A favorite activity has been occurring in the PreK classroom: each child is narrating and illustrating their own story. To approach this project, each child is asked "what are you an expert in?" or "what would you like to write about?" and off we go! The children independently chose topics, colors used, how many pages their story was, and we were their transcribers. Completing a project like this gives each child agency as well as a sense that their words have power. Imagine that a crowd of friends listen to your words and remember their favorites! This year the stories were about all sorts of topics: family especially, but there were stories about lawn tractors, soccer playing, dinosaurs, and unicorns. Each child took care to illustrate each page of their book, and we created a title page and wrote "The End" when we were finished.
We gave each child the opportunity to sit in front of their peers as their story was being read (and they were free to edit the details!), then accept comments. Each author received a loud "bravo!"
As a teacher of young children, I find this writing and listening activity to be quite telling regarding each child. The stories are really sort of "self portraits" as the children are speaking from their hearts. Some stories are magical, some are very factual, and all are well received by the audience! We also learn about our listeners, as they are able to comment on details from the stories. Another way to help our classroom form as a community!
