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FABulous 5W Writers

September 03, 2021

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Why is writing important?  Writing is practical and something we do every day whether it is creating a list, filling out applications, texting, or emailing.  Writing is key to our communication.  You may ask yourself in today's world with all the technology do kids really need to develop their writing skills and write well?  The answer is... YES!!!  Writing is a good way to communicate your inner thoughts and organizing them.  Writing is a life skill that is used no matter what age you are. Critical thinking is fostered by writing. Writing also encourages creativity and one's imagination.  

To start our Writer's Workshop off, each student brought in items to decorate the cover of their writer's notebooks.  They personalized them to fit their personality.  Mrs. Whitworth's FABulous 5th graders are looking forward to using their creative minds in writing in their notebooks this school year. 

Mrs. Whitworth and her FAB 5 writers want to encourage young and old to BE WRITERS.  Here are a few tips to get your child or yourself excited about writing.  

1. Picture Prompts: For younger kids use pictures to prompt a story. Show one flashcard with multiple elements and slowly increase the number of flashcards as they get comfortable. They can imagine places, settings, characters, and incidents and write a short story.
2. Use random word prompts: Pick four random words. For example, book, Mumbai, dog, ship and ask your child to write a story that features all four words prominently.
3. Script a new ending: Older kids will love doing this! Tell them a common story and ask them to write a new ending. Let their imagination run wild and you will end up seeing classic tales with a twist at the end!
4. Twist the tale around: Imagine if Goldilocks had actually walked in when the bears were still at breakfast. Or if Red Riding Hood had taken a wrong turn in the forest while walking to her grandmother’s cottage. What would have happened? This is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and to see where your child’s imagination takes them.
5. Throw in a character or two: Pick two stories similar in one particular manner – it could be a city setting, or both stories could have evil villains. Now merge the two stories together. Ask your child to write what would happen when characters from Story A meet characters from Story B. Now, this is where things get interesting!
6. Comic book capers: Children love comic books so why not do a fun writing activity that involves writing dialogue for comic book characters? Give your child a story that has some of their favorite comic book characters and ask them to write dialogue for the characters. This is a great way to teach children how to write dialogues.
7. Journals:  Keeping a journal/diary of day-to-day events is another way to foster writing.  Journaling is a way to express one's feelings on paper, especially if verbalizing them may be difficult.    

LET'S WRITE, WRITERS!!