During a workshop-style lesson this week, fourth grade students learned that in order to create an interesting story, the writer needs to show, not just tell the reader about the people, places and things they are writing about. Writing that shows creates a picture in a reader's mind. When readers get mental pictures, they're more engaged in a writer's story.
Students read two paragraphs about autumn and discussed the language in the each that helped create mental images of the stories in their minds. Then it was time for students to practice on their own. Fourth grade teachers Karolye and Esmé theatrically entered the classroom and acted out separate, short scenes. Students were asked to write about the scenes using descriptive language.
Fourth graders had a lot of fun using their teachers' theatrical performances as inspiration for stories filled with details that show rather than tell. Students came up with interesting short stories they were excited to share with each other.
Here are a few examples of what they came up with:
"Karolye sneakily and slowly walked into the room with an evil grin on her face." -Kaitlyn
"She ran as fast as lightening through the door and around the tables. She looked like a dog who had just gotten home from the vet." - GK
"It looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Her dress was blowing wildly in the wind." -Sofia
"Her blonde hair moving side to side as she moved her head." -Amara
"It was so silent, you could only hear the rain." - Jason
"Then suddenly she smiles as wide as the earth and runs out the door." - Oliver
Students will continue to develop this and other figurative language skills as they build their writing portfolios. These skills will be showcased during a special event near the end of the year, for which students create a realistic fiction story and share it with classmates and parents during Writer's Night.
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