Formative Assessment Writing a Folktale and Creating a Movie to Share

30 minutes, four times a week, 31 proficient to advanced third graders meet in my room for reading and writing. The first part of the students’ project, for writing a folktale, is to brainstorm ideas and then put pencil to paper. They will write their folktale with the elements we have discussed. They will create three different paragraphs: one for beginning, middle, and end. All this will be done in the classroom as I walk around and help remind students of the elements we have discussed. The writing will take anywhere from 2 to 4 days, depending on the students’ ability. Once all students are done writing they will meet, individually, with me. While I am meeting with students and discussing the elements of their folktale, others will finish writing or read a variety of folktales. Once we’re done editing, I will show the students how to create their folktales on the program Pixie. They’ve all had experience with the program at our school computer lab. Once we get to the lab I will have the students access the Pixie program. I will have them start with creating a title page and then show them how to add pages to their project. Once they have created their title page they will continue to add a page for each paragraph. They will use their edited paper copies to type. After typing they will add illustration to show what they wrote. As students are spell checking their projects and coming to an end I will have them begin recording for each page. I will stagger who records so that there isn’t too much background noise. After the students create their folktale I will ask them to share with me. I will collect all the students’ stories, by class, so that I can create a collection of their stories for them to share with their own teacher and class.