Photos courtesy of the North Bellmore School District
Fourth graders took a big idea, selected a small moment and put their writing skills to the test at Martin Avenue Elementary School in the North Bellmore School District.
In Janine Steinert’s fourth grade class, students have been working on their narrative writing assignments for about six weeks. They began with a study of books by author Cynthia Rylant, which serve as an example of good storytelling.
Martin Avenue Elementary School fourth grade teacher Janine Steinert holds a writing conference with Vittoria De Marco to offer suggestions to improve her small-moment story.
The young writers then followed the watermelon approach – they started by thinking of important memory, narrowed it down to a slice, then wrote a seed story about a specific moment that had a major impact on their lives. Ms. Steinert said that many students chose to write about a trip to an amusement park, so their “seed” could be taking on new challenge by going on a ride for the first time.
In writing workshop, students develop their skills and incorporate new techniques every year. As fourth graders, Ms. Steinert said, one of their goals is to include dialogue in their stories, which helps the reader feel the same emotions as the writer.
Brielle Boone wrote about her first time going on a ride at a local amusement park.
After the first draft is complete, students join Ms. Steinert for one-on-one writing conferences. She offers suggestions to help them polish their stories in the editing and revision process. Students also become illustrators by creating colorful covers for their finished pieces.
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