Teach students the architecture beneath a successful story—and boost their reading comprehension and writing skills for a lifetime

Writing instruction can sometimes seem scattershot, as teachers try to cover a galaxy of craft techniques, ideas, intentions, and genres. The possibilities are endless—and that’s the problem. In Text Structures from Picture Books, elementary and middle grade teachers tap into a well-ordered universe of inspiring and illustrative stories to help students frame their thinking and focus choices.

Using the bite-size format of picture books as a starting point, the authors share 50 low-prep, quick-access lessons to help you teach students seven concrete ways to respond to text in any genre. Through these lessons, students will be able to:

• Generate their own writing, using a text structure harvested from the work of professional authors


• Retell a story, using the text structure from the story


• Generate reading responses, using structures that support clarity


• Analyze a story to construct thematic statements, capturing the author’s message and bigger themes


• Write about a theme or big idea demonstrating empathic and evidence-based interpretation


• Answer open-ended questions by selecting a technique that reflects the text and their engagement


• Experiment with author’s craft in their own writing

Based on master writing teacher Gretchen Bernabei’s instructional model, the lessons offer a lively, high-impact mix of reading aloud, discussion, modeling, student writing, and peer share. Plus, readers have access to a complete companion website full of text structure reproducibles, reading response prompts, additional lessons and extensions, students samples, and links to demo videos.

State tests are now assessing reading and writing together. And that’s a good thing—but we’ve got some catching up to do. Written for students beginning in second grade, Text Structures from Picture Books will help your students swiftly and surely become text-savvy readers and writers.