Story Workshop

We Are Writers!

We gathered to brainstorm what makes us writers.

• What do writers do?
• How are WE writers?

The children shared their ideas, and we documented their thinking on chart paper.

When we write we can:

• talk about writing
• write in different languages
• tell people ‘how to’ do things
• make books to tell people about ‘real’ things (what is inside a fish)
• tell true or imaginary stories
• make books
• use
  • finger spaces
  • punctuation
  • capital letters for names and at the beginning of a sentence
  • quotation makes
  • speech bubbles
• tell about things that happened a long time ago (dinosaurs)
• use words and pictures
• use paper, notepads, paper and books
• write with pens, markers and pencils

 

What is Story Workshop?

The writers were introduced to Story Workshop. Story Workshop is a classroom structure that is used to support language and literacy. The adults consider the space, environment, story materials, writing tools, books and props that invite storytelling.

The arrangements of materials inspire storytelling, conversation, imagination concentration, negotiation and investigation. The ‘play’ with materials helps the writers use writing tools to share their ideas using marks, pictures, symbols, words and sentences. The active engagement encourages the writers to write and create complex stories.

The writers may have individual or group workspaces to help them explore a range of materials. A workspace or placemat helps anchor the writer’s workspace so that they can manage and co create stories alongside or with others. Writers are encouraged to record stories using pencil and paper, which can be collated into books.

Writing tools and materials that support writing were discussed.

Writers in K2 have access to these materials throughout the day to help them explore writing for different purposes.