One of my favorite lessons to teach is 1st person narration from the point of view of a personified object. It is fun to go from the strict structure of book reports to the more playful, casual, "hear one's own voice" style of this assignment. Here are a couple that I absolutely loved-- but once again, it was hard to choose! My classrooms were full of shoes, balloons, toys, pumpkins, foods, fireplaces, pencils, and even a volcanic rock and an American flag. It was an interesting couple of weeks!
The students started by story mapping their births, lives, and deaths (or endings if they didn't cease to exist at the end of their tale.) They also settled on a mood or tone. Some of them quite enjoyed being themselves, others (like Kelly) did not. Then came the creative writing part...... Enjoy!
Series of Unfortunate Events: A Blade of Grass' Life
By Kelly (5th grade)
Ugghh! I am a tiny seed stuck in a big bag. The bag is full of loud, happy seeds. I HATE happy seeds! They ruin everything with their happiness. Oh no! What's happening?! Suddenly, the world tilts to the side, and I am suddenly falling in the air. Aaaaahhh! Ooof! I hit the dirt hard. I sniff around and look at my surroundings. Gee, this dirt smells terrible! Oh no! Water falls onto my head, almost drowning me!
Over a month, I grow into a blade of grass. It's even worse than being a seed! I'm all long and squishy and bendy. I'm the shortest piece of grass, and I hate being short. The other piece of grass are no help. They're all happy and all optimists, and they don't understand what it's like to be truly grumpy! What's that? What's that hideous noise?! It's going to burst my eardrums!
"I love the sound of children laughing," said a dreamy piece of grass next to me. Children? What are "children?" They must be hideous beasts. Suddenly, the world is cast in shadow and a big "thing"-- there's no other word to describe it-- flies out of the sky and lands on me. Oooowww! That hurts! Doesn't that thing have eyes? The dreamy blade beside me says, "I love shoes." So, is that thing called a "shoe?" Well, Mr. Shoe, let me give you a piece of m--
What's that noise? Is it the children again? No, this sound is more of a buzz. Hey! Will the thing making that buzzing noise please be quiet?! A blade of grass who has been through what I have needs beauty sleep! I said, BE QUIET!!
But the noise doesn't get quieter. Oh no. It is getting louder, probably just to annoy me. Then suddenly, a terrible monster leaps out at me and cuts me in half! Oooooouuchies! Gee, that hurts! Even monsters should know to look out for innocent piece of grass! And.... oh no!! I'm short again!! And just when I had gotten tall!!
"I love when lawn mowers come," says the annoying piece of grass beside me. I hate lawn mowers! I hate this world! And most of all, I hate being a blade of grass!
What?
By Savannah (4th grade)
Yea! I was written by my favorite teacher Mrs. Huff! I don't know what I'm supposed to be, but I know how she drew me. First, she drew a backwards C, and then she drew a connected line with some space and a dot. So I figured out I look like this: ?
She smiles as she begins her lesson in 2nd grade Language Arts. She tells all the children I am some kind of punctuation. Caley asks, "What's punctuation?" and the class giggles. I want to shout out, "I am punctuation!" but I can't raise my hand to speak. Then Mrs. Huff tells them I am a question mark and I am used in interrogative sentences.
As Mrs. Huff teaches the kids, I take a minute to look around. To my right, I see the Handy Helpers board, and to my left I see a smart board. I look out at all those cute little children looking at me. I can see in the far right corner the Grammar Garden. This classroom is so beautiful!
Then I hear her say, "Now all of you try to make a question mark." All of a sudden, I see sixteen of me. Oh, look how good I look! Oh. That one looks really weird.
I have been up on the board all day! I'm so happy! Mrs. Huff looks tired. She says something about needing to clean the classroom. She's holding a small rectangular tool that has a fuzzy side. Oh no! What is that? What is that?! I am being eras........
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