writing unit 7-authors as mentors part 2 1 authors as mentors: apprenticing ourselves to writers we...

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 21

Authors as Mentors: Apprenticing Ourselves to Writers We Admire

Jonathan London Teaching Points 1-6 Jane Yolan Teaching Points 7-12

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 1

2

Writers get ideas for stories based

on small everyday events

in your lives.

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 1 Day 1

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Writers make lists about things they do

that may seem simple or ordinary.

• bed time• brushing your teeth• blowing bubbles• walking my dog• swimming in my pool• baking cookies• doing the dishes• homework• afterschool• my dog• losing a tooth

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 1 Day 1

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Let’s try making a list together…

Blowing Soap Bubbles_________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP Day 2

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Writers develop their small

everyday event by

making a jot list of things that might

happen when they do this

activity.

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part TP 1 Day 2

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Walking My Dog Mariah

(small event topic)(Things that happened different

times I walked my dog)She chases a squirrel up a tree.She stops and digs a hole.She barks at the neighbor’s

cat.She pulls me so I think she’s

walking me instead of me walking her.

A little boy stops riding his bike to pet her.

She licks the boy in the face.She finds a stick that’s bigger

than she is and tries to drag it home.

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 2A

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Writers create a beginning, middle, and

end to organize or structure

stories around different times in a

day.Morning Afternoon Evening

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 2B

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Walking My Dog MariahMorning Afternoon

EveningShe barks at chases squirrel A little boy

the neighbor’s digs hole stops riding

cat. walks me his bike to

drags big sticks pet her.

She licks his

face.

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2 9

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the morning, I take Mariah for her walk. Mariah barks at the neighbor’s cat. The cat seems to tease Mariah by staying just out of reach. The whole time we walk, Mariah is watching for other enemies.

Later, I take Mariah out again. She sees a squirrel in the tree. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ She digs a hole. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ She walks me. _____________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She drags a stick. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After dinner I take her out again. This time a small boy stops riding his bike to come over and pet her. __________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________She licks his face.

Walking my dog is always an adventure. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 3 10

Writers create story beginnings

with a “big bang” like

Jonathan London does!


Puddles’ BIG BANG Beginning!

All night the slash of rain and the flash of lightning, and the

Ka-Boom!

of thunder rattling the house and all the windows. We cuddle between fright and glee and want it to stop

and never stop.


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Other Jonathan London BIG BANG Beginnings!

from When the Fireflies Come

The screen doors slam. Slam-bang. Slam-bang. Outside the smell of summer. The smell of fresh-picked corn, barbecued hot dogs and burgers in the air. The tinkle of ice in tall iced-tea glasses.

from The Candy Store Man

He’s hip, he’s hot, he’s the Candy Store Man. With a bip-bop-shadip he can scoop you a dip of ice cream, man in a cone or a dish, or if you wish he could make you a shake that’ll shake you awake.

from Crunch Munch

Animals like to eat, and so do you. Some nibble, some gulp. Some chomp, some chew! How does a beaver eat? CRUNCH munch, CRUNCH munch.

from Froggy Learns to Swim

It was hot. “It’s a great day for a swim!” said Froggy’s mother. So Froggy and his parents flopped outside to the pond- flop flop flop.


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The minute I reach for the leash, Mariah goes crazy.__________________________________She starts prancing and pawing at the door. Going for a walk is definitely her favorite thing to do and she is ready 24/7.

In the morning, I take Mariah for her usual walk. No sooner do I clip the leash to her collar, open the door, and step outside than she begins barking and growling. _____________________________ You guessed it. It’s the neighbor’s cat. That cat is bigger than Mariah, but it still runs and hides from her.

Later, after I get home from school, I take Mariah out again. This time the sun is high overhead. Her eye catches a glimpse of a squirrel in a tree. She bolts after it. _____________ Good thing I have that strong leash on her. When I finally get her settled, it seems more like she’s pulling me than the other way around. She pulls, yanks, and lunges constantly. Dog Obedience School did little the help her walk on a leash properly. Suddenly she stops. I rush to get her, but she has already started to furiously dig a hole in Mrs. Lynch’s yard. I yank her back and scold her gently. The next think I know, she finds a stick. It is long and fat and bigger than she is. She tugs and grips it tightly anyway. She tries to drag it back to the house so she can naw on it the rest of the day.

After dinner I take her out again. This time a small boy screeches his bike to a stop right next to Mariah. He sprints over to pet her. ______________________________She wags her tail, jumps up at him, and finally finds what she’s looking for… his face.

She licks and licks until he tells her good-bye and that he’ll see her tomorrow. We all know we’ll be there walking and playing… same time…. same place.


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Writers study the words Jonathan

London uses when he

writes in order to improve the

choice of words when

writing.


Jonathan London Text Excerpts

from Puddles We kneel and watch worms

squirm and stretch and leave tiny trails in the muck like sloppy writing-they’re learning the ABCs of weather, of rain and sun and mud.

from Like Butter on Pancakes

Beyond the rim of morning the sun ticks the birds talk and the spoons sleep nestled in the kitchen drawers. First light melts like butter on pancakes, spread warm and yellow across your pillow.


R

eadin

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ike a

Wri

ter

Books

and

I n

oti

ce

We c

all

this

…

W

rite

rs d

o t

his

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e a

lso f

ound it

in…


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Writers study how to bring your readers to a halt by using the dash the

way Jonathan London does.


It was the afternoon of my birthday party. All my friends were there. We’d had the cake, opened the presents and were getting ready to play with the trinkets in our goodie bags. Pop pop pop! Anthony paddles the paddle ball. Boing boing boing! Angela lets loose her Slinky. Me, I get out the bottle of soap bubbles.

I carefully opened the bottle. I stuck my fingers into the soapy liquid to pull out the wand. I held it up to the sunlight – a quilt of colors formed. I puckered my lips and blew as gently as I could. Big – Bigger ---

Bigger – the bubble kept going and

going and going until – Pow! It burst right into my eye.

Later in the afternoon…

By early evening…


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In the morning, I take Mariah for her usual walk. No sooner do I clip the leash to her collar, open the door, and step out than she begins barking and growling. Meeeowww,

ARFF grrr…. Meeeowww, ARFF grrr…. Meeeowww,

ARFF grrr… You guessed it. It’s the neighbor’s cat. That cat is bigger than Mariah, but it still runs and hides from her.

Later in the afternoon, I take Mariah out again. This time the sun is high overhead. Her eye catches a glimpse of a squirrel in a tree. She bolts after it. Good thing I have that leash on her. When I finally get her settled, it seems more like she’s walking me than the other way around. She pulls – yanks --- lunges constantly. Doggy Obedience School did little to help her walk on a leash properly. Suddenly – she stops.


Jonathan London Text Excerpts for Using a Dash from Puddles:

We cuddle between fright and glee and want it to stop and never stop. In the morning it does --– like a curtain rising on a shiny new day, a day of brightness and blue.

Needles glisten --– listen the drip drip drip from the eaves and the leaves. Look --– the sparkle of a million suns in a million drops!

Puddles! Big ones, little ones, long ones, skinny ones – pieces of sky on the ground. It’s time to puddle-jump!

Splash splash splash!


Writers learn how to

write an ending

like Jonathan London does.


Excerpts from Puddles:

On a morning after rainit’s time to soak in a hot bath… wiggle dray in a warm towel…

get dressed and drink hot chocolate…

then run outside again

to puddle-jump

Splash splash splash!

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 223

Authors as Mentors: Apprenticing Ourselves to Writers We Admire

Jonathan London Teaching Points 1-6 Jane Yolan Teaching Points 7-12


Jane Yolen is an author of children’s books, fantasy, and science fiction, including Owl Moon , The Devil’s Arithmetic, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? She is also a poet, a teacher of writing and literature, and a reviewer of children’s literature. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. Jane Yolen’s books and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award among many others. This website presents information about her over three hundred books for children. It also contains essays, poems, answers to frequently asked questions, a brief biography, her travel schedule, and links to resources for teachers and writers. It is intended for children, teachers, writers, storytellers, and lovers of children’s literature.


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Writers use books like Owl Moon

to help inspire new

topics to write

about.


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Writers read Owl Moon like a writer

to discover different writing

strategies to use.


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Excerpts from Owl Moon (pages 1-2)

It was late one winter night,Long past my bedtime,When Pa and I went owling.There was no wind.The trees stood still as giant statues.And the moon was so brightthe sky seemed to shine.Somewhere behind usa train whistle blew,long and low,like a sad, sad song.

I could hear itthrough the woolen capPa had pulled downover my ears.A farm dog answered the train,and then a second dog joined in.They sang out, trains and dogs,for a real long time.And when their voices faded awayit was as quiet as a dream.We walked on toward the woods,Pa and I.


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It was early one school-day morning long past the first bell when my class and I stood to salute the flag. There was no talking. No one giggled. We all stood straight like tall trees in the woods. The room was so silent you could have heard an ant running across the floor. There is no noise when you salute the flag.

Then you could hear us recite as one voice the Pledge of Allegiance. Our voices rose together loud, then soft, then loud again. We recited on and on… my class and I.

We reached the end of the Pledge. Our teacher looked at us as if studying a painting, as if reading a serious book. We froze and waited. Her face was a poem waiting to be understood. Then she said, “You each fill me with pride every day we salute the flag together.

“Yippee!” We all yelled. “Yippp, yipp, yipppeeeee!”

When we salute the flag my class and I, there is no talking. No one giggles. Not a sound can be heard. There is no noise when you salute the flag, but when you’re done --- well, that’s a different story.


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Writer create stories about

one idea across time the way Jane Yolen does in No Bath Tonight.


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Writers elaborate

each time--scene by

telling more and more the

way Jane Yolen does in No Bath Tonight.


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Writers use beautiful language

the way Jane Yolen does in her

books.


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Writers use an editing checklist

before they publish.

Writing Unit 7-Authors as Mentors Part 2TP 12 33

________’s Editing Checklist1. My writing piece is about

________________________________

2. My piece of writing has ________ paragraphs.

3. I have left white space (indented) for each new paragraph.

4. I looked for places where I left out words by mistake. I have filled in the missing word(s).

5. I have checked my spelling carefully. I used the dictionary, word wall, or other spelling strategies to spell them correctly.

6. I have checked my punctuation carefully. I checked that every sentence started with a capital letter.

7. I checked that every sentence ends with a period or correct punctuation mark.

8. I have read my piece of writing out loud to myself… at least twice.

9. I have asked a friend to read my writing and give me help with any editing I need to do.

10. The friend who helped me edit is. _________________________________________

writing unit 7-authors as mentors part 2 1 authors as mentors: apprenticing ourselves to writers we...

Documents

writing unit

tp day

tooth slide

mariah barks

neighbors cat

dog swimming

riding cat

little boy