Favorite Winter Mentor Text Link Up

Oh...those Collaboration Cuties Amanda and Stacia don't disappoint, even over the holidays!  They are having a linky partay where everyone shares their favorite "winter book."

From the onset of my Readers Workshop, I share a book entitled Tracks in the Snow, by Wong Herbert Yee.  While this book isn't phenomenally engaging for my thirdies, it does serve as the foundation for my students to leave their own "tracks in the snow" while reading.

I teach my students how to question the text, make notes on unfamiliar words, and take general notes using sticky notes and placing these notes inside the text.  These "tracks" allow students to return back to important places in their reading and get the answers they need to make sense of the text.

We also use the "tracks in the snow" strategy with our Anchor Texts.  Each child receives a book that they can mark up by leaving their own tracks directly inside the text.  The "snow" is actually the white spaces on the pages.  We are currently reading Frindle by Andrew Clements and the kids are lovin' how many tracks they've made so far!

Why not check this book out and make your own "tracks?"

Nikki
uncommontothecore.blogspot.com