Treasure

What does the word "Treasure" mean to you? Riches, gems, gold?

Do you think of buried treasure? A chest full of money? A surprise you find in your pocket? A hidden fortune? A wallet filled with $100 bills?

Or does "Treasure" make you think about a person or a pet? Someone in your family whom you treasure? Your cat that keeps you warm at night ? Or your uncle who always gives you just the right present?

Or do you treasure something more abstract? Time? Beauty? A friend sticking up for you? A kind act on a day when you're feeling rotten?

Who or what do you treasure? What does the word Treasure mean to you? Set your timer for 15 minutes and write about it.

November

Last week I wrote about November, and I'm still thinking about the things I love about this month.

I love the sky in November. Here in the Pacific Northwest it's often gray, but the sun is trying to peek through. The shades of gray are all different and alive, and always changing--mouse gray, almost-white, soft gray, or metal gray.

In November, a picture book by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Jill Kastner (published by Harcourt in 2000), is one of my favorite books about November. The book is like a poem to a month that doesn't get noticed too much, except at Thanksgiving.

What do you like about November? Thanksgiving with your family? The first snow? Getting out your mittens? Sleeping in on weekends? Raking the last leaves? Watching which birds migrate? Getting ready for Christmas?

Make a list of your favorite things about November, and write a poem about them. And don't forget to have a great Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for everyone who reads "Yellow Pencils," and I'm grateful for November!

Smells and Similes

Maybe it's the smell of wet leaves in the air, but I always think November has great smells.

Smells, scents, odors, aromas--whatever you want to call them--are one of the hardest things to describe when we write. Sometimes it's easier if we use a simile: a comparison using the words "like" or "as."

Try to describe what the following things smell like using a simile. Go wild with your imaginations!

I'll get us started.

• Dirty socks: Her dirty socks smelled like five-day-old fish.
• Salsa: Mom's homemade salsa smelled like the best vegetable garden on Earth.

Now you try some:

• Burning rubber
• Clean sheets
• Peanut butter
• The inside of our car
• The inside of my desk
• An eraser
• My dog's ears
• A tree trunk
• A rusty fence
• Already-been-chewed bubble gum

Have lots of fun with smells and similes!

Writing an Alphabet Poem

Every person who writes a newspaper story knows that the 5 most important questions to ask and to answer in your story are Who? What? When? Where? Why?

What if we turned those 5 questions into a poem, and had fun with the alphabet?

Here's the pattern. Our poem will have 5 lines answering our 5 questions:

Line 1: Who? (the subject)

Line 2: What? (what happened)

Line 3: When (when did it happen)

Line 4: Where (where did it happen)

Line 5: Why? (why did it happen)

Ready to start? Pick a letter of the alphabet. Let's say we pick S. Here's our poem:

Who? Sam

What? Slithered sneakily

When? After snack time

Where? To the sandbox

Why? For a snooze.

Now let's take off the questions, and we have our finished poem:

Sam

slithered sneakily

after snack time

to the sandbox

for a snooze.

Now you try one. Pick a letter of the alphabet. Will you pick J, T, or M? Or the first letter of your name? (Warning: Q and X are the hardest.) Have fun writing your alphabet poem!