Mary Quattlebaum's Blog, page 30
January 7, 2013
THAT OLD THING: FAMILY STORIES
by Mary Quattlebaum
Our word “January” comes from the two-faced Roman god Janus, who was positioned to look both forward and back in time. The first month of the year is always a time of beginnings, but it’s also a chance to glance back and to make connections between past, present, and future. This writing prompt explores shared family memory and always yields a heartfelt piece of writing (and a few surprises for the writer!) whether I’ve done it with 8 or 80 year olds.
1. Ask students to look at home for “family treasures” that have been passed down through one or more generations. Examples might be a holiday ornament, a quilt, a piece of cookware, or a memento. Avoid photos.
2. Request them to write down a memory or two they have about this item. Where is it usually kept? How do they feel about it?
3. Brainstorm with students in class questions to ask an older family member. Who brought this item into the family? How did this member get it? What is its history? What exactly is it made of? What does it represent to the interviewee? What are some of his/her childhood memories associated with it? Anything else the family member might like to add?
4. Have students conduct the interviews at home or by phone and then bring them to class, along with the item. If the item is large, encourage them to bring in part of it (for example, a drawer). (If you’re doing this with children, ask them to bring non-breakable things or a photo of the item.)
5. Ask them to explore this item through each of their five senses, if appropriate. What does it look, sound, and smell like? How does it feel? Ask them how they feel about it and whether their feelings have changed since the writing of a few days ago. Did they learn anything new or 6. Have students include their writings and interviews (all dated) in a folder that might be passed down with the item to a future generation.
A personal note: On my mother’s side of the family is a child’s rocking chair, made in 1884, that has always been passed down to the oldest girl. When my daughter was born, my mom had the chair stripped of layers of old paint, strengthened, and re-finished to its original luster. She also researched the chair’s design and craftsman and included her reflections on its history. What a precious gift—the chair and my mother’s words--I now have to give to my daughter! (My poem “Antique Rocker” from my book Family Reunion includes my thoughts on the chair.)
www.maryquattlebaum.com
Our word “January” comes from the two-faced Roman god Janus, who was positioned to look both forward and back in time. The first month of the year is always a time of beginnings, but it’s also a chance to glance back and to make connections between past, present, and future. This writing prompt explores shared family memory and always yields a heartfelt piece of writing (and a few surprises for the writer!) whether I’ve done it with 8 or 80 year olds.
1. Ask students to look at home for “family treasures” that have been passed down through one or more generations. Examples might be a holiday ornament, a quilt, a piece of cookware, or a memento. Avoid photos.
2. Request them to write down a memory or two they have about this item. Where is it usually kept? How do they feel about it?
3. Brainstorm with students in class questions to ask an older family member. Who brought this item into the family? How did this member get it? What is its history? What exactly is it made of? What does it represent to the interviewee? What are some of his/her childhood memories associated with it? Anything else the family member might like to add?
4. Have students conduct the interviews at home or by phone and then bring them to class, along with the item. If the item is large, encourage them to bring in part of it (for example, a drawer). (If you’re doing this with children, ask them to bring non-breakable things or a photo of the item.)
5. Ask them to explore this item through each of their five senses, if appropriate. What does it look, sound, and smell like? How does it feel? Ask them how they feel about it and whether their feelings have changed since the writing of a few days ago. Did they learn anything new or 6. Have students include their writings and interviews (all dated) in a folder that might be passed down with the item to a future generation.
A personal note: On my mother’s side of the family is a child’s rocking chair, made in 1884, that has always been passed down to the oldest girl. When my daughter was born, my mom had the chair stripped of layers of old paint, strengthened, and re-finished to its original luster. She also researched the chair’s design and craftsman and included her reflections on its history. What a precious gift—the chair and my mother’s words--I now have to give to my daughter! (My poem “Antique Rocker” from my book Family Reunion includes my thoughts on the chair.)
www.maryquattlebaum.com
December 31, 2012
Creating Stairs: The Importance of Paragraphs
by Jacqueline Jules
Like most teachers, I want to inspire creativity and place more importance on content than mechanics. But it is not always easy to decipher a student’s long block of text unbroken by paragraphs. Here are some quick tips for helping elementary school students make their writing easier on the reader’s eyes.
1. Show your class a screen of unbroken text. A good place to find an example is a student online encyclopedia. You can copy and paste a short article on a gecko or other unusual animal that is typically broken up into the three categories of what the animal looks like, how it eats, and how it reproduces. Remove the paragraph breaks and see what students say about reading the block of text on the screen. Most students will readily identify the absence of paragraph breaks as the reason why the article is hard to read. You can then show the paragraph breaks and discuss how each paragraph explains a specific aspect of the animal.
2. Discuss ways text can be broken up into paragraphs a) Spatial Order—what something looks like. b) Chronological Order – the order in which something happened. c) Logical Order—a statement followed by supporting details. Examples of these kind of paragraphs can also be easily found in student online encyclopedias, some from the same short article on an animal.
3. If you use graphic organizers as a pre-writing exercise, encourage students to create paragraphs with the same groups they used to graphically put down their ideas.
Lack of paragraphs can be just as much a problem in fiction writing as nonfiction writing. Remind students of the following.
1. Quotation marks shouldn’t touch. If a new person speaks, start a new paragraph.2. Traveling. If your character goes to a different room, place, or time of day, that is a good place to start a new paragraph.3. Break in the action: If a battle or other dramatic scene ends, start a new paragraph.
Finally, ask your students to eyeball their writing. Does it look like a dingy block of concrete or a set of stairs? Creating manageable steps makes it a lot easier for your reader to climb into your story and reach new heights.
www.jacquelinejules.com
Like most teachers, I want to inspire creativity and place more importance on content than mechanics. But it is not always easy to decipher a student’s long block of text unbroken by paragraphs. Here are some quick tips for helping elementary school students make their writing easier on the reader’s eyes.
1. Show your class a screen of unbroken text. A good place to find an example is a student online encyclopedia. You can copy and paste a short article on a gecko or other unusual animal that is typically broken up into the three categories of what the animal looks like, how it eats, and how it reproduces. Remove the paragraph breaks and see what students say about reading the block of text on the screen. Most students will readily identify the absence of paragraph breaks as the reason why the article is hard to read. You can then show the paragraph breaks and discuss how each paragraph explains a specific aspect of the animal.
2. Discuss ways text can be broken up into paragraphs a) Spatial Order—what something looks like. b) Chronological Order – the order in which something happened. c) Logical Order—a statement followed by supporting details. Examples of these kind of paragraphs can also be easily found in student online encyclopedias, some from the same short article on an animal.
3. If you use graphic organizers as a pre-writing exercise, encourage students to create paragraphs with the same groups they used to graphically put down their ideas.
Lack of paragraphs can be just as much a problem in fiction writing as nonfiction writing. Remind students of the following.
1. Quotation marks shouldn’t touch. If a new person speaks, start a new paragraph.2. Traveling. If your character goes to a different room, place, or time of day, that is a good place to start a new paragraph.3. Break in the action: If a battle or other dramatic scene ends, start a new paragraph.
Finally, ask your students to eyeball their writing. Does it look like a dingy block of concrete or a set of stairs? Creating manageable steps makes it a lot easier for your reader to climb into your story and reach new heights.
www.jacquelinejules.com
December 24, 2012
SOLSTICE LULLABIES
by Laura Krauss Melmed
As I write this exactly one week after the horrific Newtown shootings, in the midst of the frenetic holiday season, and during the darkest day of the year, it occurred to me that this is a time in which we might all be in need of some soothing. What better to fit the bill than a lullaby? Lullabies are meant to put children to sleep and for that reason, both words and music must have a calming effect. Lullaby songs have appeared across cultures and languages and have been sung down the ages. Lullabies are also a popular theme for bedtime books.
In my first published book, The First Song Ever Sung, illustrated by Ed Young (and sadly out of print but available from third party sellers on Amazon) a little boy questions all the members of his family as well as the fish in the brook, the birds in the sky, and his pet dog to find out the answer to his question, “What was the first song ever sung?” Each human or animal provides an answer in terms of something very important to him or her. In the last verse, the boy’s mother tells him that the first song ever sung was, “a mother’s song, a hush song, a sleep song, a love song”… in other words, a lullaby. In writing this text, I utilized repetition, which has a lulling effect, and slant rhymes, or words that almost rhyme, to keep it from getting too sing-song-y. (As a side note, I actually wrote this first as a lullaby to my own son Jonathan.)
In another of my titles, I Love You As Much, illustrated by Henri Sorensen, various mother animals express their love for their little ones, again each one in her unique way:
Said the mother horse to her child, I love you as much as a warm summer breezeSaid the mother bear to her child, I love you as much as the forest had trees.
Here the text is in simple couplets, again using repetition and rhyme for a lulling effect. The last spread pairs a human mother and child with a couplet that reads,
Now sleep child of mine as the stars shine aboveI love you as much as a mother can love.
Susan Campbell Bartoletti has created a unique lullaby book called Naamah And The Ark At Night, with fabulous collage illustrations by Holly Meade. Bartoletti show us Naamah, the wife of Noah, singing gently throughout the night to soothe the human and animal pairs that inhabit the ark. The form of the book was inspired by an old Arabic poetic structure galled a ghazal. It requires each couplet to end in the same word, preceded by a rhyming word. In Bartoletti’s hands this form creates a tender, hypnotic bedtime song.
For a collection of more traditional lullabies, see Kay Chorao’s The Baby’s Bedtime Book. It contains songs in the folk tradition, such as "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" and "All the Pretty Horses," as well lullabies written by poets such as William Blake, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
For a writing exercise, try identifying the elements of a lullaby and then writing one from the point of view of a human parent, an animal, a fairy tale character, or even an alien on another planet. After all, everyone needs a little soothing now and then.
www.laurakraussmelmed.com
As I write this exactly one week after the horrific Newtown shootings, in the midst of the frenetic holiday season, and during the darkest day of the year, it occurred to me that this is a time in which we might all be in need of some soothing. What better to fit the bill than a lullaby? Lullabies are meant to put children to sleep and for that reason, both words and music must have a calming effect. Lullaby songs have appeared across cultures and languages and have been sung down the ages. Lullabies are also a popular theme for bedtime books.
In my first published book, The First Song Ever Sung, illustrated by Ed Young (and sadly out of print but available from third party sellers on Amazon) a little boy questions all the members of his family as well as the fish in the brook, the birds in the sky, and his pet dog to find out the answer to his question, “What was the first song ever sung?” Each human or animal provides an answer in terms of something very important to him or her. In the last verse, the boy’s mother tells him that the first song ever sung was, “a mother’s song, a hush song, a sleep song, a love song”… in other words, a lullaby. In writing this text, I utilized repetition, which has a lulling effect, and slant rhymes, or words that almost rhyme, to keep it from getting too sing-song-y. (As a side note, I actually wrote this first as a lullaby to my own son Jonathan.)
In another of my titles, I Love You As Much, illustrated by Henri Sorensen, various mother animals express their love for their little ones, again each one in her unique way:Said the mother horse to her child, I love you as much as a warm summer breezeSaid the mother bear to her child, I love you as much as the forest had trees.
Here the text is in simple couplets, again using repetition and rhyme for a lulling effect. The last spread pairs a human mother and child with a couplet that reads,
Now sleep child of mine as the stars shine aboveI love you as much as a mother can love.
Susan Campbell Bartoletti has created a unique lullaby book called Naamah And The Ark At Night, with fabulous collage illustrations by Holly Meade. Bartoletti show us Naamah, the wife of Noah, singing gently throughout the night to soothe the human and animal pairs that inhabit the ark. The form of the book was inspired by an old Arabic poetic structure galled a ghazal. It requires each couplet to end in the same word, preceded by a rhyming word. In Bartoletti’s hands this form creates a tender, hypnotic bedtime song.
For a collection of more traditional lullabies, see Kay Chorao’s The Baby’s Bedtime Book. It contains songs in the folk tradition, such as "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" and "All the Pretty Horses," as well lullabies written by poets such as William Blake, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
For a writing exercise, try identifying the elements of a lullaby and then writing one from the point of view of a human parent, an animal, a fairy tale character, or even an alien on another planet. After all, everyone needs a little soothing now and then.
www.laurakraussmelmed.com
December 17, 2012
WISH POEMS
by Mary Amato
I'll piggyback on Joan Waites' Snowy Day post and share a holiday season idea that I adapted from poet/teacher Kenneth Koch. Wish Poems. First gather up the kids and have a chat about wishes. What is a wish? Have you ever had a wish come true? Does a wish have to come true for it to be meaningful? What are you wishing for right now? What do you think your grandmother (or your goldfish or that old man who lives on the corner) is wishing for?
After brainstorming for a while about wishes, write two wish poems...one silly and one serious. I really believe in the importance of letting kids express both types of sentiments. The wish poems can be illustrated and/or shared aloud.
Finally create a special box for secret wish poems and explain that anyone can write a secret wish poem and that the author should NOT sign his or her name. Kids can put a secret wish poem in the box anytime. Secrets generate a lot of interest and even your reluctant writers will want to do this. After about a week or two, on a specified day, share the secret wish poems aloud, not revealing the authors. I guarantee that your students will love this activity.Make sure to check out Koch's wonderful book, Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry.
www.maryamato.com
December 10, 2012
A SNOWY DAY
by Joan Waites
The weather here in the Mid-Atlantic is still relatively warm, and right now it’s raining, not snowing. But this time of year and the winter months to come are filled with the anticipation of waking up to a fresh blanket of snow and the news that school is closed for a snow day!
My favorite childhood book is The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Erza Jack Keats. First published in 1962, it remains a classic. This simple, quiet story of a boy playing out in the snow recalls for me those long ago mornings in New York, when magic happened overnight, school was cancelled, and we had a whole day to build snowmen, snow forts, or skate on a frozen lake.
Using the book The Snowy Day as an example, have your students write about their perfect snow day. How do they feel when they wake up to the streets being covered in snow? What are their plans? Do they rush outside or stay in reading a favorite book under the covers? What does the air smell like? What sounds do their boots make as they track through the snow? How can they describe what a snow covered tree looks like? Do they play alone like the character Peter in the book or do they make plans with friends? What sorts of adventures do they have in the snow? Even if your students live in warmer climates where they never see a snowflake, have them stretch their imaginations to describe what a snow day might be like.
Younger children can tell their story in pictures, and older ones can illustrate the story they have composed. Using construction paper and/or patterned scrapbook papers, have children make a cut-paper collage like the illustrations in The Snowy Day. Smaller details can be added with a black marker.
Mixing it up a little, have children write about an unusual character that finds him/herself in a snowy environment, or something/someone from a colder climate in warmer temps. What would happen if snowmen traveled to the beach? If an alligator crawled up a snow covered mountain? Lots can happen on a snowy…Here’s wishing all our readers a wonderful Holiday Season, and a snow day or two in the coming winter months!
www.joanwaites.com
The weather here in the Mid-Atlantic is still relatively warm, and right now it’s raining, not snowing. But this time of year and the winter months to come are filled with the anticipation of waking up to a fresh blanket of snow and the news that school is closed for a snow day!
My favorite childhood book is The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Erza Jack Keats. First published in 1962, it remains a classic. This simple, quiet story of a boy playing out in the snow recalls for me those long ago mornings in New York, when magic happened overnight, school was cancelled, and we had a whole day to build snowmen, snow forts, or skate on a frozen lake.Using the book The Snowy Day as an example, have your students write about their perfect snow day. How do they feel when they wake up to the streets being covered in snow? What are their plans? Do they rush outside or stay in reading a favorite book under the covers? What does the air smell like? What sounds do their boots make as they track through the snow? How can they describe what a snow covered tree looks like? Do they play alone like the character Peter in the book or do they make plans with friends? What sorts of adventures do they have in the snow? Even if your students live in warmer climates where they never see a snowflake, have them stretch their imaginations to describe what a snow day might be like.
Younger children can tell their story in pictures, and older ones can illustrate the story they have composed. Using construction paper and/or patterned scrapbook papers, have children make a cut-paper collage like the illustrations in The Snowy Day. Smaller details can be added with a black marker.
Mixing it up a little, have children write about an unusual character that finds him/herself in a snowy environment, or something/someone from a colder climate in warmer temps. What would happen if snowmen traveled to the beach? If an alligator crawled up a snow covered mountain? Lots can happen on a snowy…Here’s wishing all our readers a wonderful Holiday Season, and a snow day or two in the coming winter months!
www.joanwaites.com
December 3, 2012
VEHICLES FOR CREATIVITY?
by Jane Harrington
I was listening just the other day to an NPR interview of Julie Bruck, the poet who just won the Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada (an honor about equal to our National Book Award). She recited an excellent poem about children and animals, and then went on to talk about how she keeps creativity moving along in her own life and the lives of her writing students. One way: Caves.
Yes, we writers and illustrators know about caves. At least those of the mind, where we have to regularly crawl into quiet nooks in order to hear the muse. And it was in that context that Julie spoke of caves, but it got me thinking of some creative hideaways of childhood. You know—the forts we made in our rec rooms, from couch cushions and blankets. These places had detailed backstories involving the Wild Things or the Star-bellied Sneeches, or sometimes they were train cars filled with escaped circus animals or dogs that found a door left ajar at the pound. The memory of these cozy conjuring compartments got me wondering if getting students to make “writing caves” at home might be a way-fun method to combat distractions and (oh, I’ve heard it from the mouths of babes) writer’s block. My own college-aged students would laugh at the notion of making a hideout—though secretly want to do it!—but the elementary set would probably hop right aboard.
Another vehicle for creativity that Canada’s poetess spoke of was…a vehicle! She free-writes something she calls “car pages” while sitting in a parking lot, and she asks her students to do the same. A lot of these ramblings seem to become excellent poems. So, that got me thinking, too. I don’t know about you, but I get the most amazing ideas when I am behind the wheel of a car. (Of course, I can’t write anything down, which is enormously frustrating, but….) What if we were to challenge our students to do some “backseat scribing”? Using Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea (from Mary Quattlebaum’s post of last week) the car could be that playful space filled with metaphor. I mean, what could possibly be a better symbol of protection than a seatbelt? Or maybe kids would get a kick out of creating dialogue between car parts, as with the side dishes in Jacqueline Jules’ November 19 post or Mary Amato’s “Talking Toothbrushes” (November 5). “Get your hands off of me!” the sassy steering wheel might say to Mom.
And, of course, verses borne of the world going by outside car windows or the folds of a fort—well, that’s poetry in motion, you’d have to saywww.janeharrington.com
I was listening just the other day to an NPR interview of Julie Bruck, the poet who just won the Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada (an honor about equal to our National Book Award). She recited an excellent poem about children and animals, and then went on to talk about how she keeps creativity moving along in her own life and the lives of her writing students. One way: Caves.
Yes, we writers and illustrators know about caves. At least those of the mind, where we have to regularly crawl into quiet nooks in order to hear the muse. And it was in that context that Julie spoke of caves, but it got me thinking of some creative hideaways of childhood. You know—the forts we made in our rec rooms, from couch cushions and blankets. These places had detailed backstories involving the Wild Things or the Star-bellied Sneeches, or sometimes they were train cars filled with escaped circus animals or dogs that found a door left ajar at the pound. The memory of these cozy conjuring compartments got me wondering if getting students to make “writing caves” at home might be a way-fun method to combat distractions and (oh, I’ve heard it from the mouths of babes) writer’s block. My own college-aged students would laugh at the notion of making a hideout—though secretly want to do it!—but the elementary set would probably hop right aboard.
Another vehicle for creativity that Canada’s poetess spoke of was…a vehicle! She free-writes something she calls “car pages” while sitting in a parking lot, and she asks her students to do the same. A lot of these ramblings seem to become excellent poems. So, that got me thinking, too. I don’t know about you, but I get the most amazing ideas when I am behind the wheel of a car. (Of course, I can’t write anything down, which is enormously frustrating, but….) What if we were to challenge our students to do some “backseat scribing”? Using Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea (from Mary Quattlebaum’s post of last week) the car could be that playful space filled with metaphor. I mean, what could possibly be a better symbol of protection than a seatbelt? Or maybe kids would get a kick out of creating dialogue between car parts, as with the side dishes in Jacqueline Jules’ November 19 post or Mary Amato’s “Talking Toothbrushes” (November 5). “Get your hands off of me!” the sassy steering wheel might say to Mom.
And, of course, verses borne of the world going by outside car windows or the folds of a fort—well, that’s poetry in motion, you’d have to saywww.janeharrington.com
November 26, 2012
OF MUFFIN TINS AND METAPHORS
by Mary Quattlebaum
Laura Krauss Melmed posted about having students write from what’s looming large in their lives at any given moment (“If You Elect Me” (11/12/12). Her students had been big with feelings about the presidential election and Hurricane Sandy, and so they had yearned to write about these things.
What about a room that looms large? Like the kitchen? Acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye offers a playful kitchen prompt in “Sifter,” from her book A Maze Me. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/naomi-shihab-nye?before=1312629478. I love this poem for the way it encourages writers to reveal themselves through an ordinary object and in its assumption that boys as well as girls are familiar with cookware. You might share Nye’s poem after students have written their pieces so that they are not unduly influenced by her example.
1. The prompt is actually a quote the teacher in the poem: “Become a kitchen implement in 2 descriptive paragraphs.”
2. Ask students to close their eyes for a moment and call to mind what’s in their kitchens at home.
3. Have them write their descriptions; share some aloud.
4. Read Nye’s poem, and discuss what the teacher therein says: “This is the beauty of metaphor. It opens doors.” What does she mean by saying that metaphor opens doors? In what ways is the speaker of the poem like a sifter? How is that metaphor a “door” into better understanding her?
These days the approaching holidays are much on people’s minds. This prompt might help your students to deepen their writing around this topic so that it emerges as a nuanced exploration rather than just a wish or to-do list.
www.maryquattlebaum.com
Laura Krauss Melmed posted about having students write from what’s looming large in their lives at any given moment (“If You Elect Me” (11/12/12). Her students had been big with feelings about the presidential election and Hurricane Sandy, and so they had yearned to write about these things.
What about a room that looms large? Like the kitchen? Acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye offers a playful kitchen prompt in “Sifter,” from her book A Maze Me. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/naomi-shihab-nye?before=1312629478. I love this poem for the way it encourages writers to reveal themselves through an ordinary object and in its assumption that boys as well as girls are familiar with cookware. You might share Nye’s poem after students have written their pieces so that they are not unduly influenced by her example.
1. The prompt is actually a quote the teacher in the poem: “Become a kitchen implement in 2 descriptive paragraphs.”
2. Ask students to close their eyes for a moment and call to mind what’s in their kitchens at home.
3. Have them write their descriptions; share some aloud.
4. Read Nye’s poem, and discuss what the teacher therein says: “This is the beauty of metaphor. It opens doors.” What does she mean by saying that metaphor opens doors? In what ways is the speaker of the poem like a sifter? How is that metaphor a “door” into better understanding her?
These days the approaching holidays are much on people’s minds. This prompt might help your students to deepen their writing around this topic so that it emerges as a nuanced exploration rather than just a wish or to-do list.
www.maryquattlebaum.com
November 19, 2012
THANKSGIVING FOOD FIGHT!
by Jacqueline Jules
At Thanksgiving time, many classrooms enjoy persuasive writing. A very popular writing prompt is the DON’T EAT ME letter where students take on the persona of a turkey trying to convince the farmer to spare him from the chopping block. Students have a blast explaining why they are too scrawny or tasteless to eat. Since these pleas are written in letter form to a fictional Farmer Brown, there is an opportunity to review proper letter form in the process.
A variation on this theme would be to ask students to write dialogues between foods sitting on a Thanksgiving table. Each food could explain why it is important to the holiday meal and/or the favorite of the family sitting down to eat. Descriptions of foods always provide great opportunities to incorporate the five senses. Does the food crunch in your mouth? Does it have a particular texture or taste on your tongue? What does it smell like?
The conversations between the foods could be playful or serious. The cranberry sauce could argue with the green beans over who is the most colorful or nutritious. The turkey could be a big bully who makes the other foods cry until the crescent rolls decide to take a stand. Maybe the pumpkin pie has an argument with the pecan pie and all the foods pick sides. The possibilities for creative dialogue are endless and students may have great fun performing their finished pieces as Reader’s Theater. For tips on giving each character in a conversation a distinctive voice, check out Mary Quattlebaum’s post on Two-Person Dialogue poems. And of course, don’t miss this opportunity to review grammar rules for writing dialogue. Many students neglect to begin a new indented line for each speaker or put punctuation inside the quotation marks.
Finally, please note that I said students should write dialogues between foods on the Thanksgiving table, rather than traditional Thanksgiving foods. Many first generation immigrant families, like the character of Tuyet, in my Thanksgiving picture book, Duck for Turkey Day, serve a holiday meal native to their birth country rather than turkey and stuffing. Writing about holiday foods from other countries and sharing their descriptions could become a lesson on diversity in your classroom. We need to remember that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving in the same way and too much emphasis on turkeys can be uncomfortable for some children. On this theme, I wrote a song about foods on the Thanksgiving table that you are welcome to share with your students. This song, “A Holiday for All,” is set to the tune of Shortin’ Bread. Maybe your students will want to create their own lyrics to a familiar tune in honor of Thanksgiving, too.
www.jacquelinejules.com
At Thanksgiving time, many classrooms enjoy persuasive writing. A very popular writing prompt is the DON’T EAT ME letter where students take on the persona of a turkey trying to convince the farmer to spare him from the chopping block. Students have a blast explaining why they are too scrawny or tasteless to eat. Since these pleas are written in letter form to a fictional Farmer Brown, there is an opportunity to review proper letter form in the process.
A variation on this theme would be to ask students to write dialogues between foods sitting on a Thanksgiving table. Each food could explain why it is important to the holiday meal and/or the favorite of the family sitting down to eat. Descriptions of foods always provide great opportunities to incorporate the five senses. Does the food crunch in your mouth? Does it have a particular texture or taste on your tongue? What does it smell like?
The conversations between the foods could be playful or serious. The cranberry sauce could argue with the green beans over who is the most colorful or nutritious. The turkey could be a big bully who makes the other foods cry until the crescent rolls decide to take a stand. Maybe the pumpkin pie has an argument with the pecan pie and all the foods pick sides. The possibilities for creative dialogue are endless and students may have great fun performing their finished pieces as Reader’s Theater. For tips on giving each character in a conversation a distinctive voice, check out Mary Quattlebaum’s post on Two-Person Dialogue poems. And of course, don’t miss this opportunity to review grammar rules for writing dialogue. Many students neglect to begin a new indented line for each speaker or put punctuation inside the quotation marks.
Finally, please note that I said students should write dialogues between foods on the Thanksgiving table, rather than traditional Thanksgiving foods. Many first generation immigrant families, like the character of Tuyet, in my Thanksgiving picture book, Duck for Turkey Day, serve a holiday meal native to their birth country rather than turkey and stuffing. Writing about holiday foods from other countries and sharing their descriptions could become a lesson on diversity in your classroom. We need to remember that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving in the same way and too much emphasis on turkeys can be uncomfortable for some children. On this theme, I wrote a song about foods on the Thanksgiving table that you are welcome to share with your students. This song, “A Holiday for All,” is set to the tune of Shortin’ Bread. Maybe your students will want to create their own lyrics to a familiar tune in honor of Thanksgiving, too.
www.jacquelinejules.com
November 12, 2012
IF YOU ELECT ME
by Laura Krauss Melmed
Last week I worked with a sixth grade class of about twenty students in a single session poetry workshop. When I introduced our topic, Hurricane Sandy, some of the boys said they wanted to write about the election instead, since after all, it was the morning of November 6. The students even started calling out some spontaneous, funny rhyming lines on the subject. But feeling rather tense about the possible outcome of the election and also wanting to stick to my lesson plan, I had them stay with the topic of the storm.
Once the election was over, I began playing with the question of how it could have become the focal point of a lesson in creative writing. What if the students were presented with a set of election rivals, but instead of real politicians like President Obama and Mitt Romney, they were funny combinations of rivals such as Cat and Dog vying for Best Pet, or Moon and Sun competing for Best Celestial Body, or Broccoli and Candy Bar facing off for Best Food. Students could break into two teams, each tasked with preparing materials for one of the candidates. It would be each team’s job to convince the “voters” that their candidate should win by producing materials such as a campaign slogan, a stump speech, a poster and maybe even a (non-negative!) TV ad. To accomplish this, students would have to combine creative thinking with humor and the art of persuasive writing. To conclude, each team might present their materials to another class to be followed by a mock election.
But gLoosen the twisting, powerful drops that splashLoosen the monstrous gale of the wolfLoosen the sound of the drumsLet the shredding winds go free!
www.laurakraussmelmed.com
Last week I worked with a sixth grade class of about twenty students in a single session poetry workshop. When I introduced our topic, Hurricane Sandy, some of the boys said they wanted to write about the election instead, since after all, it was the morning of November 6. The students even started calling out some spontaneous, funny rhyming lines on the subject. But feeling rather tense about the possible outcome of the election and also wanting to stick to my lesson plan, I had them stay with the topic of the storm.
Once the election was over, I began playing with the question of how it could have become the focal point of a lesson in creative writing. What if the students were presented with a set of election rivals, but instead of real politicians like President Obama and Mitt Romney, they were funny combinations of rivals such as Cat and Dog vying for Best Pet, or Moon and Sun competing for Best Celestial Body, or Broccoli and Candy Bar facing off for Best Food. Students could break into two teams, each tasked with preparing materials for one of the candidates. It would be each team’s job to convince the “voters” that their candidate should win by producing materials such as a campaign slogan, a stump speech, a poster and maybe even a (non-negative!) TV ad. To accomplish this, students would have to combine creative thinking with humor and the art of persuasive writing. To conclude, each team might present their materials to another class to be followed by a mock election.
But gLoosen the twisting, powerful drops that splashLoosen the monstrous gale of the wolfLoosen the sound of the drumsLet the shredding winds go free!
www.laurakraussmelmed.com
November 5, 2012
TALKING TOOTHBRUSHES
by Mary Amato
One of my most popular creative writing exercises is very simple. Choose two inanimate objects and imagine they are having a conversation. You can make this into a fun classroom lesson that you can use to discuss voice, dialogue, character, and point of view.
1. Define what an inanimate object is.
2. Brainstorm a list of objects—perhaps even asking each student to come up with a list of 8-10 objects. Put all the suggestions into a big bowl and ask students to each draw two objects.
3. Give them 5 minutes to write a dialogue between the two objects. If a student gets stuck, suggest that one character asks the other, “What do you want?” Discuss what was easy or hard about this. Brainstorm how the conversations could be revised, if desired.
Look at how plays/scripts are formatted and talk about how formatting dialogue can help a reader to understand who is talking. Allowing students to act out their dialogues in pairs is really fun and motivating. Enjoy!
www.maryamato.com
One of my most popular creative writing exercises is very simple. Choose two inanimate objects and imagine they are having a conversation. You can make this into a fun classroom lesson that you can use to discuss voice, dialogue, character, and point of view.
1. Define what an inanimate object is. 2. Brainstorm a list of objects—perhaps even asking each student to come up with a list of 8-10 objects. Put all the suggestions into a big bowl and ask students to each draw two objects.
3. Give them 5 minutes to write a dialogue between the two objects. If a student gets stuck, suggest that one character asks the other, “What do you want?” Discuss what was easy or hard about this. Brainstorm how the conversations could be revised, if desired.
Look at how plays/scripts are formatted and talk about how formatting dialogue can help a reader to understand who is talking. Allowing students to act out their dialogues in pairs is really fun and motivating. Enjoy!
www.maryamato.com
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