The Runaway Pumpkin- Must Read Mentor Texts are BACK!!!

Happy Monday!

I am so excited to announce that Amanda and I are bringing back our Must Read Mentor Texts! We took a break from sharing our Must Read Mentor Texts last year (click HERE to see the list with links to all the Must Read Mentor Texts we already shared), but now we are excited to share lots of new books and ideas with y'all!

We have changed things a little bit- instead of a Linky, we will just be sharing mentor texts, ideas, and activities on our blog. We might bring the Linky back if people are interested in linking up  :)

Also, we will be sharing our Must Read Mentor Text each MONDAY instead of Sunday. So, please stop by each Monday to check out the post with a new book and lots of ideas of how you can use it in your classroom!

When we shared Must Read Mentor Texts before, we alternated between sharing a Language Arts book one week and then a Math book, a Science book, and then a Social Studies book. Now, we won't have a set schedule- we will just share all kinds of texts each Monday, including some seasonal favorites!  :)

So, today's Must Read Mentor Text is a perfect Fall book- The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis.

This is such a fun book for Fall and Halloween! 

Here is the summary from Amazon- "When Buck, Billy, and their little sister Lil spy the biggest pumpkin they've ever seen, they can't resist. Buck and Billy try to roll the pumpkin down the hill to show everyone, but it's too big! Before they know it, it's bumping and thumping and rolling down the hillside out of control. This read aloud Halloween treat is perfect for kids and families."

As you can see in the Mentor Text Memo image above, there are tons of skills that you can teach with this adorable text! 

This book is great for teaching cause and effect. As you read, stop at different points and have students identify cause and effect examples. You can also have students sequence events of the story. They can write out sentences or have them create a story board with illustrations to sequence the story- my students always enjoy that! Check out the examples below, and if you would like to use them, just click here to download them for FREE in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

I like to have students search for alliteration, amazing adjectives, and vivacious verbs as I read the story aloud. The author's language is such a great model for students to use in their own writing. I created a graphic organizer that they can use to do this. 

The illustrations are also a great teaching tool. I like to have students make predictions and inferences just by looking at the pictures while I'm reading the book aloud. Have them look at a particular character's face to make an inference about how that character is feeling at that point in the story. Or, have students predict what that character is going to do. Ask them why and how they know. The look on the little girl's face as the pumpkin is about to topple down the hill is priceless! It's amazing how much you can infer and predict just by reading the pictures!

I hope that you and your students enjoy this book! Thanks so much for stopping by, and please visit us each Monday for a new Must Read Mentor Text!  :)   

We also are a part of two awesome Fall giveaways! Yay!!!! We love giveaways! 

The first one is a Spooktacular Giveaway with 1stgradefireworks! Please click the pictures below to go to the websites to enter!  :) 

The second giveaway is over at The Primary Peach, the collaborative Georgia Teachers blog we are a part of! You can win a $50 Amazon or TPT gift card! (AND we will be offering this giveaway 3 times in October!!! So if you don't win this week, you can try again 2 more times!) Please click the picture below to go to The Primary Peach blog to enter!  :)

Have a great week!!!