Using the mentor text, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”  By Bill Martin Jr., I lead a study of character.  We noticed that characters have traits- in this case, different colors.

Next I lead a shared writing where students helped brainstorm a new character in keeping with the pattern of the mentor text- Pink Butterfly.  Then I helped students think what characters they might create:  “What animal is your character?” “ What color is your character?”

Next we had some workshop time where students worked independently to create a character.  Some students were content to make one character.  Others made two or three different characters and had an opportunity to bind their writing into a book, which they then could read in the Author’s Chair.  With a younger class, all the children’s characters could be bound into one book written by the whole class.

Overall, the character study was a success.  Next we’ll study the story element of setting.  What mentor texts have you used for Writer’s Workshop in the Preschool?  What text would be good for teaching the element of setting?  Leave a comment!