Writer's Notebooks

Yesterday was one of my favorite days in third grade! Room 221 writers received their writer's notebooks! I love watching the children's writer's notebooks fill up. It's such a window into their personalities.

We learned two strategies for generating topics for our personal narratives (stories about our lives). You can try them too:

Think of a person who is important to you. It's best to think of a person you spend lots of time with. A person with whom you have created lots of memories. Visualize that person. Let the memories pour into your mind. Write a list of memories. 

My person is  Aunt Denise. She and I are very close in age and we've done many things together over the years. When I visualize Denise these are some of the story topics that come to mind:

Turkish Twist
Burning the popcorn
Lost on the rowboat
Stuck on the paddleboat
Cooking lobster
Demi passing

The kids listed some memories and then I pulled them back to the rug to learn the next strategy:

Think of a place that is important to you. Think of a place where you spend lots of time. A place where you have created lots of memories. Visualize that place. Let the memories pour into your mind. Write a list of memories. 

My place is a campground. I don't actually have one campground in mind. I have gone camping many times in my life so I have lots of memories at campground around New England. When I visualize campgrounds these are some of the story topics that come to mind: 

tent falling
year of the mosquitoes
bonfire
Cowabunga!
canoe race with an anchor

The kids also listed memories of a place. Ask your child about the person/place they chose to remember. I bet you will generate an even larger list together!

Soon we will work to develop these strategies into small moments, focused stories of our lives. I can't wait to read them!