Poetry Friday: Where’s My Mummy?

In Where’s My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi (Author) and John Manders (Illustrator), Little Mummy plays Hide and Shriek and loses his Big Mama Mummy…

Clank clink clank
Woo boo woo
Clank clink CLOO
“Mama Mummy, is that you?”

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own Hide and Shriek story. Use the Story Map graphic organizer to plan what happens when.

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to check their punctuation. Does each sentence end with a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark?

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Poetry for Children.

Take the Picture Book Poetry Workshop for inservice clock hours.

Uncle Monarch and the Day of the Dead

Uncle Monarch and the Day of the Dead by Judy Goldman (Author) and Rene King Moreno (Illustrator) explains the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebrated each year on November 1st.

They walked out of the house and watched as the first monarch butterflies fluttered to the safety of the trees.

Sentence Fluency Mini-lesson
Primary: After students write about someone they love who is no longer with them, ask them to have a classmate read their sentences aloud. Do the sentences flow or do some parts need to be rewritten?

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary: When people talk to one another, the dialogue has quotation marks. Ask students to check their stories to make sure they added quotation marks to the dialogue.

Take the Easy Reader Workshop. for inservice clock hours.

Frankie Stein

In Frankie Stein by Lola M. Schaefer (Author) and Kevin Atteberry (Illustrator), Frankie is the son of monster parents, but…

“Oh my,” said his mother. “He’s…cute.”
“Why doesn’t he look scary like us?” asked his father.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own monster family story. Will their monster baby be scary or cute? How will their monster baby practice being a grown-up monster? Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas.

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: After the baby monster is born he learns how to be a big monster (and makes his parents happy.) Ask students to use this story as a model for writing.

Use the TAKS Writing Secrets Classroom Writing Workshop with your fourth graders.

Vunce Upon A Time

Vunce Upon A Time by J.otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian is a vampire Halloween story…

Dagmar was a gentle soul. He didn’t do many vampirey things. He never flew around or left the castle grounds. There was no need, Because unlike the other vampires, Dagmar was a vegetarian!

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Afer he turns into a bat, Dagmar goes out trick-or-treating . Ask students to write about their own trick-or-treating adventure. Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to remember details.

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Dagmar prepares for Halloween by making a costume before he goes out trick-or-treating. The story ends after he brings home his candy. Ask students to use this story pattern as a model for writing.

BONUS! Use the Vunce Upon a Time Halloween Adventure Kit from Chronicle Books.

Take the Intensive Picture Book Workshop for inservice clock hours.

Nonfiction Monday Round-up

Welcome to the Nonfiction Monday Round-up!

Here’s what the kidlitosphere is reading this week…

1. Picture Book of the Day (Little Lost Bat)
2. Tricia (Bats by Gail Gibbons)
3. The Well-Read Child (The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary)
4. Jules, 7-Imp — interview w/Elisa Kleven w/art from her new illustrated non-fict
5. Lori Calabrese Writes (Vampires-Monster Chronicles)
6. cloudscome (Seven Miles to Freedom)
7. MotherReader (Yes We Can)
8. Kid Lit Kit (Bats)
9. Abby the Librarian (Yours For Justice, Ida B. Wells)
10. The PlanetEsme Plan (booger cookie recipe)
 

Six Trait Writing Programs

Nonfiction Monday: Little Lost Bat

Little Lost Bat by Sandra Markle (Author) and Alan Marks (Illustrator) begins…

It’s a warm June day in central Texas.
And high on the domed roof of Bracken Cave–
so far from the cave mouth that it’s almost
too dark for shadows–
one little female Mexican free-tailed bat
clings tightly to the ceiling
with her toes and wing claws
poked into cracks.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write about another animal that lost its mother. What will the animal do? Who will take care of the animal? Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas.

Voice Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Third person, the “he” or “she” voice, is just right for a lost animal story. It will allow students to focus on what they SEE the animal doing – to show, not tell – what happens. Ask students to use this voice for their lost animal story.

Take the Young Nonfiction Workshop for inservice clock hours.

Poetry Friday: One Tractor: A Counting Book

One Tractor: A Counting Book by Alexandra Siy (Author) and Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator) begins…

One tractor
in the grass
out of gas.

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: This counting story adds new toys on each page. Ask students to write their own counting to ten “toy” story.

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to check their punctuation. Does each sentence end with a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark?

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Big A little a.

Take the Picture Book Poetry Workshop for inservice clock hours.

A Kitten Tale

A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann begins…

Once there were four kittens who had never seen snow.

Word Choice Mini-lesson
Primary: Each kitten adds a new detail as they talk about the coming snow. Using this story as a model, ask students to write about another season and to add more details each time the season is mentioned. Use the Describing Wheel graphic organizer to think of details.

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary: When kittens talk to one another, the dialogue has quotation marks. Ask students to check their stories to make sure they added quotation marks to the dialogue.

Take the Easy Reader Workshop. for inservice clock hours.

Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude

Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley (Author and Illustrator) and Carol Heyer and Scott Goto (Illustrators) is told by a boy and a girl in the same class…

“For our library project, we were supposed to tell to our favorite fairy tale, but we couldn’t agree on which story was best so we just made one up.”

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own fairy tale. Will they have a princess, or a motorcycle dude or ??? Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas.

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: After introducing the main character, the story has a BIG problem that must be solved. Ask students to use this pattern as a model for writing.

Use the TAKS Writing Secrets Classroom Writing Workshop with your fourth graders.

Albert the Fix-It Man

In Albert the Fix-It Man by Janet Lord (Author) and Julie Paschkis (Illustrator), Albert loves to fix things, but what happens when Albert gets sick?

Albert’s always on the lookout for things to fix.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: This third week of October is Kids Care Week. Ask students to think of a way they can participate. Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas.

Voice Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: After students put their helping plans into action, ask them to write a personal narrative about what they did in first person (the “I” voice.)

Take the Intensive Picture Book Workshop for inservice clock hours.