Today my boys from yesterday worked independently but with the easi-speak to review what their ideas were. It was great to see them so involved in their writing. When they came back to conference with me they were reflective about their writing. They decided their fairy tale was sounding rather spooky and more like a scary movie. We discussed ways in which they might change it. We also looked at other fairy tales that might have caves in them to help guide them with their actual story line and message. I read them Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. They could see some similarities with their setting and thought it might be good to use some of the ideas from this story but with a New Zealand theme to it.
We also reflected on why they thought their story was developing so quickly, what was helping and what else they might need to do. Some comments were "the easi-speak was good because we could just keep telling our story and we didn't have to stop and write", "the plan was good with all of the brainstorm ideas - it meant that we could look at the keywords and come up with other ideas". "We liked it that we didn't make a mess in our books because of our spelling". "It was good to make up a story together because we could use all of our ideas and make them better together. We didn't have to think up the whole thing on our own". "I liked it that I could hear my own ideas on the easi-speak".
I noticed some of the children were having difficulty thinking about their story problem and message. We had had a discussion yesterday about what direction they wanted to take in their fairy tales. Some wanted to write their own others wanted direction, so as a guide I have suggested they choose a fairy tale that has some similarities to their plan, use its message but use a New Zealand theme and animal characters ie tuatara, kiwi etc. This seems to have helped them refocus their writing.