Learn to write an essay - Information for kids

Some people love to write and it comes naturally to them.  Some people struggle with writing a story/essay and it helps to have some instructions/guidelines.

Below you will find guidelines that will help you to complete your story.  Read it, think about it and apply your knowledge to complete writing your story

               

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Instruction on what essay to write:

Write your own story about something that happened to you.  It can be something good or bad, exciting or scary.  It can be a real story or it can be a story from your imagination.

Your story must be at least 120-150 words long.

Guidelines to help you write

                                

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Step 1 - You are going to do some planning

You cannot build a house without a plan and it is the same with a story.  You need a plan on what you want to write about and how or in which order you will present it.  

You can write down your ideas, it does not have to be full sentences, it can just be words or phrases and then later you will use your planning and write it in full sentences.

Make a decision about the following

• The characters - the are the people or animals that are going to be in your story.  In this specific story you will be the main character (what happened to YOU), but you will choose the other characters that played a role in this story.
• The plot - what important events took place in your story, what is the order in which it happened?
• The setting - this is where the story takes place.  Is the whole story happening in one place or are you moving around?  What time or season is it?  What do you smell and see and feel etc.

Step 2 - Write your rough draft

You are now going to use your planning from step 1 and right a rough draft where you write down you main ideas and thoughts in sentences and add to the notes you made in step 1.  Do not worry to much about the sentence orders or spelling and punctuation yes, you will correct this in the next step.

For now you are trying to put down your ideas that you had in step 1 into a story.

Remember the following about a good story:

• A story needs a beginning - this is the part where you introduces the characters, the place where the story takes place and an introduction to what the story is about.  It is in this part where you must get the attention of the person reading it, that they want to continue reading.
• In the middle of the story you are going to develop it further - build up some suspense, let the people wonder or laugh and wonder how the story will end.
• The end is like the end of a movie - here you will give explanations on what happened to the characters, how a problem was solved, was there a happy ending of all and how did it happen.

Step 3 - Look at your story again and correct what you need to

In this step you will refine your story, which means you are going to correct spelling errors, add the correct punctuation marks, move sentences in different orders if you need to.  This is like marking and correcting your own work.

DO NOT hand in untidy work or something you just rushed through to get done.  You will not be able to write a decent story that way - you need to think, write, check, correct.

                                   

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You can use the checklist to see if you completed the instructions in the beginning

• Did I write about a main character?
• Is the plot (what happens) interesting?
• Is the setting (place) clear and described so the reader knows where the story takes place?
• Did I check my grammar and punctuation
• Do I like the story I wrote?

Do not see writing a story or an essay as a punishment - we all have an imagination and there is nothing wrong with using yours.  So let your imagination go, jot down a few ideas and turn it into a story.  Take your time to think about it, there is no time limit.

The more you practice your writing, the better and easier it will get.

Watch the video for extra tips on writing an essay.

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