Let’s talk about one of my FAVORITE picture books… The Day The Crayons Quit.
If you haven’t read it, you absolutely must! It is the story of a boy named Duncan who opens his box of crayons to find a stack of letters addressed to him. Each letter has been written by a different crayon, each with a grievance or celebration of some sort. The issues range from being overworked to overlooked to under-dressed! You can find an online reading of it here:
Well, my students are hooked. They have repeatedly asked me to re-read it (especially the letter from Peach Crayon, but I’m not giving anything away!), and I’ve obliged, of course! Naturally, I’m jumping all over their enthusiasm and working this into my language lessons.
We’ve spent time on letter writing, point of view/perspective, and the writing trait “voice” in some of our writing lessons lately. The kids were asked to think about their crayon box and choose a color. Their job was to think about that crayon in the context of their own box, consider what it was typically used for, how it would feel, and what it would want from its owner. Next, we shifted our perspectives, wrote letters as crayons, and created a book-inspired picture to accompany each writing piece.
Here are a couple of early examples of what my students created:
I think they are super cute, and my students have been very motivated. I’m already thinking ahead about how I’ll approach this slightly differently next year, but I’ll certainly use the mentor text again!
You can access my planning and art sheets in my subscriber freebie library if you’d like to use them!
Pin this post for easy access next year:
