Writing in the Neighbourhood
Over course of this term, we have noticed the children have been thoroughly engaged in creating their own stories during provocation time. To support their development and deepen their understanding of the structure of narratives, we have drawn upon the 6+1 Traits of Writing. The 6+1 traits creates a common vocabulary and guideline for teachers to use with students so they become familiar with terms used in writing.
The students participated in a workshop that supported the children to develop their understanding of the 6+1 Traits of writing and how we use these traits in our writing. To begin, we focussed on how to come up with an idea, using the picture book Ugly Fish as our springboard. Together we discussed the story, specifically, the “idea” behind the story. After unpacking this term with the children we asked them to share what they thought the “idea” behind the story was.
Kindness and meanness Hattie
Don’t take your ideas too far Lucinda
What happens when you’re mean Freyja
Different people Elliot
Then we asked the children to think about experiences they have had at school that could be used as a spark for an “idea”. They wrote a list of their ideas and we came back together to reflect and share our thinking.
Hurt feelings and people distracting me Huon
When people are rude to my friends I have to stand up to them. When my friends exclude me Hattie
When I don’t have anyone to play with ad when I don’t know what to play Esther
Learning new things at school like listening to the teacher, packing up and focusing Aslan
When my friend didn’t come to school Matthew
As we continue to unpack the 6+1 traits of writing, the children will use their initial ideas to develop a narrative that shows their understanding of these traits.