Ms Yacey's Colour Poems

How to Write a Quick Colour Poem! 

Colour poems are good for when you have a couple minutes to write, or as a quick project that can be started and finished later.

These poems can be written by yourself or with a buddy- but they are a little more fun with a buddy!

Pick a colour, any colour........ even close your eyes, reach into your box of pencil crayons or felts, and write about the first colour you pull out!

Cut a piece of paper into about 6 - 8 strips (consider using two sheets of paper if you are working with a partner).

Write about what first comes to mind when you think of the colour on the slips of paper:

Some examples are:

Orange is a sunset

Red is the colour of love

Pink is the colour of Valentine’s Day

Green smells minty

Orange reminds me of warm pumpkin pie, fresh out of the oven

Make sure to consider items that are that colour, feelings that make you think of that colour, pictures, sounds, or smells that colour makes you think of or even tastes! Green limey Jello …....

Give some slips to your partner and have them write about the same colour.

When you are finished, rearrange the slips of paper in any order - shuffle them around until you have an order that you think sounds good, has a rhythm, makes the most sense, or can even tell a little story!

When you are done, you have just created a quick colour poem, just like that!

To complete your poetic piece, decide on a closing line (With your partner, or on your own)
It should leave your audience thinking about that colour and wanting to explore new ideas!

Here are some examples of closing lines:

What is your favourite colour?

Royal Purple, we bow down to you.

What do you think blue is?

Why oh why must I see red everywhere!

Here is an example:

Purple is royal
Purple is strange
The colour of Ms. Yacey’s favourite shirt
The colour of kings and queens’ robes
Always missing from my felt box
Mixture of red and green
Purple, why must you be such a mystery!

Feel free to leave your colour poems as a comment on the blog for others to read. Simply copy and paste your poem in from a Word Doc or Google Doc.

From,
Ms Yacey

Mrs. Flasha's 5 Sentence Stories

5 Sentence Stories! Really?

Can a story really be written using only 5 sentences? Yes! Click here to learn how author Tyler Enfield teaches 5 sentence stories. 

Before you start writing stories here are a few tips:

1. On a blank piece of paper, make a list of all the CHARACTERS you can think of:  king, queen, princess, ogre, evil villain, mom, dad...

              Note:  Never use the name of a real person in your stories. 
                        They may get offended!

2. On another blank piece of paper, make a list of all the SETTINGS you can think of:  farm, castle, woods...

3. On another blank piece of paper, make a list of MOTIVATIONS (things a character may want):  money, power, a golden ring, a friend...

Keep these pages in your writing binder and use them when you are stuck for a creative idea. Add to the lists whenever you think of another idea. Share your list with a peer and add to each other's ideas! Add ideas you find in books, cartoons or movies. 

Some ways to write 5 sentence stories:

All by yourself -  Write as many 5 sentence stories you can as often as you can, or write one a day. Keep all the stories you write. You may like one so much you decide to turn it into a longer piece of writing. Re-write a story with a new setting, character, problem or solution. Where does this change take the story?

With a partner -  Each person starts the first sentence of a story, swap papers and add the next sentence. Continue until the stories are done. Be sure to swap back and see how your original story concluded. You never know what will happen next! Decide which is the best story. 

Write-a-round! - Get a group of people to sit in a circle. Each person starts a five sentence story on a piece of paper. Pass the paper to the right and continue the next sentence. Once the story is complete, start another 5 sentence story on the same page. Continue until the agreed upon time limit is up (usually 10 minutes). Read the best story from your page to the group. 

How to play our 5 Sentence Story Game

STEP 1. Type the first sentence of your story in the comment box, hit submit. Remember - do NOT use your real name when you comment on our blog. 

STEP 2. Click on the reply button to add the next sentence in someone else's story. You can only add 1 sentence to each story - no more!

STEP 3. Which stories are your favourite? Can you turn one into a full story? Here is a wealth of creative ideas to help you write a full story... Or part of a story... Or another 5 sentence story... Just keep writing!

WARNING!

Whenever writing be sure to KEEP IT CLEAN! No toilet humour please! No foul language! Our principal and parents read this blog. Always remember to be safe and appropriate when you are working online. 

Happy writing,
Mrs. Flasha