Writing with a Story Arc

At the end of Term 3, those of us in 'The Jungle' literacy group were focusing on planning before writing our stories. We listened to some stories from Ms Udy, then learnt about the story arc. Once we understood all the parts of the story arc, we were able to identify these parts in the stories Ms Udy told us. Next. we told our own stories to friends, then to the whole class, ensuring that our story has all of these parts. We could choose to tell stories from our own lives, stories we had made up, or retell fairy tales.


Now we were ready to start planning our stories on paper. We used different kinds of graphic organisers to plan our work, then we told our stories to friends, using the graphic organisers as a guide. Finally, Ms Udy let us start to write the stories in our books! When we had finished writing, we revised our stories, then Ms Udy helped us to edit them so she could type them up for us. We all got to draw pictures to go with our work. This process took a longer time than usual, but our stories were longer, more organised and more complex when we went through this process. We were very proud when Ms Udy asked us to read our stories to the whole class!

Here are just a few examples: 

My Birthday by Madison Oppatt

On my birthday I had inflatable limbo at my party. I had invited lots of friends and some of my family. I was a little upset on my birthday because Sophia couldn’t come. I wish Sophia could have come. I really wanted to do the limbo, but first we had to play other games like Pin the Horn on the Unicorn and Pass the Parcel. Then the wind came and the inflatable limbo flew away! I was really upset that I couldn’t play it but mum said, “It’s okay, you can try to find another game.” I looked around and I saw my pinata so I went and got it. We had fun with the pinata and we got some lollies from the pinata. Then my Dad came along and threw more lollies. We had fun. I had a Fluttershy cake. I didn’t want my birthday to end but before I went to bed I got more presents. Even without doing the limbo, it was a really good party.

Rapunzel by Vanessa Woollaston

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rapunzel. She lived with her family in a palace. Rapunzel had really, really long hair. It was golden and beautiful. A wicked witch wanted Rapunzel’s hair for herself. So the witch stole Rapunzel at night time and put her up in a tower. Over time the witch convinced her that the witch was her real mum and she was only safe in the tower. The witch called, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” Nearby, a prince heard the witch so he came to see what was wrong. But Rapunzel hit him with a pan and tied him up using her hair. The prince tried to convince her that she had a real family. Then she remembered that she had a real family and she figured out that the witch was evil. She left the tower with the prince. They got married and lived happily ever after. They had five children and went back to live in the palace. The end.