[Ms. J]

I am in the process of working on descriptive writing with my students. I was searching for some "new" and inventive ways to have my students write descriptions. In the archives I found the description of a shoe and a pizza. Are there any other ideas you use in your classroom that get the creative juices flowing?
Here are some descriptive writing tasks I complete with my students already. Any new ideas are welcome!
*using picture prompts (calendar, books)
*describing a food they get to eat (jolly rancher or other)

Thanks ahead of time!

[beachmom]

Would you share how your students did with the jolly rancher. My student brought in a baby picture of themselves eating something very messy. However, I need to do some kind of cloze in order for them to write something decent. Keep me informed on how you go about writing a descriptive paragraph that doesn't lead to I see.... I hear ....... ect. thanks in advance.

[jessc]

I liked to have my students describe a messy room, what would that look like ex. dirty socks thrown on the ground, an old half eaten piece of pizza on a plate on top of a night stand,a pair or underwear rolled up in the corner of the room, ex.

I referred to these descriptive activities as snap shots. It's like taking a snapshot of something and the kids had to decribe what that would look like at that very moment.

[sk]

It is not really encouraging healthy eating but their own chocolate bar is a good one. Their are some fantastic descriptions of chocolate etc in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

A friend or family member can also work well.

[Ms. J]

To introduce how to write a description, I start with a jolly rancher description. I start by asking students to close their eyes, and only hold out their hands. Then I proceed to ask them to feel, smell, and hear the sounds that are made as they examine the "unknown" candy in their hands. At this time, their eyes remain closed, and thoughts and descriptive words are kept to themselves.

I proceed to ask them to make a prediction as to what the candy is, and then they may open their eyes. Then they look at the candy and think of words to describe what it looks like. Finally, they are able to open up the piece of candy and describe what it tastes like.

As they suck on the jolly rancher, the students write the words they thought of while examining the jolly rancher on a graphic organizer. After giving students some time to write their own words and thoughts, we brainstorm as a class.

I continue to go through the entire writing process with this activity. Very fun and engaging!