Trait Crate® Plus: Kindergarten

Using fiction and nonfiction children's books as mentors, Trait Crate® Plus adds new life and energy to the teaching of writing through thoughtful and creative lessons that are ready-to-use tomorrow. Everything you need is provided. Traits Crate Plus helps students learn and use the six traits-ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions-to improve specific skills in writing. With six all-new mentor texts per grade and 24 time-saving lessons, Ruth Culham's Trait Crate® Plus expands and enriches the reading-and-writing experience. In addition to the valuable features and components of the original Trait Crate this enhanced edition offers:

• An emphasis on modes - narrative, informational, and opinion-to help you address higher standards.
• A companion website that provides access to dozens of downloadable pages for students, video interviews with children's authors, and student-friendly scoring guides.
• Culham's bestseller The Writing Thief , which takes a deep dive into the theory and practice of using mentor texts to teach the craft of writing.

Mentor Texts:

• Ideas: Worms for Lunch? , by Leonid Gore
• Organization: Mouse at Night, by Nancy Christensen Hall
• Voice: Hiding Phil , by Eric Barclay
• Word Choice: The Great Gracie Chase , by Cynthia Rylant and Mark Teague
• Sentence Fluency: The Deep Blue Sea: A Book of Colors , by Audrey and Bruce Wood
• Conventions: Monday Is One Day , by Arthur A. Levine