Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Recommended Grades: 3-5

Snow in Vermont is as common as dirt.  Why would anyone want to photograph it? But from the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley thinks of the icy crystals as small miracles, and he determines that one day his camera will capture for others their extraordinary beauty. 

Lesson Idea:  

Embedded Nonfiction Mentor Text: Read aloud Snowflake Bentley and discuss how the author told a story, but embedded true information throughout.  Use this book as a model for students as they write their own informational pieces.  Perhaps students can write in narrative form with true information embedded throughout.

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

George: George Washington, Our Founding Father by Frank Keating

Recommended Grades: 4-6

A first person telling of the more important events in George Washington’s life is told woven with quotes from his “Rules of Civility.”

Lesson Idea:

Memoir-esque:

Mentor Texts: Several recent books weave quotes from the person into the story.  This is a great model for students to use in their own writing.  Read aloud George: George Washington, Our Founding Father (Paula Wiseman Books) and discuss how he used his “Rules of Civility” to guide his character.  How did the author effectively weave Washington’s actual rules into the story? Read aloud other books, like Martin’s Big Words or Imogene’s Last Stand that effectively use quotes woven through story as model texts.  Have students use the models to guide their own writing.       

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

Recommended Grades: 3-5

A biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. using his own words to showcase the information in the text. 

Lesson Idea:

Writing Workshop:

Mentor Texts: Read aloud Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.as part of a unit on biographies, during Black History Month (February), or a unit on writing dialogue.  Ask students to replicate the style the author used by researching a person from history and writing a short biography of that person.  Ask students to find quotes from the person they are researching to use in their biography.  Model for students how to use the quotes to showcase the information about the person.  Other mentor texts that use quotes are Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum and Imogene’s Last Stand.  Read aloud all three texts as mentor texts so students have an understanding of how the authors used the quotes to showcase their informative text.     

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley

Recommended Grades: 2-5

How do children around the world spend their day?  Just like you and me. They get up, they eat breakfast, they go to school and more.  The beauty of this book is in the photographs.  Barbara Kerley shares the story of One World, One Day in this beautiful photographic essay.      

Lesson Idea:

Writers Workshop/Nonfiction: Read aloud One World, One Day and discuss how children around the world are just like the students in your class. Make note of how the author used photographs to tell the story of one day around the world.  Discuss how photographs can tell a story just as well as text.  Share other photographic essays.  Have students take photographs of events in their day to create a photographic essay of a “day in the life of. . .“

Another great model is The Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood Around the World

©2011 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy

Recommended Grades: 2-5

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum follows Walter Diemer’s attempts and success of the invention of Dubble Bubble bubble gum. The pictures are bright and colorful and full of gumballs. The back of the book has a nice layout of further information about Walter Diemer and the history of gum. 

Lesson idea: I envision this as a fun read aloud that can also be used as a mentor text in Writer’s Workshop.  Read aloud the book and discuss the organization of the information.  How does the author take factual information and transform it into a picture book?  Note how she uses actual quotes from the inventor and creates a layout at the end of the book that shares further information about Walter Diemer and gum.  Use this book as a mentor text for a form of report writing.  Find similar models to read aloud and use as mentor texts as well.  Then, instead of asking students to write reports on a topic, ask them to write a picture book that weaves factual information and quotes from their research.  Students could even create a similar layout at the end of their picture book that provides further information and research.

©2011 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.