Mentor Monday - Saturdays and Teacakes

I thought it was time I posted a completely creepy picture of me manhandling a children's book. Actually, I took this as a joke to show Jivey that my long awaited copy of Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack had finally arrived in the mail. She got a big kick out of it.

I've been hearing everyone rave about this little memoir story in staff developments and team meetings. I've even met the author when he visited our school, great guy by the way. I finally broke down and bought a copy online. But it was taking so long to arrive that I had to borrow a copy from our media center to read to the kids.

The story just wasn't appealing to me. My own grandmother was a large scary woman who had a loud brash voice, so visiting her was not a happy occasion. I just didn't have the same connection that Mr. Laminack was sharing in his story. After all of the peer pressure, I read it to my class. They loved it. But more importantly, I saw tons of great lessons to use this book throughout the year.

Sigh, everyone was right. It does deserve a spot on your Mentor Text shelf.

One of the lessons I taught last week was about sensory details and how it allows the reader to experience the story hand in hand with the author. I pulled a short selection from the text. It starts with the great crafting of
Pedal - Pedal - P-e-d-a-a-a-l-l-l

and end with the crunching of gravel underneath his bike tires as they shower his Mammaw's flowers.

The kids immediately picked up on the use of the stretched out words to show that the author really wanted to show the effort it was taking to climb the hill on a bike.

I had them make a sensory chart for the five senses and we managed to find something for everything, even Taste which is always hard in a story. They could TASTE the salty sweat as it dripped into his mouth.Umm, ew, but okay. Their responses to the text were fantastic. I can't wait to pull the craft into their writing. Check out this Wednesday's post to find out how that lesson went.

Saturdays and Teacakes is a great mentor text to add to your reading list. I promise!