Venturing into Narratives: Venturing into Narratives: Writing a Narrative EssayWriting a Narrative Essay

Alison BrannackAlison Brannack

ISNP 2010ISNP 2010

33rdrd Grade Grade

FormatFormat

• Paragraph 1 Intro characters, setting, & problem

• Paragraph 2 Attempt 1 & failure

• Paragraph 3 Solution!

Remember, we are writing to tell a story, and to Remember, we are writing to tell a story, and to entertain our readers!entertain our readers!

BrainstormingBrainstorming

We can all imagine being in a natural disaster.

Think about what might happen during a natural disaster.

Now write a story about what happened during a natural disaster.

C: Mom, me (Sara)

S: home, Florida

P: A tornado is coming close to us.

A1:

A2:

So:

Characters, Setting, ProblemCharacters, Setting, Problem

Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm clock jolted me out of my sleep. “Ugh, Monday morning,” I mumbled. I crawled out of bed, and glanced out of the window. Dark clouds blanketed the sky.

“Sara! Get ready and grab your breakfast!” Mom bellowed up the stairs. She wasn’t wasting any time this morning. I quickly did my morning routine, and shuffled down the stairs and ran smack into my mom’s back.

“We’re not going anywhere,” she whispered. I followed her stare out the window and saw a gray tunnel shooting down from the sky. Tornadoes in Florida?! Who ever heard of that? And how would we get out of the path of this tornado in time?

Attempt 1Attempt 1

“Mom, relax. I think I’ve got a plan here.” I calmed her in a soft voice. I explained to my mom that we would (write 1-2 sentences about a plan to escape the natural disaster and show characters doing the plan. Write 1 sentence showing the plan failing, without using the words that didn’t work.) Well, we were still in the line of the tornado, and I needed to devise a plan quickly!

Attempt 2Attempt 2

“Sara, why didn’t I think of this in the first place?” questioned Mom. She (write 1-2 sentences about a plan to escape the natural disaster and show characters doing the plan. Write 1 sentence showing the plan failing, without using the words that didn’t work.)

“Ok, so that idea sounded a lot better than it worked. Now what?” Mom exclaimed.

SolutionSolution

An idea crept into my head, and I was finally confident that I’d solved this pickle of a problem. (write 2-3 sentences about a plan to escape the natural disaster and show characters doing the plan.Write 1-2 sentences showing the plan working.) Relieved to be rid of that natural disaster debacle, I slumped into my seat and realized grumpily that I’d have to go back to school tomorrow.