Story Starters:Help Chldrn Write Like Nev Bef

A blank page can be a hard thing to fill. If your children are afflicted with that wide-spread problem, as I myself was during some of my homeschooled years (and which is probably as old as creative writing itself!), their struggles to write simple thank-you notes or lists of their favorite hobbies probably means they don't stand a chance if you ask them to write a story about a sailor shipwrecked in a storm. It is hard to imagine the difference a book like this would have made if my parents could reference it for the times they became too busy to write personalized stories for my reading and writing exercises most likely a lot less doodling, slouching with boredom, and pencil breaking for sure. For both boys and girls, the 67 story starters in this book have huge diversity adventure, humor, domesticity, explorations, and more. The starters vary in length, but each one draws the student in with an engaging style, creating a desired excitement to learn the end of the story even if they have to write it themselves! The starters are accompanied by one or more very detailed black and white illustrations, a great way to enhance the imagination and help the creativity flow. Each starter also includes a prompt on how to continue the story and some "writing help" points for parents to use if their children need some more encouragement. Some also include an additional challenge exercise. However, this book is not simply about giving your students a starter to help them write a story, it is about giving them the help they need to "write as they have never written before." This means a certain amount of help from the teacher, and to this end the notes for the teacher in section one cover the idea behind the book, the flexibility of the book, attitudes, teaching tools, how to use the story starters, four different methods of narration, and motivation and grading. Section two contains the story starters, and section three, again for the teacher, is all about polishing the students' writing through sensory language; uses for verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; kinds of narrators; setting; and characters. The fourth section is for students who have advanced through the story starters in section two and now feel confident to start with a blank page and nothing but a picture to inspire their story. Twenty-four pictures are included in this section. The final section closes the book with some final notes on narration, an index of literary terms and techniques, and some additional writing resources. There is no set time frame for getting through this 458-page softcover book. Parents and students should pick and choose the story starters they want to do and the frequency with which they want to complete them. This resource is non-consumable and should be considered a supplement to your English course. ~ Zach