Traits Tuesday - Teaching the Traits Mentor Texts

Today's Traits Tuesday topic is Teaching the Traits Mentor Texts...

The first trait I start off introducing is ideas.  I told my students just the other day that if I had a nickel for every time I heard a student say, "I don't know what to write about" in my 13 years of 2nd grade, I would be a millionaire!  So we have been working with where to get ideas and there are two books that I would like to share with you:)

 

Flip's Fantastic Journal by Angelo DeCesare is one of the best books ever!  My students L-O-V-E this book! It goes great with the writing trait of ideas because at the beginning, Flip doesn't like to write.  I typically have a handful of kids who do not like to write, therefore they say they don't have anything to write about. We learn that Flip has a pretty ordinary life, but with a little creativity and imagination his feelings about writing take a drastic change!

 

The second book I like to use with the writing trait, ideas, is The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli (don't you just love her books?!?)  In this story, the narrator (the little girl) wants to enter a writing contest and takes advice from her family members on what is included in the best story. After putting all of their ideas together, she realizes (with the help of her mother) that she needs to write with her heart. 

After I read this story, we create a heart map together. I got this great one from 3rd Grade's a Charm.

 

Interested in linking up your traits mentor texts? Just grab our button, link back to us, and link up to your post below.  You can also learn more about our Traits Tuesday linky by clicking here! We look forward to reading about the mentor texts you like to use to teach the traits.