September Swap and Share: Ideas by Jivey's Mentor Sentences

I am so excited to participate in September Swap & Share!  I swapped with my BBB and the super talented teacher and blogger, Jivey, at Ideas by Jivey!  We swapped a product from our TpT stores and tested them out with our classes.
Jivey is a fellow 4th grade teacher, so it was a perfect match!

I already knew that I would be implementing her mentor sentences with my 4th grade ELA classes this year so it was an easy choice for the swap.  I could barely wait to get back in the swing of school to try it out for the first time!  

Here is the preview of her First 10 weeks of Mentor Sentences:

 They are on sale right now at 20% off from 9/26-9/29 in her TpT store!!

I printed the unit out and placed it in its own binder.  

Here is the Table of Contents.  I still want to add dividers for each week.

Last spring I was wondering what these "Mentor Sentences" were all about.  I wasn't really sure.  So, I purchased two books recommended by Jivey.  

They are Everyday Editing and Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson.  I highly recommend these books to anyone considering using mentor sentences in their classroom.  It just opened my eyes to a new world of how to teach grammar and developing good habits as writers.  As stated in Everyday Editing, here is a quote by Francine Prose in Reading Like a Writer (2006) that really hit home for me:  "One essential and telling difference between learning from a style manual and learning from literature is that any how-to book will, almost by definition, tell you how not to write...a pedagogy that involves warnings about what might be broken and directions on how to fix it--as opposed to learning from literature, which teaches by positive model."

Jivey's Mentor Sentences product adheres to this philosophy outlined in Jeff Anderson's books by teaching writing and grammar using example mentor sentences from carefully selected texts.  Each week there is a new text that the "mentor sentence" was taken from.  

I officially began using mentor sentences last week with my 4th grade ELA classes (three of them since we are departmentalized).  Last week was my second full week of school.  The mentor text was First Day Jitters which I had already read to my classes on the first day of school.  Although I was nervous to get started and wasn't sure how it would all work out since this was a brand new way to approach grammar for me, Jivey's directions in her pack couldn't have been more clear.  She clearly lays out all the directions, answer keys, and the layout is so user friendly!  

This is a picture of a student's work for that first week of mentor sentences.  As you can see from my labels, each day there is a new "invitation" for students.  

As Jeff Anderson states in Everyday Editing, "Yes, we deal with whole texts--but zooming in on a whole sentence can be very effective.  By zooming in, kids can more easily discover the patterns we want them to identify and use...It's far more inviting for students to concentrate on what works in a sentence than to rip one to shreds.  After all, writing is an art."

So, that first day, I passed out the mentor sentence, students glued it in their journal, we read it together and I asked them what they "noticed" about the sentence.  Me: "Is there anything you notice or observations you can make about this sentence?"  You could have heard a pin drop!  Even my top students were puzzled.  So, I gave them some ideas without focusing on parts of speech.  I asked, what do you know about Sarah?  Then, hands shot up!  

Student: "I know Sarah is nervous."  

Me: "How do you know?"  

Student: "It's the first day of school."

Me: "Do you know that from this sentence?"

Student: "Yes, because it says her hands are cold and clammy."

Bingo!  Do you see the value here?  TEXT BASED EVIDENCE!!  Time spent each day on Mentor Sentences (10-15 minutes) is not simply teaching grammar as an isolated skill.  It is teaching the students to notice the vocabulary and word usage of a sentence to determine its meaning.  They are learning how to use the sentence or text to make inferences. At the same time, they are also noticing examples of good writing and applying those examples to their own work!  Genius!!  

My students' favorite day was probably Thursday where they were given the "Invitation to Imitate".  Everyone was so proud to share their sentence with the class and then I chose two examples from each section to post on my "OWL"standing sentences pocket chart.  They were able to write with a marker (ooo la la!) on a colored sentence strip for all the 4th grade to see.  I focused on choosing sentences that made sense and used vivid adjectives (many students love using the adjectives bad, good, big, and fat!).  I keep telling myself that it was only week one. :)

Since I have three ELA classes, I decided to write the sentence using Notebook software to display on my SMART Board each day.  I forgot to take a screen shot of day one where we brainstormed what we noticed but you can see from the student example above, we only recorded a couple things.  I didn't want to overwhelm them this first day and took their lead.  We added to the file on Tuesday by labeling the parts of speech, on Wednesday we wrote a revised sentence, and I typed a student example in for Thursday's invitation to imitate.  Everyone had their own example written in their notebook.

The grammar topic that we discussed in more detail during week one was subject/predicate and possessive nouns.  You can see part of our notes from the mini lesson in the student's notebook picture.   I am using pages from our reading series (Treasures) grammar book component for notes and some practice with the skill.  The students cut out the definition from the handout to glue in their journal.  Then, when the students refer back to it later, all of them can actually read it!  

Note:  Fourth graders are not the best notetakers and many of them can't read notes later. :)

Here is a picture of the chart paper displayed in the classroom with the table of contents for grammar.  The front of our journal will be used for work on writing and responding to texts while the back of our journals (starting on the last page and working backward) will be used for grammar mini lessons with notes and mentor sentences.  I used the notebooks in a similar way last year but this is my first time trying to use a table of contents for both sections.  We'll see how that works and what tweaks I will make for next year. :)

Jivey also made this Interactive Language Arts Notebook Companion to First Ten Weeks: Mentor Sentences!  This pack includes an interactive notebook element for a grammar skill each week.   

This is an amazing addition to mentor sentences!!  Only the First Ten Weeks Companion is available right now but Jivey has assured me that she is working on companions for the other two units and the second one is well on its way to being finished! :)  I used the possessive nouns foldable for week one:  

Here is the mentor sentence for week two from Enemy Pie displayed on my SMART Board.  Remember how I could hear a pin drop when I asked them what they noticed in week one?  Already by the second week, this had improved!  This time, I had them write down a couple things they noticed independently and then we shared.  

Many of them stated what they knew about Dad since last week we wrote that we knew Sarah was nervous.  One student said, "Dad is happy."  Here was a teachable moment!!  

Student: "I know Dad is happy."

Me:  "How do you know he is happy from this sentence?"

Student: "He has pie and ice cream."

Me: "Yes, he is dishing up pie and ice cream and maybe serving himself too."

Student: "Yep."

Me:  "Is it possible that someone could be dishing up pie and ice cream and NOT be happy?"

Class:  "Yes."  (Many students are nodding too!)

Me: "So, we cannot say for sure that Dad is happy based on just the clues from this one sentence."

I LOVE it!!  This is what students struggle with.  When they are asked to give text based evidence to support their responses, they have a difficult time finding where those clues are exactly.  So, just in this couple minutes of class discussion, we were practicing another essential skill for reading and writing.

Here is what we brainstormed in one class.  In every section, someone pointed out that "big" and "giant" are adjectives.  Wahoo!!  Not one student pointed out that in week one "cold" and "clammy" were adjectives!  I couldn't be more excited to see how using mentor sentences in the classroom will affect my students' reading and writing!

I already own First Day Jitters and Enemy Pie, but I asked to borrow the other books from our school library.  They are always great about letting me borrow anything I need for any amount of time (well, I have to return them within a couple months!).  Our librarian also said that maybe for next year she could order the couple she had to borrow on interlibrary loan so that we have a copy in our school! Yay!  Here are the next few weeks all checked out of the library (free!) and waiting for us. :)

Are you still not sure if you want to take the plunge and try Mentor Sentences?

 Download this freebie Mentor Sentence example from Jivey's store and try it out!

You can also purchase Set One, Set Two, or Set Three for 20% off from now until Sunday!!

Still not sure?  Watch this video of mentor sentences in action that Jivey has created in her classroom!

I also wanted to announce the winner of my Pin It To Win It contest Danielson Pack real quick:

Joan, please email me at lillycharlie2915@gmail.com and I will send you the pack! 

I don't have your email as you are a "no reply blogger".  

Now, check out these other September Swap and Share posts! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Student Motivation Saturday Snapshots!!!

Happy Saturday!!  I am loving that I have had the chance to get some work done today.  I set the alarm for 5:00 (since there was NO way I could have been productive Friday night) and I worked on some schoolwork and updating TpT products until the kids were up at 6:30.  Then, the hubbie took my daughter with son in tow to gymnastics so I could go to karate class!  It has been pouring rain all day, so that has been perfect for a "work" day! :)

I am linking up with my BBB, Joanne, at Head Over Heels for Teaching with a quick student motivation strategy and with Run! Mrs. Nelson's Got the Camera to share some shots of my week!

Remember our team Homework Stars board?  It has been working great to keep track of students who owe work but we have a pretty tough group of kiddos in respect to getting their work done.  I have been giving barely any homework.  Except for reading 15 minutes a night, the students have had five homework assignments in 12 days of school.  Well, it is still the beginning of school and I am hopeful that the students will start to catch on quickly!  

Anyway, I stayed after school with my first student on Wednesday for my after school help "club".  By the second week of school, I always find one or two students that I know it is next to impossible to get any work done at home.  My heart just aches for them.  I talk to them about staying after school with me for help and in my six years in 4th grade, so far I have not had one student who said they didn't want to stay.  They actually seem relieved when I ask them to stay.  They look forward to it (really!).  

I think the key is that I only have my one to four neediest students stay after.  They get a lot of attention from me and for working hard, we always have a special snack. :)  This is so different from when I taught 6th grade.  We had after school help 2x a week and any student who owed work had to stay after.  That usually meant there were 15-20 students in one room and the teacher ran around for that hour helping as many students as possible.  Not fun!  

Now, in 4th grade I sit at a table with my little peeps and we get a lot of work done and, of course, they get my undivided attention.  When I walked out to the late bus with my student on Thursday he turned to look at me and said in the sweetest voice, "Thank you Mrs. Snyder."  It just made me melt because this was the one student that I was most worried about behavior wise this year.  We all know that there is something about students being motivated to please their teachers (even the tough students) when they know their teachers will go the extra mile and show they care.  We can do this in many ways and staying after school is a great example!  If your district allows you to stay after and help students, it is a wonderful way to build relationships and motivate those tough students!  

Next, here are some snapshots from the week:

 Students started decorating the covers of their writing journals.  I send my handout home with decorations for bringing in items and also give class time to look for magazines pictures.  Their journal cover is supposed to be a representation of themselves.  

You can download my editable "Decorate Your Writing Journal" handout here for free.

We took notes on "restating the question".  This is an important skill and we start with easy sentences.  We are reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and this week explored some vocabulary from the first few chapters.  The students glued this worksheet with definitions in their journals and drew an illustration of the word as well as used it in a sentence (encouraging the use of context clues when writing sentences!).

You MAY just recognize this sentence glued in the journal above!  For this second full week of school, we started using Mentor Sentences by Ideas by Jivey!!  I am already in LOVE!  I can tell that this way of teaching grammar is going to be the best change I have made yet in my ELA instruction.  We are using the back of our writing journal for mentor sentences and students started this table of contents in their journals.  Check back on Thursday to read more about how I am implementing this amazing product in my classroom!

We started our Read to Someone training this week and the students are doing great during Read to Self.  Right now, everything is done together as a whole class until we really get it mastered. :)

What's this?  I found these laying on my desk Thursday morning...yep! THREE more iPads (in addition to my lonely one last year!).  Of course, I am thrilled!! My class sizes are small this year (15-16) and I have four sets of desks set up.  Since I have four iPads, I can easily use them for group work in addition to the independent work at work on writing or word work stations.  Now, I just need to actually take the time to play with them and download the apps I need!

My three year old got this new backpack this week that I ordered from ebay.  He is starting "preschool" at his daycare with another three year old three times a week.  We wanted to make it "official" and searched high and low in the stores for a backpack that he would like.  Of course, we couldn't find one with a firetruck!  So, we ordered this one on ebay and it even has his name embroidered (hard to see in the picture).  Anyway, he wore this backpack for TWO days straight!  He wore it all day outside playing, at lunchtime, and at naptime.  So cute!!

Have a great weekend everyone!