This is a fabulous writing activity. Get a small recipe box with cards. I had a wooden one that the lid lifted off. The kids loved it. Put one ingredient on each card. You can separate the ingredients in groups like:
1. WHO or WHAT - nouns - people, animals, things
2. WHERE - the place
3. DID WHAT - the action
4. WHEN - time
5. WHY - reason
or just bunch the cards in one group like I did. This depends on what your expectations are for your age group.
INGREDIENTS:
a pirate, a white rabbit, a rocking chair, a pizza palace, a pocket, a robber, 7 blind mice, a telephone call, a balloon, a bow and arrow, red sports car, a lizard, an apple, a treasure, a gold earring, three peanuts, a pizza, a crayon, a whale, a bathtub, a pancake, a leaky pipe, a saxophone, a check for a million dollar, a glass of water, a snowstorm, a bathing suit, one tennis shoe, an airport, a dog, a basket of apples, one frog, two lollipops, one cold day, one dog a bowl of water, sunshine, a ghost, 1/2 a sandwich, a school gym, an elephant, a doorbell, the postman, two white mice, a bowl of cereal, a newspaper, a classroom, a frog, the principal, a pair of glasses, a letter, a star, one boy, one tree, a spaceship, cheese pizza, lightning, a paper cup with a hole...just some that were in my box.
There are several ways to approach this project. First, shuffle the cards and have a student pick three for you. Have another student read what the three items are. Wait until the students finish laughing and talking-if they don't see the situation, make a big deal out of it. Have the students give situations that involve two of the three items. You make list these on a chart paper. Then start writing the story on the board with the students' input. This models what you expect from the project.
Shuffle the cards again and have students pick one at a time. After everyone has one, then go through and have them pick the second card. Continue until everyone has three cards. If someone is stumped and wants to tell the three items and get ideas, they can, or trade in one card. But, I would limit the trading-it might hinder the writing time.
When students are finished with the writing, the teacher can proof it. I would proof according to your age group. By third grade, some skills I expected: the story to flow, to have a beginning and an ending, capitals and periods where appropriate, spelling, and some description using adjectives. When proofed the students can color.
Put on the website, in a class book for students to enjoy through out the year, and finally in the Journal/Memory Books. The recipe box can be put in a center for a writing project.
This is a simple way to make sure your students are exposed to poetry even though you have a full curriculum and very busy days. Gather some poetry books and them put on a shelf or in a crate. I actually put the books in a picnic basket and then stored them that way when we were not using them. Make sure you have all of the Shel Silverstein books. Children love that poet. Copy at least a weeks worth of the worksheet and put out near the poetry books or where you put papers for your students to access. Do one with the students to show what you expect of them. I would always demonstrate with one of my favorite childhood poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'The Swing'. Below is a sample with out the student drawing. Expectations for students: neat handwriting, detailed drawing, and neat coloring . This could be worked into a great center area if you wished. I assigned one a day during the month of April - National Poetry Month. This gave my Third Graders extra penmanship practice with cursive handwriting. You might end up with 20 completed for each child at the end of the month. This makes a nice booklet to send home or even a nice Mother's Day Gift.
