I got to do the fun stuff with my students when I taught the Gifted and Talented in the 90s. The elementary school kids in the program left their classroom and came to me bright-eyed, bushy-taled. Grounded in the basics, they were ready for a session of poetry or creative writing. Here are some activities the second graders got a kick out of one year. They were reading fairy tales in class so we played with a number of enrichment exercises around the subject of gnomes. We brainstormed the things these creatures might eat and need. See what the kids came up with:
Gnome Foods by Anna
1. Chocolate Mushroom cake
2. Chocolate-covered leaf
3. Jellyfish tuna sandwich
4. Buttercup cake
5. Smashed Grass and Fish Salad
6. Nectar shake
Tap the list on the right to zoom. The word that’s hard to read in no. 5 is cockroach.
Ad for Gnome Furniture
for the Gnome News by Jackie
New. Acorn fillings sofa bed with cotton flower pillow. The pedals help you fall asleep and in the morning they help you wake up rested. And in the night you have no bad dreams. Yours, for only 10 pinecones. Pillows free.
Oh, where are those pinecones?
Gnome Illnesses by Julian
1. Nox Shadis Feveris (Nightshade Fever)
Carrot infusion and agave minted green
Drink 1/2 cup every morning.
2. Lox Gnomigus (Lou Gnomig’s Disease)
Black tea with Meridian grapes
Take 1/4 cup a day after lunch.
3. Gnomhizerus (Gnomheizer’s Disease)
Cyprus fruit with citrus.
Take 1/2 cup five times a day.
============================================
Several years later a private student of mine came up with a Narnian menu Mr. Tumnus the Faun presented Lucy in his cave. Daniel was in third grade.
Tumnus Café
Dessert
Cookies n Cream Reindeer Pie with boba nose and cinnamon antlers
Rocky Road Unicone with roasted pink marshmallow shreds
Wildberry Cheesecake topped with sliced acorn and nutmeg
McCherry Sundae with toasted TumFlower seeds
Rainberry muffins with vanilla icing
Strawberry Upside-Down Cake (for birthdays. Please call in advance.)
Iced Beverages
Snowberry lemonade
Rainbow punch with banana-flavored straws
Snowplum smoothie
Morning dew shake topped with moon peach slices
Hot Drinks
Green apple cider with star sugar
Fire Diamond milk
Dawn Wind mango boba with dessert dream sprinkles
===========================
Hear the poetry in some of these lines? Young writers at work, frolicking in a field of ideas. What a delicious world they created. Where imagination took these children is the runway of the Shel Silversteins, J.K. Rowlings, Alice Walkers. An old friend reminded me yesterday that English was my second language. I wonder where I’d be now if in the formative years I’d been given the permission and direction away from the glory of grades to dream, just dream.
A Holistic Journey 
“Priceless” is the word that comes, first . . . and then “privilege” is the second word. The imagination of the young ones is profound. When you say “gifted” … Well, let me simply say that we have a 16 year-old Aspergers boy with a mood disorder. I am sorry to say that we tried getting him into public school twice, and both times it was unacceptable. So, we home school now. Sorry for the rant. Love your post!
Thank you for the beautiful, amazing feedback. I’m so glad you’re homeschooling. =) I added what I forgot to, so tired at time of posting:
Gnome Illnesses by Julian
1. Nox Shadis Feveris (Nightshade Fever)
Carrot infusion and agave minted green
Drink 1/2 cup every morning.
2. Lox Gnomigus (Lou Gnomig’s Disease)
Black tea with Meridian grapes
Take 1/4 cup a day after lunch.
3. Gnomhizerus (Gnomheizer’s Disease)
Cyprus fruit with citrus.
Take 1/2 cup five times a day.
Reminds me of myself as a GATE student in elementary, middle school and highschool.
Great. =)
I don’t know why, but no. 2 (the blackberries and worm juice) kinda sounds nice?! Or is that just me?
LOL. All I know is I’m coveting that acorn sofa bed. Funny you should write. I was JUST thinking of you — and my Wonderland poem.
Ah, yes, for the time has come to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing-wax…
You like Puff, too?? (Though I know you were thinking of Alice’s world) =)
Alas,
for I have never had the nerve
to stomach Buleberry and cockroach bars.
Though decorated with the delightful crunch
of chitinous roach wing,
the notion of weeping Bules
always upon my mind cast
a horrid, sympathic pall
whilst munching the otherwise delectable bars.
Woe for the weeping Bules!
Come now, gird they valor
Life is but one adventure.
Roach bars, their protein shall
thy brain fuel supply, to write —
Ah! Is this not reason enough?
And if thou shouldst fall ill, these remedies
from Julian I meant to add now
on the board shall alleviate thee
back to hale estate.
Gnome Illnesses by Julian
1. Nox Shadis Feveris (Nightshade Fever)
Carrot infusion and agave minted green
Drink 1/2 cup every morning.
2. Lox Gnomigus (Lou Gnomig’s Disease)
Black tea with Meridian grapes
Take 1/4 cup a day after lunch.
3. Gnomhizerus (Gnomheizer’s Disease)
Cyprus fruit with citrus.
Take 1/2 cup five times a day.
Lots of fun! They all sound very tasty, in their own way!
LOL. In their own way, huh?
Please see my dtdeege’s comment just above yours – and my response.
Thanks for likes and comments http://itspoet.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/thank-you-top-commenters/
aaahhhMAzinnggggg! Such creativity !
=) They put us to shame, don’t they? LOL
I didn’t have a teacher who encouraged creative writing until my senior year in high school–and how sad is that? I had a second grade teacher who used to tell us to draw scenes with people in them, then forbid us to draw faces for them because, she said, we couldn’t draw faces well enough! Fortunately, she just frustrated me and didn’t kill my creativity.
I was always good in English, but it wasn’t until my senior year that I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a creative writing independent study. I will be forever grateful to Mrs. Mischen! Her mission 🙂 in life was truly to be a great educator! I will also always be grateful to my 7th grade English teacher (whose name I’ve forgotten) because she gave us such an excellent grounding in grammar. I learned to love diagramming sentences, and I credit her with my ability to use grammar, punctuation and spelling correctly. I also blame her for the fact that I can’t read a newspaper without mentally correcting the spelling errors in it! 😉
I didn’t end up being a journalist or an English teacher as I once dreamed of doing, but I still love reading and writing to this day, and I tried to pass that love on to my children and am trying to share it with my grandchildren. I think my teachers would be satisfied.
Am so glad to hear your story, M. Those opportunities that came in the hands of your precious teachers are gems in the path behind you. And they light the way for your kids and grandkids. Love it. Diana
Thank you so much for sharing such a bright spot in your life and the lives of the children! Enjoyed it! Sweet!
Aww, I’m glad it brought sweetness and cheer your way, Doris. Been thinking of you. Diana
So cute. Love their lists!
I was a teacher myself, and the creativity of my students always amazed me. Great post 🙂
Thanks. =)
I could go for a rocky road unicone.
He he. Be sure to scrounge up some pinecones. Nothing’s free, you know. Esp yummies like that.
This is just so so great – so imaginative. So wonderful! 🙂
Really – we underestimate kids. And what a bit of time and space can do for them.
It’s amazing what children can come up. Such big, wild imaginations. Great activity idea.
Thanks so much for your time and encouragement.
Gnome foods sounds tempting. This post made me believe that magic is real and dreams do come true. Thanks.
What a gem of a reflection. THANK you. Your support means a lot.
Great post, Diana! It is truly amazing and beautiful what students and children have inside them…they just need the right person and opportunity to bring it out of them.
If you have time, check out this poem here: http://thepoetryquestion.com/2013/06/14/high-school-a-poem-from-a-very-smart-student-just-not-by-scholastic-standards/comment-page-1/.