The purpose of this study is to investigate the influences of a six-stage story structure (4S) approach on elementary students' story production. To this end, the 4S approach was developed and realized in the form of paper-based and digital storybooks based on scaffolding theory. Specifically, the students learned the six-stage story structure…

In this research, creative writing of 4th grade students in terms of children's gender, attendance of a keeping a diary, mother's educational background, father's educational background and the number of books read were examined. The sample of this study consisted of 4th grade students. It was drawn from 6 primary schools in the city of…

The authors compared the discourse of 100 Israeli preschool teachers with a group of children during three book-sharing contexts: reading, reconstruction, and telling. During telling and reconstruction, the teachers used more utterances and questions and referred more to concept of book and to the illustrations. During reading, they referred more…

Forty middle-class American mothers and their preschool children were observed in a narrative activity which involved telling a story using the Berenstain Bears Play Set as a stimulus. The goal of the study was to examine the presence of story grammar elements in both maternal and preschool narratives. In addition, the study sought to explore the…

Discusses how teachers can build upon childrens' natural sense of story, identify good books to serve as models of story elements and structure, and highlight the worth of an author's or illustrator's techniques of story craft as models for improved student writing. (SR)

Illustrates the elements of story structure (beginning, middle, and end) by discussing excerpts from children's literature. Provides an annotated bibliography of picture books for each element, elementary classroom activities, and writing exercises. (PEN)

Encourages teachers to share appropriate information about books and reading with parents in order to influence storybook reading in their students' homes. (MG)