr. Seuss

· January Rides the Wind – Charlotte F. Otten

· February - Charlotte Otten

Lesson 2 –pg 193 - Using the Endless Step Pantoum for Found Poetry – Many times poems and song lyrics use effective repetition to create a sense of rhythm to emphasize important words as an echo effect, and to place pictures firmly in the minds of readers. Some suggested books include:

· Owl Moon – Yolen

· Snow Comes to the Farm – Tripp

· The Whale’s Song – Sheldon

· The Seashore Book – Zolotow

· They Lived With the Dinosaurs – Russell Freedman

Lesson 3 – pg 197 – Creating Haiku With Personification – Sometimes poets use a particular form or scaffold to create a poem. For young writers, understanding haiku as a form of poetry may help them understand personification to write about nature and their feelings. Some examples include:

· One Leaf Rides the Wind – Celeste Davidson Mannis

· The Earth We Swing On – Raymond Roseliep

· Cricket Never Does: A Collection of Haiku and Tanka – Myra Cohn Livingston

Chapter 8

Choice, Voice, and All That Jazz

Lesson 1 – pg 230 – Adding Hyphens to Stylize Your Writing – Michael Bedard’s The Divide provides an excellent model of the importance of adding hyphens to writing. For this lesson to be effective, the book should first be used as a read-aloud. Other suggestions include:

· Langston’s Train Ride – Robert Burleigh

· Baseball, Snakes, and Summer Squash – Donald Graves

· Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman – Nikki Grimes

· Twilight Comes Twice – Ralph Fletcher

· Up North at the Cabin – Marsha Wilson Chall

Lesson 2 – pg 232 – Developing an Understanding of Metaphor – We are going to explore metaphors, a stronger way of making a comparison. Metaphors, like similes, help to anchor images in the reader’s minds. Some examples include:

· The Ocean is…..- Kathleen Kranking

· Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbit

· Names for Snow – Judi K. Beach

· Love is a Handful of Honey – Giles Anddreae

Lesson 3 – pg 234 – Using Word Pairs to Create Rhythm – Writers and authors sometimes use word pairs. Some examples include:

· Crab Moon – Ruth Horowitz

· Fireflies! – Julie Brincklow

· Georgia’s Bones – Jen Bryant

Chapter 9

Walk Around in the Author’s Syntax

Lesson 1 – pg 258 – Using the Syntax of an Author – Authors bring readers into a book by helping them visualize the setting and experience the mood created by the description. By imitating the author’s flow of language, or syntax, students can get a feel for how the author uses works. Suggested books include:

· Amber on the Mountain – Tony Johnston

· Alejandro’s Gift – Richard E. Albert

· One Tiny Turtle – Nicola Davies

· “Ames Crossing” in Stuart Little – E. B. White

· The Days Before Now – Margaret Wise Brown

Lesson 2 – pg 260 – Using A Variety of End Punctuation – Once students have developed a sense of what a sentence is, it is time to help them understand the various types of sentences and the end punctuation that goes with each. It is also important for them to understand how meaning can be conveyed through various types of sentences. Some suggested books include:

· Yo! Yes? – Chris Raschka

· Kitten’s First Full Moon – Kevin Henkes

· Shortcut – Donald Crews

· Mr. George Baker – Amy Hest

Lesson 3 – pg 262 – Exploring Variations in Print – With your students, explore mentor texts for unusual print style. This could be the use of italics, bold print, underlining, variations in size, or us eof the uppercase. Some suggested books include:

· Roller Coaster – Marla Frazee

· Chameleons Are Cool – Martin Jenkis

· The Recess Queen – Alexis O’Neill

· Mice and Beans – Pam Munoz Ryan

· Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! – Candace Fleming