Totally Terrific Titles

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Hold up the book with the covered title.
• Read or tell the students about a few parts in the story.
• Invite students to try to name the title.
• Tell the students that it is important for authors to write a title that both accurately reflects the text and also hooks the reader.
• Share the importance of capitalizing different words in a title, such as capitalizing the first and last words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Model the process of writing several catchy titles that could also be used with the book.

Guided Practice

• Divide students into pairs or small groups.
• Tell the students that their job is to write a catchy title for their book using the text inside the book. If they already know the title of the book, instruct them to think of an additional title that could be used for the book.
• Distribute one book and several sticky notes to each group.
• Ask the students to write each title that they develop on a separate sticky note.
• Once all groups are finished, invite the small groups to share their work with the rest of the class and then uncover the book, revealing the title.
• Invite other groups to participate in giving feedback and suggestions.

Independent working time

• Ask the students to complete the Naming Narratives and Nonfiction worksheet.
• Circulate around the room and provide additional prompts and suggestions as needed.