Tip for Teachers Brainstorming Suggestions to Help Students Get Started It's good to start with a prewriting brainstorming with the kids, asking questions to elicit the kinds of details/thoughts you hope they include. This will generate a base of good ideas/details to draw from in their writing---preventing the "I can't think of anything" response. Open the brainstorming with questions like: What do monarchs need to survive? What kinds of food and shelter and habitat? What helps them successfully reproduce? What do the young need to thrive and grow to reproduce? What's already here that's good for monarchs? What's missing, or what do they need more of? What inventions could monarchs think of to get that? etc. etc. All those ideas listed would give rich detail for imaginations to then write a descriptive paragraph. (Writing one descriptive paragraph is enough for younger kids--older can take it further.) Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form