Examines current educational thinking about the development of children's writing, story structure and its functional components, and economy in writing. Strategies that teachers and teacher librarians can use to improve students' work are suggested, and an annotated bibliography of seven childrens' stories is provided. (eight references) (EA)

Students at Hauppauge Middle School are writing original children's stories and then telling these stories to preschool children. Before middle school students begin writing their stories, they participate in activities to help them develop a sense of their intended audience. As students write their stories, they work in small groups to discuss…

To encourage children's creative writing in a classroom setting, student teachers used two types of children's books as models: (1) a traditionally structured picture book in which the story maintains strong development of plot, setting, and characters as in "Peter Rabbit"; and (2) a predictable pattern book that develops a repetitive pattern as…