Begin by writing "I am" as the start of each sentence or idea. Stop and read "I Am" by M. Scott Momaday, then write some more. After a few minutes, switch to "I am Not" as the starting statement. Have each kid read one thing from their list, go around a couple times.

Read "Good Hotdogs" by Sandra Cisneros. Write about something you like--not a person--but a food or thing or book or place.

Write about something you've lost... Write about something you've found...

Using Smell to trigger writing--Using ground coffee, a lemon, an onion, Vick's Vaporub, vanilla, and cedar chips as triggers, I have the writers smell each one, then write:
If this smell was an animal, what would it be?
A color?
An article of clothing?
A place on Earth?
What kind of weather?
A sound?
Then write down a memory of this smell.
Don't talk about it. Write. Get all you words an memories down on the paper. Using the information you've written about each smell, either write a poem about a smell using the color , the animal, etc. in the poem, or write the memory as a story.

Read "Sweet Like a Crow" by Michael Ondaatje. Write a similar poem starting... your voice, your car, your dog.. your music...

Make a list of advice given to you.

Make a list of things you could try to explain.

I remember.. I don't remember...

Read "Snow" by Julia Alvarez. Write about the first time you encountered something new, different.

Read "It was Like This" by Norita Dittberner-Jax. Write about a place. Tell and show us what we'd find there. What sounds? What colors? What feelings? What smells? Everything that comes into your head about this place. Now Draw a simple shape of the place... Write the words in the shape of the place.

Read "Ode to a Pair of Socks" by Pablo Neruda. Look at the language, the images he uses to write about socks. Choose an object, any ordinary thing like dental floss, a Band-Aid, a rubber duck, and write an ode to this outrageous thing.

Write about things we've lost. Where did it go after we lost it...tell its story.