Brainstorming

The first step in writing a story is brainstorming. Give your little darlings a quick and easy assignment. Have them collect paper and a pen or pencil and sit down to brainstorm story ideas. It will be helpful to provide an "Ideas List" for younger students. Include ideas like "nature" or "games." Then, let them brainstorm. A fun and effective exercise is to write a topic word (nature) in the center of a piece of paper. Have the student(s) put a circle around the word and begin writing anything that comes to mind that they can think of that has to do with nature. Words that come to my mind include: tree, birds, grass, wind, storm, sky, and garden. After the page is full of words, have the student(s) choose one of the words as their topic for a story.