Sound Words - One Way to Start a Story

Credits:

Kathy Livingston

Mt. View Elementary, Broomfield, CO

kathy.livingston@adams12.org

Date Created: 3/21/2002 6:29:31 PM EST

 

Subject Matter:

Elementary, Writing

 

Grades:

2

 

Software Application:

StarOffice Writer

 

Summary:

Students will be given a blown-up balloon with a small piece of paper inside. The paper will have a sound word, such as "Bang!" or Pitter, patter" on it. The students will use their sound word to begin a new story. After finishing the story, they may explore ways to emphasize the sound word by underlining it, making it bold, changing the font, size or color, just as the authors of published books might emphasize a word.

 

State & National Standards:

CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Subject : Reading and Writing

´ Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences

Writing and speaking are essential tools for learning, for success in the workplace, and for responsible citizenship. Developing a range of writing and speaking abilities requires extensive study, practice, and thinking. Students need frequent opportunities to write and speak for different audiences and purposes, and they need to be able to communicate expressively, informatively, and analytically. Growth in writing and speaking abilities occurs by applying skills to increasingly challenging communication tasks

´ Grade/Level : CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Grade/Level : Grades K-4

 Performance Indicator : generating topics and developing ideas for a variety of writing and speaking purposes (for example, telling a story, publishing a class newsletter, writing a letter to an adult, writing or orally presenting a book report, creating and producing a play, introducing a speaker or an event, narrating a presentation);

 Performance Indicator : organizing their speaking and writing

 Performance Indicator : choosing vocabulary that communicates their messages clearly and precisely

 Performance Indicator : revising and editing speech and writing

 Performance Indicator : creating readable documents with legible handwriting or word processing at the appropriate time´ Standard 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

Students need to know and be able to use standard English. Proficiency in this standard plays an important role in how the writer or speaker is understood and perceived. All skills in this standard are reinforced and practiced at all grade levels and should be monitored by both the teacher and student to develop lifelong learning skills

´ Grade/Level : CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Grade/Level : Grades K-4

 Performance Indicator : knowing and using correct capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations

 

Local Standards:

Adams 12 Technology Skills Continuum Standard #1:

Demonstrates the ability to select the appropriate technological tool.

- Begins using text-driven menus and tool bars.

- Practices using a variety of tools and begins to evaluate their effectiveness for accomplishing the task.

 

Standard #2: Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

- Uses special function keys such as: tab, number pad keys, keyboard shortcuts, alt, control and symbols ($, #, %, etc.).

- Edits text by using select /deselect, cut/copy/paste, delete, and undo.

- Places the cursor at a specific location.

- Changes character formatting such as: font, font size, and font style (B, I, U).

 

Lesson Outcomes:

As we work on the Six Traits Writing curriculum, this lesson emphasizes the trait of organization. Through this lesson, students will practice one way to begin a story in a manner which should "hook" their readers right from the start. Other "hooks" we have talked about include starting with an exclamatory sentence, a question, and even a warning.

 

Assessment:

This lesson is designed as a practice lesson, and will not have a formal assessment. However, students will be encouraged to use the Organization sections of the attached writing rubric to edit their story beginnings.

 

Assessment/Rubrics:

Rubrics:

6 Traits Word Choice

 

Student Prerequisites:

Students have discussed a few ways one might plan a story before writing. We have looked at numerous books and shared how the authors have started their stories.

 

Lesson Preparation:

Gather age-appropriate and interesting books to lead discussions on story beginnings. Books we read aloud to introduce "sound words" concept include:

"Wheels on the Bus," by Raffi

"Splash, Splash," by Jeff Sheppard

"Possum in the House," by Kiersten Jensen

"THUMP, THUMP, Rat-a-Tat-Tat," by Gene Baer

 

Time Frame:

2 class periods. 45 Min. per class.

 

Implementation Steps:

1. We read several stories in which the authors used sounds to emphasize portions of their stories, and discussed how this could be a powerful way to "hook" a reader into reading on to learn what event might have caused such a sound. (See list of stories under Lesson Preparation.)

 

2. I gave each student a balloon with a piece of paper inside on which I had written one of the sound words. Students safely popped the balloon (guidelines were given about safe behavior for this activity) and read the word inside.

 

3. Using the word they were given, students planned a story they could write. Students were allowed to trade words for one that might provide them with a better story idea.

 

4.I explained to students that this activity was designed to get a story started. I do not necessarily expect all to complete the story in two class periods. Later, when we work on endings, they may come back and finish this story. I also read them three or four story beginnings that I had written (see examples under Lesson Resources.)

 

5. In the computer lab, students began to write their story beginnings, using the sound word they had been given. They typed their story directly on the computer, not from a hand-written paper.

 

6. During the second session in the lab, students completed their story beginnings and learned how to change fonts, size, color and style. Once the story beginnings were edited and saved, students printed their story beginnings.

 

7. The final activity for this lesson was reading and displaying the stories in class. Students discussed the products and provided the authors with feedback.

 

Lesson Resources:

Attached are two files. Teacher Examples is a page of several sample story starters. The Sample Sound List was distributed to students before they began this lesson, to give them some possible ideas.

Attachments:

 1.     Teacher Examples

 2.     Sample List of Sound Words

 

Product(s) Description:

Attached are examples of three story beginnings by my second graders.

Attachments:

 1.     Crack!

 

 

Comments:

While emphasizing story beginnings that "hook" the reader, the students were really hooked themselves by the balloon activity. Some of my students who rarely produce quality written stories were thrilled with this lesson, and it was reflected in their stories. (Hint about the balloons: use a bicycle pump to blow them up, and buy cheap balloons because they pop more easily.)

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Teacher Models for Story Starters

"Smash!"
The two little boys huddled closer together in the center of the tent, their eyes wide. It was as if they were frozen. They couldn't move!"Screech!"
The teacher's nails accidentally scraped the chalkboard as she wrote.Pitter, patter!
That busy squirrel had been running back and forth on the treehouse's wooden roof for hours. He was on a mission! Winter was coming, he could feel it. Errrch!
The car skidded to a sudden stop! "What on earth was it?" cried Elaine. She wished she had stayed on the main highway.Drip, drip, drip..
The rain continued to fall steadily, drumming against Jenny's window. She liked the sound it made. It made her feel relaxed.

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Sound Words for Story Starters

Crash! Smash! Drip, drip, drip...
Bang! Woosh! Smack!
Boom! Pow! Ding, dong
Pssst.... Crack! Shhh...
Ouch! Kaboom! Thump!
Zap! Blast! Whee!
Beep, beep! Tear! Ha, ha, ha!
Splat! Rip! Pow!
Buzz... Crunch! Pitter-patter
Wham! Swish, swish... Zoom!

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Student Sample:

Crack!
I woke up startled ! What was that? My mom was crashing in the kitchen? Who Who?
Mom was saying “Go to sleep”. “But mom” I screamed . There’s a monster in my bed! Oh crack pop crack pop . You ate me, you will pay. "Ann, where are you?" My dog was just licking me.

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