I designed the Mix and Match writing prompts in two different formats to have some flexibility with implementation. My first thought was printable pages for "Work on Writing" centers/stations, anchor activities, and independent work. I then also put each prompt in the form of a task card so that students could glue the prompt into their writing notebook.




Want to try it out with me? If so, you can download one of the sixteen 8.5 x 11" printable pages below for FREE here.  To see the entire pack, click here.

What kinds of writing prompts do you use with your students? Leave a comment and let me know; I'd love to learn with you!

What would you be if you had wings to fly like a bird . . .

and walked slowly like a turtle?

A BiRdLe! 

download here for free

• alligator + gorilla = gorillagator
• lion + dinosaur = linosaur
• monkey + kangaroo = monkaroo
• puppy + hippopotamus = puppyotamus

Because the goal is to develop divergent thinking skills, I frequently remind students that there is more than one correct answer. For example, if you were part alligator and part octopus, you could be an allipus, an octigator, or a gatorpus. The possibilities are endless.

Then they draw a picture to illustrate their animal soup creation. Here are a few examples from one of my first grade nurturing lessons:









Oftentimes, I compile the student pictures and make it into a class book. Most times, the kids are too eager to take them home right away to share :-)

You can download the activity sheet and animal cards for FREE here.



To learn more about fun ways to nurture creative thinking in the classroom, check out two of my earlier posts: Let's Get Creative and Creativity in the Classroom. Thanks for checking in!

1. Accept and celebrate all of the ideas that students offer – even the ones that are wacky or off the wall! When brainstorming, the goal is quantity, not quality. Generating ideas is the first step in effective problem solving! Students can always revisit their ideas later and decide which ones are worth keeping.

2. Encourage “piggybacking” or building on the ideas of others. Creative thinking does not exist in a vacuum. People learn from and thrive on the inspiration and ideas of others. Encourage students – not to copy – but to build on, develop, and extend the ideas of their peers.

3. Model it! Creative thinking is a skill that can be learned! Just as we would provide instruction and support to help our students understand fractions or physics, we need to do the same for creative thinking. Our students have tremendous creative capacity and it is our job to help them identify and develop it. One of my favorite ways to model creative thought is described in tip #5; students often learn best from their peers.

4. Creativity takes time, so give students time to think, try out new ideas, and invent. Creativity can be integrated throughout the academic day with strategies like open-ended questions, project based learning, and student choice. I also like to specifically carve out time in our day to focus on creative thinking. Because the school day is so jam-packed, and much of our instructional time is mandated by others, I tend to use creative activities, like "Brain Food," as:

• Bell Ringers: My students can arrive anytime between 7:30 and 8:00. This 30 minutes can pose a challenge! While I want morning work activities to be worthwhile, I don’t want students who arrive at 8:00 to be “penalized” for missing this time. I love using creativity exercises as bell ringers because my students who are present are meaningfully engaged and developing essential skills, but it does not put other students “behind.” 
• Center Activities: I often have a “Creation Station” as one of my center rotations in both math and reading. Divergent thinking activities are perfect for this spot! Students can tackle the tasks with independence AND at their individual level of readiness. 
• Anchor Activities: Creative thinking activities are a great resource for my fast finishers! I give each student a “Brain Food” packet and if they finish early, they can pull it out and be actively engaged. 

There are other fun, meaningful ways to incorporate creative enrichment into the school day, but these are a few of my favorites.

This post, which is the first in a series on creativity, briefly describes the 4-part framework and suggests quick, easy activities you can do with your class to promote creative and critical thinking everyday. So, here we go!

1. FLUENCY:
Fluency is the act of generating many different ideas. This is an essential component of, and often the first step in, the problem solving process. Fluency encourages us to consider a variety of options and, with more options, we are more likely to reach a successful solution.



With fluency, quantity is more important than quality. Accept all ideas that students offer – even the ones that are wacky or off the wall! Students can revisit their list of ideas later to reflect on their responses and decide which ideas are worth keeping.

Brainstorming is a wonderful way to encourage fluency of thought. As a daily warm-up, center activity, or even while you're waiting in line for lunch with your students, pose one of the following questions:

Name things that:

• are hot
• are old
• are sour
• take less than a minute
• are big, but not heavy
• change over time
• go up and down
• are better to do fast instead of slow

Another way to promote fluency is through pictures. Present your students with an image and ask them to write a caption or generate alternate uses. Below is an example of writing captions using an everyday icon from Ian Byrdseed's amazing website:



sample captions:

• "Another juggler gives up on his dreams."
• "Jack decides to ditch the beans and move to Europe."

Alternate uses for an everyday item, such as a pencil, might be: a drum stick, a back-scratcher, a catapult, chopsticks, etc.


2. FLEXIBILITY:
Flexibility is the ability to produce ideas from different categories, perspectives, and points of view. Flexible thinking encourages us to see one thing in many different ways.




Below are some ways to see usual things in unusual ways and from different points of view.

Forced Associations: A forced association asks students to find similarities among items/ideas that are seemingly unrelated. By combining words that appear to be dissimilar, students are encouraged to think in new ways and to develop new perspectives and understandings. Try these with your class!

How is . . .

• a teacher like a chair
• a window like a pair of glasses
• the earth like a fishbowl
• number like a letter

Pictures are another great way to promote flexibility. I love these image that I found on SlowRobot.com:


What a great example of using "normal," everyday items to create new things! You can find more ideas for forced associations (and no-prep printables) here.


3. ORIGINALITY:
Originality is the ability to produce ideas that are unique or original. This creativity tool involves synthesis or putting information together in a new way. Scattergories was one of my favorite games growing up; it was not until I was an adult that I figured out how fabulous it is for developing originality! To play, each student generates an item or items for each category. A point is earned for each idea that no one else has. Check out the example below:





4. ELABORATION:
Elaboration is the ability to enhance ideas by providing information and detail. Elaboration can make basic ideas, answers, or pictures interesting and exciting.

For example: provide students with a basic shape, squiggle, or mark on the page. Tell students that this picture is unfinished and that they should brainstorm a list of all the different things it could be. Students should select their favorite idea and then add details to elaborate, enhance, and improve. Here's an example from my Spring Enrichment Packet:



If you liked this post, you may be interested in some of the activities below. 

                   Picture Prompts for Creative Writing        Squiggle Stories: Creative Writing Prompts


I hope you'll check back for the next part of the creativity series! In the meantime:
How do you promote creative thought in your classroom?  What else do you want to learn or know about creativity?  I'd love to hear from you!

Some of the diagrams in this download include “forced associations.” Examples:



A forced association asks students to find similarities among items/ideas that are seemingly unrelated. By combining words that appear to be dissimilar, students are encouraged to think in new ways and to develop new perspectives and understandings. Forced associations help students to think critically and creatively, build divergent thinking skills, and develop an awareness of relationships. Oh yeah, and they’re fun! :-)

Venn diagrams can easily be differentiated to meet the needs of ALL learners! Below are some of the easy, LOW PREP strategies for successful differentiation and implementation.

Implementation Ideas:

• Teacher-directed activities: In a teacher-directed Venn activity, the teacher identifies the elements to be compared. For example, if comparing two fables, a teacher might direct students to compare characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme/moral. Providing specific guidelines helps to focus student attention on the most salient features. Teacher-directed Venn diagrams can also provide scaffolding for students who may need support.
• Student-directed activities: In a student-directed Venn activity, students select the elements to compare. This task is a wonderful, open-ended way to nurture higher-order thinking skills like divergent thinking. When tiering Venn activities, the content can be the same (ex: fractions/decimals), but tier one can be teacher directed and tier 2 can be student-driven. Students explore the same content, but at different levels of complexity.

Strategies for Differentiation:

• Concrete to Abstract: As teachers, we need to deliver the same concepts and essential understandings to all students, even though they are at varying levels of readiness. One way to do this effectively is by offering activities on a spectrum from concrete to abstract. (To learn more about this differentiation continuum, check out Carol Ann Tomlinson’s web site – http://www.caroltomlinson.com/ differentiation goddess!) In a Venn diagram, we can do the same thing! A concrete task compares two objects, ideas, or concepts from the same category. Here are some examples: oranges/apples; Cinderella/Snow White; condensation/ precipitation; needs/wants; etc. We can then gradually progress to more abstract, challenging comparisons that require “forced associations.”
• Teacher vs. Student-directed activities: This is an easy, low-prep way to differentiate Venn activities, while still providing the same rich content to ALL students. Let’s say your class is exploring number sense and you place the terms “odd” and “even” in a Venn diagram. In the tier one activity, the teacher would select the most salient and significant characteristics to be addressed, such as: examples, images/illustrations, definition, etc. In the tier two activity, no characteristics are provided, so students must identify the relevant, key characteristics on their own. This step adds depth and complexity to the task, while still exploring the same content. 

Teacher Tips:

• Provide explicit instruction and guidance: Model for students how to select important characteristics to compare. Identifying relevant features will improve the depth of student thought and the quality of their work.
• Use a rubric to ensure high quality, thoughtful responses. A rubric can be a student road map to success. With detailed descriptors, rubrics outline expectations so that students know exactly how to produce their best work. Particularly with open-ended responses/tasks like the ones shown here, explicit criteria helps students to produce thorough, insightful work. 
• Make it a game! Students select two things to compare and use a Venn diagram to identify the ways in which the items/ideas are alike and different. When they finish, students swap papers with a classmate. Students then use the clues provided to infer what two objects are being compared. This is a great way to develop a meaningful understanding of discipline specific vocabulary! 

If you like the Very Venn Valentine's, check out my Very Venn Enrichment Activities!






This includes 20 WEEKS of student center activities and a RUBRIC to help you evaluate their work. I put a ton of thought into this product and am so proud of the results. I hope you love it, too!

Thanks for reading! Off to prep for tomorrow, friends! :-)