30 minute read
End of the Year Option 3: Story Book Projects
This project is SUCH fun, as students take the lead and produce something of lasting value to your language program. Their task is to make a children’s book, in the course language, with illustrations and a glossary. You willI support them by editing their drafts, working with them in class. I like to have them work in partnerships, which seems to help students be more creative, and feel more confident. It is also more fun to leave a legacy that you worked on with a friend. It is less intimidating, emotionally, to leave a book for next year’s classes, if you can share the “blame” with a friend.
Students generally really enjoy the opportunity to show off their language skills, and it is a community service to the students next year, as they will be leaving them a collection of fun children’s books for the free-choice reading library. They also enjoy the chance to have a more relaxed few weeks, working mostly in L1, drawing and coloring, and being creative.
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A sample of the handout that I give my students and rubric to score their projects are provided below. Please note that the formatting is very small, especially for the handout. I would format this in a more readable way to hand out to my students.
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Story Book Project Instructions: With a partner, produce an illustrated storybook to put in our library.
1. Monday, May 15: Have your story written in rough draft form, in pen or pencil in your rough draft packet. You can choose a story we have created in class or make up your own. If you are doing a class story please see me because we do not want to duplicate the stories. VERY IMPORTANT! Write in French or Spanish. DO NOT write in English and then expect to translate into French or Spanish; it is far too difficult to translate from English. Plus, these books will be read by beginners so your sentences should be simple and use words that you know. If you need to look a word up, here and there, it is OK but the majority of your writing should come from your own knowledge of Spanish. As you work, keep a list of the words you have to look up because those are words that you will put in the illustrated glossary in step three.
The story must have the following parts.
Each part will become a page or two. Your writing will not fill up the page; it will be in a large sized font and contain an illustration. a. Description of the main character. 8 sentences long. Ideas: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age. b. Description of the setting and weather. 6 sentences long. Ideas: Planet, country, state, city, location in the city (store, house, restaurant, stadium, etc.), location in the location (table, counter, room in the house, etc.), weather, how the character feels about the weather. c. Description of another character whom they are with. 7 sentences long. Ideas: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age. d. Description of a problem for the character to solve. 8 sentences long. Ideas: What they want but do not have, they have to do something they dislike, someone up with a problem for them, they have to solve a mystery. e. Description of how they solve the problem. 10 sentences long. Ideas: They go to a new place, they learn a new skill, they meet a new person, they find something to help them. f. Moral of the story. 2 sentences long. Ideas: What they learned, what the lesson is for the reader, a “saying” (You can look up an English saying, like “slow and steady wins the race” on Google, NOT Google Translate, but Google will give the best results (put the saying in quotes to get the best translation) or look up dicho in español or adage en français). g. “About the Authors” written in first person singular (I, me, mine) with 10 sentences about each author. “About the team” (Sobre el equipo en español or À propos de l’équipe en français) with 4 sentences about the two of you written in first person plural (We, us, our). Ideas: Your name, where you were born, what you like to do, what you do not like, your favorite classes/teachers, what you and your partner have in common, your advice for future students in this class
2. Wednesday, May 24: Illustrated pages with two to three sentences typed in at least 28 point font, and a large illustration with bold outlines and at least four colors. The illustrations MUST be your original work. 3. Wednesday, May 31: An illustrated glossary with the words that you had to look up. You should have at least 30 words in the glossary. Your glossary should include the French/Spanish and English translation and an illustration of the word with the French/Spanish in the illustration. The illustrations should each include three colors. They can be printed off Google image search if you like, or drawn. Then go back into the book and highlight the words that are found in the glossary. You can underline them or use a colored highlighter or marker to make them a different color. 4. Tuesday, June 6: A cover and title page. The cover should include the date in Spanish or French, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol, and a large illustration that uses at least five colors and is bold. The illustration must be drawn by you. 5. Wednesday, June 7: Final copy due. You will put each page in a clear plastic sheet protector and a black project cover. 6. Thursday, June 8: Writing celebration and reading time, to share with the class and read other classes’ books. Please plan to bring a snack. We will invite parents and others to come to our celebration of all you have learnt this year. I am so proud of your progress, and excited to share your creativity with next year’s classes.
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Classroom Library Books Project
Story
Main character
Setting and Weather
Second Character A
Includes all of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job, and their age. Includes six of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job, and their age. Includes six of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job, and their age. Includes four of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job, and their age.
8 sentences long. Includes all of the following: Planet, country, state, city, location in the city (store, house, restaurant, stadium, etc.), location in the location (table, counter, room in the house, etc.), weather, how the character feels about the weather. 6 sentences long. Includes six of the following: Planet, country, state, city, location in the city (store, house, restaurant, stadium, etc.), location in the location (table, counter, room in the house, etc.), weather, how the character feels about the weather. 4 sentences long. Includes four of the following: Planet, country, state, city, location in the city (store, house, restaurant, stadium, etc.), location in the location (table, counter, room in the house, etc.), weather, how the character feels about the weather. 2 sentences long. Includes two of the following: Planet, country, state, city, location in the city (store, house, restaurant, stadium, etc.), location in the location (table, counter, room in the house, etc.), weather, how the character feels about the weather.
Includes all of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age.
B
Includes six of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age.
C
Includes four of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age.
Problem Describes a problem. Includes all of the following: the character’s feelings about it, and what they think and say about it.
Solution Includes all of the following: They go to a new place, they learn a new skill, they meet a new person, and they find something to help them. Describes a problem. Includes two of the following: the character’s feelings about it, and what they think and say about it.
Includes three of the following: They go to a new place, they learn a new skill, they meet a new person, and they find something to help them. Describes a problem. Includes one of the following: the character’s feelings about it, and what they think and say about it.
Includes two of the following: They go to a new place, they learn a new skill, they meet a new person, and they find something to help them.
D F
Includes two of the following: Name, nickname, physical description, personality description, likes and dislikes, what they want, their job their age.
Tells a problem. Does not include any of the following: the character’s feelings about it, and what they think and say about it.
Includes one of the following: They go to a new place, they learn a new skill, they meet a new person, and they find something to help them.
Moral/ Lesson
The moral is two sentences long, fits with the story, and is an authentic real-life saying from French or Spanish. The moral is two sentences long and fits with the story. The moral is one sentence long and fits with the story. The moral is does not fit with the story.
© 2018 The World Language Proficiency Project
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Artwork/Layout/Editing/Team Points
A B C
Colors You did all of the following: All of your artwork is outlined in black pen. Each page contains at least five colors. The colors are bold.Artwork fills the page. You did three of the following: All of your artwork is outlined in black pen. Each page contains at least five colors. The colors are bold.Artwork fills the page. You did two of the following: All of your artwork is outlined in black pen. Each page contains at least five colors. The colors are bold. Artwork fills the page. You did one of the following: All of your artwork is outlined in black pen. Each page contains at least five colors. The colors are bold. Artwork fills the page.
Text
28 to 32 point font, arranged creatively and attractively on the page. No more than four sentences per page.
Language Your language is simple. Some of your sentences are short and others are long. You used connector words like and, but, or, then, that, and also. You asked me for a maximum of ten new words maximum.
Definitions Your glossary contains a maximum of ten words you had to look up, plus 16 words that you think might be hard for beginners, are defined in the glossary.
Glossary Your glossary contains all of the following: highlighted or underlined the words in your book and included a definition in English and a colorful illustration with at least three colors per drawing.
Cover Cover includes all of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a large illustration that uses at least five colors and is bold. 28 to 32 point font, with not more than four sentences per page.
Your language is simple. Some of your sentences are short and some are long. You asked me for a maximum of ten new words maximum.
Your glossary contains a maximum of ten
words you had to look
up, plus 12 words that you think might be hard for beginners are defined in the glossary.
Your glossary contains all of the following: highlighted or underlined the words in your book and included a definition in English and an illustration.
Cover is missing one of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a large illustration that uses at least five colors and is bold. The font is too small or too large, with not more than four sentences per page.
Your language is simple. You asked me for a maximum of ten new words maximum.
Your glossary contains a
maximum of ten words
you had to look up, plus 12 words that you think might be hard for beginners are defined in the glossary.
Your glossary is missing one of the following: You highlighted or underlined the words in your book and included a definition in English and an illustration.
Cover is missing two of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a large illustration that uses at least five colors and is bold.
Title Page The title page includes all of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a hand-drawn team logo (which may be in black and white)
Editing You had the teacher check your work. There are only one or two sentences with errors in your final draft.
Team Points
The title page is missing one of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a handdrawn team logo (which may be in black and white)
You had the teacher check your work. There are three to five sentences with errors in your final draft. The title page is missing two of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a hand-drawn team logo (which may be in black and white)
You had the teacher check your work. There are six to eight sentences with errors in your final draft.
D
The font is too small or too large and there are more than four sentences per page.
You asked for more than ten new words.
Your glossary contains a maximum of ten
words you had to look
up, plus 6 words that you think might be hard for beginners are defined in the glossary.
Your glossary is missing more than one of the following: You highlighted or underlined the words in your book and included a definition in English and an illustration.
Cover is missing three of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a large illustration that uses at least five colors and is bold.
The title page is missing two of the following: the month and year, the authors’ names, the name of the team with a copyright symbol and the year, and a handdrawn team logo (which may be in black and white)
You had the teacher check your work. There are more than eight sentences with errors in your final draft.
F
You used an online translator.
Teacher Words
© 2018 The World Language Proficiency Project
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Introduction to the Best Project Ever
The Storybook Project is, for me, the best way to spend the last few weeks of school. I love seeing my students engaged in a creative project and using language. Having an authentic audience (next year’s kids) is a big motivator, especially for kids who have been reading previous classes' library books all year.
This project usually takes my students about three weeks to complete. This is because I want to give them all the time they need to complete the work in class. I am a firm believer in doing projects in class, because it helps to level the playing field.
Some kids have calm home environments with all the supports and parents who push them academically, who have the financial and personal resources to be available during homework time, and who make sure the kids have space, materials, and adult support and supervision to complete their homework. Other kids, oftentimes the ones who most need to build successful feelings about school, have more unpredictable and less-supportive home lives, in which the adults are not always available to make sure that they have what they need to complete their work at home. So I provide enough class time for this project, or any long-term project, to be completed with my support and supervision, and with materials available to do a good job. I want my students to do a GREAT JOB so that I have lots of awesome books for the library next year!
Acquiring Supplies
Here are the recommended supplies that have served my students well and created books that have held up for years in my class library.
Black report covers
It is best if you have a consistent “look” and they are all the same color. I find black is the nicest-looking color. You will need one for each partnership, so half of your total number of students.
Non-glare sheet protectors
Non-glare is important to me as it gives a more professional “matte” look. Each book will need at least 9 sheet protectors, including the cover and glossary. So you will need to do some multiplication.
Black Flair (or other medium felt tip) pens for outlining the illustrations
It makes the books look so much nicer when the drawings have black outlines.This is totally worth the investment.
Bonus: Markers and Colored Pencils
If you have the funds, get the best markers and pencils you can afford, since awesome art supplies can make
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kids very excited about the artwork! Just an aside: woodless colored pencils are so much nicer than the kind with wood on them.You might just switch permanently!
About three to four weeks before you plan to start the Books Project, I recommend that you ask students to bring in a class donation of $2.00 to $5.00, if this is an appropriate ask for your school community. I have found that I get much more response when I send home an excited note with some pictures and examples of what we have made in past years, and also give families the option of choosing from “giving categories” like these:
We’re Doing a Service Learning Project!
Will You Please Be a Class Helper?
$2.00 — Class Helper: You are helping to cover the cost of the cover and sheet protectors for the children’s book your child will produce. Thank you!
$5.00 — Class Hero: You are helping to cover the cost of markers and colored pencils for the whole class. Thank you!
$10.00 — Class Sponsor: You are helping to cover the materials cost for someone who cannot bring in a donation at this time.
(If you have a community that has the means, you might add the following
donation category.) $20.00 — Class Benefactor: You are helping to purchase other books and reading material so that next year our class library will be even better!
If you cannot ask your students’ families for donations, you might look into Donors Choose, if you are a publicschool teacher. I have used Donors Choose many times in the past, to fund this project as well as many other fun ideas.
Introducing the Books Project -- A sample of what I tell my students
OK, class, I am super-stoked for this announcement. We are going to get started on Classroom Library Books for next year. These are partner projects. You and your partner are going to write, illustrate and produce a story book for next year’s 7th graders. We’ll put them in the library for them to read during their 10 minute reading time.
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On Tuesday (Note: usually it takes 2-3 days of class time if you devote about 35-40 minutes per day), you are going to have your story written in rough draft form in pen or pencil in your rough draft packet. You see what your rough draft packet looks like? See? Very fancy, it’s paper….that is made into a packet.
In your rough draft packet you will have to VERY IMPORTANT, write in Spanish. Don’t write in English and translate later. It is far too difficult to translate. Plus, these books are gonna be read by beginners, so they should be simple and mainly use words that you know. This is very important — if you ever need to ask me for a word here and there that’s OK, but the almost every word of your content should come from your own knowledge of Spanish.
I insist on this because it is very IMPORTANT. As you work you have to keep a list of the words we have to look up on the back of your paper, because those are the words you will be putting in your illustrated glossary. In the final book, you will highlight those words so that 7th graders next year can be sure they can rely on you to teach the terms that you had to look up.
These are the parts of the story.
You need to have a character, a setting, including the weather, another character, a problem, how the problem is solved, and the moral of the story at the end.
And then you are going to have a section called “Sobre el Equipo” (about the team) that tells about you and your partner, so the kids next year can know who write these amazing books!
Let me give you some advice for making your character.
When you draw your character and your secondary character you wanna be sure that they are really simply drawn.Some of us are really great artists and can make very complicated drawings. But you don’t want to do something very complicated because on every single page, you are going to draw a picture of this character so on every single page you have to replicate the same look and design of the character. So, if you make your character really complicated, that is your choice, but I let you know that that may involve working some hours after school. If you wanna keep it simple and make a kind of comic book style, that is usually the best.
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Here is an example of a cover with three nice, simple characters. Notice in the picture below how many times these writers ended up drawing these characters, and this is not even the entire book! So they were probably really happy by the end, that they had made their characters simple!
Also, part of your grade is that it your book is colorful and fun to look at. So today when you draw a prototype of your character, you need to make sure that your character has at least four colors in it, and you must outline them in black pen.
You see this box of black pens here? We are probably going to go through a whole box of these pens over the last few weeks because we are going to be outlining everything in black pen.
Everything looks way better, and more professional, when you outline everything in black pens. This is a piece of advice you should take to every other class. Every time you outline your drawings with black pen, you have a much better look in your drawings.
Getting the Character - Students’ First Step
First we will imagine our characters: who they are, and what they look like. Once we have interesting characters, it is easier to plan out the plot of the story and send them on a simple little adventure.
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Here is a sheet (found below) that will help you to plan your characters. You might not use ALL this information in your story, but it is good to know your characters deeply, like they are actually real, before writing the plot. It helps you to write more realistically.
Main character
You will either begin with the words or the drawing. It is your choice as a writer. For the drawing you will use at least four colors outlined in black pen. For the description, you can use these words I gave you or other words that you know. Use words you KNOW, and if you need a word or two extra, you can ask me, and put them in your glossary.
Drawing: Four colors Outlined in black pen
Voici __ le/la __ Il/Elle s’appelle __ Il/Elle a __ ans/mois/jours/heures/minutes Sa famille est ___ Il/Elle a un frère/une soeur/un père/ une mère Son frère/père s’appelle/ Sa soeur/mère s’appelle Il/Elle aime __ Il/Elle adore __ Il/Elle n’aime pas ___ Il/Elle déteste ___ Il/Elle travaille pour une compagnie qui s’appelle __ C’est une compagnie de __ Sa poste est / Son boulot est / Son titre est __ Il/Elle a peur de ___ (scared) Il/Elle veut __ Son plus grand secret est ___ Son surnom est ___ / Ses amis l’appellent __
Secondary/sidekick/enemy character.
Drawing: Four colors Outlined in black pen
Son (meilleur/meilleure) ami/Son amie __ Son ennemi (favori) __
Same informations as main character.
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Developing the Plot - Students’ Second Step
You need to establish and describe a setting, including the weather, and then introduce a problem, tell how how the problem is solved, include the characters talking or thinking, and write the moral of the story at the end. Here are some words for you to use for ideas to plan out the plot of the book. You will expand on this when you write your rough draft.
You can use some of these words to help you plan, or any other words that you know. Use words you KNOW, and if you need a word or two extra, you can ask me, and put that in your glossary.
1. Setting
Il fait (The weather is __) __ est à ___( __ is in (town/city) __ est à la maison / au boulot / dans son école / chez __ (__ is at home / at work / at school / at __'s house)
2. Problem
Il n'est pas content / Elle n'est pas contente (He/She/They is/are not happy) Il/Elle veut / Il/Elle a besoin de / Il/Elle pense / Il/elle préférerait (He/She/They wants, needs, thinks, would prefer) Il/Elle regarde / pense / dit / crie / pleure (He/She /They looks at, thinks, says, yells, cries)
3. Solution
Il voit / décide / pense à / va / rencontre / lit (He/She/They sees, decides, thinks of, goes, meets, reads) Il/Elle regarde / pense / dit / crie / sourit / rit (He/She/They looks at, thinks, says, yells, smiles, laughs)
4. Moral
La morale de l'histoire est (The moral of the story is) Il vaut mieux (It is better to) Nous devons / On doit (We should) Quelquefois dans la vie (Sometimes in life) Il est important de (It is important to) __ a appris / vu / su /découvert (__ learned / saw / found out /discovered) Maintenant __ sait (Now __ knows) Dorénavant __ sera / saura (From here on out __ will be / will know)
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Happy Times for Kids and Teachers
On Facebook every spring, the Book Projects start just rolling in left and right. I am so so happy when I see posts like these! This is why I love this project -- happy kids being creative and learning about project management and working together to serve the school community, their teachers relaxing into a support role, and classroom libraries getting filled with kid-friendly, kidcreated books!
The Writing and Editing Process
To make your life easier, it is important to lay down some procedures for students to follow when creating the pages that you will edit. You should NOT edit the rough, handwritten draft. I ask students to handwrite the rough draft so that they are forced to rely on the language that they have in their actual heads. But then when they type into Google Docs, they will often see their errors and correct them, themselves, before bringing the printed-out second drafts to us for editing. This cuts down significantly on the edits you will need to make!
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Here are the rules I share with my classes. If they bring me work that did not follow these guidelines, then I just send them back to work more until it is acceptable. I only edit work that is ready to edit, in that they have followed the requirements below, designed to help me keep the process manageable.
1. They must not put more than four sentences per page. 2. The sentences must be typed in at least 28 point font. 3. They must print out the pages and bring them to me for editing. (Note: Some may say this wastes paper, and prefer to edit on the screen. Personally, I use so little paper throughout the year, and I rarely ask my students to consume significant amounts of paper, so I do not worry too much about having them print the pages. I like them to print the pages JUST LIKE they will look in the final book, so that I can quickly edit, because the words are in a large font, and also because I can doublecheck that they have paginated, or divided up the text into pages, in a way that makes sense.) 4. They must not use Google Translate unless it is to look up a word or two here and there. 5. They must bring me two pages at a time to edit. Then when they bring me the next pages, they must show me the two pages I just edited, with their illustrations completed, using black pen to outline the illustrations and at least five colors per page, inserted into a sheet protector. 6. They must sit with me, with their writing partner, and talk about their edits. (This sometimes will have the effect of reducing the number of tines I have to correct the same thing in their later pages. Of course, error correction being what it is -- not all that effective at changing writing behavior -- this is not always the case. But, every once in a while, they actually remember something I showed them, so I guess it saves me a little time.)
If students do not do one of the requirements listed above, I simply do not edit their work. I glance over it, and if they have not followed the directions above, I do not do any editing. I just hand their work back to them and tell them whet they failed to do to prepare their work for editing. Then I make them go back and do what I said, then get back in line.
I do sometimes have a line of several partnerships lined up at one time, waiting to get their work edited. While they are in line, I ask them to look over each other's pages and see if THEY can find anything that needs to be changed.
To be honest, if kids bring me typed-up versions of their super-simple handwritten drafts, in 28+ point font, with four or fewer sentences per page, and sit with me as I edit, it does not feel like too much of a chore. I simply set up "camp" and it becomes sort of a bonding experience with the kids, as I get their stories in
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installments, and tell them, "I can't wait to see what happens on the next two pages!” when I send them off to illustrate the two pages I looked over, and prepare the next two typed pages for me to edit, when they return to the editing line.
Sending them back to do the illustrations between rounds of editing helps space my workload out, and gives students achievable, small goals, so they (and I) know if they are on track to finish. I like to use a grid with the steps listed and check them off as students complete the tasks, so I can see at a glance who is not progressing at the same rate as the rest of the class, and intervene to support/encourage/problem-solve with those partnerships. And asking them to use five colors and black outlines makes them have to actually invest some time into the process.
Sometimes, I have a line of kids waiting to be edited at the end of a class period, so I might make a little pile of papers and look over them during prep time. If I do not have the time, I just tell them to wait until tomorrow. I do not want to pile myself with loads of out-of-class editing, though, so I do not do this every day of the project.
Some teachers require kids to do some "sponge" activities while they wait for their turn to be edited. Others also add the requirement that there can only be three groups waiting at one time, in line at the "editing station" so that the room maintains a calmer atmosphere. Myself, I kind of enjoy the "happy work buzz" of people milling about and working productively, so I just let nature generally take its course.
Here's another little tip: I did not really do too much editing in the glossaries or the "About the Team" (the authors) pages. I figured it is the kids writing about themselves, and if they make some mistakes, well, so be it. Life's too short! You might be more into editing those parts than I was, but I think my kids were not too badoff having to occasionally read some pages written by other kids that contained a few errors.
The Story of “Man-Man”
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At the end of the process, students will assemble their final books, and I like to have a writing celebration in which we read and enjoy each other’s books, and perhaps have some cookies and punch. You can have groups present their books, or have them pass the books around and read in their partnerships. One fun way to acknowledge each other’s work is to have readers use sticky notes to leave compliments about the characters, plot, and/or artwork in the books they read.
I like to make a big to-do about how proud I am of their hard work, and then have a “Putting the Books in the Library” ceremony. If you do this project year after year, and your students have read previous classes’ books during Free-Choice Reading, then your students will, most likely, be quite excited to see their work join the books they have been enjoying all year up till this point, that were left for them by your former classes in years past.
It is a big moment, and a fantastic close to a happy and productive year.
Plus, you get a ton of books! Look at this haul from my classes a few years ago!
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