Story cubes
One way of writing stories when you lack of ideas is using story cubes. Randomly you may find inspiration and different elements to include in a story. Obviously, we may have physical dice, but two great alternatives are this website or this one.
Here, you may choose the quantity of dice you want to use to create your story. Then, students decide to use the images in the order they want and combine them to create different stories. Even using the same stories, the results may be quite different.
It's a good idea to work in pairs, but it can also be used individually.
You may encourage students, too, to use different tenses and different vocabulary, adapted to the genre of the story (adventure, horror, science fiction, historic, romantic...). I particularly thought they could write poems, dialogues, short stories, descriptions, with or without many characters...
After identifying the images and creating a short plot, students write their projects in different digital formats, using word processors, slide programmes or any other digital tools.
In this post you can read the results. They were made by 2nd ESO students (aged 13-14 years old).
A day on the beach
It was friday, my mother told me that I had to do the dishes and iron the clothes.
It was very hot. I didn’t have a fan. I went to the beach with my friends and we played game and do exercise. Tom brought food and drink and Samanda brought balls of football.
On the beach, we all went for a swim, but it was forbidden, due to bad weather and waves.
Night came. We had to use flashlights to come back home.
It was very beautiful we see all the stars in the sky.
At 9 in the evening I was already home. It was an entertaining day and fun.
One day I went cinema with friends and we watch a film called the sword of King Arthur.
When the lights after the movie went on, I saw a window with a shadow. The window was open and with Greek letters had written a sentence.
Fortunately, in school I study Greek letters and I was able to decipher that unfamiliar sentence.
I decided to leave my friends behind and enter that unknown window. When I entered, I could read that mysterious sentence that said:
ΉΣЯΣ ӨПᄂY ƬΉΣ ΉΣЯӨΣƧ ΣПƬΣЯ
ᄃΛPƬΛIП ΛMΣЯIᄃΛ
Translation
Here only the heroes enter
By- Captain America
|
When my eyes started to see, I saw a person with a mask,with an ax in his hand and pointing with a gun. At that moment I heard the noise of a bird, I think it was a horn, I was very scared and I started running aimlessly.
I left the person with the mask behind .
But when I was trying to found the window, I saw a bishop with a cross hanging from the neck, and in the hand a stick with a hanging bag.
I was finally able to escape from that through the window. My friends were waiting for me very worried outside because they did not know where I was.
RIIIING ....
The alarm of the clock rang
Everything was a dream.
Carnival
It was Carnival. I was wearing a great mask on my face and it was difficult to recognise me. Before wearing my mask, i decided to boil an egg and the TV was on.
The newsreader said that a war had started in Burma. They land lot of rockets, and in one of it have destroyed the two most popular monuments of Burma, that they were in the royal castle of the white flag i was feeling terrify.
Before that new’s appears another one, of a stolen with a blade in one of the pyramids, but the police don’t know what they have stolen, but they suppose that is a important and old document.
When the new’s had finished my egg was ready to eat, so i had dinner and then i went to the ``2017 carnival party´´ with my mask.
A trip to Africa
All started with a queen👑 of Africa🌍, she discovered that she was a distant relative of Tutankhamun💀 . She decided to go to Egypt by plane✈️, when she arrived to Africa she bought the train ticket🎫 and went to King’s Valley, where Tutankhamun was.
She was in front of the of Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus and when it was open she could see that who was there wasn’t Tutankhamun! It was a demon’s mask👹, a terrible demon’s mask. She was really surprised and she went to the police by taxi, but, while they were in the highway🛣️ they found a wild pig🐗. They stopped, she got out off the taxi and as soon as she was out a paper plane 📑 arrived to her. She opened the paper plane and she read it:
“Hi majesty, I stole the Tutankhamun sarcophagus, if you want it back you have to meet me in front of the pyramid, you have to go ALONE. If you’re not alone I won’t give you the sarcophagus. - Anonymous demon.”
She went to the pyramid and as the note said, the anonymous demon was there, but now he was there in front of her with a gold trident🔱 (probably he stole it from somewhere). She faced him and said:
- Are you gonna give the sarcophagus?
- No, because I know you’re not alone.
- What? I’m alone, what are you saying?
- I know you called the police.
She stared at him surprised.
- How did you know?
- I know everything.
She smiled and said:
- You don’t know anything.
And as soon as she said it, two helicopters came behind the demon and they ran to him. They arrested him and they took the weapon and the mask. His face looked familiar to her, how she didn’t know it? He was his brother!
- Why are you doing this to me brother?!
- Because I wanted the reward before you had it! You already had the heritage! Mom and dad spoiled you too much, I deserved at least one thing, don’t you think?
- Why didn’t you tell me that? You’re my brother we could talk!
- I was afraid about what you were going to say!
- Now it’s too late, goodbye brother.
THE LUCKY
One day a soldier ascended from rank they bought him the keys of a car. Being an inexperienced person, it took him a long time to use the handbrake and hit some stairs and he was impaled on a stick.
The hospital was admited. When in critical condition decided to hang on a rope.
I was born in 1966 in Greece. My parents were very nice. I had no brothers or sisters, so my life was very boring sometimes.
One day I was doing a puzzle with my family in a greenhouse because in the town there was a war. People were throwing swords at each other, they were fighting bravely and dangerously. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any shields.
Suddenly we saw an octopus tentacle that the sailors brought of the sea in front of the music center that one woman plays very good the lira instrument.
We quickly left the greenhouse and gave him a vaccine for his tentacle. Then we returned to the town and we see a lot of trunks, all the trees were down! And only remain stones, we think a fire will happen.
Long, long ago
In 1492 there were some wars going in Europe. Christopher Columbus took thee ships and decided to find the Indian territories. At the time, there were lots of illnesses, too, as the Black Death. Doctors had to walk with masks on their faces..
Jeanne and Martine lived in the small city of Bologne, in the north west of Italy. One day they went for a walk, in the street they saw a doctor throwing things in the been and they answered why he was wearing a mask? The doctor didn’t pay attention to they but Martine and Jeanne insist to his listen answer, but when she saw that the doctor was very moody, they continued straight on to her houses.
At night they went back with a chandelier to the been that the doctor threw the bag. They only saw bones of rabbits that doctors had given to sick to eat, everything looks normal but they think that there was anything stranger in these hospital. So they decided to visit the hospital and discovered one thing of the doctor.
They discover that the doctor was a murder, that when he killed a sick person, he left them with a hat and flowers in the sides. They knew it because when Martine an Jeanne went to the hospital they saw him killing a sick person, so they escape of the hospital and called to the police.
When the police knew he went to the hospital and asked for him, they went to look for him and after looking for the solution, they thought that the best punishment was to torment him.
A strange monster
This story happens many years ago when I Was a young boy with only 10 years old.
I was a good day at the middle of the summer .My father and my mother were very happy because I go to a school trip for three days with all my friends of the school . When I got into the bus I saw the a horrible thing , Mr.Dayly ’s tie (he was the best teacher that I had but his taste to dress It was horrible ) and after that the bus started moving .
One hour later at the middle of the way the driver decided listened some music and he took a cassette from the glove compartment and he put into the radio . Five minutes later a caravan passed next to the bus and It stopped in a café next to the road and the driver of our bus did the same. The bus stopped and Mr.Dayly said that we could go to the toilet and in the distance before going to the toilet I saw a farmer in his farm sucking up the cow’s breast milk . In his look I saw a old man that had lot of scare and he wanted to escape from that horrible place but he couldn’t . I didn’t take importance to this success and after that I went to a small shop that have sold cashs boxes to remember your holidays but I didn’t want to buy anything.
All the persons got into the bus included me and we continue the journey to arrive to the hotel , When we were until to half an hour to arrive We saw a big statue of a unicorn nex the road and at the moment the bus stopped in front of the statue , but we didn’t know why . The driver got out of the bus to looked what happened and at the same time that the driver got out the bus something or someone took his . Mr.Dayly didn’t know what happened and the first thing that he did it was close the bus door .
After that , all my friends and I saw a strange monster with a strange helmet next to the bus that had the driver in her hands and with lot of blood in his nails (we thought that all this blood it was from the driver but we didn’t know ) . This monster wanted to enter to the bus but we didn’t want to know looking what happened to the driver when he opened the door and the monster took he.
Finally Mr.Dayly took his mobile phone and he phoned to the police but the police thought that it was a joke but isn't and the police hung up the call . We were alone , and all my friends included me thought what thing that will happened until I saw the old man that I saw in the farmer coming fast by car with tommy gun with the other. He opened fire to the monster but the man didn’t kill he but the monster started running and the old man behind he. The old man began again starting shutting but the monster enter to a strange nave (I Thought that it was a spaceship ) and he escaped .The most important thing it was that the old man save our lives .
N E W S P A P E R tuesday 23th 2015
THE NEWS OF THE DAY
All we know the disappearance of Rachel Henson but nobody knows the true history. Rachel Henson was found the Friday 13th of February under a bridge inside a thumb but nobody knew nothing about her death.
The forensics worked hard to investigate what happened to that beautiful girl but they did not found nothing. Finally a big woman told to the press all that strange history.
All this dramatic history starts on Wednesday 11th, Rachel was lost in the north of Canadà inside a deep forest, she was really tired but she had to leaved from there because she was very scared.
Rachel found a paw print in the ground and she decided to follow it, she arrived to a lived farm,the farm was next to a small lake, it was dark and she couldn’t see nothing but the only thing she could see were some paddles and a very heavy viking helmet. Suddenly a dracula appeared on a horse and gave her a poisoned glass, suddenly the girl fell to the ground in an instant. Then a vampire appearedwith a saw and cut the girl’s head.
We don’t know more information about Reachel’s disappearance but we promise you that we will report you soon about the situation as soon as possible.
The evil elf
Last year, I went to Mexico🌮 with friends, and it happened a lot of stranger things.
We were on the beach eating pizza🍕, when an evil elf👽 issued from the sea covered with algae🌾. We were the only people who were on the beach, and the only ones who saw it. He come back to the sea but, before, he pour a strange liquid on the bank. We alert of the strange liquid to the authorities immediately . They told us that it was a radioactive liquid⚠, and we told they that we saw that evil elf but they couldn't believe that.
The next day we went to a restaurant under an imitation of the arch of Triumph🏛, and then we went to the windmills🌫. There we saw the evil elf again, but that time he got closer and he told us that he came from the space🌌 and he fell on a ship near a cliff⚓. I removed of my pocket a safety pin📎 and I gave to him, I told that it was a proof that he had been on the earth.
by Abril
