Story Writing


LA: I can describe story elements; I can produce fiction texts; I can use feedback to revise and edit work; I can use what I know about words to spell new words

The Very Cranky Bear outline
For the past few weeks, we have been working on writing short stories. We first discussed the elements of a story (Setting, Characters, Problem, Solution, Theme, Climax, and Resolution). We then related this back to the chapter books we've read this year and other short picture books Ms Elder has read to us. We even watched a Brainpop video that talked about this "pyramid" structure, called "Freytag's Pyramid." It's the same structure ancient Greeks used to use.

Ms Elder showed us a simple format to follow where the main character(s) try to solve the problems three times, unsuccessfully, before they finally solve it. We noticed that many simple picture books, like The Very Cranky Bear and Little Blue Truck follow that same model.

We practiced as a class and in partners making these Problem-Solution outlines, without having to write a whole story.



Our Story Outlines

Then, we got to choose whether we worked alone or with a partner to write our own short story. We took this through the whole Writing Process: planning, rough copy, peer conference, revising, editing, teacher conference, and publishing. We are finishing up the Publishing stage this week, then we'll share our stories with our Grade 1/2 buddies on Friday. Once we've shared, we'll bring these home! 

Here are some pictures of our front covers: 



All students have their stories saved on Google Docs so they can be re-printed from home, if desired.

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