Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece
Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece
By: Patricia Polacco
Dear teachers,
November’s BOM is a personal narrative about Patricia’s journey into becoming less afraid of speaking in public. As Polacco herself tells us, she went from being shy to being on “fire”. The writing is full of amazing craft, which is typical of all of Polacco’s writing.
Language Arts:
Point of view: third person
Genre: personal narrative
Theme: perseverance/ Overcoming a fear
Other mini-lessons this book lends itself for:
Great beginning: Dramatic: “My worst nightmare had come true when...” Polacco does a great job showing us how to truly capture the reader with the first few words.
Show don’t tell: Polacco uses a lot of showing of emotions instead of telling the reader. For example, instead of writing “I was scared” she uses: “I turned around, gripping the paper so tight that it fluttered like a bird in flight. My knees were knocking and my mouth was dry…”.
Character changes: Focusing not only on Patricia’s journey as she becomes more confident, but also on how the character in the illustrations change. Compare the illustration on page 3 to the one on page 28.
Figurative Language: Use of similes: “fluttered like a bird in flight”.
Cause and effect: Great examples of cause and effect in this book.
Character motivation: What eventually motivates Patricia to go out there and perform?
Inferencing Question Stems: How do you know that Patricia is nervous? What probably caused Patricia to be so fearful of reading to her class/performing? What might happen if Patricia can’t bring herself to perform in front of the audience? What conclusion can you draw about the type of person Mr. Wayne is? Why did Mr. T. take Patricia to go meet Mr. Wayne? What do you think might have happened if Patricia had been too scared to go onstage?
Story Elements: Plot, sequence, character description, setting, problem/solution, character traits.
You could also start off with Thank You, Mr. Falker to give the students a little background knowledge about Patricia and bridge into this book to really look at how much growth she has made.
Books With Similar Themes:
Thundercake by: Patricia Polacco Brave Irene by: William Steig Sheila Rae the Brave by: Kevin Henkes
By: Patricia Polacco
Dear teachers,
November’s BOM is a personal narrative about Patricia’s journey into becoming less afraid of speaking in public. As Polacco herself tells us, she went from being shy to being on “fire”. The writing is full of amazing craft, which is typical of all of Polacco’s writing.
Language Arts:
Point of view: third person
Genre: personal narrative
Theme: perseverance/ Overcoming a fear
Other mini-lessons this book lends itself for:
Great beginning: Dramatic: “My worst nightmare had come true when...” Polacco does a great job showing us how to truly capture the reader with the first few words.
Show don’t tell: Polacco uses a lot of showing of emotions instead of telling the reader. For example, instead of writing “I was scared” she uses: “I turned around, gripping the paper so tight that it fluttered like a bird in flight. My knees were knocking and my mouth was dry…”.
Character changes: Focusing not only on Patricia’s journey as she becomes more confident, but also on how the character in the illustrations change. Compare the illustration on page 3 to the one on page 28.
Figurative Language: Use of similes: “fluttered like a bird in flight”.
Cause and effect: Great examples of cause and effect in this book.
Character motivation: What eventually motivates Patricia to go out there and perform?
Inferencing Question Stems: How do you know that Patricia is nervous? What probably caused Patricia to be so fearful of reading to her class/performing? What might happen if Patricia can’t bring herself to perform in front of the audience? What conclusion can you draw about the type of person Mr. Wayne is? Why did Mr. T. take Patricia to go meet Mr. Wayne? What do you think might have happened if Patricia had been too scared to go onstage?
Story Elements: Plot, sequence, character description, setting, problem/solution, character traits.
You could also start off with Thank You, Mr. Falker to give the students a little background knowledge about Patricia and bridge into this book to really look at how much growth she has made.
Books With Similar Themes:
Thundercake by: Patricia Polacco Brave Irene by: William Steig Sheila Rae the Brave by: Kevin Henkes
Creepy Carrots
Creepy Carrots!
By: Aaron Reynolds
Dear teachers,
October’s BOM is a creepy tale full of “tunktunktunking” and “crunching” and, yes, some creeping as well! Jasper Rabbit loves to eat Farmer Crackenhopper’s carrots. He eats them in the morning, he eats them in the afternoon, he eats them all the time. But…when the carrots seem to be following Jasper everywhere he goes, paranoia takes hold.
Language Arts:
Point of view: third person
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Theme: perseverance/commitment (Those carrots had an agenda, and they were going to follow through with it!)
Other mini-lessons this book lends itself for:
Great beginning: Character description: “Jasper Rabbit had a passion for carrots.” Describes the character, but does not focus on his physical appearance, which is what most of our young writers do when they try the character description as a great beginning.
Drawing conclusions: The students use the story and the illustrations to draw conclusions as to what is happening in the story.
Predictions: Use each step in the story right when Jasper sees the creepy carrots to predict what could be making those carrot shapes.
Figurative Language: Use of onomatopoeia to add to the suspense of the story. Personification.
Descriptive language is simple in this book, but helps younger writers see what good description is without overwhelming them.
Cause and effect: Also very simple in this book, so it’s great for the little ones.
Character motivation: What is motivating those carrots to creep? What motivates Jasper to eat/stop eating the carrots.
Inferencing: How does Farmer Crackenhopper feel about his carrots getting eaten? How do you think he felt when he saw a big old fence around his carrots?
Story Elements: Simple plot, sequence, character description
Books With Similar Themes:
One Cool Friend by: Toni Buzzeo Oh, no! by: Candance Fleming Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by: Mo Willems Good News, Bad News by: Jeff Mack I’m Bored by: Michael Ian Black
By: Aaron Reynolds
Dear teachers,
October’s BOM is a creepy tale full of “tunktunktunking” and “crunching” and, yes, some creeping as well! Jasper Rabbit loves to eat Farmer Crackenhopper’s carrots. He eats them in the morning, he eats them in the afternoon, he eats them all the time. But…when the carrots seem to be following Jasper everywhere he goes, paranoia takes hold.
Language Arts:
Point of view: third person
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Theme: perseverance/commitment (Those carrots had an agenda, and they were going to follow through with it!)
Other mini-lessons this book lends itself for:
Great beginning: Character description: “Jasper Rabbit had a passion for carrots.” Describes the character, but does not focus on his physical appearance, which is what most of our young writers do when they try the character description as a great beginning.
Drawing conclusions: The students use the story and the illustrations to draw conclusions as to what is happening in the story.
Predictions: Use each step in the story right when Jasper sees the creepy carrots to predict what could be making those carrot shapes.
Figurative Language: Use of onomatopoeia to add to the suspense of the story. Personification.
Descriptive language is simple in this book, but helps younger writers see what good description is without overwhelming them.
Cause and effect: Also very simple in this book, so it’s great for the little ones.
Character motivation: What is motivating those carrots to creep? What motivates Jasper to eat/stop eating the carrots.
Inferencing: How does Farmer Crackenhopper feel about his carrots getting eaten? How do you think he felt when he saw a big old fence around his carrots?
Story Elements: Simple plot, sequence, character description
Books With Similar Themes:
One Cool Friend by: Toni Buzzeo Oh, no! by: Candance Fleming Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by: Mo Willems Good News, Bad News by: Jeff Mack I’m Bored by: Michael Ian Black