Writing Treasure Chest

The children created "treasure chests" from shoe boxes. We had a great art time decorating these elaborately. I did not tell the children how they were to be used. I simple told them to create a special box that would later contain something special and valuable. This activity built their excitement. Most of the girls created jeweled boxes, covered in sequins and lace. While the boys tended more to armored boxes resembling pirate chests.

After the boxes were completed, I gave them in a stack of strips of gold paper. We call them "treasure" because they are gold and they are valuable.

I would write out a few of these sentences starters on the board. The children would copy them and add a couple words on one of the strips. Then they fold the strip and put it in their chest. Questions are like:

A person I would like to meet

Something that starts with "G"

My least favorite color is

One thing I like to do

The most beautiful thing I ever saw

My mom is

I wish I could...

I was the most scared when...

I would never want to...

.....you get the idea.

We do this whenever we had a few free moments to get fresh ideas in their boxes. Sometimes I let the children come up with the ideas and theirs were great. They suggested ones like:

The pet I would like to have is

The day the T-Rex came to school

My favorite Lord of the Rings person is

Then we have a writing time. I set the timer. The children seem to lose their "writer's block" with the timer running. I usually set it for only 3 minutes. Some get only a couple sentences written and others get much more. The rule is they must put their pencils down the second the timer goes off...no finishing sentences or even words.

Then we read them. The children love to share their stories. I comment on things like a good descriptive word, their clear speaking voice, etc. The class responds with things like "Then what happened?" This is exactly what I hope for. It makes them realize that others want to know about what they are saying.

I have the children save these. Some days we take them out and they are to re-read them. Then I have them choose one to write a good paragraph about. This they edit and re-copy in their best penmanship. This I collect and grade...or at least write comments on. Once in a great while, I make them re-edit it and do it again. But I don't want to do this very often as I want them to mostly just enjoy the writing process at this point.