Writing+Blitz

The Writing Blitz is a week of short, fun writing activities to get students inspired and excited about writing. These lessons do not focus on the mechanics of writing, but the creative aspects of creating stories and keeping the reader interested. Again, these lessons are NOT ABOUT MECHANICS (CUPS) but about the creative process.

During the week, students will rotate through each classroom and receive a different lesson about writing. This year's theme will be camping, so all of the lessons are focused around the camping theme. I have also included the documents with the same lessons relating to a beach theme. We did a beach theme in the school where I student taught, so you have both themes!!!

- **PERSONIFICATION** - finding examples in literature and then writing your own

[|Ocean's Alive Personification.doc] [|Ocean's Alive WKST.doc] [|Who Am I Student.docx] [|Living Woods Personification.doc]

- **Onomatopoeia** - Exploring different ways of using onomatopoeia in writing

Reed - ** Story Swap - ** In a small group, one student begins a story and then passes to the next person to add on... continue until the last person adds the ending. Each person should be writing a paragraph of at least three to four sentences each time. You might set the timer for two minutes and students will swap papers after each two minute period. You can continue the story for more than one turn or start a new story after each person has had their first turn.

Manzano- **Circle Story** - Similar to story swap, in this activity, students compose a story one line at a time, passing the paper to each person after each line.

The subject or topic of the story can be given to the students, or you can let them come up with topics on their own. Some interesting topics include: -You are stranded on an island with just a tent and a flashlight- what do you do now? -You are camping with some friends when you find an alien hidden in a cave! -Your friends decide to play hide and seek at night. What happens?

The time frame that each student has to write each turn is much shorter- 45 seconds to one minute. You don't want students writing paragraphs like in story swap. This activity will be fun because the story can change directions quickly! Students can continue passing their stories around as many times as the teacher thinks is necessary. Then, the whole class can sit around the "campfire" and share their stories!

GAUTILLE!- **Barebone Sentences** - Taking barebone, boring sentences and making them into juicy, meaty ones. Instead of just writing, "He was mad," students could write "The large, brown-headed boy fumed and smashed his fists into the desk." For the camping theme, you can relate these more descriptive, juicy sentences to s'mores- delicious and oozing with warm marshmallow! You want sentences to be the same way!! (Refer to the cracking open sentences lesson we did at the beginning of the year :))

[|Fishbone Sentences Directions.doc] [|Fishbone Sentences Activity.doc] [|Fishbone Sentences Wall.doc] [|S'mores Sentences Activity.doc] [|S'mores Sentences Directions.doc] [|S'mores Sentences Wall.doc]

- **Five senses brainstorm** - using your five senses to brainstorm topics for writing

[|5 Senses- Day at the Beach wall.doc] [|5 Senses- Day at the Beach.doc] [|5 Senses Day at the Beach.xls] [|5 Senses-Camping.doc] [|5 Senses- A Winter Day.doc] [|5 Senses- Camping Teacher.doc] [|5 Senses- Camping.doc] [|5 Senses- Camping Teacher.doc] [|5 Senses- A Winter Day.doc] [|5 Senses Day Winter Day.xls] [|5 Senses Day Camping.xls] [|5 Senses Day at the Beach.xls]

ALLEN- ** Word Hunt ** - Searching for "sparking and dazzling" words in books and recording them on gems

[|treasure hunt.doc] [|Searching for Treasure.doc] [|Fishing for Words.doc] [|Fishing for Words Teacher.doc]


 * - Magazine Pictures ** - Using characters or scenes in magazine pictures as a jumping off point for a story

- ** Writing Exciting Introductions ** - Coming up with great ideas to "hook" your readers

[|Captain Hook-Intros.doc] [|Captain Hook-Activity.doc] [|Captain Hook-Intros wall.doc] [|Hook the Reader-Intros wall.doc] [|Hook the Reader-Intros.doc] [|Hook the readers-Activity.doc]

[|Breathtaking Views Worksheet.doc] [|Breathtaking views.doc] **
 * - Descriptive Paragraphs ** - Using interesting and detailed pictures and writing a paragraph to describe them (great with ocean scenes or other nature pictures) ** -

Point of View A : Writing a story from the perspective of an object or animal (dog, stapler, pencil, etc.) SEALS

[|give me some perpective.doc] [|Give Me Some Perspective teacher.docx]

[|Day 2- Point of View.doc]
 * - Point of View B : ** Examining a situation from two points of view and writing each account (example: a shark and a human at the beach- write from the shark's point of view and from the human's point of view)

PETERSON- No More Said! - Coming up with synonyms for words like "happy," "sad," "mad," etc. Students can use a flower template or a sun template with the yucko junko word in the middle and the synonyms all around it

[|Yucko Junko word.doc] [|No More Said Teacher.docx] [|No More Said Student.docx]


 * - Show Me, Don't Tell Me ** - similar to No More Said, in this activity students will actually write descriptive paragraphs describing a person's actions when they feel a certain way

[|Show Me change tell to show.doc] [|Show Me, Don't Tell Me.xls]  [|Show Me Examples.docx]

[|Description as Mind Control Teacher.docx] [|Paint a Picture With Words.xls] [|Paint a Picture with Words Teacher.docx] [|Paint a Picture With Words Student.xls]
 * Miller- Create a Scene with Words ** - students will describe a particular setting in great detail without ever mentioning the actual place name (ex: school- students would have to write descriptively without using the word 'school')


 * - Creating a Satisfying Ending ** - showing a variety of techniques that add a satisfying ending to a story- students practice writing the different types of endings

[|Every story needs a satisfying ending.doc]