Creative Writing Story Boards

1. Students draft an original story with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. After it has been edited, there are many more decisions to make! Students choose which characters or scenes they want to illustrate. Pick a page size for the book and make textured crayon rubbings for the background or the characters.
2. With Crayola Scissors, students cut a recycled file folder into the same size as the book page. Sketch the characters (or the background) on the file folder. Concentrate only on the basic shapes. Leave empty spaces between them. This will become the rubbing template to make the story pages.
3. Cover the art area with recycled newspaper. Use Crayola Texture It! Tempera Mixing Medium and paint brushes to fill the shapes. Dab the medium thickly inside the shape. Air-dry the medium overnight.
4. Fold or cut construction paper for the inside pages of your book. Write the words that go on each page, leaving plenty of space for the illustrations.
5. Lay the first page of the story on the rubbing template. Use Crayola Twistables® or Crayons to color over each shape. Use closely related colors within the shape to add shading and highlights. Press harder at the edges so the shapes really stand out. This crayon-rubbing technique is called frottage.
6. Make more rubbings to illustrate all of the other pages. Vary their position, the colors, and other details so each page is unique.
7. Finish illustrating the story pages with Crayola Pip-Squeaks Markers. Add details to the background and characters. When putting marker over crayon, it's called crayon resist.
8. Students design covers for their book with oak tag. Hold the pages in place between the covers. Punch holes for the binding. Loop yarn through the holes and tie. Students read their books to the class, younger students, their family or friends.

LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

LA: With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and their own clearly.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Students may choose to work independently, in teams of two, or in small groups to produce their first story and book. Once everyone has published, have students swap books and read the original stories to another classmates, discussing the story and illustrations. Have students write a comment to the author(s) about the story and its illustrations.

The art technique used to create the story boards can be adapted to create cards, invitations, or 3-D illustrations for science, history, and other subjects.

Arrange a time when older students can read their original stories to younger students.