Dissecting Picture Books

Picture books make great mentor texts! And while there are so many great picture books out there, when do you have time to look through all of them to pick out a passage for your next mini-lesson?

That’s what prompted me to create the Trait Trackers. Slipped into the matching books, the bookmark-size Trait Trackers allow teachers to easily find the most important skills from each of the 20 titles included. Rather than reading a picture book aloud and trying to figure out what to teach from it, the Trait Trackers list skills and page numbers. No guesswork — all the dissecting has already been done!

Students need examples from authors simplified, broken down so that they can grasp skills within the overall text. Simply reading a good picture book isn’t enough. Taking the time to develop mini-lessons based on skills within the books allows students to see what the author chose to do intentionally with good word choice, idea development, figurative language, and more.