When we think of the writing anchor standards, (Text Types and Purposes, Production and Distribution of Writing, Research to Build and Present Knowledge) as well as the trait of organization, we often think of beginning, middle and end, transition words, sequencing and story elements. All of these are an important part of teaching writing, however often these elements are difficult for children to comprehend, especially young children. A good way to introduce students to organizational patterns is through mentor texts. It is appropriate to read aloud a variety of children’s literature to students of all ages. Picture books are particularly beneficial because they are short and many intermediate students may not have been exposed to them. Thoughtful selection of mentor texts helps students to see the variety of strategies that authors use to organize a story. It is also beneficial to let the students experiment with and practice these patterns while writing whole group charts and or innovation stories.
Picture book libraries are rich with organizational patterns. Some organizational patterns you may find in your personal or classroom collection could include the following: the alphabet, numbers, rhyme, how to, songs, multiple endings, cause and effect, flip-flop, round, time, days of the week, months of the year, and fiction/non-fiction story lines. Once you have collected some mentor texts in a variety of organizational patterns, share them with the students over time. This can be done through author studies, thematic links or both. Following each pattern, discuss how the author used the pattern to organize the story. Encourage the students to dig deeper and perhaps experiment with the pattern in a small group setting. Analyzing these elements through the language of the reading anchor standards (Craft and Structure, Key Ideas and Details, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas) will help students to see the relationship between the reading and writing achor standards. Conversations could include identifying characters, settings, and major events in the story using key details. The students could describe how the characters respond to major events and challenges. Don’t forget to include discussion about how the illustrations and details in a story are used to describe the characters, settings, or events. The use of mentor texts will give students the opportunity to compare and contrast adventures and experiences of characters in stories. These conversations will also facilitate the background needed to experiment with a favorite pattern strategy.
An Eric Carle author study is one way to provide mentor texts in a variety of the organizational patterns listed above. He has titles that are organized by time, (The Grouchy Ladybug), days of the week, (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), and months of the year, (A House For Hermit Crab). Laura Numeroff has a variety of round books and flip/ flop stories like her, “If You Give a …” series and “What Mommies/Daddies Do Best” books. For fact-fiction duos, try Tomie dePaola books on cats, popcorn, quicksand, and clouds. Marcus Pfister’s Milo stories focus on endings by giving students the choice of a happy or sad ending.
Thematically speaking, there is an alphabet book for every theme. It would be easy to read alphabet books throughout the year. Reading number stories during math and doing some creative enactments with “Ten Little Fish” by Audrey and Bruce Woods or “Five Green and Speckled Frogs” will help children experience another way to organize a story. As you teach the calendar, don’t forget “Cookie’s Week” by Cindy Ward or “Chicken Soup With Rice” by Maurice Sendak. When you are starting that seed planting unit, think about stories that tell how to do something, like “How Groundhog’s Garden Grew” by Lynne Cherry. As you can imagine, this is a more exciting and meaningful way to teach the trait of organization, and reading and writing anchor standards to students. Mentor texts will help them dig deeper and make those real life connections.
These mentor texts are organized by days of the week, time, and months of the year.
After listening to the round stories and discussing the full circle organizational patterns, Students can experiment with a round innovation story.
This is a flip/flop story by Tana Hoban. The front of the book is about 26 letters. Flip the book over and the back of the book is about 99 cents.
This collection of mentor texts tells a story with an additional story line of nonfiction information about the topic. In “The Popcorn Book”, one brother is making popcorn, while his brother is reading the history of popcorn.
The Milo stories are similiar to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories. Marcus Pfister gives the students a choice of a happy or sad ending.
“A My Name is ….” and A my name is Alice” can be studied as part of a unit on student names. “Click, Clack, Quackity Quacky” is an alphabetical adventure that can become part of a farm theme.
How to or guide mentor texts help students to understand story events and the importance of their sequence.
