The children have been brainstorming moments that have really mattered in their lives and have been jotting the ideas into their "tiny topic" notebooks. These notebooks are used as "idea files" to help generate small moment stories. At home, if your child thinks of a memorable idea for a story, please ask her/him to write it down and then to write/paste it in her/his tiny topic notebook in school. Once the children have developed their story ideas, they share their thoughts with their learning buddy and then plan their stories in their booklets. (see photos)
Lucy Calkins says, ""Today, tonight, tomorrow-and forever!-be on the lookout for small things in your lives that could make memorable stories and catch them! Write them down! Be like Jane Yolen; [author of "Owl Moon" and more] be a writer. Listen and look closely and don't let everything pass you by. You'll be able to write with details because you'll live with details. Start now!"
(taken from "Lessons from the Masters; Improving Narrative Writing" Lucy Calkins, Amanda Hartman, Julia Mooney Published by Heinemann)