Karen Achtman

During Work on Writing time a few weeks ago, we introduced the Story Cubes app.  The students loved it!  It was great seeing them so excited about writing, and they came up with some creative sentences and stories!

To introduce the activity to each group, I showed them how to use the cubes and we wrote a story together.  After shaking the cubes and seeing our picture choices, we went around the table and everyone thought of one sentence.  Each person wrote the sentence in his journal, so the group had the same story.  After everyone had shared an idea and we made sure the story had a good conclusion, each person illustrated his story.  Once center time was complete, students shared their stories with the class.

Since students were so excited about writing these stories, we decided to start a traveling journal.  There were 2 copies of story cube dice, so we put 1 set and a journal in a bag to go home with 2 children each night.  They have to write a story and return the set the following day; the child shares his story with the class and then a new student takes the journal home.

I love this idea of students creatively writing a complete story and sharing it with their classmates.  They’re going to be writing the rest of their lives, so it’s important they develop a solid foundation.  Also, it’s a chance for them to be creative, which I think sometimes get lost with other demands of school and life.  I will never tell a child he cannot write a story or that there is a limit how much to write.  I cannot wait to continue reading their stories!