Creative Writing Prompts – 10 Great Journal Ideas For Kids
By: Todd Long
Submitted: 2010-11-03 08:44:41 | Word Count: 686
Many children find it difficult to come up with writing ideas. Make journal writing is easier by supplying children with writing prompts. This article supplies writing ideas for classroom or home-school writing.
Benefits of Regular Classroom Journal Writing
Journal writing is an excellent way for students to reflect upon the world around them. Offering interesting topics to students avoids boring entries that are simply a chronological list of the day's activities. The topics listed help students think as world citizens. The topics will help build a reflective, creative student.
In addition, regular writing improves important writing skills. After a couple of months of daily journal writing time, teachers will notice improved grammar, spelling, sentence structure and editing skills. Schedule regular editing time, as well as regular writing time.
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Journal Writing Ideas and Prompts
Writing starters reduce the "I don't know what to write" syndrome. Offering ideas is especially useful to reluctant and beginning writers. Here are 10 interesting writing prompts.
You just won a million dollars but you have to give it all away to at least three people or organizations. Write about how you would distribute the money and why you chose those recipients.
Write about one talent or skill that you wish you possessed. Do you wish you could be a great goalie, heart surgeon or could play the piano? Why did you choose this skill and what would you do with it?
Write about the hardest decision you, personally, had to make. It could have been a big life altering choice or small decision regarding a friend. Write about how you made the decision and why it was the right or wrong choice.
Write about a county that you would want to visit and why. What do you imagine this country is like? Explain what you think you will see, smell, hear and experience in your dream visit.
Write about the day in the life of a coin. Follow its journey as it passes from person to person. Perhaps it spends time on the sidewalk before a small child finds it.
Write about your favorite movie. Write a brief summary and tell us why you loved this movie; was it the costumes, special effects or plot? Is there anything you would have changed, if you were the director?
What do you think is the biggest problem in the world today? Explain the problem clearly and offer some thoughts you have about solutions.
Write about a person that is your hero. It could be someone who is living and in your life now or a famous person who is no longer alive.. Why do you admire this person and what do you think it takes to be a hero.
Write about the best gift you ever gave someone. Explain how, when and why you choose this gift. How did you feel when you gave this gift to that person?
Pick a profession and write about a day in the life of a person with this job. Explain everything he/she does from the time they wake up until they go to bed. It could be a veterinarian, news reporter, garbage man or high-rise window washer.
Creative and Journal Writing Time Teach Editing
During journal writing time, encourage students to write with free flow. They should be more concerned with getting the ideas down and less concerned with spelling. It is a great idea to allot 20 minutes for fluent writing time and 10 minutes for editing. During editing time, provide a checklist for students. A sample checklist follows.
Does the journal entry make sense? Perhaps read it to a partner to check that it reads smoothly.
Does every sentence begin with a capital?
Does every sentence end with punctuation (a period, question mark or exclamation mark)?
Look for spelling errors. Fix all the words you know are incorrect (silly mistakes)
Underline 2 words that you think might be spelled incorrectly. Check those two words out with a friend, adult or dictionary.
Teachers can help students get writing faster by offering writing prompts. Schedule regular classroom writing time and editing time to improve writing quality. The content and structure of writing will improve with regular writing.
