Writing: Organization

Snowman Story: Beginning, Middle and End

 

 

Today's Snack: Let's make a Banana Snowman Treat! Goes great with a glass of milk. You will need a banana, a bamboo skewer, a small slice of apple, one grape, a bit of carrot, some chocolate chips or minis, and two pretzel sticks.

With adult supervision, peel the banana and cut three thick, round chunks.  Eat the rest! Thread these three round chunks onto a bamboo skewer so that they lay flat, again, with an adult carefully watching you.

To make the "hat," cut an apple slice in half into a fat triangular shape. Carefully thread that on top of the banana rounds. Finally, stick a grape on the very top.

Use the knife to cut a pointed, orange "nose" out of the bit of carrot - press it into the banana "face" and eat the rest! Use the knife to cut the extra half-slice of apple into a tiny smile. Stick that under the carrot "nose," and eat the rest of the apple slice. Now add "eyes" and "buttons" out of chocolate chips, and stick two pretzels out the sides as "arms."

 

 

--------------------

Supplies:

Three pieces of blank white paper

No. 2 pencil | Scotch tape

Colored pencils | Scissors

 

            If you can organize your story or report into three parts - a beginning, a middle, and an end - you will have a very easy time of writing it.

 

            To see how true this is, let's make a paper snowman. It will serve as a sort of reminder, or plan, of how everything you write has a beginning, a middle and an end.

 

            A story or report is just like a snowman. Instead of three big snowballs, you put together three paragraphs.

 

            The first paragraph is the beginning of your story - an introduction, or what your story is about.

 

            The middle paragraph is the middle of your story - what happens, or what facts and ideas you want people to know.

 

            The last paragraph is the end of your story - the conclusion, the ending, what you want people to remember.

 

            Now take your scissors, and cut one piece of paper into a round ball about one-third of the size of the paper. That's for the beginning - it's never very long. Save your paper scraps.

 

            Then cut the second piece of paper into a bigger round ball, that takes up about a half a page of the sheet of paper. That's for the middle - it needs to have enough space for you to include a lot of information.

 

            Last, cut the third piece of paper into the biggest round ball of all. That's to hold your conclusion, or the end of your story. While this doesn't have to have a lot of information or words, this third part should be big to remind you that having a good ending, or conclusion, is an important part of writing a successful story.

 

            Now, with tape, tape your three paper "balls" into a snowman shape.

 

            Now write a one-sentence introduction to a story on the top ball . . . two or three sentences for a middle part of a story on the middle ball . . . and at least one good, concluding sentence on the bottom ball, for your ending.

 

            If you have time, you can add more detail to your Snowman Story, and add to your paper snowman, too. You can cut out and color your paper scraps for snowman accessories - a hat, a pipe, arms, buttons, a scarf, etc. Write a word or two on each one for what ideas or items each accessory represents.

 

            You can post your snowman story on the wall or "read" it to someone. And don't worry, your story won't disappear - this is one kind of snowman that won't "melt"!