Lovin' Writing from the HEART!!

Our district focus this year is on using Mentor Texts to teach Reading and Writing skills. First grade teachers at my school all chose The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli as one of their Mentor Texts for writing.

I happily modeled a Writing mini-lesson in each class last week. The first grade classes are beginning their unit on Narratives, and The Best Story is a great way to begin this unit.
I started with reading the entire book (which ideally should be done BEFORE teaching any strategies or skills, but....). So, obviously, my mini-lesson was not that mini.
If you've ever read this book, you know that it just screams "Heart Map"! So...that was an easy decision.

                                                  I modeled a heart map.

The students made their own heart maps.



We shared our Heart Maps!

These wonderful teachers LAMINATED the heart maps, knowing that they will be used over and over and over!

Next lesson....getting ideas from the heart map and turning it into a small moment story!
I do love mentor texts!!