Presentation of Learning: Exploring Story Writing

iLEAD learner Fiona has been learning at home from an early age. “Biba,” as she is often called, is bilingual and speaks English and Hungarian fluently. She is currently also working on Chinese and Spanish. Up next is Russian, but as a kindergarten learner her plate is full for now. 

Fiona’s parents encourage learning through play and experimentation, often encouraging discovery through questions like “what if?”, “I wonder what would happen if?” and “how could we?” Some of the most important educational values in Fiona’s family include writing, music, nature, language, international knowledge, kindness, creativity, physical activity, and art. The family embraces and encourages iLEAD Schoolwide Learner Outcome curiosity. Allowing Fiona to be curious, and explore her thoughts and ideas, keeps her eager to learn more. 

Reading and writing have always been both a playful and educational activity for Fiona. Early on, she asked to use a workbook and began writing letters daily just for fun. She quickly moved from writing letters to creating stories (with the help of mom and dad) and this has now become one of her favorite creative adventures! She comes up with stories and her mom and dad will help write them down. Then they illustrate them together.

November was National Novel Writing Month, and in honor of this fun, the family decided it would be appropriate to highlight some of Fiona’s creative writing pieces and share resources other families can use at home too. Together, the family discussed the concept of story structure and created a few story outlines to turn into books.

First, “Biba” made a draft of the beginning of the story that introduces the characters, who they are, and where they are. Try using a thinking map to help. Next, was the middle section and that was fun. There is lots of room for adventure and turmoil. This is where you can really get creative. Finally, the end is where things resolve and settle into the final hurrah. 

Fiona and her family decided that writing is more than just putting words on paper. It’s using your IMAGINATION. It’s telling a story, and you can even tell a story with pictures. Every story needs a beginning, a middle and an end. 

How does it start? — beginning

What happens? — middle

What problems do they run into? 

How do they solve their problem? — end 

Fiona dictates the story, “Bigs and Littles get Funnel Cakes” with her dad and illustrates it with her mom. What a tasty way to demonstrate their new storytelling skills together. 

Here are some great tools to help you create your own story. Will you start with a short story or go for a full novel? Create an adventure together!

Extra resources:

Please take a look at this drive link that includes Fiona’s notes and story along with valuable resources.

National Novel Writing Month
NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program