An adventure story

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Home : 2007 : January : 5

An adventure story
By trexteach

After we read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, I have my students write their own adventure story. I give them a graphic organizer/rubric that includes sections where they write their notes on the following:
-their original destination
-why
they were going there
-one object that they had with them while traveling (ex. pellet gun, knife, book, box of crackers) and why they had it. Within the story, they must tell how they used this object to help them survive.
-mode of travel (ex. plane, hot air balloon, train)
-a description of what type of disaster happened on the way (ex. accident, bad weather--no

one is allowed to survive with them)
-a description of where they ended up (ex. island, desert, mountains)
-what three objects they found once "stranded" (see descriptions below), where and how they found them, and how they used those objects to help them survive
-how they went about finding food, water, shelter
-how long they were "stranded"
-how they were eventually rescued (or if they weren't)

Three objects: In order for the kids to describe what three things they happened to find while "stranded", they had to pull three slips of paper out of a container. Each slip of paper had a random object written on it. (ex. shoe, sweeper bag, toothbrush, dictionary, mirror, flashlight, bucket, wire, broom). I explained to them that they would have to include how they used each object to actually help them survive. After they pulled the slips, they read aloud their objects to the class. The kids absolutely love this part. They think the strange collections are funny. Then I give them time to brainstorm with a partner or two possible ways they might use each object.

Once students have written their thoughts/notes on the graphic organizer/rubric, they begin to write their stories. They always turn out great. I also have them publish them by creating a 3-D cover for the story.