Quick burst writing

I love teaching children how to write creatively and have confidence with language. To help unlock their potential, we start every English lesson with a 'quick burst' write. I display an image (or it could be an object or video) and set a task ie. to describe the setting in first person. I may change the viewpoint, the person to extend the more able and set a grammar challenge to link with previous learning ie. to include 2 subordinate clauses in a sentence. The challenges may be differentiated and I have included some differentiated support sheets. Some children may need work banks. The children then have 5 mins to write. It is important that the teacher does it as well on a flipchart, modelling the teacher as a writer, this can also support the children as they can magpie ideas if they get stuck. We always have a few minutes to edit and improve and then share our writing with a few friends. The children love it and it provides a good warm up for the lesson ahead as well as consolidating previous learning.