Example Blurb: When trying to get young writers excited about writing about places, I often share Barbara Cooney 's picture book Roxaboxen, which combines reality with imagination in exploring a place that's important to children. Before asking students to write about a setting, share the book. While they are writing, encourage them to describe things that are real in their own stories, but not to be afraid to use their imaginations, like in the story Roxaboxen.
--Corbett Harrison, Reno, Nevada
 I use old greeting cards or calendars that have very obvious differences for example one with Christmas trees, one with monkeys, one with little children. Then I break up the class into teams to write a description of one of the pictures. The team that writes the best description wins a point. As students become better at this skill, I make the pictures more and more similar, for example all mountain photos. Students will start to see that the clearer their description and the more details they use the more likely their team is to score points.
-- Stacy Dibble, Worthington, Minnesota
(Stacy chose a Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide as her gift for sharing this blurb.)
|
