Growing Writing

Are you looking for a writing activity to complement your science activities?  Spring is a great time to write a Growing Story about plants.  As you teach about various types of plants and what they need to grow, students can use their imaginations to "become plants" using visual imagery to guide the content of their stories.  

As was described in the lesson blog about The Surprise Egg story, have students close their eyes, think of a plant they like, and envision it at its beginning.  With eyes closed, elicit student comments of what they look like, how they change, what helps them grow, what they become, what happens to them later, etc.  

For materials, I cut writing paper in half so they have long strips instead of wide paper.  As they write, they tape or glue another piece of paper to the end, allowing the plant story to "grow."  This becomes a motivator for students to elaborate and keep writing so that their plants can grow taller.  

After the writing, students use construction paper to cut out pieces  to make a plant to glue at the top of the paper .  Some like to make a long root that goes down the length of the writing paper.  Then you "plant a garden" displaying the stories in the classroom or the hallway to show off the colorful plants and their fabulous stories.