Mother Earth
- PROMPT -
Today we’re going to think about the world around you—your backyard, your neighborhood, your schoolyard, or even nearby parks or areas you visit for other recreation. What do YOU notice or know about our planet? Think as big as the forests, oceans, or sky; then on the smaller things, like insects, soil particles, or even the air around you. Make a list.
Now think about how you take care of and appreciate Earth. Do you recycle? Do you have a plant or garden that you water? Or maybe you enjoy the fruit from the tree outside your window.
Using descriptive details to write a poem with the following sentence starters:
Mother Earth gives me...
I give to Mother Earth...
I Can...I Can’t (Yet)
- PROMPT -
Complete the following and form it into a poem:
I can...
I can...
I can...
I can’t... (yet)
Doors
- SPARK -
- PROMPT -
You’ve been walking for quite some time when suddenly you come upon this door. It took you by surprise. Something tells you not to go through it; on the other hand, you feel yourself drawn towards it.
Take a good look at the door. Do you recognize the door or is it completely foreign to you? What color is it? What texture or details can you identify? Do you go through the door or do you resist the urge? What is the aftermath of this decision?
What’s That Smell?
- PROMPT -
Allow your young writer to select 5 different spices from your spice rack. Let them smell it (or maybe even taste). Now have your writer think about what each spice reminds them of. Does it bring out a specific memory or perhaps a magical world? Does the spice smell warm or cold? Is it earthy or spicy? Use as many spices in your writing as desired.
Letter to Your Thoughts
A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.
- PROMPT -
This exercise gets your creative wheels turning by playing with the potential within the words around you. Choose a word from the list provided, or start with a word of your choosing. Don’t spend too long thinking. Just pick a word that starts with one of the letters within the word and write it down in the space next to it. Work around that first word to quickly create the rest of the acronym. It doesn’t have to be good or even relate to the word’s meaning. The idea is to do this fast to build up your skill at thinking on the spot. See how many different results you can come up with for the same word.
Word List:
DONUT | BOING | NEATO | FLIPPANT | GLOB | SKITTER
TOOT | PUMPERNICKLE | BLASTOFF | AARDVARK | GIBLETS
TEEPEE | DIPTHONG | LUNKHEAD | SKULL | WALNUT | SPAM
ELBOW | BANJO | LUTE | CORNPONE | YOGURT | DOODLE
UNDERPANTS | SALIVA | PENCIL | PHONE | STAPLER
12 Line Poem (A Free Verse Form Poem)
- PROMPT -
Line 1, 2 words: adjective and noun
Line 2, 3 words: first word must end in “ing”
Line 3, 4 words: one must be a color
Line 4, 3-4 words: one must name a place
Line 5, 1 word: must represent a sound (onomatopoeia)
Line 6, 3 words: one must name an animal
Line 7, 4-5 words: one must describe the weather
Line 8, 2-3 words: one must give a sense of the time
Line 9, 3-5 words: must convey emotion
Line 10, 3-5 words: prepositional phrase
Line 11, 3-5 words: one must name a body part
Line 12, 2 words
Writerly Advice
- SPARK -
- PROMPT -
Write a letter to someone who is thinking about becoming a writer. What advice do you have for them? Any warnings? What have you learned from your writing experience? Highlights? Lowlights?
Seashells
- SPARK -
I Want to Age Like Sea Glass
Bernadette Noll
I want to age like sea glass.
Smoothed by tides, not broken.
I want to ride the waves, go with the flow and feel the impact of the surging tides.
When I am caught between the rocks and a hard place, I will rest.
And when I am ready, I will catch a wave and let it carry me where I belong.
I want to be picked up and held gently by those who delight in my well-earned patina,
And appreciate the changes I went through to achieve this luster.
I want to enjoy the journey and let my preciousness be, not in spite of the impacts,
But because of them.
I want to age like sea glass.
- PROMPT -
I Can Fly!
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- PROMPT -
Imagine that you have the ability to fly. Picture yourself soaring far above your neighborhood, above the city, amongst the birds, and hovering through the clouds. Where would you go? What would it feel like? Include lots of descriptive detail, dialogue, and setting.
My "Most Me" Place
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My Most Me Place
Halley Miglietta
My most me place is not a place I can visit, or walk to, or picnic at. It’s a place I can feel only when my breathing becomes my focal point and I become conscious of its rhythm, astute to its pattern, sensation, and duration. From there I can access something so tremendous, that I AM ALIVE RIGHT NOW, in this very moment, and what a miracle it is to remember the gift of simply be alive. My most me place is hard to access sometimes. It’s difficult to get to when I’m worrying about how things might turn out or when I’m feeling down on myself for choices I’ve made or certain things I’ve said and done. I can’t feel my most me place when I’m harboring judgement or criticism of another or when I’m trying to solve problems that are mostly imaginary. My most me place has everything to do with a gesture of acceptance. An acceptance of life exactly as it is, an acceptance of myself exactly as I am, an acceptance of others exactly as they are. When I can’t call upon a warm sheath of acceptance to settle the angsty spasms in my chest cavity, I know there’s somewhere for me to journey to, in order to get myself back to right here. Which becomes my cue to get quiet enough to feel the wax and wane of my breathing and the pulsation of my heartbeat, and a remembrance of what a gift it is to simply be alive.
- PROMPT -
Write about a Place where you felt you could just be you. The place can be real or imaginary. Either way, describe it in as much detail as you can. Were you there with other people or were you alone? What is it about this place that made you feel at ease?
Color Poem
- Spark -
Colors
Alina Moroz
Pink as bubblegum,
light as a rose,
beautiful as a sunset,
setting down at the end of the day
Light blue as the summer sky,
the blue of a boy’s favorite color,
as blue as the ocean’s wave crashing against the rocks,
blue like the eyes of a Siamese cat
Red of the autumn’s leaves
falling from the tree,
the red roses from my mother’s garden
the beautiful bright red of Christmas
Yellow of the sun like a sunflower
the multiple color rainbows after an afternoon rain,
the bright colors of spring and summer
Every day we see the beautiful colors
that nature has given us,
the beautiful mixes of oranges, pinks, yellows, and purples
of a sunset
We see different kinds of beautiful colors each day,
thanking nature for its gift
We are all just trying to find some color in this black and white world
- Prompt -
Color Poem
Find a color/paint sample card, or just pick a color in the room, and think of how you would define that color – this will probably result in head-scratching and questions, so try to think of what day of the week your color is, what food would your color be? Season? Emotion? Is it a hot or cold color? What activity is your color? Also, think of how you would describe your color in the same way you would describe a person.
Need help picking a color? Click here for a random color!
Happily Ever After
- Prompt and Spark -
Two Truths and a Lie
- Spark -
Two Truths and a Lie
Conley Gibson
Today is the Fourth of July. We are going to the State Fair. The first thing we do there is go to the petting zoo. They have a turkey there. I get to pet it.
After we get back from the State Fair, we go to our friend’s house. Since my birthday is on July 7th, we get to celebrate my birthday early. I get to eat cake, but our friend’s dog eats it from my lap.
Next we go see fireworks. A firework shoots onto their roof and catches the house on fire.
Pretty cool, right? Try to guess my two truths and a lie.
- Prompt -
Two Truths and a Lie
Make a list consisting of three things about yourself, but there’s a catch: two of the items on the list need to be the truth while the third item is a lie. Be creative with a lie. Don’t say “I broke my arm last week,” when there’s no sign of a cast or a sling. Think of something that is true and change just the slightest portion of it to make it a lie. When you’re done, share! Ask the rest of the group to guess what the lie was.
I Remember...
- Spark -
Photograph, American River, 1986
Marie Reynolds
We are farther upstream
than I had remembered,
the water calmer, the vessel
stronger,
big enough to hold
the two of us--
a boat I can imagine
settling into again, rowing
upriver with him,
but slower this time,
and longer,
before pulling in the oars
and drifting.
- Prompt -
How many stories begin with “I remember…?” The story then recounts a person or an experience that stuck in the speaker’s mind. Over time, the story often begins to change as the speaker forgets certain aspects of the story or person and begins to fill-in new or altered details. Think of an event or person in your life you’d like to remember. Which details are important? Which details are you absolutely positive you remember accurately? Which details are you unsure of? Write down what you remember.
Burst Poem
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Burst Poem
Y.L.
I think I don’t deserve to be away from my loved ones
I hate that I wake up to these white walls
I wish I was home and free to do anything I want
I learned that getting fast money doesn’t last forever, 100
I love the fact that she’s still with me even though I’m putting her through pain
I regret leaving that day
I should have stayed instead of going somewhere I had no business going
- Prompt -
One of the best ways to connect with how we’re feeling or what we want to say is to write down what we’re feeling without thinking too much. Before we write this poem, respond quickly--in short bursts of short ideas--to these sentence starters:
a) I think...
b) I hate...
c) I wish...
d) I learned...
e) I love...
f) I regret…
When you finish the brainstorm, choose one of your responses and write a poem. For an extra challenge, try to write the poem without using the descriptive verb or emotion.
The Hero’s Great Battle
- Spark -
- PROMPT -
At some point in a hero’s journey they must come face to face with their greatest challenge; the knight must face the dragon, Luke must fight Darth Vader, etc. Imagine your character’s ultimate battle. Who is their enemy? Is it a physical fight? Or is it a decision they have to make which could change the course of their life forever? You could also use this time to talk about any battles you have witnessed or have had to go through since you are the hero of your story.
Best Friend
- SPARK -
The Story of Spot
Erica Neel, age 12
Today is unlike any other day. Today I’m going to get a forever home! I could just tell it was like everything was brighter but...probably not, since that’s what I say every day. I don’t know why they don’t like me? I’m adorable. They gotta love me! I’m a black and white husky pup, and I even have beautiful blue eyes. I also have a bonus feature that no other dog has: I can see color, which my parents used to say is a very special gift. Others say I’m weird and “different.” I don’t know what I call it, but other than that I have other problems, like I wish someone would just take me home already!
I hate being here! One of the reasons is I sleep in a scratchy, ugly, blue bed. Another thing is I don’t know what time it is because I don’t know how to do all that number stuff, but I can’t say I’m stupid at least—I can count to three now.
I told you about how much I hate this place, so now I want to tell you about my everyday life. I wake up very itchy, and I bark as loud as I can so the people who work here can know I’m ready to eat. I don’t really like those people a lot cause they give me way too many shots! Sorry, I keep getting off topic. I have the brain of a goldfish. So, back to the story: I bark and get my breakfast. After I eat, they let me and all my friends go outside to pay for a long time ’til it gets dark. Before it gets dark, we do a bunch of other stuff, but it is kind of boring, mostly chilling with my friends, talking about that new movie with Luke Skybarker. Sometimes during the day I sit and wish I could fly, so when those squirrels run up the tree I can see what they do up there and maybe even fly over the gates to get out of here.
I want to see if I can find the perfect kid, a kid who will love me for life from the time he sees me ’til the time I die. I want a kid who will take care of me no matter what, no matter if I pee on the carpet or something else that was my fault. I will be sorry forever. I will do whatever it takes as long as the kid loves me, even if I stink and I’m not clean. I just want a forever home so I can stay there, unlike the home I had. I thought it was true love, but I guess not. I was a stray for a while as I hoped someone would love me again, maybe later but not now. I’m basically in jail for a crime I didn’t do. People come in here looking for a new pet, but it’s never me. I don’t know why. That was the past.
Let’s go to the present now. I have a forever home. I live with a girl who was all alone, but now she has me and we’re both very happy. I sleep with her, eat with her, we go on walks together, and I even go to work with her. I help her out because she can’t hear very well, so I’m just her extra pair of ears. I help her, and she helped me when she adopted me. I love her. I don’t know what I would do without her. She is the best and that’s my story. I hope you liked it. I hope you didn’t cry too much in the beginning, ’cause it all turned out good. I love my girl and she loves me!
- PROMPT -
Let’s update the saying that a dog is a “man’s” best friend. How can a dog be a person’s best friend? What do you do with your best friend? Play video games, play during recess, share lunch together, have sleepovers. Write about a day with your other best friend—your pet. What would a friendship between an animal and human look like? How might it be the same or different than with your human best friend?
One Story, Four Perspectives
-Spark-
-Prompt-
Write about an event from at least four points of view. You can write about any event, real or fictional. You can also write from the point of view of animals and objects. For example, if you write about a car crash, you can describe the event from the points of view of the driver, witnesses, the car, the street, a nearby lamppost, etc. Describe the event in as much detail as possible. Also, try to imagine what the event would look like from each person/animal/object’s point of view and how they would react to such an event.
