“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home,” says Dorothy Gale in the movie The Wizard of Oz.
L. Frank Baum, the author of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the other Oz books, was born in May in 1856. That’s more than 150 years ago, but his statement is still true. There’s no place like home, and there’s no place like your home.
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Let’s celebrate one of literature’s coldest motifs: ice queens.
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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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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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 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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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.
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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Summertime! The key word here is “enjoy.” Enjoy these fun and thought-provoking prompts and writing ideas. Enjoy their summery-ness. And enjoy that your 5th – 12th graders are writing but you are not grading!
There are six prompts and prompt bundles waiting for your children and one article for you.
Ready? Let’s go . . .
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Take a break from grading and give your 5th-12th grade students some fun, summer-themed topics to write about.
There are five for your students and one article for you. It’s all about practical, real-life experiences you can turn into writing events.
Here goes . . .
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SHARON’S BLOG
Are you a homebody or do you love to gallivant? To gallivant is to travel, wander, or globetrot. Does that sound like you?
Whatever you happen to be, you can use these 16 writing prompts to become an armchair traveler and see the world right from where you are. You might even be inspired to plan a real-life trip!
Suitable for 5th – 12th graders.
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You are familiar with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel or “Ted”) through his popular stories such as Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Cat in the Hat. But did you know that he used to write very different kinds of literature? Read on to find out!
Below you’ll find 5 writing prompts to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s accomplishments.
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Ray Bradbury, author of Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, was born August 22, 1920.
Though he’s been gone for a few years, we still celebrate this man who helped make science-fiction the respected genre it is today.
Many years ago, Ray Bradbury wrote the short story “The Veldt” with an intriguing kids’ bedroom in it. Before these were even invented in the real world, flat-screen TVs were embedded in the four walls of this bedroom so the children could have experiences and feel what was going on.
When the dad, George Hadley, steps into his children’s room one day, he sees two people on the screens. This is what he encounters in the walls’ African plains.
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