All stories we read have a beginning, middle, and end. Yet, not all stories our students write are so lucky. Maybe it’s a missing introduction to text’s characters, or maybe it’s no conclusion to the main event. It can be difficult for many adults to write concisely with clear sequencing, therefore teaching a 6 year old how to write a complete concise story may seem daunting. But there’s an easy way you can get started, and it all begins with pulling out a picture book from your shelf.

For this activity, it will be helpful to have a picture book that your child is not too familiar with, as the goal is to access your child’s creative story-telling side. If the picture book is too familiar, your child may simply quote the book when completing the activity. (This happened when I tried this activity out on my student . . .:) )

Activity: Picture Storyteller Grades: K-2 Materials: pencil, lined paper, one picture book, extra blank piece of paper

Pull out the picture book and explain to your child that today she/he will be writing a story using the pictures from the book. Ask your child which picture from the first 1-4 pages of the book your child would like to use as the beginning picture to her/his story. Once your child picks one of the books pictures for the “beginning” ask specifically what the beginning of the story is for? You’ll likely get answers along the lines of: giving the settling, introducing characters, talking about time, etc. Help your child define what it means to write the beginning of the story. Next, take your blank piece of paper and cover the words on the page your child has selected so that the only part viewable is the picture. Tell your child to write 1-2 sentences (depending on your child’s comfort level with writing) that tell a beginning using the picture from the text. If the text is unfamiliar to your child there should be a great deal of creativity involved, such as naming characters, picking a location, or coming up with an interesting scenario based on the clues from the illustration.

For the “middle” of your child’s story, go through a similar process. Allow your child to pick any page they want from the center of the picture book. It can be any picture that attracts their attention. Discuss what the middle of a book is for and have your child write 1-2 sentences shaping the middle part of their story, while you cover the text with the blank piece of paper. The middle of the story should have an event. For 1st Grade, it is completely fine if the event is something as simple as the characters going on a fishing trip together. There should be some detail about what happens and word choice signaling that this event is in sequence and is indeed the middle of the story.

The ending of the story comes from your child picking one of the last 1-4 pages of the story to write about. This might depend on the book which pictures you want to allow your child to use, but generally any page near the end of the text could be used for a thoughtful, creative ending. Make sure to specifically ask your child what the ending of the book is for and cover the text! An ending does not just have the words “the end,” it includes closure to the events in the story. Something as simple as, the family returned home after a long day fishing, makes it clear that the event has ended and thus the story is over.

Have fun with this activity and feel free to modify for varying ages and degrees of difficulty! These suggestions are based off of a 1st Grade Writing level and the standard, W.1.3 of Common Core for writing narratives.