MTM: The Table Where Rich People Sit

My mentor text this Mentor Text Monday is The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor.

This mentor text is perfect for teaching about character change and theme in fictional reading. Students will also need to use the reading strategy of synthesizing and making connections.

 

The Table Where Rich People Sit

In this picture book, a girl feels that her family is not rich enough and needs to change some things so that they can be richer. However, her parents point out to her that they are indeed rich.

This book is an awesome mentor text to use for teaching not only character change but also theme. I have also discussed with students the different shades of meaning (see post here) that the word “rich” has. Students will need to synthesize how this family is truly rich.

Finally, I was able to model making connections, as I remember as a child telling my parents the same thing. The only difference was my parents didn’t sit me down and show me all the riches in my life… well, at least not directly. I just heard, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” As I grew up, I realized that there were way more valuable things in life than money or material objects.

While elementary students may not be too terribly concerned about money at the moment, this is a significant life lesson that they’re sure to take with them into the future if we build the foundation now. And, despite the enormous amount of pressure we as educators face from our districts regarding the end-of-the-year test scores, I feel as though our roles in our students’ lives go far beyond that. If we can have a lasting positive impact on their lives, why wouldn’t we jump at the opportunity? There are more lessons to be learned than those in a classroom. This is just one small step of many in our journey to build a brighter future.

There you have it! Make sure you head to Amazon (aff. link) and pick up your copy of the book, The Table Where Rich People Sit.

2 Responses

BOGO on EVERYTHING!

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Sale is over!
GDPR Cookie Consent with Real Cookie Banner