Valentines Day

Carpe diem!  Happy Valentine’s Day!  

Kids – and boyfriends and girlfriends– and adults who have special relationships with kids - that would be grandparents, for sure, want to show some expression of their love.   We send our cards with hearts and Xs and Os – and many of us spend a few minutes reading the sentiment inside the card – the thought needs to be a good fit.  Why not take the time to compose our own message to our Valentine?  

I have been reading a fair amount about using mentor texts to teach the craft of writing.  Lucy Calkins and Katie Woodray (Wondrous Words) continually advise us to really get to know several good books – like inside and out.  What are the “tricks” of their writing?   What are the craft elements the author weaves into the writing?

Writing gurus are reminding us to stop when we are reading a well written passage - “Hey look at that.  Look at how she wrote that!”  Try to figure out why the sentence/s work.  Children’s literature is replete with great craft elements.  It makes sense to write such elements on our white charts.  Show and encourage our kids to use such elements in their own writing.  You may need to do the “shopping” for ideas in the literature, and eventually young writers will be able to find the “goodies” themselves.

Woodray explains that so often kids want to write about a person, place or thing – like a pet, friends, a hobby; another favorite seed idea “Let me tell you about the time we got lost at Starved Rock”.  She suggests that literature will show the young writers ways to write about their favorite topics.

Love You Forever by Robert Muncsh was one of my favorite bedtime books.  I loved it and my parents loved it. I’m going back to the book to see if I can uncover the “tricks” that Muncsh used to hook us.  I bet there are some techniques and phrases I can steal to compose the perfect Valentine message.

Ten of the best children’s books about love: http://www.momentsaday.com/best-childrens-books-about-love/

P.S.

My heart goes out to the Parkland Florida High School Community. Stay strong.

Marty

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 17, 2018 at 8:12 AM

    Mentor texts and mentor sentences are such a great way to help show students the ins & outs of good writing. Some of my favorite author tricks come from Jerry Spinnelli, Christopher Paul Curtis, Robert Muncsh (great minds ��), Katherine Applegate, Kate DiCamillo, and Patricia Pollaco... just to name a few! Great post Martin!

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