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!