We Are Writers and Illustrators!

How to Write a Best-Seller in Three Easy Lessons

     The Extended Day yeledim love stories of all kinds.  Almost every afternoon, the Morahs share a book, or two, or three.  Right now, fiction is our favorite.  We decided to try writing a story (or two, or three) of our own.

     Enjoy our photo gallery.  The children are hard at work illustrating their original Extended Day books.  So far, we have written and illustrated two books by working together.

How do we write a book?

     1.  First, we dictated an original story to the Morah.  We worked in pairs and small groups to do this.
     2.  Then the Morah typed up the story.  We took turns illustrating each "scene."
     3.  Now the Morahs share our completed stories during snack.  Soon we will leave our collection out on a table so we can experience each story independently.

  (Noticing the process, left:  our booklet, before the illustration.  Above, after the children illustrate the pages.)

And here's the text of our two books:

The Night the Pipes Broke

     There was a boy named Shimmy.  He is 5 years old.  He lived in the city on a block with a lot of houses and a lot of trees.
     One night the whole family got in their pajamas and went to bed.
     Shimmy has a lot of brothers and sisters.  The baby went to sleep in his brig brother's bed.  Then the big brother carried the baby back to the Mommy and Daddy's bed.
     Then the children were reading their favorite books in their beds.
     All of a sudden they heard a big crash!  Boooshhhh!
     The mother and the father and the baby and Shimmy and the big brother jumped out of bed.  Everyone jumps out of bed!
     Five pipes were broken and there was water everywhere.  (That means 2 pipes and 3 more!)  There's water  in the house!
     The father and the mother and the baby and Shimmy and the big brother made a bridge to jump over the water!
     Then they all went back to sleep on the floor because their beds were broken.

The End

(The Morah's notes about the above story:  we helped the children pick the name "Shimmy."  We didn't want the children to think the story was about a particular child at IJP, so "Shimmy" worked for us--we don't have a Shimmy!) 

     What we love-love-love about this story is the warmth and closeness of this fictional family.  The children in this family know that mommy and daddy will provide safety, either the emotional safety of climbing into their bed or the physical safety of the bridge construction.  

     What we also love is the use of a sound word, Boooshhhh, (otherwise known as onomatopoeia in fancy-shmancy educator language).  There's a clear beginning-middle-end to this story, and there is a resolution of a problem.  The inclusion of a math concept (Five pipes, that means 2 pipes and 3 more!) shows the children's growing understanding of addition.  The fictional children's appreciation of books (and the fact that they bring books to bed), tells us that our IJPers value reading. Who wrote this story?  A few of the children from Kitah Bet, and it beautifully reflects their interests and skills.)

Next up, our second book, written mostly by the Kitah Gimmel children along with the KDH children.  Here's their text:

The Kids in the Forest

   

     Once upon a time there were a bunch of kids in the forest.  When they were hungry they ate pasta and cheese and snack.  It was a sunny day.  When they were thirsty they drank water and lemonade and ate oranges.
     They went back to their house and ate broccoli.
     Then they went to a different city and ate at a different person's house.  It was a gingerbread house.  (Gingerbread is like a brown cookie.)
     Then a stinky cheese man and a cookie man came to the house.  Then the house got stinky.
     Then people came to wash the house.  Now the house is good.
     Yeah, yeah, yeah--and there are blocks in the house!
     The children build a castle and a house with the blocks.

     The End

    What have we noticed about this second story?  As the IJPers told us the story, they began to include bits and pieces of other stories, particularly the Stinky Cheese Man and Hansel and Gretel.  Could it be that the more stories you know, the more you can synthesize what you know into something new?  Perhaps so!     

     We began a new story today.  Who are the characters?  An apple, an avocado and a talking crocodile!  The plot?  There's danger and a boo-boo.  The resolution?  A bandaid!  Oh, the drama!  It's a perfect story, designed by some of the Kitah Gimmel children, with additions by the KDH children.

     A few of the children told us that they several stories in their heads.  We believe them.  We'll continue to write down some of their thoughts and ask the children to create their illustrations.  Hooray for books!

By the Readers and Writers of Extended Day, and their Morahs