IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Story Workshop was so great today because I had so many friends writing! Friends were writing books that had so much depth to it. Friends that had built a story using blocks were now writing their story in a blank book. Friends that had used story stones to build stories were now writing their stories down in a blank book. I love it! I see so much passion and natural excitement to tell stories that their books are reflecting it. So excited for this year for so many reasons but to see how their writing develops really thrills me!

Today we played a game called Rhyme Time. We stand in a circle, and in a duck, duck, goose, fashion one child goes around rhyming words with an initial word. When they cannot think of another word that rhymes with their first word they say a totally random word like hamburger. When the children hear that word they have to sit down as fast as possible. The children really loved playing this game today and were disappointed when we had to stop playing. Isn’t it awesome to have a game that is fun, collaborative, and educational!!

Our class is full of amazing authors who have been working hard in Story Workshop.  During Story Workshop, we use materials to help us tell stories and then we write our stories down in books.  I have been blown away by the creativity in our classroom! Students have been building their stories using blocks, natural materials, story stones, and story people.  Sometimes building our stories can be so engaging that we forget to write down our stories as well.  Today, I worked with Michael and Jermaine to make a list to help us stay on track during story workshop.  The list they created helped them so much today that they wanted to share it with the entire class.  It was great to see them take ownership in their work and work together to share what they learned with the class.  Check out pictures of our materials and our sharing time today below!

De’Onna uses shells, rocks, and blocks to tell her story.

Daysia tells a story about friends using the story people.

Isabella uses story stones to write a story called “The Hair Appointment.”

Jermaine and Michael work together to write a list of Story Workshop expectations.

The boys sharing their hard work with the class!

In story workshop right now, we are really working on understanding what a story is. Yesterday, I told two stories. One was vague and boring. It ran on and on and on with no real conclusion. The second was a beautiful tale with descriptive details. The story contained a clear beginning, middle, and end. After I had told both stories, I asked students which they liked better and why. They gave me a whole list of reasons why the second story was better. Together, we used this list to better understand some important features of a good story. We decided that 1) a story makes sense and 2) has a real ending.

Today I told two stories again. The first was about “a person.” At the end of the story, I asked the students if they had any questions. Geneva asked me who my story was about. I said it was about “a person,” but no one seemed to think that was sufficient information, so I told a second story.  The second was about a five year old little boy named Jack. Jack wore a blue shirt and green shorts in the story. He was afraid of snakes, and his teacher’s name was Miss Suzy. After finishing these stories, we talked about the word character. As a class, we concluded that it’s important to know details about the characters in your story.

Following our mini lesson, all of the students came up with great characters for their stories during independent work time. Characters in today’s stories included: a baby boy bear, someone’s mommy who likes to watch TV, a zoo terrorizing dinosaur, a family of snakes, a man names Mr. Smith who was 23 years old, Clifford, and black and blue Spidermen. It was fun getting to hear the students share their thoughtful stories with each other.

A particularly fun conversation I overheard during story workshop today involved a penguin. I was listening to Ellie and Davi tell their story about the zoo. Towards the end of their story, a dinosaur entered the zoo and began scaring all the animals. Naturally, the animals all began to run away. One of which, was the penguin.

Ellie -The penguin was scared and he flew away.

Davi – Penguins don’t fly. They waddle.

Ellie – Oh..the penguin waddled away…

Their story continued after this very calm conversation in the middle of their story telling. The girls didn’t think much of it, however I was excited to see this dialogue taking place. That conversation is an example of the power of stories and the growth that can occur when students engage in story telling together. Students teach each other factual information. They share rich verbs and adjectives that can be used in the future, and together, they turn a good story into a great story!