Well, it was that time of the school day when the class expected to hear a story from Teacher Pat. They got quite a surprise.
Just as they were settling in to their seats after lunch, Miss Pat looked around the room and said,”Class, it is your turn to tell me a story.” All the “Can Dos”looked at her in surprise and then they started to look nervous.
Miss Pat said, “Most of you need help with writing. You need to practice writing if you are going to get good at it. Good writing begins with a good story. So…for the next few days, you are each going to tell me a story and then you are going to write your story down on paper”
The “Can Dos” started to find reasons why Teacher Pat’s idea was not a good idea; all except Wendy, that is. Wendy loves to write and she thought Miss Pat’s idea was just great!
Willie asked,”Why do we have to do this?” Teacher Pat smiled and answered, “Why, because writing is telling a story on paper.”
With that, Teacher Pat took out a picture and posted it where everyone could see.Then she said, “What is going on in this picture is what you are going to make up a story about.”
“Remember,” said Teacher Pat,” Every good story answer’s the 5 Ws and 1H questions.”
Hector asked what everyone was thinking when he said,” What are they?”
Miss Pat answered, “In this case, the 5Ws questions are…what is happening, who is happening to, where is it happening, why is it happening and when is it happening? As far as the 1H …how is it happening?”
Teacher Pat gave the class an hour to make up a story that contained the 5Ws and the 1H. Then she told them that she would begin to call on them to share their stories in class the next day. When everyone had a chance to share his or her story, then it would be time for each one of them to write a story using the correct grammar an punctuation and turn it in for a grade. The best story would be put up on the bulletin board outside the principal’s office for all to see.
Okay, why don’t you make up a story along with the “Can Dos”? Remember to name the puppy and give your story a title.
In the next post, you will see who won the story writing assignment and read the story that won.
Miss Pat was concerned that the “Can Dos” were having problems with identifying the main idea in stories. Here is a story she gave the “Can Dos” to help them recognize the main idea.
