INFORMATION

MATERIALS

• REAL
  • One basket for every group of 3-4 students.
  • Three kinds of objects from nature (flat leaves, sticks, stones...), or 3 colors of paper, cut up into small squares.
  • Permanent marking pens.
• VIRTUAL Use one or more of the sites listed below as prompts for finding people, places, things, etc.
  • Picture Prompts
  • Writing Roulette

WARM UP ACTIVITY

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Students work in small groups of 3 or 4. Each group gets a basket. The teacher gives each student in every group a set of objects from nature (or 3 kinds of small pieces of colored paper) to write on with some permanent markers.
   
   
2. Students all write the name of an interesting place on object #1, and then place them in their group's basket. It is important that everyone use the same object for places (e.g. all sticks = places, in all baskets).
   Object #1 (e.g. stick or piece of blue paper) = a place
   Examples:
   • on the top of the school
   • Seoul, Korea
   • Moon Valley, a deep secret city under the sea
   
   
   
3. Finally, students each write three past-time actions or events, and add them to their group's basket. The baskets should now contain a collection of characters (object #1's), places (object #2's) and lots of actions (object #3's).
   Objects #3 (e.g. flat leaves or white paper): = events or actions (verbs) -- past time
   Examples:
   • flew high in the air
   • died and was reborn a cow
   • sang a scary song
   
   
   
4. The teacher should model the process for the class. Now, one by one, students tell stories! To create a story, s/he first reaches into the basket and pull out a "person". This is the main character in the story. Add lots of details and embellish! Next, pull out a "place". This, too, becomes part of the story. Whenever the storyteller gets stuck, a new action is pulled out. Continue pulling and creating until at least 4 different objects/papers have been taken out from the basket. A storyteller can take more or fewer objects/papers, but all items taken from the basket must somehow be used in the story.
   
   When the first storyteller is done, all the prompts (pieces of paper or things from nature) go back into the basket, and the next storyteller begins.
   
   
5. After everyone has told stories in each group, students write their own story on a piece of paper. It can be the story they just told, or a brand new one!
   
   

• Add more places, characters and/or actions to the baskets.
  
• Short cut: bring the baskets already all made up. Use vocabulary from previous class lessons.
  
• Add a fourth object category of "things" (e.g. an old brown shoe, a gold knife, stale bread, etc.).
  
• Groups exchange items from each other's baskets.
  
• Groups trade baskets entirely.
  
• Have students leave large margins on all four sides of the paper when they write. Then they can go back and put small, border illustrations around the outside edges of the story.
  
• Students illustrate the story on separate pieces of paper, or "book-style" with the writing on one half and the illustrations on the other.