Rory's Story Cubes

Diarmuid Moran, a primary school teacher, explored the use of Rory’s Story Cubes® to enhance learning in the classroom. Read his response after 3 days, along with some stories that his class created.

“I used the story cubes on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the week after St. Patricks Day. The class loved them and were excited about using them to write a story.

Day 1 – Rory’s Story Cubes for Creative Writing in Groups

Before showing them or using the cubes I told the class that we were going to do some creative writing. I told them that I wanted them to write a story with a beginning, middle and an end and basically told them to start. I gave them about ten mins to do this – just to see what they would come up with. Of course they were stumped, a few did come up with a few ideas and read their stories to the class. We discussed how they found the task. I did this just to illustrate to the children that it can sometimes be difficult to formulate their ideas to come up with an original idea.

I gave each table group the story cubes and said that we were going to use them as a tool to help us gather ideas to write a story. I allowed them a few minutes to look at the pictures and decide how we could use them. A few of the children who go out to the Special Needs teacher had already used them and were able to explain to the class how they used them, something they don’t often get to do.

I got the children to put the cubes back in the box while I demonstrated how I have used them. I went through the whole process of rolling the cubes, selecting the one I wanted to start with and telling a story using the cubes. I had photocopied a planning sheet and enlarged it to A3 to show how I was going to use it to plan the story before writing it.

I gave each group a planning sheet, (with an A4 sized tray for them to throw the cubes into to stop them rolling all over the floor) and told them that they could use the cubes to plan their group story. I said that they could appoint a scribe to draw the picture from the cube and to fill in the planning sheet, but that everyone in the group must have a go at selecting a cube and contributing to the story.

I went around to check how they were getting on and to help steer some groups. They very much got the idea, but as was expected they were taking the images too literally. I got each group to tell their story to the class with everyone in the group talking about at least one part of the story.

That was one lesson and I collected in the planning sheets.

Day 2 – Using Rory’s Story Cubes for Individual Story Writing

The next day I demonstrated how by using the cubes I could tell a story without always directly mentioning the image on the cubes. This was to try to get the children to use the images to express how they felt or what else an image could represent. I told them that they were going to use their group plan to write individual stories. I said they were allowed to alter their stories from the story they had told yesterday, but they had to use the same images in the same order. Quite a few of the children got their stories completed, but a number of them have to be finished.

Day 3 – Understanding Concepts

With only a handful of children in on Thursday (half day), I got a few of them together to tell me stories using the cubes and I wrote them down as they were telling them.

Story 1: Decimals

Told by 3 girls

Cubes Rolled: Alien mask, shooting star, learner sign, fire, scales, wand, arrow, sheep, rainbow

“This man hates decimals. His child got decimals for homework and he had to help her. He felt that decimals were a bit alien to him. He wished upon a shooting star that he would be able to understand decimals. He felt that he was a learner and he needed to learn much more about decimals. Having been granted his wish, there was a fire burning inside him. He couldn’t wait to try it out in school. As if by magic he found that decimals weren’t so difficult after all. His child came home and said that they got all the homework correct and that all the answers were right on target. Dad felt all warm and cosy inside because he was able to help his child do their homework. He felt it was the end of the rainbow.”

Diarmuid’s Comments: With three children taking it in turns to add to the story here it does switch a bit between home and school, but it is clear they are finding decimals a bit difficult, and so too apparently is dad. I like the way they have used the cubes to express feelings rather than just taking the images literally.

Out of the three girls telling the story, one much more in the driving seat and directing where the story was going. It was interesting that the problem of decimals did come to a resolution. I’m hoping that perhaps decimals aren’t as difficult for them now as perhaps they were at the beginning of the topic. It does have a positive outcome which indicates that they feel they can get to grips with decimals if they haven’t already. An interesting story none the less.

Story 2: The Story of Saint Patrick

Told by 10 year old girl

Cubes Rolled: Footprint, sheep, scales, rainbow, alien mask, learner sign, arrow, fire, wand

“St. Patrick was walking a difficult path in his life. He was on a hillside looking after sheep. He needed some money and decided to sell some of his belongings. He found himself at the end of a rainbow on an alien planet. He did some research about Christianity. He followed his instinct and a fire burning inside him. It felt magical. From that moment on he decided to follow Jesus teachings and spread Christianity through out Ireland.”

Diarmuid’s Comments: This girl needed some assistance trying to interpret the images and weave them into the story. She does begin to use the images a bit more widely but at times she does take them a bit too literally.
Summary

I enjoyed using the cubes with the class. I feel that with further use, the children will be a bit more receptive to the images and use them more creatively rather than always literally.

Diarmuid Moran is a Primary School teacher with Holy Child Primary School, which is located just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland.