Mentor Texts
The Friz Doesn't "Play School"
“Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!” The immortal words of one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Frizzle. Every time I pick up a Magic School Bus book I secretly wish I could be like the Friz. I love her passion! As you probably know, Valerie Frizzle is the creation of author (and former teacher)…
Read MoreWriting a Message
Writers like Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, don’t know where their characters are going or what they are going to do when they begin writing. They simply let the characters take over. Very few children are able to accomplish this though many try. Usually these stories end up rambling and without a purpose.…
Read MoreFinding Winnie
Who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh? He has been delighting children for decades, and his sweet nature makes us continue to adore him. However, the story of Pooh doesn’t begin with the A. A. Milne books. This story really begins back during World War I. Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian and soldier in training, sees a…
Read MoreGood Books, Good Times
Reluctant readers…they can be hard to reach…hard to instill in them a love of reading. You’ve tried introducing them to novels, informational books, magazines, and nothing seems to work. These students read what is assigned, and that’s it. What can we do to inspire these kids? Poetry is not necessarily something you would pick up…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Favorite?
From the tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of children’s picture books, how does someone pick a favorite author or a favorite book? It’s an almost impossible task. Sometimes though it’s fun to reach back in time and find a book that was written 20 plus years ago and had almost been pushed aside, but as it’s…
Read MoreCelebrate the Read Aloud – One ERG Favorite
As ERG celebrates 11 years of growing all learners, we would also like to celebrate the joy of the read aloud. Just as music is said to “soothe the savage beast,” a great read aloud can calm a restless class. It also has the power to strengthen comprehension skills, build retention, boost vocabulary, and create…
Read More6 Tips for Using Mentor Texts
From the desk of Carol C… For a long time I had no idea what a mentor text was. I would hear the term thrown around but never really got the specifics of it. When I finally did learn what mentor texts were, I realized the power they had to grow student writers. I thought…
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