This is an awesome free resource for creative writing. Students can create their own story books by adding illustrations and text using an easy online tool.
Click on the link, then click on "Sign Up" to create a free account. Go to Create a Book and watch the tutorial video that pops up to learn how.
To access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Fantasy Writing. Watch the videos and follow along.
Dig into the common elements of the fantasy genre:
Realistic main characters
A fantasy world
A way of moving from reality to fantasy
A good vs evil theme
And here’s a worksheet to help students plan their own fantasy story.
to access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Idioms. Watch the 4 videos and follow along.
This series exposes students to sets of five related idioms, perfect for vocabulary enrichment.
Sets include (click to download a PDF of the idioms):
to access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Vocab Puzzle: Word Ladders. Watch the 3 videos and follow along.
Students learn how to play Word Ladders by turning their starting word into an ending word in a specified number of steps by changing only one letter per step in this spelling and vocabulary puzzle original invented by Lewis Carroll.
Sample Word Ladders
A growing set of word ladders.
Two Steps
Three steps
Since these are longer, I start with the middle word as a hint in case students get stuck.
To access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Shakespeare Summaries. There are 4 of them to choose from.
Five minute, animated versions of Shakespeare plays, appropriate for students. Quickly expose your students to greatness!
Afterward watching one, students can:
research the original plays
rewrite their own versions in new settings
learn famous lines from each play
To access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Writing Suess Style Poetry. Watch the three videos and follow along.
Students will write a poem about a topic of your choosing in the style of Dr. Seuss, focusing on his use of rhythm and stressed syllables.
Inspired by these Seuss-ish Star Wars drawings.
Steps
Students analyze Dr. Seuss writing, looking for the details that make him sound Seuss-y.
After picking a topic, students brainstorm a list of words related to that topic, break them into syllables, and underline the stressed syllables.
Students create a Seuss-style stanza using his line length, rhyme pattern, and (most importantly) rhythm.
To access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find Haiku Summaries. Watch the three videos and follow along.
Students will use the highly structured form of haiku to write summaries of movies or books.
Haiku Rules:
Line 1: five syllables
Line 2: seven syllables
Line 3: five syllables
I’ve used Toy Story as my sample story.
1. Write Plot Summaries
cowboy, toy leader
spaceman takes his place – jealous!
must learn to be friends
2. Use Character Perspectives
Woody
Andy loves me best.
Tossed aside. Replaced? I’m lost.
Andy loves us both.
Buzz
Shot down. Strange planet.
Just a toy? Not a hero?
I bring Andy joy.
3. A Specific Moment
Woody tries to hide Buzz, but accidentally knocks him out the window.
Buzz chosen? Alone.
My chance – favorite again!
Too far! What am I?
To access go to www.byrdseed.tv/students
Class Name: greenbrier
Password: greenbrier
Scroll down until you find The Personalities of Rocks. Watch the videos and follow along.
Students give personalities to igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and then create a story in which these rocks must work together to solve a problem.
Students create the personalities for the three types of rocks using this worksheet.
They craft the problem (and solution) to their story using this outline.