• "Dont let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" By Mo Williems is about a pigeon, who desperately wants to drive a bus. He waits for the bus driver to leave and tries to take his place. The book is fun and entertaining

• This book uses a strong voice by having a humorous tone, we can tell the personality of the author through the writing and illustrations. Dialogue is correctly used with a specific voice. 

I would use this book in the classroom and have students pick out where they see the authors voice come through. Have students discuss with a partner. After discussing, have students write a short story about what they did over the weekend using their "writers voice."

• "Giraffes cant Dance" by Giles Andreae is about a giraffe who is upset because all his friends can dance, but he cant. At the end, his friends end up accepting his dancing, even though it is different. They embrace him for who he is, even though he is not the same as his friends. 

• The book shows a clear idea or theme, that it is okay that everyone is different. It is obvious what the idea of the book is. 

I would use this as a mentor text and then have my students brainstorm different main ideas that they could write about. For example, dont bully. 

• "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" By Bill Martin Jr. talks about different animals. it concludes at the end with a group of students listing all of the animals in the book. 

• this book uses repetition, and it is very predictable. It is organized the same way on each page. It has a clear sense of direction and shows a solid example of good organization

I would read this book as a mentor text then have students create their own version, using their own animals and words, but with the same organization as the text. 

• "Punctuation Takes a Vacation" By Robin Pulver is about a classroom who no longer has punctuation, because it takes a vacation. It shows students that without punctuation, things would not make sense.

• This book is perfect for conventions, it show a clear image of how bad we need punctuation in our writing. Students can compare what sentences look like with and without punctuation. 

After reading the book in class, I would pass out a worksheet with sentences that do not have punctuation, and have them add it to the sentences. Let students use resource sheet in the back of the book, explaining all of the different conventions.

• "The Word Collector" By Peter H. Reynolds is about a boy named Jerome who has a passion for collecting words and putting words together unexpectedly. He creates poems, songs and stories. Jerome wants to share all of his words with the world.

• This book connects to the genre because students can see a clear example of word choice, and see the use for describing words. 

I would have students make their own word collection, any words they want, then have them use their list of words to create a short story or poem

• "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown is about a bunny eho says goodnight to all different items in his room.

• "Goodnight Moon" shows sentence fluency by correctly exemplifying correct rythmic flow, and consistent structure. It shows students that words should flow

Make a template with the same structure of words, and have children think of items in their room that they could say goodnight too. Have them practice structuring the sentence correctly. Make students write three correctly structured sentences including items from their own room.