writing

I have collected a handful of websites that you can use to have some fun with writing. Being a writer isn't just about writing essays. It's about being creative and having fun with language. Hopefully you will enjoy these sites as they help you become a stronger writer!

Jane Yolen will show you how to write a myth ( a story that explains something in nature in a creative way). She'll give you strategies and a few warm-up activities before you write your own online. You might even get yours published on Scholastic's site!

Read "fractured fairy tales" written by students all around the world. Then, try writing your own online!

Use this interactive tool to create comic strips! You choose the number of panels (boxes), the characters, backgrounds, and even make word bubbles! Then, print out your comic!

You are a reporter for your local paper. Your editor has just given you an assignment to cover the preparations for the Lewis and Clark expedition. You have been "sent" to Louisville, Kentucky, to meet with William Clark and be present when he greets Meriwether Lewis on the banks of the Ohio River. Your editor wants you to focus on the men Lewis and Clark have recruited for the expedition. Nine of them come from Louisville. Do your research and then write your article online.

You are a reporter for your local paper. Your editor has just given you an assignment to cover an attempt by two brothers in Kitty Hawk to fly a homemade craft through the air. You will do your research then write and print out your story.

With this online tool, you can learn about and write acrostic poems. An acrostic poem uses the letters in a word to begin each line of the poem. All lines of the poem relate to or describe the main topic word. You can also print your finished acrostic poems.

Learn about and write diamante poems, which are diamond-shaped poems that use nouns, adjectives, and gerunds to describe either one topic or two opposing topics (for example, night/day or winter/spring). Examples of both kinds of diamante poems can be viewed online. It also includes prompts to write and revise poems, thus reinforcing elements of the writing process. You can print your finished diamante poems, too!

This tool is great for brainstorming your background knowledge about a topic. You can create alphabet books with words for each letter of the alphabet, then print it out so you can add what you've learned at the end of the unit!