18. Composition: stories from a picture

The lesson, step by step

1. Review

   Ask your child to say a sentence that lists three things, with the commas in the right places.

2. Look at the picture

   Study the picture together. The book asks:

   Tell what these children are doing. Give them names.

   Let your child make up names and say what each child is doing.

3. More questions

   Ask the book's other questions: whose home the children are at, how old the little girl with the basket might be, and how much older the boy is. Accept any answer your child can explain.

4. Choose a story

   Let your child choose one of the book's prompts:

   Write a story about three children that played at keeping shop one afternoon.

   Write a description of your play-house at home.

   The book also suggests a visit to a cousin in the country, and three girls left at home one afternoon.

5. Write it

   Plan aloud first: who, where, what happened first, then, at the end. Then write five to eight sentences.

6. Read and check

   Your child reads the story aloud. Check capitals, end marks, and commas in lists.

7. Use it today

   Tell someone in the family the story at dinner.