Fabulous Fictional Fabrications
By Elizabeth Swartz

For the reproducible click here. PDF 36KB

Writing fiction with children is fabulous because their imaginations are full of wonder. Many children learn to love good fiction through teacher and parent read-alouds. Let's use that love as we take them into the realm of writing fiction.

Begin with a beloved character, setting or time period. If your class loves Cynthia Rylant's Mudge, write stories about big drooly dogs. Share experiences about dogs, draw pictures, cut out photos, invite parents to bring in a dog. Have each student choose a dog to write about and select a setting for the story. Is the dog in the mall, the kitchen, the jungle or on a space ship?

Creativity boosters. Sometimes we can boost creativity with a few simple props. The main thing is to get the writing going by setting the imagination free. Paint the inside of a large box green, hang vines from the ceiling and place stuffed snakes, monkeys and lizards in there. Make green tissue paper leaves to scatter on the floor. Make a tape recording of rain, thunder and crinkling leaves. Then send in a student with a large stuffed dog, a clipboard, pencil and flashlight. Play the tape and leave your writer alone with his or her imagination. Give out animal-shaped crackers or cookies. What might happen if they suddenly came to life? After a few minutes of imagining, have students begin to write.

What's missing? Only after the first free-writing time is completed should students look over their work for missing elements. The reproducible on the following page can help students check their stories for main components.

Illustrating a story can help students see what part of the story is missing. Older students can sit in a director's chair and decide how best to turn their story into a movie. They may notice their story contains no talking, or they may notice there isn't any scenery to plan because they never described the setting.

Planting the seeds. Many kinds of fiction exist, and all of them can be staged in a classroom with help from a little magic dust (confetti) for a fantasy story, "jewels" that were "stolen" from the principal's office for a crime story and artifacts (anything old-fashioned looking from your attic) or alien footprints (made with a doll shoe and sand) for an adventure. Making the story starter part of your classroom environment can be the catalyst that gets a writer going.
Plant a story seed in your classroom, water it with the children's imaginations, add some help in rewriting and you'll soon have new read-alouds and fiction to add to their portfolios.

For the reproducible click here. PDF 36KB

Elizabeth Swartz is librarian at Watsontown Elementary School and Turbotville Elementary School in PA.