Editing the Story Structure

In this activity, you'll edit the structure of the story itself to make it your own story.
  1. If your project isn't open already, open your "Super Short Stories" project by choosing "Open" from the Snap! File menu (File menu button).
  2. Right-click the super short story block, and select "edit…" from the menu that appears.

Just as in the plural block, the super short story hat block at the top shows you the structure of the block that will be visible from the outside, including the name of the inputs (job, action, number, and plural animal).
super short story, job: (job) action: (action) number: (number #) plural animal: (plural animal)
As before, the code inside the yellow report block controls what is reported when the super short story block is run. These inputs have already been dragged into the code for the block.
report (join ('The happy ') (job) (' sings through the parks and ') (action) (' over ') (number) (' yellow ') (plural animal))

  1. Talk with Your Partner Discuss the code inside the report block and how it works to create the output of super short story.
  2. For example:
    1. Story: Fifteen students are in the park.
    2. Words to vary: fifteen, students, park
    3. Variables: number, plural people, place
    Design your super short story on paper:
    1. Write out a single-sentence story. You can write your own or use a line from a song, a poem, or something else.
    2. Choose 3-5 words that you want to vary.
    3. For each circled word, write the name of a variable (category) to describe the words that could go there.

: Variables
Revisit how to do this better for the middle school level. --MF, 7/23/23

Block inputs (such as job, action, number, and plural animal) are a type of variable because the value that they provide to the join block varies based on what is typed into the input slots of the super short story block.

Should this mention that block/script local is different from sprite local? -bh 2/6/22

  1. You learned how to create a new block in Activity 5: Creating a Block.

    You learned how to edit an existing block on Activity 2: Editing a Block.

    Decide whether you want to edit the super short story block or create your own new block. If creating your own block, make the new block now.
  2. Either way, set up the hat block inside the Block Editor by adding your variables and labels for them. For example, you might want your hat block to look something like this:
    super short story, number: (number) people: (people) place: (place)
    Editing, Adding, and Removing Labels and Variables in the Block Editor
    • To edit a label or variable: Click the label or variable, change it to your variable name, and click "OK".
    • To add a label or variable:
      1. Click the plus sign where you want to add something. The plus sign might be invisible until you hold the mouse pointer there.
        hat block showing only one plus sign
      2. To add a label, choose "Title text," or to add a variable, choose "Input name."
      3. Type your variable name and click "OK". (You might want a colon in the label as in the examples.)
    • To remove a label or variable: Click the label or variable and choose "Delete."
  3. https://piazza.com/class/h8yx482idav52y?cid=3568
    Set up the text and drag in the variables to tell your story using a join block inside the report block. For example, yours might look something like this:
  1. To make the color match, choose the "Lists" as the palette in the block editor.
    Make your own random blocks for your story. For example:
    random name { report (item (random) of (list ('Maria') ('Omar') ('Kenji') ('Pablo') ('Kai'))) }
  2. Use a line from a song or a poem to inspire a story that uses variables. For example, you might change the song "Mary had a little lamb" to use a random name and a random animal:
    song marker, name: (random name) animal: (random animal) reporting 'Pablo had a little elephant'
    song maker, name: (name) animal: (animal) { report (join (name) (' had a little ') (animal)) }
In this activity, you changed the labels and variables in the super short story block to match the categories in your own story and edited the structure of the story to make it your own.