October 06, 2009
The writers in Room 11 blew me away this morning. For the last couple of days we have been talking about story leads. Today we examined more closely the strategies published writers use to draw their readers into their stories in the first few sentences. We discussed that they often use dialog, small actions, descriptive language to describe the setting, or a combination of these things to create the mood of their story. After trying it out once while we were still gathered on the carpet, the children went off to try it out on their own. Below is what they came up with. Their story leads are truly amazing!! Please, take a look.
Clop. Clop. “Wait for me.” I was running down the plank.
“Wahoo!” I yelled. I was going to China Town.
“Yes!” I was getting ready to do the Rock Fest with my brother.
“Hey!” I said. That was it. I was out. I stomped out of the room.
It was dark. Thuddd. You could hear the running in the distance. “There,” I said. “You’re it!” I yelled.
Crack! Faster and faster down I fell. “Aaaaaah,” I screamed.
I stretched over the railing. Somebody pushed me. SPLASH! I fell in.
I threw the golf club instead of hitting the ball. “Oh no,” my dad yelled.
I ran up the stairs. I stopped, turned to the slide, and jumped on.
I saw a light. I went to the light. I tripped. When I got up I was on soft grass.
Finally. It was set. I was going to test it.
I was so excited my heart was pounding. I was going to pick up my mom from the airport. –
I went to the park and I saw a new swing. I got on it and said, “Woohooo.” –
I was watching t.v. when my dad suddenly said, “Get over here!” –
CRASH! The wave slammed on the shore! A little motor zoomed across the water. I jumped in. SPLASH! –
BOOM! A loud sound came from the car. BOOM! Again, the car made that sound. BOOM! We tried to go. Our car broke down.
“What! Why! No!”
I was cheerfully playing on the DS Lite. My little brother Calvin had just told me how to complete "Stand tall 4 pillars."
I was at the park playing soccer with my cousin. "Goal!" I said. I kicked the ball. POW! The ball went flying into the air.
"Dad, come down here. The football game is on."
I was running as fast as I could go! I was on the Wonders soccer team. All of the sudden THWACK, the ball hit me in the stomach.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! I was running as fast as I could go. "Tag, you're it," Rita said as she tapped me lightly on the shoulder.
We have great personal narratives on the way!!!!
Tags:
3rd grade
,
4th grade
,
writer's workshop
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September 21, 2009
The children have been busy at work writing personal narratives. They are looking at their lives, searching for small moments that have meaning to them, and then turning them into stories. The focus of this first unit of study is to convince children that they have moments in their lives that are worth writing about, to give them the tools and strategies to craft concise, detailed stories, and to create a toolbox of strategies for generating personal narrative topics. The students in Room 11 have so much to tell about their lives, very few have had a difficult time coming up with small moments that inspire them to write.
I have read stories about watching a sunset atop a ferris wheel in London, getting knocked down by a wave and swallowing sea water, flying through the air on a Wave, the moments before going down a large drop of a rollercoaster, getting soaked by a super soaker, body surfing, and getting across a river without a bridge. I am asking children to live like writers, and be on the lookout for story ideas and notice them in their hiding places.
Tags:
writer's workshop
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