The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown - Writing With Mentor Texts series

So, summer learning has kicked off with a bang! I am absolutely in love with my new group of kiddos. They are simply AWESOME! I am so excited to spend the next year with them :) (Last year I wrote about the URSA program that we have at our school. I am the 7th grade URSA teacher, so these kids will be with me for the 2016-2017 school year.)

The first few days, we did a lot of ice breakers/getting-to-know-you/team building stuff. I use some activities from this:

And this:

The kids had a blast!

It was great to watch them work and start the important process of becoming a "family."

I also introduced them to the joys (and hand-cramping!) of Quick Writing. Very few complaints this year, so I'm taking that as a GREAT sign:

And now, I want to share with you the first of my Writing with Mentor Texts series! I am so, so excited to share these posts with you! I LOVE using mentor texts when I teach writing. I cannot think of a better way to inspire middle schoolers.

Since I will be teaching these kids all school year, I needed to put together lessons that are not part of my September-May curriculum. I knew that I wanted to use children's literature and picture books as my mentor texts for the summer (what's more fun than a picture book!?!) so I scoured the Internet and talked to lots of different colleagues about their favorite stories.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be sharing the lessons that I will doing this summer with you for FREE! So, check back often throughout July and August to gather up your FREEBIES!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lesson One: The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown

(Clicking on the image of the lesson plan should allow you to print!)

I'll be eager to hear if you try out any of these lessons out and how it went, so be sure to keep me posted.

Happy Teaching!!

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Writing with Mentors Series Lesson Plans: Summer 2016

• The Important Book by Margaret WiseBrown
• If I Ran the School by Bruce Lansky
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
• The Writing of Roald Dahl
• The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
• How to Get a Girlfriend by the Kindergarten Students of Zagreb, Croatia
• Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher
• I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff and David Catrow