A couple of months ago, "Tigger" (my 9 yr. old promising reader) and I went to our favorite local book store, Cover to Cover. We treasure our visits. We have a routine we follow...We browse. We flip. We build a big pile of books that must be read right there and then. After we have had our fill, we purchase just one or two must have titles.
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas was a must have. My son and I giggled our way through the brightly colored, adorable tale about dust bunnies! We fell in love with all of the playful characters and their rhyming ways, but the blue dust bunny, Bob was our clear favorite. Bob doesn't always rhyme because he needs to alert the other dust bunnies of pending danger!
As a mom, I purchased this book because we both loved it! However, as a teacher, I bought it because I could see that the structure, visual layout, the story and the endearing characters would make for a wonderful mentor text for writers of all ages!
Recently I shared the book with two classes: fourth and first grades. Of course, both classes laughed out loud and begged for me to read it again and again, but the writing that came from it was powerful! The fourth graders extended the story in creative ways and the first graders...Well, take a look at the photos and see for yourself.
Mentor texts are one of our most powerful tools in our "teaching toolbox." What are some of your favorite mentor texts, blog readers???
