Paint Chip Writing!

I looovveeee summer, and it's already half over! I truly could take 3-4 more months of flexible days without getting tired of it. I also love the bursts of creativity that hit me when I'm truly resting. My brand new Paint Chip Writing product in my TPT store is a product of one of those sudden brainstorming moments that hits you when you're driving around town, or lying on the couch, or trying to decide when you want to go to bed...you know, summertime things. I had posted this picture on Instagram near the end of the school year:

I was trying to find creative, out-of-the-box ways to keep my students working through those last painful challenging days of school. I had come across a version of this "Paint Chip Writing"  somewhere...I really wish I could credit the find now. But the article had suggested writing poems inspired by the names of paint colors. I went to Walmart that night and collected a rather large amount of paint samples for my classroom. (No one was working the paint counter at the time...don't tell on me!)

The way I initially assigned it was each of my students drew a paint chip, face down, and they had to make the name of the color the name of their story. I had created a hand-written rubric on notebook paper that I just copied for each student, and it included all of the elements of fiction that we had studied that year. Their task was to create a story that a partner could easily identify each element in. 

It was a huge hit. It was an awesome creative outlet, and a great summative assessment of being able to apply everything we had discussed that year with fiction text. But, it was kind of sloppy because I basically invented the assignment at 10 pm the night before in the aisles of Walmart. 

So, the polished TPT product was born!

 

I designed this with 3rd-5th grade in mind. But I know it could be scaffolded for 2nd grade, and it's writing...you can always ramp up the expectations for older kiddos, as well. I also created it thinking it would be more of a writing project or center that would come into play earlier in the year. So the rubric I've included focuses on mechanics. That way it doesn't have to be saved for the end of a major Fiction unit, or the end of the year. 

Also! My guilt ate away at me for taking all of those paint chips with no intention of buying paint, so I have made digital paint chips. This product includes 45 paint name colors for your students to choose from! 

If you check it out, please leave feedback. I am so excited to share something with all of you that was such a hit in my classroom!

You can click on any of the images above to visit the product directly, or click on my new banner below to just see my store! It's still a work in progress, but I am so happy with it so far! 

Have a Happy 4th, everyone!