Entries Tagged 'All ages' ↓

Write Christmas Stories with a Twist!

What’s this? A ragged fir tree helps a stranger on a cold night? A weary homeless man discovers a wallet full of money outside a bakery? A bad-tempered candy maker finds a magic candy cane and disappears into a snow globe?

What kid wouldn’t love to write a holiday story filled with such hope, whimsy, or intrigue?

Award-winning WriteShop StoryBuilders card decks help to jumpstart a creative writing project by providing children with the basic elements of a story—character, character trait, setting, and plot—laying a foundation for a joyful writing experience with some clever surprises thrown in along the way.

During the holidays, use the Christmas Mini-Builder to occupy bored or antsy kids and teens with these fun writing prompts. You get 96 cards to download and print, along with lots of suggestions for writing games and activities.

A Mom’s Story

But don’t just take it from me! Here’s a snippet from an email I got just this morning!

I just wanted to write a quick thank-you note for the Christmas Mini-Builder! My daughter, who is 11, is dyslexic and she tends to write as little as she can get away with when assigned a task. I printed out the story cards today and let her loose and she has written three short stories so far — and it’s only 8:20 a.m.! ~Erin

Christmas Mini-Builder Is on Sale!

Save 25%! Now through December 15, the Christmas Mini-Builder is only $2.95, so grab yours now!

As holiday decorations come out and the tree or menorah takes center stage, children can become increasingly distracted, sidetracked, and fidgety in anticipation of upcoming seasonal celebrations.

Homeschooling doesn’t need to fall by the wayside during December! The holidays can be a great time to assign writing activities that focus on the festivities, allowing children to immerse themselves in the fun while encouraging productivity. This month, have your kids write a paragraph describing a holiday-themed process where they explain, in a step-by-step manner, how something is done.

Process Paragraph: Choosing a Topic

Help them pick a process that isn’t too involved or complicated. With younger or reluctant writers, it’s especially important to keep the number of steps to a minimum. Also, the more familiar children are with the process, the easier it will be to write about it.

Here are some ideas to get them started. They can explain how to:

• Wrap a present
• Make latkes
• Decorate the tree
• Bake gingerbread cookies
• Build a snowman
• Be a “Secret Santa”
• Set the table for dinner
• Create a handmade greeting card
• Make a holiday craft project
• Play the dreidel game
• String popcorn
• Make a paper “countdown” chain

Process Paragraph: Writing the Rough Draft

Once your kids have chosen a topic (and narrowed it down to a specific task, if necessary), walk them through a few simple steps to guide and direct them.

1. If possible, have them go through the process themselves before beginning to write. Take digital photos of them as they complete each step.
2. Provide a graphic organizer to help them break down the steps of the process and plan the composition. Here’s a simple one that’s especially good for elementary ages. Here’s one can be filled in on the computer. Or download a free lesson sample from WriteShop I (grades 6+) that includes a Process Planning Worksheet.
3. Next, have them begin to write the rough draft, explaining the most important steps first.
4. Teach them to use transition words such as first, second, third, next, then, finally, or last.
5. If the paper isn’t too long, or if the steps are too vague, they can expand each step by adding sub-steps, more detail, or colorful description.

Process Paragraph: Making an Instruction Manual

Edit the rough draft together to ensure the steps are logical and easy to follow, and check for spelling and punctuation errors.

To publish their how-to composition in a fun way, have your children create an instruction manual. Here’s how:

1. Invite them to choose the photos they want to use to illustrate the process. They will need to print out 4-6 pictures. Let them tape or glue each picture to the top half of a sheet of notebook paper, using a separate sheet for each photo.
2. Next, have them copy their corrected composition onto the sheets of notebook paper, writing the sentence or sentences that each photo illustrates.
3. Finally, encourage them to design and decorate a colorful cover, including a catchy title. Assemble the instruction manual and share with family members.

Activities like this will keep your children happily writing, even during the busiest time of year!

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr.

Yesterday, I gave some suggestions for ways to cultivate gratitude in your children’s hearts in Encouraging Thankfulness: Part 1. Here are a few more ideas to try.

Dear God

A joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful. ~Book of Common Prayer (1892)

Give your child a small spiral notebook or special journal in which to write prayers. Encourage her to express gratitude and thanksgiving as part of each prayer she writes. She can thank God for:

• Creation. I’m thankful for crisp snow, pink sunsets, autumn colors, grass and flowers, giraffes and snapping turtles.
• Provision. Thank You for our house, food, clothing, toys, books, pets, family and friends; for Daddy’s job; that Mom can stay home and teach us; for hot water, warm blankets, and comfortable beds.
• Gifts and talents. Thank You that I’m musical, athletic, smart. I’m a talented photographer. I’m good at building Legos, mowing the grass, baking. I know how to raise goats and plant a garden. I’m kind, loyal, faithful. I’m a hard worker. I can dance. I excel at computers, math, science. I love reading, writing, drawing, building with my hands.

Every day, help her look for ways to be thankful for big and little things. Find more ideas for keeping a Gratitude Journal.

Do Unto Others

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

Invite your children to make a list of things they can do to express gratitude to someone who has been kind to them or to show kindness to someone who needs it. Once the list is complete, have them act on at least one of them. Their list can include things like:

• Bake cookies.
• Make a handmade card.
• Mow the neighbor’s lawn.
• Obey the first time Mom or Dad askes me to do something.
• Do a favor without being asked.
• Do one of my brother’s chores just because.
• Invite Grandma over and make breakfast for her.
• Write a poem for my auntie because she’s so kind to me.
• Sponsor a child because I’m thankful I have a family.
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or food bank because I’m thankful I have food and a roof over my head.
• Fill a Christmas shoebox for a child who doesn’t have toys and treats, because I’m blessed to have so much.
• Be kind to someone who doesn’t deserve it because God does that for me.

Operation Beautiful

All that we behold is full of blessings. ~William Wordsworth

Gratitude doesn’t always mean saying “thank you.” Simply stepping out of self-centeredness and considering others’ needs and feelings is a form of gratitude, too.

Your child can make people smile or feel better about themselves by placing a sticky note somewhere random. Write uplifting thoughts, kind words, and encouraging quotes. I love Operation Beautiful for this!

Finally, don’t just save gratitude for Thanksgiving. Help your children look for ways throughout the year to express thanks, turning the focus outward. Everyone will be the better for it.

It’s Thanksgiving week. Around the country, we’re picking up our turkeys, baking pies, chopping aromatic vegetables for stuffing, and setting our prettiest table.

Even still, it’s hard to forget that we’re about to careen around the corner and crash right into December—that most commercial wonderful time of the year.

Do you feel like you’re walking on the edge of a knife, trying to maintain a thankful spirit in your home during the season of the “gimmees”?

You can cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your children, and Thanksgiving week is a great time to start. When the kids begin squabbling, acting selfish, or expressing entitlement, help them do a 180 and refocus, using one of these activities as a springboard.

Thank You For…

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~Marcel Proust

Writing a note of appreciation for a gift received seems obvious, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Who has made an impact on your children’s lives? Provide stationery and writing tools and have your kids think of deeper reasons they can express their thanks.

• Dad. Thank him for making you feel safe and loved, for working hard for your family, for playing football in the yard, for showing you how to fix a flat on your bike, for teaching you about God, for playing Monopoly with you.
• Mom. Thank her for being your teacher, for driving you to all your activities, for cooking tasty meals for your family, for showing you how to bake a chocolate cake, for helping you become kind and compassionate, for setting a good example.
• Grandparents. Thank them for things you often take for granted, such as coming to your soccer games or school performances. Thank them for holding a special place in your life, for encouraging, supporting, and loving you.
• Sunday school teacher. Thank her for caring about you, for teaching you about Jesus, for bringing donuts each week.
• Newspaper deliverer or postman. Thank him for delivering your mail or paper every day, no matter how hot or cold or rainy or snowy. Thank him for being a dependable worker.
• Pet. Thank your dog or cat for being faithful, friendly, loyal; for being a playmate; for providing companionship, entertainment, and smiles.

It’s Been Said

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Encourage your children to copy favorite quotes about gratitude and thanksgiving and pin them to a wall or bulletin board in their room. For starters, find gratitude quotes here and here. Then, have your kids try one of these ideas:

• Copy each saying using neatest penmanship.
• Write the quote on fancy paper using calligraphy or italic handwriting.
• Type it on the computer, choose an appropriate font, enlarge the text to fill the page, and print it on pretty paper.

Count Your Blessings

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. ~Estonian Proverb

Mount a large sheet of posterboard on the wall of your kitchen or family room, and keep a jar of colored markers nearby. Encourage your children to write things they’re thankful for, no matter how small.  Pre-writers can simply draw pictures on the posterboard.

Alternatively, make a stack of sticky notes available on which they can record their words of gratitude. Provide a centralized spot for these thankful thoughts, or simply let the kids pepper the house with notes. 

. . . . .

Gratitude is an amazing thing. It’s good for our health and well-being; it helps us choose contentment over want, self-centeredness, and entitlement; and it makes us easier to please. We can indeed be purposeful about helping our kids ditch their “me” mentality and become more others-focused.

Tomorrow I’ll share more ideas in Encouraging Thankfulness: Part 2.

~Kim

Has the boredom bug bitten your brood? Are you looking for a few ways to keep your kids writing while school’s out? Try these ideas for some summer writing fun.

1. Snapshot Storyboard

Take pictures of your child engaged in a fun activity such as swimming, making a craft, or climbing a tree. Print out the photos and have your child glue them on paper. Beneath each photo, your child can write a caption or sentence that explains what she’s doing (“I had so much fun sliding into the pool”) or adds an interjection (“Splash!”). Pre-writers can dictate their ideas to you while you write them down.

2. The Story within the Painting

With your children and teens, look through an art book, visit an art museum, or browse an online art collection such as the one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In particular, look for a painting that seems to tell a story. Once they find one they especially love, have them brainstorm a list of words, phrases, or ideas that the painting suggests. Then invite them to write a story that imagines what’s happening in the picture.

3. Best Memories

Sort through family photos with your children and have them choose a favorite that has lots of good memories associated with it. Invite them to write a story, reflection, or journal about the photo, focusing as much as possible on the sensory details—sights, sounds, smells, flavors, and textures—that made the day or event so meaningful.

4. New Endings

Gather a few picture books and read them aloud together—but don’t read the last few pages that reveal the ending. Instead, have the children write new endings. Pre-writers can dictate their ideas to you while you write them down. If your child is familiar with the story and can’t seem to think of new ways to end it, try reading a book that’s new to him. After he writes a new ending, compare the two versions over cookies and milk.

Older children and motivated writers might enjoy writing a new final chapter to a favorite novel.

5. Travel Brochure

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Have your children and teens design a travel brochure that highlights a favorite city, tourist spot, or other destination. Encourage them to use photos, illustrations, and maps. Make sure they include text to write details about the highlights or features of the place. What a great lasting souvenir!

Copyright 2011 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Are you uncomfortable with the idea of teaching your kids to write? Maybe you think you can’t teach writing because you never really learned yourself. Or maybe you’re a confident writer, but you don’t have a clue how to pass that on to your kids.

One thing I do know: Regardless of skill or background, you can model and teach writing with confidence. Even though you may not believe it—you really do know more than your children.

Why Model and Teach Writing?

Simply, it’s unfair to expect our children to do something that hasn’t first been demonstrated.

Modeling writing in front of your children matters, but be encouraged that you don’t have to be perfect or have all the right answers. As homeschool parents, like it or not, our job is to teach and model the process until our children get it. They need to see and hear us thinking through our ideas. It’s good for them watch us struggle to come up with a topic sentence or find the words to make up the lines of a poem. Why? Because they struggle too!

But let’s step out of writing mode for a moment.

Students learn geometry because you show them over and over how to do it, right? They rarely get it the first time. Or the second time. Or even third.

Imagine saying, “OK, Ryan, find the hypotenuse of this triangle. I’m not going to teach you different strategies to solve the problem. Just get started . . . and good luck!”

We’d never dream of throwing our kids to the math lion, yet when it comes to writing, we want to assign a topic and say “Go!” 

For whatever reason, we just expect them to write intuitively. It’s pretty silly, really, because there are many strategies and skills involved with writing a good paragraph or story.

K-2nd Grade

Model and teach through Guided Writing Practice to provide your young child with a daily, predictable, shared writing experience. Together, write several short sentences about simple, familiar topics such as animals, friends, the weather, or upcoming events.

During this time, you’re modeling important writing skills such as:

• Left-to-right progression
• Letter formation
• Correct spacing
• Punctuation and capitalization

Most importantly, Guided Writing gives your child the freedom to put together ideas without the limitations and fear of having to write them down himself.

A simple way to introduce writing skills is through predictable sentence starters. Young children thrive on repetition, so they’ll enjoy the consistency and routine of using the same sentence starter all week. Just draw out a different response each day.

Hello, _________.(Mommy, Jamie, Mittens)
Today is _________. (Tuesday, Friday, my birthday)
It is _________. (sunny, cloudy, foggy)
We are going to _________. (bake with Grandma, play Legos)
I think _________. (we will have fun, I will build a tower)

As your child’s writing skills increase, use your Guided Writing times to gradually introduce new concepts such as beginning, middle, and end; writing a friendly letter; or thinking of a problem and solution for a story.

3rd-5th Grade

This is often the point where moms drop off the grid: You go from nurturing the writing process to feeling guilty that you’re getting in the way of your child’s progress or creativity. Ironically, this is when most kids come to hate writing!

Instead, recognize that this is the phase of writing where you and your child can work together to produce the final project. Model and teach writing skills through examples and prompts. Keep things moving by continuing to do most or all of the writing, but share in the process. Because some of the work is yours and some is your child’s, it’s a collaborative effort. Let this free you instead of tether you to your guilt!

Middle and High School

Even if your teen is now working quite independently, you should still be modeling new writing skills and methods. As you work together, modeling helps familiarize her with the lesson’s expectations.

On a white board, demonstrate and teach writing skills through dialogues, prompts, and questions, but also show examples of the targeted writing. You and student should both contribute to the paragraph.

Again, you’re not modeling a polished final draft, you’re modeling the thinking process. When your teen heads off to write her own paper, your time together will have set the stage.

Stay Connected

At every age, your child needs your involvement in the writing process, not just to give editing feedback, but to instruct and model. Like teaching your child to make a bed, knit a scarf, or build a birdhouse, you remain involved until she is confidently and successfully progressing.

Collaborative writing takes time, too—to coax, encourage, ask questions, and discuss possibilities. Together, you and your child will grow comfortable with these writing sessions, and before you know it, you’ll watch her begin to apply the same thinking process when she works by herself.

So stay connected and involved. It’s crucial to your child’s writing success!

Copyright 2011 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved. 

Mariana Ashley joins me today as a guest blogger here at In Our Write Minds. Mariana writes for onlinecolleges.net.

Having homeschooled from age seven until about fifteen, I can say without reservation that the most important thing I gained during my homeschooling years was a love of reading. And I’m convinced that had I not been homeschooled, I would not possess the enthusiasm for reading that I have now.

Here are some tips based on my personal experiences reading at home:

1. Create a book culture at home.

You’ve heard the age-old saying “charity begins at home”? Actually, any life-long habit is always first established among your closest kin—the people you live and learn with every single day. As such, if you want your children to learn to love reading, they will have to see you reading often, too.

If you have a book collection in storage, take everything out and display your books properly. This sends a message that books are valuable and worthwhile! And when children are surrounded by books, you increase the chances that they’ll want to eventually read them.

2. Start by suggesting books based on movies.

I know, I know. The book is always better. But if your child is already familiar with a character or plot after having seen the movie, her interest will be more greatly piqued. This is especially helpful for children who find reading boring or whose attention span is so short they have trouble getting through a book.

3. Make oral reading a tradition in your household.

For many families, story time ends when children reach age five or six; when they don’t have trouble falling asleep anymore; or when other forms of technology begin to entertain them. First, don’t stop reading aloud! That rich bonding time continues to send the message that reading—in all its forms—is held in high esteem in your home. Keeping that oral tradition alive is also important for further developing reading, writing, and comprehension skills.

And don’t forget to include other oral activities. When I was homeschooled, my parents had us memorize poems and short prose pieces, which we’d recite out loud. This is a great tool for helping young children acquire an ear for good writing, and it gives students of all ages a chance to “marinate” in passages of great literature and poetry.

4. Turn it into a game.

Many schools offer reading incentive programs or competitions in which children earn “points” for reading books. You can set up a similar game yourself. For example, my parents assigned points based on book length. Books that were longer or of greater difficulty earned us more points. Whoever had the most points at the end of the month got to spend a day out with mom and dad for pizza and ice cream. Even better, why not set a “points goal” based on age and reading ability? This way, every child who reaches her personal goal can earn the special treat.

Picking up good reading habits can help your child in other ways too. For example, the verbal section on the SAT was so much easier for me because I’d been an avid reader since I was seven. Reading also helps lengthen attention span and generally improves cognitive skills. Reading and writing often go hand-in-hand, and while reading alone won’t turn your kid into the perfect writer, it will surely go far.

Lesson learned: Never underestimate the power of a good book.

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online degrees. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

. . . . .

You might also enjoy

• Build a strong reading foundation
• Picture books as a pre-writing activity
• ?7 ways to introduce genre

Sometimes it’s hard to get started in the morning.

It’s like that with any job, not just writing, but when it comes specifically to writing, how do you get the words and ideas flowing?

Writing doesn’t always begin with a blank page or fingers poised above a keyboard. As a matter of fact, before your child ever writes a word, consider starting off your writing session with a pre-writing activity or warm-up. You can use pre-writing exercises to:

1. Stimulate Thinking

“Just as you would stretch before you go running, you need to warm up before you start writing…. [Pre-writing] exercises …help you stretch your mind.” –Jack Prelutsky, poet

Try these writing warm-ups!

2. Help Kids Overcome Writer’s Block

“Starting with a writing warm-up can get the creative juices flowing, and help you bypass your critical mind that keeps you frozen and staring at a blank page. You can make up your own warm-ups by using prompts, questions, observations that you might keep in a notebook…

“Or you can get your warm-ups from someone else, using books or ‘flash card’ decks designed just for that purpose. Open a page, pick out a warm-up randomly, write it at the top of your journal or notebook page, and start writing.” –Jamie S. Walters, Ivy Sea

Try these printable card decks!

3. Put Aside Distractions and Focus on Writing

Pre-writing activities “aren’t meant to provoke publishable work. They’re meant to get … your brain warmed up and your ideas flowing….

“Put time limits on them if you have trouble stopping. When the time is up, dive straight into your ‘real’ writing no matter where you are, even if you’re in the middle of a sentence.”  –Heather Grove, freelance writer

Try these creative writing prompts!

4. Increase Vocabulary

“Play with sounds and words to discover something new about language and our world. By playing with the order and arrangement of words, repetition, connection, and word choice, we begin to learn how language works….

“By playing with words we often discover new ways of saying old things—we see with new eyes and create a new world that we had not recognized before.” –Andrew Green, former English teacher and author of Potato Hill Poetry

Try these writing warm-ups!

And here are a few more writing games and activities to play:

• Sentence-building games
• Picture books as pre-writing activities
• What’s in the Bag?
• Boardless Scrabble?

. . . . .

“What’s in the Bag?,” sentence-building games, and picture books are some of the many pre-writing activities and writing games tucked into the pages of WriteShop and WriteShop Primary.

I was a hands-on homeschooler. I loved lesson-planning, teaching, and learning alongside my kids. But now and then, and for various reasons, we participated in outside classes.

Often, I was the one who gathered a group of children and taught a four-week art class, a semester of California history, or a year of writing. For several years, we were active in a KONOS co-op. And when my children were in high school, they took an occasional course in biology or chemistry or speech.

True Homeschooling?

I know the value of teaching my children at home. I also appreciate the fresh perspective they gained from experts in various subjects. But I never lost sight of the fact that we were homeschooling, which for the most part meant—and here’s the shocker!—schooling at home.

Don’t get me wrong—co-ops and other classes certainly have their place. But here’s the caveat: They should not become a substitute for teaching one’s own children, nor do they give parents permission to abdicate their role as primary teacher.

Ab·di·cate v. 1.  to relinquish or hand over responsibility.  2. to give up duties.

—Synonyms
1. resign, quit, bail out. 2.  abandon. 3. step down.

Used as a helpful tool, outside courses can be an excellent supplement to your home teaching. However, when one class becomes three, and you’re spending more time in the car than at the schoolroom table, it could be time to question whether you’re actually homeschooling at all.

Falling into the Trap

You are still the primary teacher and the one responsible to oversee the work, so even if your children are taking outside classes, you must know what’s being taught. Believe me, I know it can be a relief to have someone else take over a subject you struggle with, but it’s not the tutor’s or teacher’s job to homeschool your kids; she’s simply in your service.

As a homeschooler, your mantra should always be: I am the parent. I am the primary teacher. But when someone else is instructing your children and assigning homework, projects, or tests, it’s easy to kick back and think: 

• Ahhhh…I finally get a break. It’s OK to enjoy the time they’re in class, but you’re still the primary teacher.
• That’s one less subject for me to teach. Someone else may be presenting the material and giving assignments, but you’re still the primary teacher.
• Julie learns better from other people. Some kids do take direction better from others, but don’t excuse your kids. If they won’t listen to you, it’s not an academic concern, but a character issue. Take the opportunity to work on obedience, respect, teachability, or cooperation. Remember: You’re still the parent AND the primary teacher.
• Johnny needs to learn to take responsibility for his own assignments. This is true. But whether he succeeds or fails, he must do it under your supervision. You can set schedules and oversee his work, but if he waits till the last minute to write a paper for his class, it doesn’t mean you need to stay up with him till 2 a.m. to finish it. If he gets a poor grade, let it be because you allowed the consequence, not because you were clueless that he was behind. After all, you’re still the parent and the primary teacher.

Availing Yourself of Opportunities

Again, there is nothing wrong with outside classes, so once you accept and embrace your role as primary teacher, you can begin to look around at the many opportunities that exist, including:

• Homeschool co-ops and classes that teach literature, science, writing, etc.
• Private tutoring or lessons in art, music, carpentry, etc.
• Online courses for homeschoolers such as Torrey Academy.
• Community college for age 16+.

Putting your children into outside classes can stretch and enrich them, especially when the subject matter is completely foreign to you. Outsourcing:

• Is ideal when you know you’re weak in a subject.
• Provides opportunity for group interaction, such as a drama workshop or a speech and debate class.
• Helps students learn to take instruction from others.

But when choosing an outside course for one or more of your kids, it’s also wise to remember that it shouldn’t become:

• A substitute for homeschooling.
• An excuse to get your kids out of the house (or your hair).
• A purely social experience.
• The answer to your insecurities about homeschooling.

Keys to Successful Outsourcing

Having made the decision to enroll a student in an outside class, how can you make it work with homeschooling?

• Meet the teacher and stay in touch. (You’d be appalled at how many parents NEVER ONCE stepped into my home to meet me face-to-face during an entire year of teaching their kids.)
• Study the syllabus to understand course expectations.
• Become familiar with requirements and assignments.
• Plug assigned reading, writing, and studying into your master homeschool lesson plan book.
• Go over weekly assignment sheets and other materials the teacher sends home.
• Discuss assignments with your children.
• Supervise their writing or other work and help as needed.
• Give feedback.

As with any curriculum you employ in your homeschooling, outside courses are simply tools you work with to enrich and strengthen your children’s academic foundation. Used judiciously, they can expose kids to new experiences and challenge them academically. But remembering that you’re the parent and primary teacher-–and taking appropriate responsibility as such—will ensure that you’re still on top of things, even if someone else is teaching.

Copyright 2011 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved. 

“But I don’t know what to write about!” 

“I can’t think of anything!”

How many times have we heard these cries of anguish when asking our children to face a blank page? And although we may do our best to encourage their creative efforts through the use of topic-specific prompts, sometimes we need to give kids more direction, more of a step-ladder to climb into the clarity of their own thinking.

Smaller Steps

The next time you’re faced with kids who are absolutely convinced the power of the pen has abandoned them, try breaking the prompt itself down into manageable parts. Doing so allows children to concentrate on one task at a time and to experience feedback in developing their ideas for written expression.

The “I Remember” Activity

Let’s use the prompt “Write about a favorite memory” as an example of breaking a writing topic into smaller chunks of ideas. This activity gives a feeling for the writing process approach and works well with any age.

• Think of five things that have happened to you. Write down each of the five things, beginning with the phrase, “I remember.” When you’ve finished, share your ideas with me.
• Now, write down one name associated with each of the five things you selected.
• Write down the most important of the five senses (taste, touch, hearing, sight, or smell) that goes with each of your “I remembers.”
• Now select the “I remember” you would most like to write about. Share the memory with me.
• Now, writing as fast as you can for ten minutes, see how much of the memory you can get on paper. Don’t worry about punctuation or spelling; you can think about that later, if you like what you’ve written.
• Now, let’s read your story and think of ways to possibly make it even better.

By tackling a topic in this step-by-step manner, students become more confident and skilled in the brainstorming and drafting stages of writing. And as they will discover, fluent writing flows from the power of knowing you have something to say.

. . . . .

Janet Wagner is a regular contributor to In Our Write Minds. For over two decades, Janet was an elementary and middle school teacher in two Christian academies, a public district school, and a public charter school. She also had the honor of helping to homeschool her two nieces. Janet and her husband Dean live on the family farm in the Piedmont region of north central North Carolina. Currently, she enjoys a flexible life of homemaking, volunteering, reading, writing, tutoring students and training dogs, and learning how to build websites. You can view her web work-in-progress at www.creative-writing-ideas-and-activities.com.