Recommended time
Minimum 60 minutes, maximum 90 minutes

Goals for the session

• Build vocabulary
• Think critically
• Work cooperatively
• Produce a fiction or nonfiction story that can be read by others

Outcomes

• Book writing
• Drawings
• Edited photos
• Newsletter

Materials and equipment

• Microsoft Word or similar software
• Software for drawing (KidPix)
• Software for editing photos (Adobe PhotoShop or Photodeluxe, Microsoft PhotoEditor, or similar program)
• Three copies of a book (for panel book)
• Composition books (one for each child and facilitator)
• Manila folders, cardboard or construction paper (for panel book)
• Loose-leaf paper
• A newsprint pad or roll of butcher paper
• Glue sticks
• Scotch tape
• Regular pens and/or colored gel pens
• Colored pencils and/or colored markers
• Copies of newsletter template sheet

Part 1: Field Trip Journals—Reflection and Sharing

What is it?
Participants review their notes, drawings, photos and writing from the field trip to share with the whole group.

How to
Ask participants to work in pairs to review, edit, and add to the writing and drawing they did during the field trip. If participants used clipboards and paper, they can transfer their notes and drawings to their journals by gluing them in or rewriting them. Digital photos can be printed out and glued into journals. Any printed materials from the trip (e.g., brochures, news articles) can be taped or glued into journals.

Have the group come together to share everyone's writings, drawings, photos and clippings. What new things did the participants learn during the trip? What was surprising? What were the students' favorite activities? What do we want to learn more about?

Part 2: Panel Book Read-Aloud

What is it?
A panel book is a book that has been taken apart page by page and glued to individual pieces of board so that each page can be displayed separately. Looking at the book becomes like looking at a series of paintings on a wall.

The panel book will be used as a model for "storyboarding" a book that the participants will write together, as a group. Seeing a familiar book as individual story pages will help the participants understand storyboarding.

For this activity, the panel book should be a book that the group has previously read together. The book selected should have a story that provides an easily replicable model for student writing. Fortunately, by Remy Charlip, or The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown, are excellent choices. The goal is to have the participants closely examine a book that can be used as a model for writing their own book.

How to
When selecting a book to make into a panel book, buy three paperback copies: one to keep for reading and two to use to make the panel book. Because book pages are usually printed on both sides, two copies are needed. Use sturdy paper or cardboard as the backing for the pages of the panel book. Manila folders make good backing because they are durable and fold easily for storage and carrying. Masking tape can be used to connect multiple folders together so that they are connected as one long panel. Remove the pages and glue them to the back of the folders, paper or boards.

Use masking tape to affix the panel book to a wall.

First, read the story aloud to the group, pointing to the panel book story pages while reading. Keep a copy of the book in your hand to help read; it might be hard to read some of the writing if standing at a distance. Then have the group read the story aloud with you. Ask participants questions about the story illustrations and layout. How do the pictures help tell the story? Are there any pages that have pictures, but no words? Are there any pages with just a few words? How are the words placed on the pages?

Part 3: Start Book

What is it?
Participants will make a fiction or nonfiction storybook as a group. The book will include writing from all students and can include artwork and photographs.

How to
Use your judgment to determine whether the group is ready to handle writing an original story. It is recommended that the group first write a book modeled after a book with an easily replicable pattern of writing, such as Fortunately or The Important Book. If the students are ready to write an original story, try doing so after the patterned writing exercise.

Give the participants a focus for their writing. The focus should build on a previous experience everyone has in common.

Examples
Modeled after the book Fortunately:

• Write a story about our field trip
• Write a story about going to school one day
• Write a story about playing in the park one day

Modeled after The Important Book:

• Write about the important things we saw on the field trip
• Write about the important things about places in our neighborhood
• Write about the important things about people in our neighborhood

Pattern-writing exercise
Make a large template sheet with a writing pattern for everyone to follow. Place it where everyone can see it. If the book being modeled is Fortunately, then the pattern would be as follows:

Fortunately one day________________
But unfortunately__________________
Fortunately_______________________
Unfortunately_____________________
Fortunately_______________________
Unfortunately______________________
Fortunately________________________
Unfortunately_______________________
Fortunately_________________________
(continue)
And fortunately______________________
Because fortunately___________________

If the book being modeled is The Important Book, then the following pattern would apply:

The important thing about _________ is that _______________
It is like________________
You can_______ it
You can________ it
It is not__________
It is_____________
And it _____________
But the important thing about ___________is that______________(repeat first sentence)

Check the Robert Price article on writing patterns for other pattern examples.

Have participants work in pairs to review and edit their writing.

A book can be assembled simply by connecting all the pattern writing into a single book. Each participant would contribute one page, or several pages, to the book. Writing patterned after The Important Book, for example, is well suited to this. Have two or three participants work together to decide the final order and layout of the book.

If the objective is to produce a book that has a single cohesive story (e.g., a single story modeled after the book Fortunately), then the group should be brought back together to plan the story. See Storyboarding, below.

Storyboarding
Storyboarding is a technique used to plan creative projects that involve narrative and visual elements, such as films, commercials and cartoons. A book with pictures can be storyboarded.

Lay out sheets of newsprint or butcher paper. Gather the group together to brainstorm what will happen on each page. Put very rough sketches on the pages, enough to give an idea of what the final picture will be. Write a few words on each page (such as "boy goes to bakery") to outline what the writing will be. Have participants volunteer to work in pairs on a page or group of pages. After the pages are made, have two or three participants work together to finalize the order and layout of the pages.

Add drawings, photos and background colors to the pages. Design a front cover for the book. Have the participants think of other content that might add value to the book. Are there items collected from the field trip or made during other activities that could be scanned into a computer or photocopied? Are there any relevant news clippings? Could charts, graphs or tables be added?

If time is scarce, a book can be made by hand on paper. Be sure to photocopy the pages before binding so that multiple books can be made.

If there is adequate time, have the participants transfer their writing into a word processor. Drawings can be scanned into a computer or created directly on a computer using software such as KidPix or a similar program. The drawings then can be inserted into the pages or printed out as separate pages. Print multiple copies to make multiple books.