Personal Narratives

About Personal Narratives:

Personal narratives are generally the first type of writing that a child does.  Author's write about themselves and experiences that they have had, they have heard of, or that they have read about.  In order to make the experience come to life for the audience, these books often involve a lot of description, a lot of action, and a lot of dialogue.  (http://www.iss.k12.nc.us/writing/desc_p.htm).  These texts might be written in first person.  It can tell the audience about a single life event, or a story over the course of numerous daily routines.  (http://wiki.kdl.org/pmwiki.php/Main/PersonalNarrative).  

Personal narratives are very effective in the classroom.  They are really good at fostering both writing and reading.  Students are mostly successful at narrative writing because they know the most about their life and experiences so they are excited about telling people about it. Personal narratives are also fun for kids to read.  They tell the author's story and often times it is a story that children can relate to.  Often times, the story teaches the kids a lesson that the author learned.  Usually, the reading and the writing use of personal narratives can be linked together.  Students can learn about writing personal narratives by reading them.

 
Suggested Texts

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/kissing-han

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

ISBN#:  0756992990
Publisher: Perfection Learning
Year: 2010
Grade Level Equivalent: 3.3
Lexile Measure: 520L
Interest Level: PreK-1 

Themes:

• Confronting and Resolving Fears
• Back-to-School
• Experiences
• Parents

Main Ideas:

•  Story of a raccoon who faces his first day of school and needs reassurance.  
• Mother Raccoon comes up with a way of showing Baby Raccoon that she is always with him even when he can't see her.  
• By kissing his palm, Baby Raccoon can hold onto his mother's kiss.
• Whenever feeling like he misses his mom at school, he can place his palm on his cheek and feel his mother's love.
• Mother Raccoon assures him that the kiss won't wash off

Classroom Application:

• This book is perfect for children in their early years of school
• This would be good for students who miss their parents or struggle leaving them at the beginning of the school day.
• I know many teachers who have suggested this book to parents whose kids struggle going to school, and I have heard that it is successful.
• My little sister and brother struggled going to school in Kindergarten and 1st grade.  My mom used this book and it worked.  They did the kissing hand every morning before the bus came.  

Amen! by Christine Heim

Grade Level: upper elementary

• This short story is found online...here is a link to the location (note: there are also a number of other personal narratives included on the same page).  http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourElement.cgi?element_id=29018&tour_id=15574&category_id=24353
• This is a short personal narrative
• It is about a girl who is nervous about speaking in front of the class
• Good for a speech unit in a language arts class

Remember World War II: Kids Who Survived Tell Their Stories 

by Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson

Book Details:

• Grade Level: 6th
• Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books (June 1, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0792271793
• ISBN-13: 978-0792271796

Applying to ELA Common Core:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
• By reading this book, students should be able to identify a central theme and concept.  
• Through adequate teacher questioning, students should be able to form opinions about the content of this book as well.  If not opinion, they could at least state their personal feelings toward the war and how it effected people involved.

Overview of Content

• Starts before the war and talks about how it began in Germany
• Inserts of pictures and real artifacts
• Includes journal entries
• Talks about different parts of the war that isn't usually talked about in history class
• Moves to Pearl Harbor
• Good pictures
• Highly recommended
• Contains pictures and biographies of people who participated

 

Picture from Amazon.com

 

Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld

ISBN#: 0316035971

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Year: 2008

Reading Level: 5th Grade

Themes:

• Holiday
• Personal Experience
• Memory

 Main Ideas:

• Jerry Seinfeld uses this humorous book to tell his audience the memories he has of Halloween
• Some of the things he remembers include the cheap masks breaking, over-sized Superman costumes, wearing a winter coat over his costume, and trying to trick-or-treat when he was too old.
• This book is funny for people because we can relate to a lot of his experiences
• I think this is why the book is a 5th grade level, because of the humor and mocking nature of it.