Trail of Breadcrumbs On Your Campus

Text Structures From Poetry

Lessons to Help Students Read, Analyze, and Create Poems They Will Remember

using the book Text Structures From Poetry by Gretchen Bernabei and Laura Van Prooyen

Are you looking for enjoyable, concrete ways to weave reading and writing together in one class period? How can poetry lessons give a leg-up to your STAAR reading and writing scores?

With 50 classroom-proven lesson and poem pairs, these unique and engaging lessons show educators how to “pop the hood” on a poem to discover what makes it work, using text structures to unlock the “engine” of a poem. This method enables educators to engage

students in reading and re-reading a poem closely, to identify how the parts of the poem relate to each other to create movement, and to leverage what they have learned to write their own poems.

Each of the 50 lessons includes a mentor poem, a diagram that illustrates the text structure of the poem, and examples of student poems. Easy-to-use instructional resources include:

Teaching notes for unlocking the text structure of a poem and the engine that makes it work
Tips for exploring rhyme scheme, meter, and fixed forms
Instructional sequences that vary the ways students can read and write poems and other prose forms
Ideas for revising and publishing student poems
A “Meet the Contemporary Authors” section that includes fascinating messages from the contemporary poets and videos of them reading their poems

Teach your students to learn about poetry using the magic of poems themselves, and lead the way to a rewarding love of poetry for teachers and students alike.

¡Andale Ya!

2-day session

using ¡ANDALE YA! LET’S GO! 2-volume 27-week Curriculum Guide by Maureen Uclés, written in English and Spanish for a dual language/bilingual classroom

Year-long Grammar, Spelling and Composition for the Dual Language or ELL Classroom

Applicationes prácticas para la instructión d la grammática, ortografia y composición en el aula bilingϋe de cuarto grado

Aligned with the most recent state standards, ¡Andale Ya! Let’s Go! is a complete curriculum guide for a bilingual Spanish writing classroom. Based on the work of Gretchen Bernabei, the author, Maureen Uclés, wrote this program for her own bilingual classroom.

Even though this guide was designed for the 4^th grade classroom, ¡Andale Ya! can be easily adjusted to use in grades 3 through 8.

gives an overview of what needs to be taught
broken down into week-long lessons and student practice pages
includes daily Spanish and English grammar, spelling, and composition for 27 weeks
also prepares students to take Spanish or English Writing standardized tests

Get a taste with these wall charts and videos:

Text Structures From Fairy Tales

Truisms That Help Students Write About Abstract Concepts and Live Happily Ever After

using the book Text Structures From Fairy Tales by Gretchen Bernabei and Judi Reimer

Centered on classic fairy tales and designed for students grades 4-12, each lesson contains a fairy tale with a writing prompt accompanied by a planning framework. Students write a truism, select or create a text structure, and write a kernel essay based on an abstract concept.

Students move from depending on teacher guidance to becoming self-regulated analytical writers.

In-depth use of truisms, text structures, and kernel essays for scaffolding
Strategies for students to expand ideas into detailed, rich essays with abstract concepts
Ways for students to create and customize text structures for individual student needs
Adapt each fairy tale lesson for reading, for writing, or for both
Teacher- and student-friendly layout, built-in flexibility, and an abundance of additional resources
Ideal lessons for effective test preparation

Fun-Size Academic Writing for Serious Learning

101 Lessons & Mentor Texts—Narrative, Opinion/Argument, & Informative/Explanatory

using the book Fun-Size Academic Writing by Gretchen Bernabei and Judi Reimer

Sometimes a student’s best teacher is another student. Using student mentor texts, students try out author’s craft in their own writing. Deepening understanding, they will also learn to read as writers and write for readers.

Text Structures and Kernel Essays
Building a Writer’s Toolbox with Icons
Color-it-up
Pitchforking
Responding to Literature
Fun-Size Alignment Documents

Text Structures From Nursery Rhymes

Reading and Writing with Rhythm and Rhyme

using the book Text Structures From Nursery Rhymes by Gretchen Bernabei, Jayne Hover, and Kayla Shook

Presenting ground-breaking strategies for early learners in grades Prekindergarten-3rd, this book will use nursery rhymes to introduce structure and organization to the youngest of writers. Get real composing into the primary classroom!

Sample Writing demonstration: “I’m a Little Teapot” and the writing process
Academic research/pedagogy behind the practices
Sample Reading demonstration: “I Had a Little Pony,” modeling the reading process and what you notice
Grammar and spelling connections
Making quick lists
Shopping for a text structure
Writing and sharing a kernel essay
Reflecting on the literary uses of nursery rhymes

The Story of My Thinking

Expository Writing Activities for 13 Teaching Situations

using the book The Story of My Thinking by Gretchen Bernabei and Dottie Hall

This session offers multiple entry points for teachers to lead students into producing well- crafted expository pieces.

Text Structures and Kernel Essays
Indelible moments
Elastic kernel
11-Minute Essay/HANNAH/Heart Map
Info-shots and Cubing
Remediation Packets

Grammar Keepers

Lessons That Tackle Students’ Most Persistent Problems Once and for All

using the book Grammar Keepers by Gretchen Bernabei

In this session, teachers will discover that mastery of grammar concepts develops naturally when students use their own journal writing as a launching point. Students will learn grammar, spelling, and usage skills easily by practicing and proving them daily without ever using a worksheet.

Using Star Points and Tracking Charts

1. How and why to use journals
2. Their/there/they’re and other confused words
3. Apostrophes and other tricky punctuation

The Dialogue of Grammar Choice
Pitchforking Grammar
Sentence Wringer
Paragraph Overhaul
AAAWWUBBIS
Grammar Alignment Documents

Text Structures From the Masters

50 Lessons and Nonfiction Mentor Texts to Help Students WRITE THEIR WAY IN and READ THEIR WAY OUT OF EVERY IMAGINABLE GENRE

using the book Text Structures From the Masters by Gretchen Bernabei and Jennifer Koppe

Using powerful historical documents as a springboard for reading and writing instruction, this session reaches students in social studies and history classrooms as well as those in ELAR instruction.

Write your own: “Picking up the Pieces”
Connection: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation
Itches and Scratches: Busting myths about academic writing
Write about a character: “A Bad Situation a Lot of Us are In”
Connection: Lester Hunter’s song
Write refusals: “No, Thank You”
Connection: Letter to William and Mary College, the Indians of the Six Nations
Write persuasively: “Problem-Solution Message”
Connection: The Declaration of Independence
Ways to use this book across content areas

Crunchtime

Building the Writing Process in the Classroom

using the book Crunchtime by Gretchen Bernabei, Jayne Hover, and Cynthia Candler

Teachers often think that with most students, the biggest challenges start at the beginning – how to start and how to organize a written piece. During this session, teachers will learn to jump-start the writing process and keep the enthusiasm going all year.

Text Structures and Kernel Essays
Ba-da-bings, Sparkling Sentences, and Truisms
Engaging, fun strategies for struggling writers including English Language Learners
4-Week Plan with Mini-Lessons for “Countdown to the Test”