Children have such inventive imaginations! When given a topic to write about, they often come up with many ideas and their stories can go on and on and on...

Long stories with many details and twists and turns can be exciting and enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, they also can be confusing, drawn out and disconnected.

Organizing story ideas before starting to write helps a child to "get a grasp" of his story. It allows him to jot down ideas of how the beginning will start and to think through what events will happen next. Organization makes a child think through his complete story before starting to write any of it.

Children often have great story starters and story endings but the middle, "meat of the story", may be too condensed or missing entirely. When a child completes a story organizer it forces him to think of the middle of his story. It allows him the freedom to expand on the middle section and not rush to the ending. Organizers help children recognize the importance of the "meat of their story."

Organizing story ideas can take many forms. Most commonly, children write notes on a story web or graphic organizer. These notes summarize the important points in a story's beginning, middle and end. Attached to the story web or organizer are areas for students to note details and descriptions to include in each section.

It is important for students to understand that organizers are for jotting ideas and notes, not for writing out complete sentences. An organizer needs to keep a child focused and help him think through his story and should not be too time consuming or labor intensive.

For most students, completing an organizer or story web should take 5-10 minutes. Then, the student will use the organizer to guide him as he writes out his rough draft. This can be the hardest step for most writers.

Teachers need to model how to go from completed organizer to rough draft. Using an overhead projector, complete a story organizer with students, then "read the organizer" as if it were a rough draft. For example, pretend the main idea written on the organizer said, "Tigers finally win state championship". Note that this is not a complete sentence so when writing the rough draft, the writer must now make it into a sentence. The opening sentence might read, "Last night the Tigers finally achieved their goal of winning the state championship!" Or the sentence might read, "After years of struggling, the Tigers finally won the state championship!" Or it might read, "Did you ever think the Tigers would win the state championship?"

Have fun with this part of the writing process! It is always fun to hear the variety of different ways students create sentences from notes. It is also a great time for teaching sentence structure. Remind students that sentences might start with a phrase or might be written as a question or exclamation.

Once the opening sentence is written, move to the next part of the organizer and write the beginning of a story. Make sure that students include all the details listed on their organizer in each part of their story. Most organizers have 2-3 blank lines under each section for students to list details or particular adjectives or verbs they want to include in their story.

Continue working through the organizer until all parts of the story are complete and all details are included. Remind students to finish their story with a catchy, creative ending sentence. Look back at the first part of the organizer and reword it into a closing sentence.

Organizers make brainstorming, planning and writing easier for students. They give students a place to think through their ideas. Organizers make teaching writing easier and more concrete for teachers. Start organizing today!

Alma Ammons Hoffmann is a former schoolteacher for grades K, 1,2,4 and 5, she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of North Carolina, with concentration on Early and Intermediate Education. She also has earned a Masters of Education degree from Meredith College, focusing on Elementary Education and Reading K-12 . Ms. Hoffman is an expert on developing writing lessons and teaching paragraph writing. http://www.writemorestuff.com/