GETTING STARTED

 

 

OK—you are a first grade teacher and/or parent

You never wrote an original story.

You do not think you can write an original story.

Therefore, you must rely solely on already published materials.

You ask a question: IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO WRITE BEGINNER STORY FOR MY EARLY GRADE CLASS/ beginner reader child?

When my daughter was five years old, she and I collaborated on a short story called “Pat’s Cat.”  Ilana was in kindergarten then. She did not know how to read.

But she was capable of drawing. I wrote a simple text about a child and her pet cat. She drew and colored the pictures.

More than l8 years later, while cleaning out my closet, I found this adorable little book. At the time I was working full-time as a children’s librarian at a New York City area day school. I thought that perhaps I should reproduce the text for our first grade children. The result was a story called: PAT’S CAT AND CAT’S PAT. 

A few weeks later I thought about writing  another  first start story.

The result of my second effort is called : AT THE ZOO WITH MISS NOODLE.  I never thought I could write stories for children; I found out that I could.   Since I realized that I could write Beginner Easy Reader Stories, I have decided to develop a second career writing them.  They are so much fun to create, and are doable.

Not only have I written numerous Beginner stories, but I have expanded my efforts to  writing traditional picture books as well. 

Can you, as a teacher or parent write Beginner stories? I believe that you can. YES!

 

 

The first thing to do is choose a topic. This could relate to a child’s experience, the class’ experience, the curriculum content,  social and emotional learning concepts— fantasy, just to name a few general focus areas. 

Before choosing a topic, it is a good idea to think about what you want your children to learn. 

The experiences of your class and the children in your class or of the family (if you are a parent )are known to you and familiar to your children.

Teachers also have curriculum guides, which set age and grade appropriate content.  

What about fantasy?

Children love to fantasize.  They are very imaginative people, and enjoy the world of make-believe.  Perhaps, you could begin choosing a topic in fantasy by going to the source: the children.  They will give you tons of ideas—you can be sure of that. 

You might use a folktale.  These tales are very popular and have lasted for hundreds of years.  Any folktale can be simplified. They are all in the public domain.  

What about social and emotional learning?

For subjects, think about what you would want your children to learn:

For example:

Values:

kindness, generosity, hard work, fairness, tolerance, honesty

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Behavior Issues:  

the difference  between tattling and telling, sharing, cooperation, respect

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Health and Safety Issues:  

nutrition, not speaking to strangers, following  rules and regulations

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Work and study skills and attitudes:

neatness, paying attention, completion of assignments, following directions, responsibility, homework

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Obviously, there is quite an overlapping of topics and general areas. I am sure you can think of many more to add to the list.