Creative writing is one of those subjects that everyone believes is important, yet few schools have a plan to actually teach it. It takes time away from the core subjects and overtaxes your already overworked teachers. It’s not fun to grade. Some students groan when you suggest it. Above all, what exactly are you supposed to have your students do in a creative writing class?

While it can’t solve all these issues, Sparkling Bits of Writing from Creative Word Studio provides short, ready-made creative writing lessons in workbook format. Students are provided with writing prompts and instructions directly in the workbook, so there is very little preparation needed from the teacher to have a successful class.

Book 1 is written for 4th to 7th grade students, while Book 2 is intended for 7th to 9th graders. Both books contain seventy-five lessons, with three different types of writing activities:

• Free-writing – students write non-stop in response to a prompt to practice getting ideas from their brains onto paper.
• Reading response – Students analyze someone else’s writing and respond to it, learning to think through writing.
• Mini Writing Lessons – fun writing activities to get students thinking outside the box: making lists, describing people, creating word clouds, etc.

If you’ve been avoiding creative writing because you don’t know what to do, this is for you! Who knows, it might even transform your groaning students into eager writers! At the very least, it will offer them the tools they need to communicate effectively in writing.