Winter Holiday Story - Part 2

Last week I described my basic procedure for teaching kids to write a winter holiday story. I started the process this past week and I will now describe how it's going.

Day I 

We created a list of problems for a story with a winter holiday theme. The kids seemed to be in a particularly inspired frame of mind, which led to a lively session. It’s necessary for you, the teacher, to maneuver the discussion in such a way that you get a variety of suggestions. Don’t be afraid to distil out weak ideas.  With a little tact you can encourage your students to think hard, and to be original. If they get hung up on some basic idea, tell them we need to change to a new idea. An important part of the process is for you to suggest examples too. Every so often, especially when the kids offer timid ideas, I model more adventurous ways to approach story problems.  For example: Santa’s reindeer were on vacation in Hawaii and refuse to go to the North Pole in December.
When I throw out some crazy ideas, it sparks excitement in the kids, and gets them thinking more creatively. First, they came up with ideas about Santa and various problems with the presents.  Examples: All the elves had flu; there was a shortage of toy-making materials; Santa’s sleigh had a mechanical problem; etc. The best one was the following: Because of Global Warming, the ice on which Santa’s workshop sits, melted and fell into the Arctic days before Christmas!
It was time to steer them in a different direction. Let’s think about kids and people. What would make someone unhappy or worried at this time of the year? I managed to get ideas like these: A family lost their home and had live in a shelter; all the Christmas trees were sold out .
Time to move on to something new. I said, “What are some other problems we can think of to do with winter? What do you think about when you of winter?” Someone said “snow”. Can you think of problems to do with snow? I got the usual type of response, like getting caught in a snowstorm while on a ski trip. Then someone said: Scientists were in Antarctica and they encountered aliens. This led to another student suggesting: A group of snowdragons wanted to destroy Earth. And another student came up with: The Elves invented a Time Machine!

By the end of the session I had a list of twelve pretty decent problems and a class of kids eager to get started!

Day 2  

The kids selected a problem, then did a quickwrite of a story. I told them it was a pre first draft, just to get the basic idea of a story down on paper. I gave them half an hour for this.

Day 3

They made a picture of the most important setting in the story, then wrote a paragraph describing the setting. I reminded them to use their senses and to avoid starting sentences with “I saw …”, “I smelled …”, etc.

Day 4  

We had a quick discussion of how to describe a character. I read some examples of character descriptions from the holiday picture books I’d been reading in class. Then they wrote a description of either the main character, or an important character in the story.

Day 5

The problem – frame-by-frame

I had not done this lesson with my students before, so I needed a full hour for the task. Because this is an advanced skill, I felt the best way to teach it would be to model the process using a student’s problem. After asking random kids to tell about the problem in their story, I made a selection.

Me: What’s the problem in your story?

Student:  Santa’s reindeer had disappeared.

Me:  OK. We are going to imagine that we are watching a movie of the problem as it unfolds. Let’s picture the first scene. I am going to draw 6 frames on the board and we are going to write down exactly what went on in sequence.  So, what happened first? Who discovered the reindeer were missing?
Student: An elf.

Me: What was his name? And tell me exactly how he made the discovery.

Student: His name was Gorgy. Gorgy went to the stables and the reindeer weren’t there.

Me: Okay, let’s back up and picture the scene. Class, we are all going to help Sara with this, so please give us your ideas. Gorgy leaves his cottage, or Santa’s workshop and is walking toward the stables. Does he notice anything before he reaches the stables? Can anyone tell me?

Second Student: He sees hoof-prints in the snow.

Me: Great. Let’s fill out our first two frames. Gorgy steps out of the workshop and walks toward the reindeer’s stables. He notices hoof-prints in the snow. Picture this scene - as if you are watching a movie. What's his expression? What is he thinking now?

Third Student: He is puzzled and he races to the stables.

Me: Good. Let’s write that down in our third frame. What’s the next thing he sees? Picture this new frame. What does Gorgy see? How does he act?

Fourth Student: The stable door is open. Gorgy panics.

Me: Excellent. You guys are getting the idea. Let’s put that in our fourth frame and fill out the rest of the frames.

With student help I wrote: When Gorgy got to the stables he saw hay scattered all over, but no reindeer. In shock he ran to tell Santa what happened.

We have just taken the most important part of Sara's story and wrote details to help the reader understand the story and the problem better. Now it’s your turn to do a frame by frame description of your problem. Picture it scene by scene as if you are watching a movie. Imagine you are there experiencing it.

I have to say, about half the class got grumpy about this task. I quickly realized that this was not an easy skill for third graders. I worry when I push my students too hard. As I walked around the classroom helping kids, I got the impression that they understood what to do in theory. This was great. Obviously not everyone is going to get it the first time. But the next time we do a story they will be more receptive to this part of the writing process. On a positive note, I have a significant number of strong writers who embraced the frame-by-frame exercise.

After coming up with some semblance of a frame by frame of the climax of their story, the kids put it into a paragraph.

Next week the kids will write out their first draft of a story plugging in the strong paragraphs they worked on this week. I will then show them some simple revising techniques before they go to the publishing phase.

Winter Holiday Story

I have just started the following writing activity this week, and wanted to share how I execute the project. In this task I go into plot development in more detail. In writing this narrative my students use all the skills I have taught thus far, as well as some new skills. My goal in this project is to guide them toward more complex plot structure. The final draft is published and illustrated in a blank book which makes a rather special present or memento.

The process takes about two weeks, maybe even three, from start to the final drafts. It’s very important to keep up the excitement level, and not to make students feel stressed or overwhelmed. Pace these steps as it works for you. I start with a series of workshops before they write out their first draft.

Prepare kids first by reading a selection of picture books related to the winter holidays.

1. Remind kids that every story has a problem that the main character tries to solve. Brainstorm problems with a winter holiday theme. List the problems on chart paper.

2. Now ask the kids to write a story. This should be a stress-free exercise intended to help germinate an idea. This will not be their first draft!!
3. Hand kids a story map in which they write down who the characters are, what the setting is, and what the problem is.
4. Main character. Write a paragraph describing the main character or an important character in your story. Tell what they look like and what their personalities are like.
5. Setting. What’s the most important setting in your story? Illustrate this on white paper. Then make a table with four squares labeled: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Feel. The kids then complete the table, using their picture to help them.
6. Write a paragraph of this setting
7. Now focus on the problem. On white paper use a frame by frame graphic to sketch out the problem in detail, like a cartoon strip. How does it start? How does the main character react? How does the problem affect the character?
8. Plotting. Explain how writers develop plot in a story. The main character thinks about how to solve the problem. Usually he/she fails at the first two attempts, but learns from the experience, which helps him/her solve it at the third attempt. This is the magic of 3. Refer back to the stories you read aloud as examples. Third graders might find this part overwhelming. You might need to lighten up here.

Ask students to complete the following plot diagram.

First Try	Second Try	Solution

9. The kids are now ready to write their story plugging in the descriptions of their character and setting in the appropriate places. These could in fact be their first two paragraphs if you want to make the process easier.

10.  Revising. Kids need to be taught some basic techniques and I will post details of this        step next week. 

11. Editing. Fix spelling, punctuation, capitalization.

12. Editing and revising with teacher

13. The final step - publishing and illustrating in blank books!!

Fall Poems

Task: Students write an acrostic poem about the fall season.

Step One: Read a few poems.

 As I have said before, if you want kids to write well, they should constantly be exposed to high quality literature. Select a few fall themed poems for the kids to read aloud. Discuss the imagery and other poetic features of the poems. Ask kids to circle all fall words.

Step Two: Create a word bank on the board of “fall” words. 

I like to categorize the vocabulary list that is generated.

This is what my class came up with:

FOOD:  crops, pumpkins, squashes, corn, nuts, turkey, pies, apples, pears

COLORS:  red, orange, yellow, brown, scarlet, golden

ACTIVITIES:  basketball, football, Thanksgiving, Halloween, harvest, cooking, families celebrate

NATURE:  hibernate, migrate, leaves change colors, leaves fall, shorter days, cooler weather, mist, breeze, squirrels gather nuts, seeds, acorns

OTHER:  Autumn, season, changes, scarecrow, thank you

Step Three: The first draft.

I displayed a model of an acrostic poem I made up using the word AUTUMN. The poem was written with colored markers on a 12” x 9” sheet of white construction paper. Around the poem I made a border of leaves in the colors of fall.

I said:

You are now going to write the first draft of your poem. After that I’ll help you fix your mistakes and then you’ll do your final poem on construction paper which you’ll decorate with fall pictures.

It is extremely important for you to be proactive in order to get your students to produce high quality writing. Be specific about what you require of them before they begin.

Because I have a class of enthusiastic writers I tend to take more risks than I would if I were teaching predominantly English language learners.

My instructions were as follows:

Choose a fall word for your acrostic. Can you give me some examples?

I created a list of their responses: leaves, harvest, pumpkin, autumn, Thanksgiving, celebrate

You may use one of these words, or a different one if you prefer. For each letter, make up a line that tells something about fall. Would “Fall is fun?” be a good line?

They shook their heads. “Why?” I asked.

They couldn’t tell me, so I explained that it gave me no information about fall at all. It was too vague. Besides, it showed no thinking or use of imagination.

Another important thing to remember is that each line must have a different idea. If you mentioned leaves in one line, you cannot talk about leaves again. Do you all understand?

Before you get started let’s quickly look at our chart of “banned” words.

I asked the kids to suggest synonyms that they could use and displayed their responses on the board.

Banned Word                          Synonyms

Fun                                        enjoyable, wonderful

Nice                                       excellent, pleasant, helpful, kind

Great                                      superb, extraordinary, splendid

Good

Bad                                        unpleasant, awful, dreadful

I must point out that I’m not fond of adjectives that aren’t specific and helpful to the reader, but eight year olds are not ready to understand this. However, making them think harder about their words is an important step.

Note: If I had a class of kids that struggled with writing tasks, I would give them the word for the acrostic poem. I would probably also do the first two lines together with the whole group, then have them work independently on the rest.

Older students (4th and 5th grades) should focus on fine tuning details. For example, pin down the shape, color, texture of a specific leaf from a specific tree and write about it so that your words create a photo of the image in the reader’s mind. Make it more real. Hold a microscope to whatever it is you are writing about.

  

A Story for Halloween

These days the kids are getting quite excited about Halloween. Every year I take advantage of this excitement by having them write Halloween stories. After a week of workshops on descriptive settings, it was time to have my students apply this skill in a narrative – one with a Halloween theme.

Task: Write a story using a picture of a haunted house

Goals: 1. Vivid description of the setting, using sensory details, in story. Develop a vocabulary for describing sounds.

2. Writing a story with a plot that shows a problem and a solution.

3. Nurturing a joy for creative writing.

This writing activity needs to be done over 4 – 5 days.

Step 1. Set the mood …

  I started this task by taking the students on a virtual tour of a haunted house. I found a decent website by doing a Google search. As we entered the house and explored the various spooky rooms the desire to create a story shone in the faces of my students!

Step 2. Make the setting come alive …

 I played a Halloween soundtrack. The kids were instructed to listen and jot down all the sounds they could hear. After about five minutes of the soundtrack I asked them to share what they heard. I listed their responses on chart paper. Whenever they gave a vague response such as “I could hear an owl”, I would say, “How did you know it was an owl? What sound did it make?” They soon got the idea. We came up with an impressive list: cackling witches, screeching, rattling, groans, moans, howls, screaming, hooting, growling, yelps, creaking, evil laughter, thumping heartbeats.

Step 3. Get the picture …

 I handed a picture of a haunted house and some writing paper to each of the kids.

Look at the picture. What can you see? What would you be able to smell? What would you hear? What would you feel on your skin?

I asked the kids to divide their writing paper into four squares. In each square they wrote down the following headings:

 Sights, Smells, Sounds, Feel. 

They then filled each square with as many sensory details as they could come with from examining the picture. In pairs they shared their responses and added to their lists. This was followed by a whole class discussion. As students shared, I wrote their ideas on chart paper. With each response I encouraged them to make me “see” it by directing them to mention either color, size, clothes, facial features, or an action or behavior. 

Some examples we came up with were: 

skinny, green monsters, wrinkled witches, floating ghosts, huge, black cauldron, flickering candles.

Step 4. The Setting – described in a powerful paragraph …

 In this Halloween narrative, my main focus was getting the kids to describe the setting in a stellar paragraph. This was why I had spent a lot of time on the preliminary preparation for this part. I didn’t want the kids distracted by thinking about their story, so I said nothing about this bigger task that was coming. We devoted our writing session entirely on the setting.

The kids got out their four square paper from the previous day and looked at what they had listed. They also got out the picture of the haunted house.

Today you are going to use some of these ideas to write a paragraph. Pretend you went into this haunted house. Describe what it was like inside.

I reminded them to make their words paint pictures, to make their reader feel like they are right there. They were not allowed to begin any of their sentences with “I saw … “; “I heard …”, etc.

Experience has taught me to be proactive. It is important to specify the type of writing you are aiming for. Usually, the kids rise to the challenge.

Step 5. The first draft …

 Today you are going to use the picture of the haunted house to write a story. Who would your main character/s be? You could put yourself in the story and write it in first person.

What would the problem be? I listed their ideas on the board:

• Trapped in the haunted house
• A witch uses her magic to transform you into something
• Chased by a Skeleton
• Rescuing kids hidden in the house
• Your friend falls through a trapdoor

You may choose one of these problems if you like, or you may come up with your own idea. Remember, a story has a beginning, middle, and an end. How does the problem start? What does the character do about the problem? How is it solved?

Now write your story. As you write, think about where the setting paragraph you wrote yesterday would fit best. You could use it as your first paragraph if you like.

I emphasized that the story should have no violence or blood and to remember our “banned” words which are displayed on a chart made visible during our writing sessions. My students understand very well by now that they are not allowed to use these words: 

nice, good, bad, stuff, things, cool, great.

 Step 6. Proofread. 

Check spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Step 7. Edit with Teacher

Each student comes to me with their story and I help them fix their spelling and punctuation. I show them how to make their sentences short and succinct. We delete “so” and “then”, and clean up awkward words and phrases. Because I am a professional writer I can do this quite quickly.

8. Final Draft

The students write out their final draft on Halloween stationery.

I realize that the teacher editing phase of the task could be difficult to manage. It’s important to plan ahead and be prepared. I work with struggling kids while the class is busy on their first draft. For fast workers I prepare independent, but challenging activities. Often, these “fun” activities serve as incentives for slower workers.

To end, here are some stories from past students that resulted from this lesson.

The Haunted School

By David

It was October 14 and the sun was shining.  Dave said, “Why are you moving to a new school?”

“Because my mom says I talk too much” said Robert.

“Too bad you can’t stay a little longer,” said Dave. 

“Well I have to go home now,” said Robert. 

“Goodbye Robert,” said Dave. Robert walked home. He saw his cat on the roof of his house. It was October 16.That was the day Robert said goodbye to his teacher and friends. When he came to his new school it looked haunted.  “Mom can you drop me off? “ asked Robert

 “Why, of course,” said Mrs. Robinson. When Robert headed for the door it opened by itself. Robert looked inside. It was black and spooky. He wondered where his classmates were. Then Robert heard a loud scream. He headed for the door, but it closed. He was locked up so he walked and saw dirty classrooms, wood boards and even a desk. He thought, if I keep walking I will find an exit.

He saw a cell phone floating like a cloud. Robert gasped, then the phone went away in the black smoke. Then he saw a pencil and a backpack floating in his path. Robert ran away as fast as he could. He came to a door. It said, “Principal’s Office”. Robert opened the door. Inside, it was dark. Suddenly a ghost floated past him. Next a skeleton touched him. He screamed so loudly: HELP!

He ran away from it. Then his eyes got big and wide. He saw an exit. But a zombie blocked his way. He ran the other way. He escaped through the door and he landed on the floor of the hall. The school bell rang. He saw an exit. It was his last chance. He jumped and made it.

The sun was still shining. Then he saw his mom. He ran to her. “Well, how was school?” asked Mrs. Robinson.

“Very bad,” he said. “I think you took me to an old school, Mom.” She gasped. “It’s OK, Mom. Tomorrow I will go to my new school.”

They went home. “How could you take me to a haunted school?” Robert asked.

Video of a Haunted House

By Ryan

Why don’t I show you a video of a haunted house that has been haunted for centuries? (Video plays). Do you know what a haunted house is like? I’ll take you on a really weird journey through a haunted house. There! Oh, wrong place … Yeah, right place.

You go up the driveway to … THE WALKING TREE ZOMBIES! Watch out! They might fall on (Crunch! Snap!) you. If you move you’ll slip. You’ll need to jump.

You go and and knock on the door. A skeleton/ghost comes out. (That’s a ghost made out of bones). You go in. Suddenly the floor collapses beneath you. There are two tunnels. You take the one on the right. Suddenly you’re flying. You’re about to be crushed, but instead, you’re heading toward the roof. Then you’re suddenly staring down at the ground. There is a ghost/skeleton. It looks like a skeleton, but there are no bones, like a ghost.

Do you hear the spooky electric organ playing? You can feel the mist in the air. Can you smell anything? I know it’s scary, but you must go on. There is a gigantic paralyzing disappearing spider dangling next to you!!!

You fall. The steel floor rises fast, and the walls cave in. You travel from there as a cube. A claw picks you up and throws you through the wall. At least you got out alive!

A Haunted House

By James

A spooky and creepy house stood on the top of Dead Man’s Peak and below it was a village. The village was called Chucksville. There were four best friends named Frank, Ben, Tex, and Billy. They did everything together and every Saturday at midnight they went to their treehouse and shot rocks at the haunted house.

One night at 12:15 an army of spiders came out of the bushes and the four friends ran out of the treehouse screaming. The spiders tore down the treehouse. Frank, Ben, Tex, and Billy went up farther and built a new treehouse. They were aiming their slingshots when bats as black as night with teeth as sharp as knives flew out the creepy window of the house. The boys rushed out of the treehouse. The bats tore down the treehouse.

The next day Billy, Tex, Ben, and Frank hid behind a bush near the gate of the spooky old house. Suddenly the spooky trees came alive. The tree faces were so scary that the boys’ faces turned white! They wanted to scream but they were too scared.

The door of the house creaked open. Trees threw Ben, Frank, Billy, and Tex into the house. The door slammed shut and locked. The lights went off. Luckily Tex brought a flashlight. They walked into a room of pumpkins. Suddenly the pumpkins turned into pumpkin zombies. Half of them looked like vampires and the other half looked like mummies.

So they ran into another room and locked the door. Billy said, “They will knock down that door any miute!” Suddenly spiders started to crawl out of the walls. The spiders captured Ben, Frank, Billy, and Tex in their webs. Then the pumpkin zombies broke down the door and carried them through a secret passage.

Inside was a lab and a mad scientist with a diabolical laugh. He said, “So you are the four boys who dare to shoot rocks at my house.”

“We didn’t know anyone lived here,” they said.

“So I will turn you into pumpkin zombies.”

“NO! Please. We’ll never shoot rocks at your house again.”

“Oh, really. But only if you don’t tell anyone else that we live here.”

“OK, we won’t tell anyone.”

The scientist said, “Now, be gone with you!” And he showed them the way out of the house.

Since then they never told anyone about it.

The Scariest Day of My Life

By Lily

I went on a trip with my friends because it was my birthday.  We went to a sunken pirate ship in Kansas.  It was a long drive because we lived in Arizona.  When we got down to the dock to get to the ship something strange happened. 

Someone tried to push me in the water.  We got to the booth to pay to go in the submarine to see the pirate ship.  The guy that was standing there looked creepy.  He had an eye patch on his left eye, and he had a weird smile.

 In the submarine my friend Kaylie said, “I am scared.  I feel like something is going to happen to us,” 

“Nothing will happen to us,” said Katherine.  When we got far enough we saw the sunken pirate ship.  The submarine man said, “Get on the pirate ship now!!!” 

The door opened and we got on the ship.  There were many strange things like skeletons and moss everywhere.  “Um, now I agree with Kaylie.,” said Katherine. 

“See, I told you,” said Kaylie.  “Just wait. I see something.”  When I got to the bottom of the ship there was a ruby necklace and it had my name “Jessie”.  When I picked up the necklace I heard a voice. 

“Put it down or you will face the consequences.”  I tried to put it down, but a hand grabbed me.  Then a zombie chased Kylie.  So she ran out and hit her head. 

“Run,” said Katherine.

 “Why?” I said. 

“The man is behind you!” 

I kicked him and picked up Kaylie and told Katherine, “Turn on the submarine and go.”  Then Katherine, Kaylie and I got to the dock and ran to the car.  Half way there we had to stop for gas.  When we got inside to pay to get the gas we decided that we should stay at a hotel and go back to the house in the morning. 

At the hotel there was only one room so we shared it.  In the middle of the night I found out that the necklace was in my pocket.  So I woke them up and said, “I found the necklace from the ship.” They said to put it on and I did.  When I put it on it choked me.  I yanked it off.  Then someone lifted me up.  I said to the girls, “This place is haunted, let’s go.”  

We got in the car and left.  Finally, we got home and went to bed.