Fall Mentor Texts for the Elementary Classroom

Fall is such a glorious time of year, especially if you live somewhere where you truly get to experience it!  The cool breezes, the leaves turning colors, and jack frost showing off his skills.  It’s absolutely my favorite season!  Fall is also a great time to get out some new and amazing mentor texts to share with your students.  I’ve gathered some of my favorite fall mentor texts that are perfect for the elementary classroom!  Come check these out!

fall mentor texts

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Fall Mentor Text #1:  Pumpkin Town

fall bookPumpkin town is an adorable story about a family who harvests pumpkins each fall. They love pumpkins and work hard to grow the best pumpkins around.  But one season, they disperse of the ‘bad’ seeds and the wind carries them down into a town not too far away.  When those seeds start to grow, the small town is overgrown with pumpkins!  The pumpkin family comes to the rescue and helps the town harvest the pumpkins.  The town is so thankful they gift the family with the biggest and sweetest watermelons around.  But they are careful not to let the watermelon seeds get into their garden.  You’ll have to read to find out what happens next!

This is the perfect story to teach reading skills such as cause and effect and sequencing!  Throughout the story, there are many events that are important and connected to events that happen later in the story.  You could even have students write a sequel to the story based on what they think will happen with the watermelon seeds!  Such a fun fall story and your kids will love it!

Fall Mentor Text #2:  Sweep

Sweep is a super cute story about a young boy who is just having a very bad day.  And when has a bad day he gets angry and doesn’t make the best choices.  It just so happens that he was sweeping up the fall leaves around his house when he was in this bad mood.  And because his bad mood makes him not make the best of choices, he just keeps sweeping.  He sweeps and sweeps up every leaf he can find along with anything in his path – dogs, bikes, cars.  He ends up with a huge pile of leaves as high as the buildings in the city and piled with people and objects.  How does he fix his bad mood and a huge pile of leaves?  You’ll have to read to find out!

I think this is a perfect book to teach symbolism.  The story does a fantastic job of explaining how because of the character’s actions the problem just gets way out of control.  It didn’t have to happen this way.  Students can relate to this.  We have all experienced being in a bad mood and making choices that made a problem worse.  They will be able to see how the author symbolized the problem with the leaves and make strong connections.

 

Want to grab some FREE print & digital Fall-themed graphic organizers you can use with these books or any other fun fall books you might have!?  Just enter your email and snag them below!  I’ll send them straight to your inbox!

fall themed graphic organizers

Fall Mentor Text #3:  Those Darn Squirrels

fall mentor text If you’re looking for a cute, funny fall story, look no further!  Those Darn Squirrels is such a delightful story about an older gentleman who loves birds.  He loves to watch them, draw them, and feed them in his birdhouses.  But every fall the birds fly south for the winter and the gentleman is lonely.  But one fall he has different visitors.  At first, he is troubled with the pesky squirrels who continue to steal the birds’ food.  He tries to outwit the squirrels but is unsuccessful.  In the end, the squirrels realize how lonely the man is, and with a few acts of kindness, they win him over!

This is the perfect book to help teach problem and solution.  There is one overarching problem in the story but with many small problems that sprinkle throughout the story.  Students can easily identify each new problem and the solution the man or squirrels try to fix the problem.  This would be a great mini-lesson and anchor chart activity this fall!

Fall Mentor Text #4:  Windows

Windows is a super quick and easy read for any grade level to enjoy.  Although the book doesn’t mention ‘fall’ the setting takes place in the fall based on many clues given in the illustrations of the story.  In the book, a young girl takes a walk with her dog.  They admire the windows all around their neighborhood and town as they walk.  They see families having dinner, throwing parties, dancing, and watching TV.  It’s amazing what you can see inside the glowing lights of each window at dusk.  This is a beautifully written story that fills the readers with wonder, delights, and warmth in all of the best ways.

This is a perfect book to help teach visualizing.  The author shows and describes details inside each window of the book as the character takes her walk.  Students can practice visualizing not only the book but also taking a visual walk down his/her own street.  What might they see inside the windows in their neighborhoods?  Have the students illustrate what they visualize and see to create their own version of the story!

Fall Mentor Text #5:  Hello, Harvest Moon

Hello, Harvest Moon is an absolutely beautiful story that describes the world outside and in at night during a wonderful full harvest moon.  “Staining earth and ky with a ghostly glow” the story innately describes what happens during this mystical time of night that not many of us get to experience.  The best part of this book is the imagery and descriptive text the author uses to bring us into this world of the harvest moon.  This is a must-read every fall for every grade!

So what could you use this book to teach?  There’s so much you can do with this story.  I would focus on imagery for upper grades and setting for lower grades.  Focus on the verbiage the author uses throughout the story to describe the setting.  How are they painting images in our minds?  How are they helping use senses to describe the surroundings?  The author gives us so much material to work with throughout this amazing book!

Fall Mentor Text #6:  The Very Last Leaf

This is one of my favorite stories!  The Very Last Leaf absolutely adorable story about a young leaf who is learning everything there is fall books to know about being a leaf.  In school, he aces subjects like budding and wind resistance.  He even did well in pigment changing.  But the big final test came.  It was time for the leaves to take the leap off the tree and fall to the ground.  This brave, perfect leaf doesn’t know if he has it in him to do it.  He makes excuses and lets all of his classmates go before him until he is the last leaf left.  But after some encouragement from his friends and his teacher, the last leaf finally makes the fall.

This is a great story to help review plot.  The story has a fantastic storyline that can be used to review each of the important story elements in the plot – characters, setting, multiple important events, and even problem/solution.  Using a simple graphic organizer or anchor chart can help bring this story to life and review these important reading skills this fall!

I hope you found some new fall mentor texts to add to your classroom library this year!  Make sure you hop back up and grab your free print & digital graphic organizers you can use with any fall-themed story! I also have a great list of winter mentor texts too to get you going for next season!

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fall mentor texts

 

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I’m a wife, a mommy of 3, blogger, and a full time teacher author and presenter. I love to read, shop, and spend time with my family! My hands are always busy, but my heart is so full!

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