We are continuing to write stories about ourselves and our own lives.  We learned that good stories have 3 important parts: a beginning, middle, and end.  They need to make sense in order for people to understand them.  We went back to some of the books that Ms. Stern read to us and saw that authors always include them!  We also are trying new ways to end our stories, like using a thought or feeling or telling about the last thing that happened instead of saying “Then we went home” (or to bed) or “The End.”

Good writers always think and plan before they write.  Not everyone needs to plan in the same way.  Some people are “think about it” kinds of kids.   (Alice,  Sean, Alex, Nicholas, Kailey, Lily, Madison,  and Mathew think they are.) They use their  writing plan to help them think about their stories in their minds. 

Other kids are “think about it and write to plan” kinds of kids.  (Fiona, Cate, Luke, Christopher, Joseph, Chris, Miles, Deanna, and Joe are.)  They realize that they might forget what they want to say so they use a graphic organizer to plan.  Sometimes, kids will change what they need to do their best writing.

We are also learning to add feelings to our work.  It helps the reader understand our stories better.  We made a list of different feelings: positive feelings (good ones) and negative feelings (bad or not so good ones). 

Transition words (like first, next, then, etc.) help to tell our stories in the order that they happen.

Another way to make our writing better and clearer is to make sure that we use periods and punctuation marks so that the reader knows when to stop.  Some people were just using one period at the end of their writing.  Other people were making periods at the end of each line.  Some people weren’t using any at all!  We learned that all sentences need to have 3 things: begin with an uppercase letter, have a period (or an exclamation point or question mark) at the end, and be a complete thought or idea that makes sense.