Mentor Monday: Texts for Teaching Writing

I love that this week's Mentor Monday is about texts we use to teach writing. I was literally JUST talking about this with my aunt (who is a 4th grade teacher) in Texarkana. I shared my zillion "mentor texts to use" documents with her, but when I think of my favorite mentor texts to use, it has to be pretty much any Patricia Polacco book. She is just such a phenomenal writer. I love reading her books that are reflective of actual events in her life... (Bonus: one of the standards in Texas is TEK 4.7A  Identify similarities and differences between the events and characters' experiences in a fictional work and the actual events and experiences described in an author’s biography or autobiography)  Hello?! A mentor text for writing AND reading [I use these as an example of a "fictionalized autobiography"]?! I'm a fan.

I usually use her books when teaching my kids to write narratives. She writes such vivid descriptions of these seemingly small moments in her life that left an impact...perfect for teaching narrative writing. AND she truly paints a picture in her readers' heads. Love it. Here are a few of my favorites: 

This is my first year to NOT teach 4th grade writing which means my kids aren't formally assessed by the state in Writing. While I LOVED teaching writing, I don't miss the added pressure of a 2nd test :) Can't wait to see the other suggested mentor texts on this linky party!