Writing can be tough for many students. As a teacher, it is one of the hardest things to teach. Students are all at different places with writing, and the different styles make it harder for students and teachers. When students are finally able to get their ideas on paper, they really struggle with the details. The book One Day, The End is a perfect mentor text for helping students realize that adding details is so important! (Affiliate links provided to fund book purchases.)
Book Summary
The book One Day, The End, is a series of super short stories told by a young girl. The stories are actually two sentences, but the pictures tell the story. As I read it with my daughter, she told me the story on each page. It was fun to figure out what happened between the beginning and the end of the story. Here is an example of one of the stories.
Classroom Application
Since students have a hard time adding details to writing, you can use this as a way to show them that stories need details to make them interesting. I was working with fourth graders on writing personal narratives, and I saw so many stories without details. Using this book would be a great springboard for helping students see the importance of details in writing. By modeling how to add details to the story, students would gain a better understanding. My model is below.
Then students could choose another story to add details to before they venture out with their own personal story. Doing this will help students use details in more of their stories and give the reader a more vivid picture of what really happened. What a powerful way to help students remember the importance of details in stories!
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