Once Upon a Time

Students contribute words from books they are reading, categorised by part of speech, then use at least ten of those words to write their own story beginning with "Once upon a time."

Procedure

1. Write part-of-speech categories on the board: nouns, proper nouns, conjunctions, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.
2. Ask students for words from books they are reading (or have read) that belong in each category. Write them on the board under their categories. Aim for about 30 words, or as many as students can give in five minutes.
3. Tell students to create their own stories using at least ten words from the list. All stories begin with "Once upon a time." The rest of the words in their story do not need to come from the list.
4. Students share their stories in small groups. Post stories in the classroom.

Tips

• Students should bring books they are reading or have read to class
• Fun variation: put students in small groups and have them compose a story orally (no writing), taking turns contributing sentences and trying to include as many listed words as possible — results in lots of laughter
• Can be assigned as homework if you provide a handout of the words
• Develops writing confidence because students use vocabulary they have already encountered in reading