I was truly inspired by my National Board mentor's suggestion to help my students gain more focus in their writing personal narrative stories. She shared that in her classroom, she has her students do "quick writes" wherein her students quickly draw or write the beginning, middle, and end of the story she read. She reads 3-4 pages and allows her students to jot down the beginning of the story on a post-it note. This goes on till the end of the story. The students are able to share and discuss things that they might have written- added characters, setting, plot, etc. Once completed, she uses this strategy to extend into her students' personal writing.
I tried this strategy out with my kindergarteners today. I made a graphic organizer, gave them post-its, paired them up, and then they shared each part of their story before writing a quick note. It was beautiful! The children were engaged and their stories had more focus. After they completed their quick write graphic organizers, they transferred their stories to their writing paper. I am very proud of them! I am excited to do this activity with them again.
