Transitional Words with Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco has always been a favorite of mine so I was so excited when I found a new way to use it! In the past I've used it for making connections and character traits. This year one of my FABULOUS coworkers suggested I use it as a mentor text for transitional words in writer's workshop. When I actually sat down to look at it from that lens I'm pretty sure a big bubble appeared above me that said DUH.

I intended to use it as a think aloud, but the kids totally caught on and were shouting out words and even some phrases as I was reading. (~Best teacher feeling ever when that actually happens~)We came back to the story the next day and looked at some of the transitional words. We couldn't possibly write them all so we picked some favorites and tried to get a good variety on our chart.

I hesitate to show this for fear of the world seeing my terrible chart paper handwriting... but for the sake of education here is the chart we came up with...

**Please disregard the FEEBLE attempt I made at decorating!! Ahhhh!!

Well, the point is this is a great mentor text for teaching transitional words. :)