Narrative Writing

Young children think in "story" and enjoy telling telling stories.  Engaging in narrative writing is very natural for them.  Therefore, as second graders we are  taking their stories and working on developing them.  This development will  include a sense of time, character development, setting and conflict.

We have learned that good writers introduce, or begin their stories with a great lead. Some mentor text introductions we read were Shrek, How I Became a Pirate, Mirandy and the Wind, and Harriet.

We studied how good authors sometimes organize their story around a series of places, people, objects or events. And that they tie together or connect the series with the use of repetition, or repeating lines.

We read and observed these strategies in:
Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant
Hairs Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros
Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? by Eric Carle
The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 

And good authors sometimes organize their story around a problem and solution.  For this strategy we read:
She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girl (Problem with ones self)
Piggybook (Problem with others)
One Lucky Girl (Problem with nature)

We will also learn how authors end their story with closure which can include how a character feels, a lesson they learned, a problem solved or possibly a surprise.
.
.