Anna Fenton

Observation #1

Mentor Sentences: Day 3

Grade: 5

Time: 10 minutes

New Jersey Student Learning Standards:

● NJSLSA.R4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific
word choices shape meaning or tone.
● NJSLSA.R5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza)
relate to each other and the whole.

Objective:
● Students will demonstrate their understanding of parts of speech by appropriately
revising a mentor sentence.
● Students will demonstrate their comprehension of a story by creating a sentence that
displays the message the original sentence intended.

Materials:
● Katie’s Trunk by Ann Turner
● Mentor sentence from Katie’s Trunk printed / displayed
● Student journals and pencils

Lesson Sequence:

1. Lesson Introduction (Connection)

a. “Hello writers! As you know, we have been working on our mentor sentences a
lot over these past few weeks. With our sentence this week, we have familiarized
ourselves with components that stand out, the parts of speech, and the story it
comes from.”
i. “Can a few friends remind me what this book was about?” *take 2-3
retells by a show of hands*
ii. “Now what was happening in the story during this sentence specifically?”
*take 1-2 answers by a show of hands*
b. “Good! Now that we have dissected this sentence a little more, we are going to
continue to work with it.”
 2. Teaching Point (Connection)
a. “With our sentence today, we are going to look at ways to revise the components
of it. There are a few adjectives and verbs in this sentence that we can adjust to
make the sentence even more descriptive than it already is without changing the
meaning of the sentence. Today I am going to show you how writers can improve
their sentences this way.”

3. Teach and Model

a. “Let’s look at our sentence on the screen. Now, because we labeled the parts of
speech, I can easily pick out adjectives and verbs to adjust.”
i. She shoved a piece of pork pie in our hands and ran us out to the thick
woods where we could hide
ii. “Looking at our first verb, shoved, I’m thinking that is already pretty vivid
and descriptive. Do you all agree?”
iii. “The next one, pushed, I think can be changed. I am thinking hurried, or
rushed, do you all agree?”
iv. “Does changing the word push to rushed change the main idea of the
sentence? Why or why not?” *Take 1-2 answers by show of hands*

4. Guided Practice
a. “Let’s look at the word ''thick ``. What part of speech is thick?” *Take answer*
“What does it mean if the woods are thick?” What other adjectives can we use to
describe woods that are thick or have a similar tone?” *Take volunteers*

5. Independent Practice/Assessment
a. “Take a minute or two to look at the sentence and try to change the verbs /
adjectives to be a more vivid sentence.”
b. “Turn and talk with a partner and share the sentence you created!”
c. I will pull sticks and ask the corresponding students if they would like to share or
if they would not. I will take a couple of sentences until I feel the idea is clear.
d. “Now friends, when you are writing any sentence, especially the informational
texts you all are working on this week, make sure to use vivid adjectives and
descriptive verbs to say exactly what you mean.”

Differentiation:
● Labeled sentence and corresponding mentor text will remain on the easel for the entire
week for reference
● I will float around as the students write their informational texts and offer direct
instruction to those who need it.