Pattern Books With Meron

Kindergarten children in  many classrooms are reading and writing pattern books this month. This is so exciting for them because they can see themselves as authors, patterning  after the books they read. Pattern books give students the structure to read and write. In order for the children to be successful in writing this genre, they need to not just read lots of pattern books, but also talk about what the author is doing.

Last week, I worked with my four-year old granddaugher in reading and writing pattern books. We first had a pile of books to look through. She then picked one to read. We would read it, talk about the story and then talk about what the author did as a writer. We did this over and over with lots of books. She noticed the repeated words, the repeated phrases, and the repeated theme in the books. Teachers might want to make an anchor chart of the things the children are noticing in those books.

Next, it was time to write her own book. We talked about what she had heard over and over. She then decided on her topic...her little brother playing dress up. We used the book Mom Dresses Up as her mentor text. She would write her words and then draw her picture, checking back to the mentor text to see how that author did it. Meron wrote and drew and wrote and drew. She had lots of pages.

The finished project, with a title page, was called: Bam Dresses Up!  Oh, yes, Dave had a great time watching and listening, too!

Bam Dresses Up