Fourth Grade Explores Leads in Fiction Writing

The first few minutes of the movie 101 Dalmatians silently unfolds, creating an evocative atmosphere for the viewer. Fourth grade students watched this beginning twice as they noticed mood, characters, action and setting. Then, working with a partner, they created a five sentence lead for a fiction story based on this movie.

After twenty minutes of conversing and creating this opening, students gathered and shared their leads. Each partnership team infused their writing with descriptive language, setting the mood for a story. Students will now take this exercise and apply their technique to writing the leads for their own realistic fiction story. Each student has carefully planned the structure of their story; they are excited to let the first draft unfold. After writing a first draft based on their story map that includes, setting, problem, characters and events, they will revise their story and then go through a final editing process. These descriptive realistic fiction stories will be shared on May 13th at our Fourth Grade Writer's Night.