Students learn to:

• Create original stories, scenes, and responses
• Develop narrative ideas from literature
• Write dialogue and narration
• Explore first- and third-person points of view
• Develop characters, settings, and events
• Use story details and vocabulary in original writing
• Enrich and expand ideas as the writing advances

Writing Beyond the Story invites young writers to step inside the world of Better Together and imagine what might happen beyond the pages they have read.

Through creative, chapter-by-chapter writing experiences, students explore characters, conflicts, perspectives, and possibilities while developing the skills that help stories come alive. They write from different points of view, create dialogue and narration, develop characters and settings, explain ideas, and use details from the story as springboards for their own writing.

Each activity builds naturally from the events and characters of Better Together, giving students a meaningful reason to write while strengthening comprehension, critical thinking, and written expression.

Part of the Better Together instructional program, Writing Beyond the Story connects literature, writing, critical thinking, social and emotional learning, and character education – while encouraging students to discover where their own imaginations can take the story.