Students in Ms. Alam's Creative Writing class have been immersing themselves in children's books. The students spent two class periods in the library, and some chose to read to each other and confer about their findings. Their objective has been to find common themes, elements, and techniques used in this genre, and then to record their findings on a chart and engage in conversation about their discoveries and their feelings while engaged with this activity.
Students are now using their findings to develop their very own children's stories which will be due before the holiday break. They have been encouraged to use the common themes, elements, and techniques that they found while reading published children’s books.
When asked about the experience, this is what the students had to share:
Bailey Anderson: "It made me feel like a little kid again. It felt good to relive my childhood memories of my dad and grandparents reading to me."
Kianah Myers: "It was different. I got to read a favorite which also happened to be my little brother's favorite and it was nice picturing my mom sitting in the rocking chair reading it to me."
Other students, such as Craig Myers, pointed out several common threads amongst the stories: a common theme of love and family, colorful images and vibrant language choices made by the authors, attention-grabbing elements such as rhyme, rhythm, and humor, as well as other commonalities.