A list of the best children’s books and mentor texts for teaching how to writing in kindergarten and elementary classrooms.
How To Writing is one of our favorite writing units in Kindergarten! Students love getting to be the expert as they teach others. These How To Writing mentor texts are the perfect addition to your procedural writing unit.
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How To Use Mentor Texts in the Classroom
We begin reading our writing mentor texts before we even begin a new writing unit. I will choose picture books that are a great example of how to writing to read during our literacy time or any free read-aloud times. This is just to begin exposing students to how to writing.
Once we begin our how to writing unit, we will read our procedural writing mentor texts as a part of our writing mini lessons. I will choose a children’s book that is a good example of the mini-lesson topic.
If I am going to use a mentor text during our Writer’s Workshop, I try to read it at a different time before using it as a mentor text. That way, students can look at the text through an author’s lens rather than just focusing on the story.
Children’s Books for Teaching How To Writing
These are my favorite picture books for teaching how to writing in kindergarten. Use these books during your Writer’s Workshop mini-lessons or add them to your classroom library for students to explore!
Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle
In this book, the main character takes the reader through the steps of learning to ride a bike. The text is very simple, which is perfect for Kindergarten writing. What I like most about this children’s book is that it takes the reader through picking out a bike and getting ready first; not just getting on the bike and going.
How To Teach a Slug to Read
In this how-to children’s book, a boy is teaching a mother slug how to teach her son to read. Your students will love the idea of teaching a slug to read! This book is written in almost a comic book style. It would also be a great example of using speech bubbles in your illustrations while writing.
How To Wash a Woolly Mammoth
This how-to writing mentor text is HILARIOUS! The story follows a young girl as she takes on the task of washing a giant woolly mammoth. I love this story because it’s funny and engaging for students, but they can also apply it to their own writing by thinking about tasks they do for their pets.
How To Babysit a Grandpa
This is a procedural picture book that I’m sure many of our students can relate to! In this story, the narrator gives the reader tips for babysitting their grandpa (who is really babysitting them). There is actually an entire series of these how to books that I think your students will love!
Building a House
How do you build a house? This probably isn’t something your students think about often, but I love this mentor text because the importance of telling all the steps is so obvious. It can easily lead to a discuss of – what if the builders forgot a step?
How To Science Series
There are actually 7 different books in this series. I love to use these books for a whole class shared writing experience. We follow the steps in the book and complete the experiment together. Then, we can write the procedural steps together! You can find How to Build a Tornado in a Bottle, Make a Liquid Rainbow, How to Make Slime, and Build a Fizzy Rocket HERE. You can find Make a Wind Speed Meter, Make Ice Cream in a Bag, and How to Make a Pom-Pom Flyer HERE.
How To Make a Pancake
This how-to mentor text is marketed as a phonics reader, but its simple step-by-step writing makes it the perfect mentor text for kindergarten writing! Readers will learn the steps for making pancakes, either with the help of their parents… or two mice!
How To Read a Story
I love to use this picture book to teach students what to do during our independent reading time at the beginning of the year, but it is also a wonderful mentor text for how-to writing! Students will learn the steps for reading a book – find a story, find a buddy, find a cozy spot, and begin!
Growing Vegetable Soup
This picture book will take readers through all the steps of making vegetable soup – from planting the seeds to cooking the soup! This would be another great mentor text for a shared writing experience. Learn the steps for making vegetable soup and then make it together in a crockpot! Students can rewrite the steps to include bringing in vegetables rather than growing them.
Pizza At Sally’s
In this book, students will go through the steps of making pizza! We love to read this book and then use Lunchable Kits to make our own mini pizzas (you could also use pizza sauce, cheese, and English muffins). Then students write about how to make a personal pizza.
How To Writing Classroom Resources
Do you want your entire How To Writing unit completely planned out for you? I’ve got you! My writing units contain everything you need for an effective writer’s workshop in Kindergarten – from mini lessons, to anchor charts, to rubrics and more!
Grab the Kindergarten How To Writing Unit HERE!
P.S. I have been asked if these units will work with first grade and the answer is YES!
