Our Agenda
- Pencil Pick Up
- Get into storybook teams
- Pick our subjects
- Storybook brainstorm
- Begin book construction
A Closer Look
Pencil Pick Up worksheets were distributed today to help reinforce proper pencil holding; students understand how to properly hold their pencil and are getting better at holding their pencils while writing and drawing.
After the worksheets were complete, we played a quick game of musical chairs as a way to randomly pick our storybook teams. Students are to learn the basic foundations of a story (beginning, middle, end) as well as character and story development. We divided into teams of 2 for a total of 3 different teams. Although some of the students were not thrilled with their teammate, the students enjoyed playing the game to choose their teams!
 |
| Brainstorm drawings |
For our story subjects/topics, several small pieces of paper with various images on them were placed in a paper bag and shook up so the students could pull them randomly out of the bag. The images were subjects the students could base their stories on or around; images like bikes, apples, babies, frogs, bananas, and so on were included in the items to pick. Each student picked 2 images each, for a total of 4 images per team.
 |
| Our incomplete story map. =( |
Here is were we start to get off track; after the subjects were selected, the students were to start brainstorming with their teammate, look at the pictures the teams selected, and discuss what kinds of story ideas they could come up with using the images selected. Students were given paper and pencils to begin drawing all the ideas they had for their story; students were requested to work with their teammate to brainstorm and draw ideas. Students began to draw their own stories, they did not communicate with their teammate, became distracted, and did not participate in the class discussion. Our storybook map, going over characters, setting, and the foundations of a story, was on the dry erase board. We were to go down the list of who, what, where, when, etc. together as a class while so students could discuss in their teams the who, what, where, when, etc. of their stories; this would be the draft of the final story. Our class was not able to complete anything other than the "Who" of our story leaving much of our core story parts uncovered. We did get a creative idea from one of the teams to include a zombie as one of their characters; there were no zombie images to select from out of the bag, but the student got the idea from the other images the team selected (church, yard shears/scissors).
An attempt to get back on track was made with minimal success. The students had great ideas and drawings, but were unable to work as a team, listen, or participate in the discussion. Students were informed they were making a story and that next week we will cover what we dd not cover in class today and may have homework in order to make up for lost time in class today. The final story should be complete by the holiday break, though with our recent class distractions, we may be pressed for time!
Homework
No homework was assigned.
For Next Week
Our class will try and complete the remaining portion of the story foundation. The lesson plan will be adjusted to include time for unplanned distractions that may take place as well as ways to keep students engaged in the activity.
Our plan is to; continue to draw our brainstorm ideas for the story's foundation, begin to draw our covers, and begin construction on the book and putting the book together.
