Brainstorming

The first step in writing a story is brainstorming. Give your little darlings a quick and easy assignment. Have them collect paper and a pen or pencil and sit down to brainstorm story ideas. It will be helpful to provide an "Ideas List" for younger students. Include ideas like "nature" or "games." Then, let them brainstorm. A fun and effective exercise is to write a topic word (nature) in the center of a piece of paper. Have the student(s) put a circle around the word and begin writing anything that comes to mind that they can think of that has to do with nature. Words that come to my mind include: tree, birds, grass, wind, storm, sky, and garden. After the page is full of words, have the student(s) choose one of the words as their topic for a story.

Five Steps to Writing a Story

A great writing lesson to have with your student writers is to cover five basic steps in the story writing process. They are: brainstorming, writing an outline, writing the story, proofreading, and writing a final draft. Each step in the process takes one or several sessions with the keyboard or pencil and paper. I will deal with each step in its own separate blog entry over the next few weeks. For today, I've provided a brief description of each step.
1. Brainstorming: Sitting down with a pencil and paper and coming up with story ideas.
2. Writing an outline: Taking the chosen topic from the brainstorming session and writing down the order in which it will be written about, including topics and subtopics.
3. Writing the story: On the keyboard or on paper, a draft, based on the outline written, is typed/written down in its entirety.
4. Proofreading: Go over the story to check for grammatical and spelling errors. Also, make sure the story makes sense and is not repetitious. Rewrite as many drafts as are necessary.
5. Writing a final draft: Type or neatly write the final copy of the story.
Now, sit down and enjoy a good read!

Short Writing Assignments

Over the years I have spent a lot of time coming up with ideas for short writing assignments for my little darlings to complete. Although there is value in long writing assignments, such as book reports or research papers, I find that short assignments offer the opportunity to break up the monotony.

It would get rather tiresome for the children to have long and difficult assignments all the time, so to keep them writing, mix it up a bit. It is sort of like a good book. The sentences, paragraphs, and chapters are a mixture of long and short, keeping the reader's interest. Writing assignments should also be a mixture of long and short, keeping the student's interest. 

Add a little variety in among the reports and papers. Throw in a few journal assignments, a letter to grandmother, a limerick, or a paragraph titled "My Favorite Foods." Make writing fun and your little darlings will grow in their imaginations and strengthen their writing skills.