Ms. Sultana’s Reading groups recently explored the characteristics of narrative and expository text. During the lesson students learned that expository text contains facts and provides information to the reader, whereas, narrative text is made up, has characters, and often includes dialogue.
In December, Ms. Sultana needed to have surgery on her right shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff and bicep. Who could have guessed that her injured arm would inspire the idea for her students to write their own narratives, each explaining what had “really” caused the injury. Some of the stories fell within the realm of realistic fiction, while others could be categorized as tall tales. In one selection, Ms. Sultana was chased through the jungle by a hungry elephant; in another, she suffered the injury during a championship boxing match. But, what they all had in common, was that they were creatively written.
Although this activity began as a contest, since all of the students worked so hard on it, Ms. Sultana decided to have a “literacy lunch” to celebrate. Ms. Sultana provided pizza for her creative writers, while students enjoyed sharing their stories with each other. Every student also received a book of all the short stories.
— Submitted by the Island Trees School District
