Sea Stories

Time Multi-session

Age 7-10

Group Size 10-20

Tell a story about life on the open sea!

Storytelling encourages creative writing and practice of written language. It also helps children learn how to write clear sentences that develop a central idea, and how to be thoughtful about the audience and purpose of written material. And because this activity requires teamwork, children will have to clearly describe their ideas and synthesize them with their peers’ thoughts. This activity also gives children a chance to practice specific vocabulary, brainstorming and writing dialogue.

Preparation

Make sure that you have played Captain’s Coming before doing this activity. Gather as many materials as possible for making costumes and props.

Suggested Materials

Copy paper
Pens, pencils, markers, crayons, etc.
Lots of recycled material (foam, cups, cardboard, etc.), especially fabric
Tape, glue, glue guns, staplers, scissors and other tools for making props and costumes

Make it Matter

Opening Discussion

Ask your students if they remember the terms that they learned in Captain’s Coming. What do they think it was like to live as a sailor a long time ago? What do they think it is like now?

The Challenge

Can you write a short play about life on the sea?

Make it Happen

Doing the Activity

Divide your class into teams of 4-6 for this activity.
Hand out paper and pencils. Suggest a time limit for the plays. 5-10 minutes is a good range.
Tell teams that they will have to work together to write their story, and that the best way to start is to brainstorm. Brainstorming involves having everyone share their ideas for a good story, and then writing down all of those ideas. It is really important that you listen to all ideas when you are brainstorming—even if you don’t agree with them! Older students can designate a note taker, while younger students can simply talk it out rather than write—all teams will need the teacher to listen in occasionally to make sure they are on track. This brainstorming session should last 10–15 minutes.
After the brainstorming is done, students should spend 20-30 minutes (at least) writing their plays.

Make it Click

Let’s Talk About It

After teams have been writing for about 10 minutes, gather everyone together to talk about their process so far. What has been hard about creating their play? What has been easy? Have they come up with their basic story line? How about the names of their characters? Are all of their characters people, or are some animals or things? Where is their story set (on a ship, on an island, etc.)? When does their story take place (is it recent, does it take place a long time ago, etc.)? There are many questions that teams will need to consider—but don’t expect teams to have all of these questions answered yet. Just make sure to bring them up.

Make it Better

Build On What They Talked About

Have teams return to their plays to complete them. When their stories are done, you have several options:

You could have teams act out their stories right then and there, and that could be the end of the activity.
You could have teams conduct “rehearsals” by acting out their plays for the rest of the class. The class could then share their impressions or ideas. Make sure that any student who shares a thought says something that they liked about the play and something that they would change if they were writing it. Teams could then make changes to their play according to what they heard from their classmates.
Have students create costumes and props for the plays — this could take anywhere from one to a few sessions, and will result in a more dynamic performance for the rest of the afterschool and/or parents.

Suggestions

Collaborative writing like this is a process that requires real teamwork — the teacher’s job is to make sure that teams are working well together, that all roles are equitable (both the early roles like “writer”, “director”, “costume designer”, etc.; as well as the roles in the play), and that teams are considering the important elements like characters, storyline, dialogue, etc.
Students can play more than one role if their play calls for more characters than there are students in a team.