On Thursday at "The Word Party!" we started out with a free write based on this prompt:
List 6 uses for tissue paper. Then write a story based on one of your ideas.
Here's what Naomi came up with:
"One day a boy was walking down a busy street. Then all of the sudden a bull started charging him. Then he remembered he had some red tissue paper in his pocket. Then he hung the tissue paper on a pole and the bull charged it and got his horns stuck long enough to let the boy run away."
For the rest of the day we worked on writing within certain restrictions -- according to very specific rhyme structures, rhythm, etc. First I challenged the kids to write a lipogram -- which is a piece of writing in which a specific letter is left out. It was pretty tricky to write a paragraph without using an "a"!
Then we tackled 6-word memoirs and wishes. I asked the students to each capture a wish or a memory by using just six words. Two fun examples:
Ella: "I cut my hair and screamed."
Naomi: "I wish to go to Greece."
Next up was Haiku, a form of poetry that follows a pattern of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the last line. Many of us had to rework our original thoughts to fit this specific scheme. Here's a haiku from Kian:
"A bear climbed a tree
And he fell all the way down
Fell in the water."
Finally, we had some fun writing limericks, which have a tricky pattern and rhyme scheme. Noreen agreed to share her limerick on the blog today:
"There once was a little ducky
Who wasn't very lucky.
He tried to find a 4-leaf clover
He jumped over a dog named Rover
And he fell into mud that was mucky."
Here are more photos from yesterday's Found Poetry project!
Kian
Noreen
Ella
Max