Write Shop: Storybuilders

Until recently I had not heard of WriteShop, a company that has writing programs for children from PreK through high school. They sent me two Ebooks Story Builders: World of Animals and StoryBuilders: World of Sports to use with our girls and review - and both of my girls have loved them!

Laurianna enjoys writing stories on her own, but when it comes times for a specific writing assignment, both she and McKenna start whining and complaining when they have to write more than one sentence. Needless to say, assigned writing is not always a joy during our school time.

We started using the StoryBuilders as a fun activity/creative writing assignment and McKenna alone began writing unbelievable amounts! Primarily we've used StoryBuilders: World of Animals ($7.95). First we printed off word cards and sorted them into piles. The word cards can either be printed onto different colors of paper and sorted accordingly, or you can print them off using colored ink and sort them that way. Each card deck/color represents a different part of a story: character, character trait, plot and setting.



Once a card is picked from each pile, the kids put their story together using the "pieces" of the story they were given. To give you an idea of how it works, here are the words that McKenna had for her story: bat, confused, amusement park, and caught in a trap. The story she put together was:

Once there was a little boy who went in an amusement park. He found his bat. He said, "Why is it in here?" He was very confused. He saw a trap hanging from the ceiling. He was not fast enough, so he got caught in the trap!

While I realize not all of the story makes complete sense, this story was a huge step for McKenna! And she was so proud of the story and even drew pictures to go along with it.

There are several other StoryBuilder books available: World of People ($7.95) and Christmas Mini-Builder ($3.95). Each of the StoryBuilder Ebooks is available for immediate download and comes with the following:

• 192 Story Builder cards in black print (to print on colored paper)
• 192 Story Builder cards in colored print (to print on plain paper)
• 48 blank cards
• Ideas and instructions for use
  

While the StoryBuilders are not an entire curriculum for writing, they are a great activity to use once a week for getting the creative juices going. WriteShop does offer full writing programs for children Kindergarten through high school.

And as a bonus, The Old Schoolhouse Store is offering a FREE download this week for the StoryBuilders: World of Animals - a $7.95 value! Be sure to head there to take advantage of their great offer!

If you would like to read more on Write Shop, check out the Homeschool Crew blog and see what others are saying.