Suggested topics, beginning sentences, and illustrated ideas can motivate young writers, stimulate their imaginations, and give them reference points for the development of their thoughts on paper. This document offers illustrated questions and seasonal topics as writing ideas for students in the primary grades. Creative ideas for students in the…

Elementary school students can learn to write creatively if the teacher offers stimulation through informative and enriching experiences and provides daily opportunities for writing experiences. Enrichment can involve books, field trips, radio, television, guest speakers, maps, and sense experiences--anything that broadens the knowledge of the…

Fifty disadvantaged urban boys ranging from ages 11 to 16 participated in a 6-week summer writing workshop patterned on the ideas of James Moffett, Donald Murray, and John Dixon. The students were divided into groups of five, were trained in methods of group discussion (aided by video tapes to prepare them for profitable analysis of each others'…

This article discusses methods of teaching poetry and composition to German speaking elementary-school students in Switzerland. One effective device for treating poetry is enactment; children practice acting, declamation, pantomime, and narration while learning the poem. Another device is choral speaking with individually assigned roles, which…