Key features of a Learning Story:

• A more narrative approach to a child's experience
• Focuses on a child or a group of children
• Details their decisions and what happens because of those decisions
• Includes a lot of details
• Put learning in context
• Can be a great addition to parent conferences since they are especially easy to read

When Learning Stories are useful:

• When you want to create a detailed record of events that happened in the classroom
• When the context of the learning is important
• To complement a learning portfolio or work samples
• To turn your observations into something easily digestible by parents

Sample Learning Story:

Ellie is a very outgoing and engaging member of the class. Every morning, Ellie enters the classroom with her grandma and her sister Sarah. Often, she will play a silly game where she hides behind someone to pretend that she is not there. She will also usually come in with something to share about her ride in that morning, what her big brother Dave is doing, or a thought she had about the lesson the day before. One morning, after learning about butterflies, Ellie came in to share that she saw a butterfly in her backyard after school and it was landing on different flowers. After putting her things away, Ellie will give silly hugs and say goodbye. She will then often spend a few minutes sitting near her cubby or in the cozy corner having some quiet time before joining in at choices.