Listen to one of our students read the poem he created during the Take My Word For It! Poetry Residency at Commodore Sloat Elementary in San Francisco. My Name Rumbles Like an Earthquake
Listen to one of our students from our Poetry Residency at Commodore Sloat Elementary in San Francisco read his piece "When Peace Walks Through the Door".
Every Wednesday our creative writing prompt challenges you to pick up your pen and indulge your author self! Today's prompt is about the snow. Some places have lots and lots of snow right now. A fun thing to do in the snow is build a snowman. Have you ever built a snowman? Did you add a hat, a nose, eyes or arms? Did your snowman seem to have his own personality? What would happen if your snowman was magic and came to life?
Write about what would happen if your snowman came to life. Would you have a boy snowman, a girl snow-woman or a snow-pet? What magic do you think made your 'snow-being' come alive? Would he or she be a kind 'snow-being' and play with you? Would you keep your living 'snow-being' a secret or would you share him or her with all your friends? How would people react? Would your 'snow-being' melt at the end of the day or would they be saved by magic?
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Every Wednesday our creative writing prompt challenges you to pick up your pen and indulge your author self! Yesterday was President Obama's State of the Union Address. The State of the Union is the President's chance to let the American people know about his/her goals & plans for the year. What would it be like to be the President? If you were President, would you make some new laws? Would you make your birthday a national holiday where no one has to go to school or to work? Would you try to solve some of the world's problems?
Write about what you (the President) would say in your State of the Union address. You could write your speech as if you are President right now and would like to solve the problems of the world today. Or write your speech for the future, as if you are President 30 years from now. What will the United States be like in 2045? What will our President worry about? What will life be like for Americans of the future and how would you help them?
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Every Wednesday our creative writing prompt challenges you to pick up your pen and indulge your author self! Today's prompt is about winter and hibernation. The weather has been chilly around the country and there is snow in the mountains. The bears and other animals who hibernate are cuddled up in their dens sleeping the winter away. Besides bears, many other animals hibernate too, including mice and frogs! People don't hibernate, but what if they did?
Write about what you think hibernation might be like if it were something people did. Would your whole family hibernate? How would you get ready? Would your school be closed? What would your friends be doing? Do you think you would be good at hibernating? Do you think you would like it?
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Want to inspire your child to write? Looking for a way to spark creativity?
We recommend this article from the Washington Post by Joanne Yatvin, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English. Most recently, Ms. Yatvin has written books about teaching reading and writing in mixed language classrooms. Her anecdote on using the same methodology as a high school teacher that she intuitively practiced with her young son resonated with the Take My Word For It! team. Loving writing frequently comes from loving stories - fairy tales, literature, storytelling...you name it!