WriteYourOwnNextTimeYouSeeBook

AMentorTextStudyforElementaryStudentsTeachers,BelowisanoutlineofhowtheNextTimeYouSeebookscanbeusedasmentortextsforstudentwriting.Theseactivitieswereinspiredbyanddevelopedwithsecondgradeteacher,MelissaOakleywholedthisMentorTextStudywithhersecondgraders.Includedhereareseveralresources(lessons,studentpages,andvideos)youcanuse.Pleasefeelfreetopickandchoose,extendorshorten,andmodifytheselessonstoworkbestforyourstudents.Therearemanywaystoguideamentortextstudyandnooneknowstheybestversionforyourstudentsbetterthanyou!IhopeyoufindtheseresourceshelpfulandthatyourstudentswillexperienceasenseofwonderastheywriteandsharetheirownNextTimeYouSeebooks.IwouldliketogiveahugethankyoutoMelissaOakleyforcomingupwiththeideaofaNextTimeYouSeeMentorTextStudy,invitingmeintoherclassroomforherstudentstosharetheirNextTimeYouSeebooks,andforherwillingnesstosharethisprocesswithotherteachersandstudents.

-EmilyMorganStudentPages

• OWLChart(Observations,Wonderings,Learnings)• ChoosingaTopic• Syntu• MVP(MostValuablePoint)• PlanningGuide

Videos• Video1:MeetEmilyMorgan• Video2:WhyIWrotetheNextTimeYouSeeBooks• Video3:DiscoveringthePattern• Video4:ChoosingaTopic• Video5:BringontheResearch• Video6:Revisions,Revisions,Revisions!• Video7:AboutthePhotos• Video8:TimetoShare

Lesson1:IntroducetheSeries• ShowstudentsthecoversofalloftheNextTimeYouSeebooks.Tellstudents

thatallofthebooksinthisserieswerewrittenbythesameauthor.Askstudentswhatallofthebookshaveincommon.(e.g.Theyareallaboutnature,theyallhavethesametitle,theyareillustratedwithphotos,andsoon.)

• ChooseoneoftheNextTimeYouSeebooksandreadthe“NotetoParentsandTeachers”atthebeginningofthebookthatexplainsthatthebooksareintendedtobereadafterexperiencingthenaturalobject/phenomenon.

• Havestudentsobservethenaturalobjectorphenomenonfeaturedinthebookyouchoose(e.g.seashells,pillbugs,mapleseeds,etc.).AnOWLChartisasimplewaytoguidethisobservationtime.StudentscanfillouttheOcolumn(Observations)andtheW(wonderings)beforereadingandtheLcolumn(Learnings)afterreadingthebook.

• RepeatwithotherNextTimeYouSeebookssostudentsbecomefamiliarwiththepatternofthebooks.YoucanfindmorebeforeandafteractivitiestogoalongwiththeNextTimeYouSeebooksatemilymorganbooks.com/resources.

• Aftersharingseveralbooks,introducetheideaofaMentorTextStudy.Explainthatafterreadingthesebooksandstudyingtheirstructureandwording,studentswillhavetheopportunitytowritetheirownNextTimeYouSeebookaboutanaturalobjectoftheirchoice.ShowVIDEO1:MeetEmilyMorgan.

IlikewhatKathleenNeagleSokolowskisaysaboutmentortextstudies,“Whenstudentsstudyamentortext,theyhavealreadyenjoyeditfirstasareader—readingorlisteningtothepiecereadaloud.Oncethetextisfamiliar,itcanberereadwiththelensofreadinglikeawriter:justhowwastheauthorabletoputthewordstogetherinawaythatstirredemotion,caughtthereader’sattentionorsomehowchangedyourmind?Readinglikeawriteristhekeytostudyingmentortexts.Asawriter,youreadtoseepatternsandnoticehowwordsareputtogethersoyoucantrythatinyourownwriting.”MentorTexts:WritingWorkshopFundamentals

Formoreonmentortextstudies,seeRebeccaAlber’sarticleUsingMentorTextstoMotivateandSupportStudentWriters.https://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-mentor-text-motivate-and-support-student-writers-rebecca-alberLesson2:Author’sPurpose

• AfterreadingseveralNextTimeYouSeebooks,giveeachstudentanindexcardandaskthemwhattheythinktheauthor’spurposeisinthisseries.Havethemrecordanyevidencefromthebooksthatsupportstheiridea.

• Tellstudentsthatyoucanlearnmoreaboutanauthorbyvisitingtheirwebsite.Havethemvisitemilymorganbooks.comandlookformorecluesabouttheauthor’spurposeandrecordthoseontheirindexcards.

• YoumayalsowanttoshowstudentssomeoftheNextTimeYouSeebooktrailersformoreevidence.

• Havestudentsdiscusstheirideasandevidenceabouttheauthor’spurpose.• ShowstudentstheVIDEO2:WhyIWrotetheNextTimeYouSeeBooks.

Lesson3:DiscoveringthePattern

• Tellstudentsbooksfromaseriesoftenhaveacertainpatternthattheyfollow.AskthemtonoticethesimilaritiesofthebooksintheNextTimeYouSeeseries,inotherwords,thefeaturesthatarethesameineachbook.Youmaywanttohavestudentsworkinpairsorsmallgroupswithatleasttwoofthebookstolookforthepatternbeforethewholeclassdiscussion.Examplesofthepatterninclude:Title,NotetoParentsandTeachers,questionsoncertainpages,thefinalquestiononthelastpage,thephotocredit2-pagespread,theactivitiespageattheend,etc.

• Afterthisdiscussion,showstudentstheVIDEO3:DiscoveringthePatternoftheNextTimeYouSeeBooks.

Lesson4:LookingatLanguage

• HavestudentsworkinsmallgroupstoreviewNextTimeYouSeebookssearchingforandcollectingwordsthatinvitethereaderstothinkandwonderaboutthesubjectinthebook.Makealistofwordsandphrasesonchartpaperthatsupporttheauthor’spurpose.

Lesson4:ChoosingaTopic• Showstudentsthevideotitled,VIDEO4:ChoosingaTopic.• Createalistofcriteriatogetherforpossibletopicssuchas:

o Somethinginnatureo Somethingcommon-mostpeoplecouldobserveo Somethinginteresting

• GivestudentstheChoosingaTopicstudentpageandhavethemmakealistofpossibletopics.(Aquietwalkoutdoorsinanaturalareacangivestudentsinspirationandideasforacommonnaturalobjecttofeatureintheirbook.)Theycanlistsomeinterestingfactsabouteachtohelpmaketheirdecision.

• Whenstudentsdecideonatopic,theycancircleittoletyouknowtheirchoice.

• Optional:HavestudentswriteaSyntuabouttheirnaturalobject,whichwillgivethemtheopportunitytoobserveitcloselyandthinkabouthowtheobjectmakesthemfeel.

Lesson5:ResearchingYourTopic

• Askstudentshowtheyplantolearnmoreabouttheirtopic.Theymightsuggestbooks,websites,experts,etc.Explainthatthemostimportantthingwhenwritingnonfictionisgettingthefactsright.Haveadiscussiononhowtomakesuretheyareusingreliableresources.

• Showstudentsthevideotitled,VIDEO5:BringontheResearch.• GivestudentstheOWLstudentpagetorecordtheirObservations,

Wonderings,andLearnings.• Afterstudentshavehadampletimetoresearchtheirtopic,havethemuse

theMVPstudentpagetodeterminewhatinformationtheywanttoincludeintheirbook.

Lesson7:WritingandRevising

• GivestudentsthePlanningGuidestudentpage.Havethembeginworkingontheirwriting.

• Checkinwithstudentsperiodicallyaskingthemtosharetheirwork.• Afterstudentshavehadtimetomakeagoodstartontheplanningguide,

showthemthevideotitled,VIDEO6:Revisions,Revisions,Revisions!• Tellstudentsthattheywillbeactingasreviewersforeachotherduringtheir

writingprocess.Whenstudenthavefinishedtheirwriting,havethemshareone-on-onewithapeer.Youmaywanttomodelhowtoprovidehelpfulfeedbackinakindwaybyroleplayingthispeerreviewprocesswithastudentbeforestudentsdothisprocessontheirown.

• Tellstudentsthatyouwillbeactingastheireditortohelpthemmaketheirwritingthebestitcanbe.Edittheirwritingonthestudentpageandsignoffatthebottomwhentheyarereadytobeginputtingitintobookformat.

Lesson8:ThePowerofPictures

• AskstudentswhattheynoticeabouttheillustrationsintheNextTimeYouSeebooks.Theymightnoticethattheyareallphotographs,theyareclose-upanddetailed,theyaremostlytakenoutdoors,andsoon.

• Insmallgroups,askstudenttolookthroughoneofthebooksspecificallyathowthephotographsmatchupwiththetext-askingthemselveswhyaparticularphotographusedtoillustrateacertainpage.Haveeachgroupchooseapageaboutwhichtosharetheirideasonwhythatphotographwasused.

• Showstudentsthevideotitled,VIDEO7:AboutthePhotos.• Havestudentsbeginchoosingphotosfortheirbooksbeingsuretogivecredit

tothesource.Youmayevenhavestudentstakesomeofthephotographsfortheirbooks.

Lesson9:PuttingitAllTogether

• Havestudentsputtheirwordsandphotostogethertocreatetheirbooks.Theycandothisbyhandorelectronically.MelissaOakley,whodevelopedthismentortextstudy,hadherstudentsuseGoogleSlidestocreatetheirbooks.

• ShowVIDEO8:TimetoShare.Havestudentssharetheirbookswithothers.Hereareafewideas:

o Authorread-aloudtotheclasso Bookdisplaywheretheycanreadeachothers’booksduringreading

timeo Authorread-aloudtootherclasses