This Lesson's Title:

Rolling with the Animals

writing original stories with action-packed descriptors

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Heidi Kerr at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.

The intended "mentor text" to use when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Duck on a Bike at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :

Step one (sharing the published model):  Teachers should stress, as they read Duck on a Bike aloud, what the author has done particularly well in writing this story: in this case, author David Shannon has crafted a unique idea for a story that can easily be impersonated in just as original ways:  What happens when an animal goes on an adventure on some form of transportation?  And what would the other animals think? 

Share this picture book with your students and--after reading it--discuss how the author took such an ordinary activity (riding a bike) and made it into something unique and unexpected.  Look through the book again and talk about how using action words in the descriptions leads to a more interesting story.

Step two (introducing models of writing):    In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson.  The groups should certainly talk about the idea development, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's organization as well.

• We're looking for even more student samples for all grade levels for this prompt!  Help us get some, and we'll send you free books for your classroom!  Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.

Step three (thinking and pre-writing): The interactive button choices on the Student Instructions Page can certainly inspire your students to begin generating ideas for this assignment, but you can certainly create a class brainstorm that accomplishes the same without being on the computer.

Once students have an animal, a mode of transportation, and a setting for an original story, the are ready to begin brainstorming words and details for their five-part stories.

In part one, they will have their animals climb onto or into their chosen modes of transportation.

In part two, they will have their animals be seen by another animal, who will react to the sight.

In part three, they will have their animals be seen by a second animal, who will react to the sight.

In part four, they will have their animals be seen by a third animal, who will react to the sight.

Part five will have them create a conclusion to their stories.

Once they have planned their stories, have them write it on the two-page drafting sheet below. It has an idea development checklist embedded on its second page, which will help them self-evaluate their skills of that trait.

• Graphic Organizer (Our thanks to teacher Liz Hyatt, who made this GO using Inspiration)
• Two-page drafting sheet with idea development checklist

Step four (revising with specific trait language):  Two tools for revision are provided below.  You can use one or both, depending on how much time you have to spend on this assignment.

To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts.  Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5."   Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings.  For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Organization Post-It Notes

Step six (publishing for the portfolio):   When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block.  Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here.  Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.

Interested in publishing student work on-line?  We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers.  This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.

Learn more about David Shannon's books
by clicking here!