Bronxville Students Share Personal Narrative Stories

BRONXVILLE, NY — Bronxville Elementary School second-graders, who have been studying personal narratives and writing stories from their own life experiences, shared their pieces of work with family members during the recent annual writing celebration. Each student had prepared a story, complete with a cover page and detailed illustrations to share with teachers and parents.

While the end product was purposefully not polished because it contained crossed out words, revision strips used to add more detail and edits for capital letters and punctuation marks, the students’ stories showed the thinking and writing process that went into their work, according to a spokeswoman.

“The purpose of our writing celebration was to emphasize the effort that goes into the process of planning, writing and revising stories,” said Justine Rutherford, a second-grade teacher and curriculum leader.

The students began their writing unit by examining the work of master authors Jane Yolen and Angela Johnson and mimicked their craft in their own stories. The young writers practiced making comparisons, repeating important lines and bringing their characters to life through actions, as well as internal and external dialogue.

During their next course of study, the students will delve into nonfiction reading and writing.

“The students will be writing nonfiction books on topics in which they are experts,” Rutherford said. “During our personal narrative unit, they practiced writing about what they know, and this theme continues in the next unit, just in a different genre. The narrative unit also focused heavily on planning a story across many pages. This skill is reinforced during the nonfiction unit as the students decide which part will go on which page.”

Photo caption: Bronxville Elementary School second-graders shared their personal narrative stories during the annual writing celebration. Photo credit: Bronxville Union Free School District.