We use Seven Steps to Writing Success at our school. This program introduces the writing process in small chunks thus making it more manageable for students.

Our focus last week was brainstorming. Being able to brainstorm is such an important skill for writing. Without brainstorming, students find it difficult to create written pieces. 5SK were broken up into small groups and given a series of word prompts to brainstorm story ideas around. They came up with many great ideas. Once finished they were then asked to pick their best idea and share with the class.

From there, students created two characters for their story and brainstormed complications. They were asked to circle a pebble (small problem), a rock and a boulder. They then mapped these on their story graphs and added notes for their sizzling start and backfill paragraphs.

On Friday, Mrs. C and her class joined us in a brainstorming activity in the lab. We used a Shuttorstock image,  augmented reality apps colAR Mix and String, to create our story graph together.

 

Why use images and apps?

The first paragraph of a story needs to hook the reader without giving too much of the story away. We used an image of a knight fighting a dragon in a burning field. Students brainstormed noun and verb groups around this image.

The backfill paragraph can be tricky at times to create. The app colAR Mix allowed the students to get a picture of the village and how the villagers would feel having a fire breathing dragon circling them repeatedly.

String was used for the climax as it shows the dragon breaking through the wall and they could visualise what the knight felt like when the dragon attacked.

We found that by using the visuals, students were able gain to a stronger understanding of the sequence of the paragraphs.