K-2 Writing:
The Tale of the Button
Today's Snack: They call little sideways cuts of carrots "buttons."
Why not have a bowl of buttons with a side of ranch dip, and if you've never
had carrot juice before, there's no time like the present to try it.
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-- Artwork by Lisa Worrall
Supplies:
Special button (big,
good color, interesting shape or texture)
Markers, paint, wire, fabric,
glitter, glue, craft sticks,
beads, sequins, seeds,
stickers, etc.
Piece of cardstock |
glue
Piece of writing paper |
pen or pencil
Let's create an unusual character or
object from a button, and then tell a story starring that button creation.
The creative process has these steps:
1.
Start with
how things are. Study "what is."
2.
Open
yourself up to the start of a new idea. Keep thinking and let it grow. Then capture
it gently, as with a mental butterfly net, and write it down. For example, are
you going to make your button into a face? Part of a machine? Part of a flower?
Will it be from your neighborhood, or a faraway country, or a planet in outer
space?
3.
Brainstorm
and explore by thinking over the idea. Expand it. Connect it. Change it. What
else does that idea suggest? Where is the idea leading you?
4.
Rest; take
a break; let the idea develop.
5.
Then come
back to it. Let inspiration launch the idea into a story. Get on its back and ride
with it! Every story should have three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an
end. There should probably be a problem that somehow is solved by the end of
the story.
6.
Add and subtract
ideas and directions. Play with the story idea! Expand on how the problem is
solved to make the story more interesting and exciting. Change, reshape,
redirect and reform.
7.
Now is the
time to actually make the button creation, and finish the story. If you wish,
you can glue your creation onto a piece of cardstock so that it'll keep longer.
8.
Once you
have it made, dictate, or tell, the story to someone else to get it all written
down exactly the way you want it, on a piece of writing paper.
9.
Finally, share
your button creation and its story with others. Make sure to have an adult
write the date on your creation and your story, and keep them. This is creativity:
making something from practically nothing!
