Budding authors are drawn to this unusual format. Illustrate a story setting. Then use Crayola® Color Switchers™ Markers to write an original story on top!

• 1.

  Think of a favorite place or event from memory or your imagination. What might be a fascinating setting for a story? A castle? Mars? The rainforest?

• 2.

  Use Crayola Color Switchers Markers to draw your scene on white paper. Be sure to fill in all of the spaces because you will write the story around the edges and even on top of your drawing! Include details that give hints about what happens in the story.

• 3.

  Flip the Color Switchers Marker and apply the special color switcher to write your story around the edges of your drawing. Fill inside areas if necessary. Watch how the new colors pop out right before your eyes as you write!

• 4.

  If you need still more room, finish your story on more paper with Color Switchers Markers. Embellish that page by flipping over the marker and using the special color switcher tip!

• 5.

  Read and show your story to your classmates.

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grade level text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• LA: With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Students work in teams of two or individually to create a setting for a short story. Switch illustrations with another classmate. Write a short story for the new illustration. Display the original story in the classroom.
• Using the artistic technique reviewed in this lesson plan to illustrate a science or social studies project. Include pertinent information, such as labels, right on the illustration(s).
• Invite a local artisan to visit with the class and demonstrate similar artistic techniques with the class. Prior to the visit, students write questions for the artist. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.