Fictional Narrative Pre-Writing: Monster in a Jar

In class we have begun working on our next narrative.  We will be writing a fictional narrative.  Our "prompt" will revolve around the idea of having to capture a monster in a jar.  To get "things" going, we captured our own classroom monster: Lenny.

With Lenny in captivity, we began describing what type of monster Lenny is.  As it turns out, he lives underneath students' beds and/or in the depths of their closets.  He makes very loud screeching noises.  His beak like mouth is extremely sharp and his eyes can blast lasers beams.  What a creature.  

The next step in our pre-writing process was for students to create their own, squished, "Monster in a Jar."  They needed to imagine what their monster looks like, what sorts of features it has, where it lives and more.  All of those characteristics helped students imagine what their monster looks like.  Today, we voted for favorite monsters.  We even brought in two fourth grade classrooms, so our votes were unbiased.  While only one could win, all of the monsters have turned out great.  Can you find Lenny in the picture below?

Tomorrow, we will begin imagining our narratives.  We are excited to see where our imaginations will take us.