Rescue Writing considers it an honor to support teachers in their classrooms and parents of homeschoolers. When we started, we thought it would best be suited for third, fourth and fifth graders, since that was when students began to express themselves individually, or so we thought. As it turns out, even kindergarten students want to create their own books!
We invited Rachel Treiser, a kindergarten teacher in Florida to share her impressive storytelling process with all of us. Aside from being a great teacher, you can see she and the kids had a great time creating their book. We are dividing up her process into FOUR parts during four consecutive weeks, so you can do this with your classroom also.
Writing Stories with My Title I Kindergarten Class
By Rachel Treiser
Part Four – WRITING or TELLING (DICTATING) THE STORY
Once the students finished all of their illustrations, they told their story to the class and their illustrations were displayed on the Smart Board as they told it. Later, they had the opportunity to retell the story to me. As the student dictated the story, I wrote it down. (I was fortunate to have an intern who also wrote some of their dictations). As the students told their stories, I would ask questions to make sure that I was writing exactly what the child wanted. I had one student tell his story in Spanish to an ESOL teacher who translated it into English for the class book.
Once we had all the stories done, I scanned the artwork and labeled each child’s work as “Alex 1,” “Alex 2” and “Alex 3” and the story was labeled “Alex story.” The staff and volunteers at Rescue Writing assembled the book for me and sent an online link for me to review it – to be sure everyone’s name was spelled correctly and that each story coordinated with the correct artwork. For the cover, I also sent a class photo and one of me, and on the first inside page, each child’s photo and name appeared, so they have a keepsake for the future.
When the book arrived, the students were so excited to see their work in print. We plan to do this same project again this school year. I have already submitted a grant to the Community Education Foundation, for each child to have their own copy of the Rescue Writing book to keep forever.
TAKE AWAY: Invite the children share their story in its entirety with the class, and then again with you as you transcribe their words. Depending on the level of the student, asking them to tell their story usually makes the storytelling process more comfortable.