Fourth Grade Mentor Texts and Poems
Used to Teach Thinking Strategies and/or Common Core
4th Grade
Title and Author
Thinking Strategy
Common Core
For the Love of Autumn
Metacognition
John, Joe, and the Big Hen
Schema/text-to-self
Just Pain Fancy
Schema/text-to-text
Applemando’s Dreams
Schema/text-to-text
Patricia Polacco books
Text Connections
Theme
Amazing Grace
Monitoring Comprehension
Character
Jed’s Barbershop
Character Traits
The Wretched Stone (Van Allsburg)
Character Traits
All the Places to Love
Visualizing
Rosaboxen
Visualizing
The Best Christmas Pageant . . .
Visualizing/Questioning
Silver Hearth
Questioning - Thick/Thin
Four Friends
Questioning - Thick/Thin
Extreme Life
Questioning - Thick/Thin
Ruby Bridges
Questioning
Boundless Grace
Inferring/Questioning
Text Connections
Character
In the Land of Giants
Literary Elements/Conflict
Going Somewhere Special
Literary Elements/Plot
Not a Stick
Literary Elelments/Setting
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Theme (Only)
The Ugly Duckling
Conflict/Character vs. Character
Sam, Bangs, & Moonshine
Conflict/Character vs. Self
Island of the Skog
Conflict/Character vs. Society
The Lorax
Conflict/Character vs. Nature
Even More Parts/More Parts
Idioms
Midas Touch
Greek Mythology
Pandora, Hercules
Mythology
History Mysteries
All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth
Determining Importance/
Synthesizing
Visualizing/Inferring
The Stranger (Van Allsburg)
Questioning
The Giving Tree
Inferring
The Ragged Suitcase
Visualizing/Inferring
Literary Elements
Frindle
Schema/ Text
Connections
Literary Elements
Light in the Attic
Elements of Poetry
There’s Dirt on My Shirt
Elements of Poetry
Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse
A Cricket in Times Square
All Kevin Henkes books
Schema
How Characters Change Over
Time
Literary Elements/Schema/Text
Connections
How Characters Change Over
Time