Adventures in Third Grade: Creative Writing in the Classroom

Getting students to write creatively can sometimes be a challenge. These are some of the ways I try to inspire my students to write:

Sending Hip Hop Hippo home with each student: Hip Hop is our class traveling Hippo. Hip Hop goes home with students along with Hip Hop's diary. The students write a letter to the class from Hip Hop's point of view about what they did together. The students get a kick out of pretending Hip Hop is alive and hanging out with them. The student then gets to read their letter aloud to the class. A class list is on the inside cover so I know who still needs to take Hip Hop home.
Using composition notebooks instead of spiral notebooks: My students take better care of their writing composition notebooks. The pages are harder to rip out (yay!) and everything seems to be more organized. Our student notebooks have three tabs: My Thinking (where their writing goes), Learning Strategies (proof-reading marks, writing strategies, etc. go here), and Robust Vocabulary (part of our StoryTown reading curriculum). I was also inspired by What's The Buzz? and The Daily Cafe to amp up our composition notebooks with a bookmark. Check out my tutorial on those bookmarks!
I saw this idea on Plug-n-Play and knew I had to do it as well! Don't tell the kids where you are and then have them write about where they think you are/what they think happened to you. This was hilarious! I loved reading what my students thought I was doing while I wasn't in the classroom with them.
Creative writing notebooks: This will be new this school year! I was inspired by I Love My Classroom to create classroom journals. My students LOVE to read what each other writes. My titles are Sport, My Dream, Family Vacation, My Wish, Book, Your Weekend, Pet, Favorite Memory. I will put a class list on the inside cover so students will know who has and has not had the traveling journal. If you would like these topics, get them for FREE here!