AnnMarie Hurtado

240 pages

8 1/2 x 11

Creative writing encourages imaginations to take flight, and when adults use the right approach, building literacy skills becomes a form of play that gets kids excited to create their own stories. Packed with ready-to-use lesson plans designed for kindergarten- and early elementary-aged children, this book will help librarians add creative writing activities to more traditional storytime initiatives and school librarians enrich English Language Arts lessons. Hurtado’s resource provides

• an entire year’s worth of weekly lesson plans, adaptable as needed, that include instructions, handouts, and everything needed to plan and prepare;
• recommended read-alouds for each lesson plan;
• ideas and activities scaffolded for different ability levels;
• tips for using humor and silliness to grab kids’ attention and keep them engaged;
• information on how creative writing dovetails with Common Core standards, emphasizing skills and critical thinking over rote learning; and
• additional quality read-aloud picture books that can be used as inspiration to create new lessons.

This book will serve as a handy lesson/program planning tool for any children’s or school librarian interested in exploring new ideas to teach creative writing and higher literacy.