Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

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Signs of Spring

Signs of Spring

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby (former Major League baseball player)

A sure sign of spring is baseball.

No, sure signs of spring are crocuses and violets popping up. And don’t forget spring peepers and sighting the first robin.

Or how about that first

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Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter

Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter

SHARON’S BLOG
Snow-softened landscape. Frozen lakes. Sledding. Hot chocolate.

Blizzards. Ice-slick streets. Cancellations.

Winter—it’s all in there. Here are a few prompts about winter that your students will enjoy, giving them a chance to write their opinions, a short story, a TV script, and more.

Just right for your 5th – 12th graders.

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Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet

Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Let’s celebrate one of literature’s coldest motifs: ice queens.

What is a motif?

A motif (mow TEEF) is like a symbol on steroids. It not only appears in one story but in many stories through the ages and often in stories from many countries.

A deep, dark woods is a good example of a motif. The blackened forest can be symbolic of confusion or a time of testing. What stories can you think of that include a patch of dark woods? (I’ve listed a few at the end of this prompt, but try your hand at listing some before you read mine.)

A motif can be an item (like dark woods or a magic ring), a recurring event (like being sent on a quest or conducting a contest to find a spouse), or a

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Christmas Prompts

Christmas Prompts

SHARON’S BLOG
An edict. A carol. A strange decoration.

What do all these have in common? They are all part of our fun Christmas prompts.

Enjoy these prompts created especially for 5th – 12th graders.

Ho, ho, ho, and away we go . . .

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The Story Behind Dr. Seuss and the Grinch

The Story Behind Dr. Seuss and the Grinch

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You know about Dr. Seuss, and you know about the Grinch. But do you know the story behind the story?

When Ted (we know him as Dr. Seuss) was 53 years old, he was fed up with Christmas. He was tired of the noise, the constant activity, and the busy-ness, and he wished everyone would get along with each other.

His desire was that people would celebrate the joy and peacefulness of Christmas without all the hoopla detracting from it.

So what did he do? He wrote a story about it. He created a Scrooge-like creature who hates the noise and celebration of Christmas. Ted writes this in the story:

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Fall-themed Writing Prompts

Fall-themed Writing Prompts

SHARON’S BLOG

10 Fall-themed Writing Prompts

Colorful leaves. Pumpkins. Football. Cooler weather. Raking. Apple pie. Candles. What are signs of autumn to you?

Students are more likely to write if the topics are related to something that is going on at the moment, so let’s cash in on the season by using these fall-themed writing prompts. Some of the prompts you’ll find below are simply fun prompts; others are tutorials complete with printables.

While they are enjoying these ten seasonal prompts, you are giving them practice in opinion writing, description, figurative language, poetry, and more. Shhh! It’s our secret!

These prompts {and tutorials} are appropriate for grades 5 – 12.

Ready? Fun awaits . . .

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Hobbit Day

Hobbit Day

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Happy Hobbit Day!

Did you know that September 22 is officially Hobbit Day and the beginning of Tolkien Week? You can read more about it here and here and here.

To celebrate, let’s explore the hero’s journey, an essential type of plot.

The call

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien is basically a hero’s journey plot. Is the lowly Bilbo a hero when we first meet him? Not really. But through testing and troubles, and by fights against giant spiders, a dragon, and miserable dwarves, he becomes a hero.

One important phase of the hero’s journey plot is

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What Failures Will You Turn into Successes This Year?

What Failures Will You Turn into Successes This Year?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Welcome to a new year!

A new year is time for new plans, new goals, and new ideas.

It is also a time for second chances.

So, let’s talk about failures.

Failures?

Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph (forerunner of the record player), the light bulb, and the movie camera, was told in school that he was “too stupid to learn anything.”

Walt Disney, according to the newspaper editor who fired him,

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Poppies on Memorial Day

Poppies on Memorial Day

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

On Memorial Day in America, we remember and honor those in the armed services who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Poppies are often given out on Memorial Day as a symbol of those fallen men and women. This tradition comes from the first lines of the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, who wrote it during World War I and was remembering his fallen friends now buried in fields far from home.

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Memorial Day Writing Prompt

Memorial Day Writing Prompt

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

The United States celebrates Memorial Day, a day to remember the men and women in the armed services who have given their lives for our country.

The late General Colin Powell wrote of the granite Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D. C., “At no other battle monument are people so moved, stenciling names and leaving gifts like combat boots, uniforms, sonograms, even a

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