Beyond Academics,Inc.
Helping students discover their personal source of creativity and providing tools to clearly express their discoveries
Elemental Symbol
Creative Writing Prompt
PROMPT:
If you could be any elemental symbol, which would you embody and why?
A stone...a feather...a flame...a raindrop.
Using personification to embody one of these elemental objects, you must also aim to include one other additional writing technique or figurative language technique. Please include at least one new vocabulary word from your May vocabulary list and/or Stop & Go word list.
Requirements:
5th & 6th Grade: any type of simile, metaphor, inner dialogue, show technique & sensory detail
7th & 8th Grade: Double-Scoop Adjective, Not-Quite Forthright, juxtaposition, imagery, anaphora, Pause Cause, literary synesthesia / The Sensory Switch.
Note: Vocabulary words are bolded.
5th Grade
I am a stone because I stick to my ideas, even if they are erroneous. I am like a stone that does not change.
Nichala Kuntnal
I am a stone because no matter how much someone tries, they cannot break me. I am firm and strong. I am not hurt by words, and I do not engage in violence. The best way to elude a fight is to ignore those trying to ruin one’s mood.
Vivaan Makode
I am stone. I stand firm against the crashing tides, my quiet strength serving to bolster the spirits of all who seek a steady foundation upon my weathered surface.
I am a feather. I drift wherever the world’s whims carry me, an airy soul waiting for the restless winds of my curiosity to finally abate.
I am a flame. I burn with a silent efficacy, transforming the cold air into warmth while my flickering light remains innocuous to the touch of the gentle breeze.
Yomiko Duan
I am a flame. I dance and whistle as I obliterate the dry wood. I hungrily lick the air, reaching higher and higher to escape the fireplace.
Anjali Mishra
I am a warm, astute flicker, dancing genteely on the edge of the darkness. I offer a soft, steady glow that crackles faintly, bringing light and comfort rather than destruction. I am inviting and cozy, not overwhelming, glowing with a golden gentle presence.
Mahat Aravind
7th Grade
Like feathers caught in a sudden gust of wind, my carefully-made plans can scatter in an instant, sometimes leaving just a small cluster of what I intend, a gentle nudge reminding me to adapt to a new direction.
Ardishini Medarametla
I am a flame. I flicker with restless energy, and I keep reaching upward. When problems start to build, I do not sit heavy like a rock or drift away like a feather. I spark and push forward, growing brighter. With each step I take, the weight on my shoulders starts to alleviate, like ice slowly melting away.
Ishaan Kumar
Like a flame, my strength doesn’t abate when the winds push against me or weaken my unique glow. Even in surplus darkness, I still shine on with steady light and warmth. No matter the quiet angst in the struggle, I continue to dance in the darkness, refusing to let my one-of-a-kind light fade, even just a little.
Aria Joshi
I am a raindrop, racing from one side of the window to the other, slipping and sliding as I chase the rhythm of the storm. Even though I might be in a surplus of locations, I remain, reflecting the world around in shattered pieces.
Ariv Narula
When one seeks my soul, they’ll find how it resembles the pure, trickling droplets seeping into the soil after the rain. Through my eyes, one may see the graceful, elegant, and emotional droplets from peaceful showers in spring. However, one may see the daunting, angsty, sorrowful droplets that seep from my eyes. The dew on the blooming flowers in spring meadows is pure innocence, the same serene dew from raging waters. I am as emotional, sensitive, and versatile as the raindrop—the droplet from the adverse thunderstorm and the droplet from soft showers.
Stella Nian
7th Grade Honors
I am the wind, coalescing through cracked alleys and cathedral spires like smoke curling from a secret fire. I am the hand at the window. I am the whisper beneath the door. I am the thief that leaves no fingerprints. I feign gentleness when I braid through your hair, soft as a mother’s lullaby, though I can turn ruthless in a breath. People contemplate me like I am freedom itself, but that is only the costume I wear. I am a wolf dressed in cool air, a restless mouth swallowing every silence it finds. I move through the world, astute enough to know that even the strongest hearts can bend like fragile branches before a storm.
I am a raindrop, coalescing with the bruised clouds above like silver stitches trying to hold a broken sky together. I fall softly, or at least that is what I let people believe. I feign innocence when I land against your window, delicate as crystal beads sliding through trembling fingers, but even wolves know how to hide beneath sheep’s clothing. I am both lullaby and warning, both mercy and ruin. That is the funny thing about me. People call me harmless while they run from the storms I create.
I am the whisper on rooftops. I am the trembling in the gutters. I am the quiet guest no one invites but everyone notices. I seep into the earth and permeate every crack like a secret too enormous to contain. The trees lean toward me as though I carry confessions from the sky itself, and the thunder grumbles beside me like an old man with unresolved angst. Sometimes I arrive gently enough to kiss flowers awake. Sometimes I arrive with enough fury to drown an entire city. Hyperbole, perhaps, though oceans began with drops no larger than me.
People discount me because I am small. They contemplate mountains and hurricanes instead. Yet I can carve stone into dust with patience alone. I can turn streets into rivers and rivers into monsters. I am a mirror falling endlessly from the heavens, a shattered thought the clouds can not relinquish. The sun burns like a tyrant above me while I descend cold and trembling below it, a juxtaposition of fire and water stitched into the same sky.
And still, I continue falling. I continue falling. I continue falling, astute enough to know that even the softest things can become paramount when given enough time.
Nidhi Nagboth
I am the fire.
I am the fire of emotion, burning with competitiveness, blazing with joy, radiating friendship.
I am the fire of hunger, trying to eat everything I can in an attempt to satisfy the insatiable hunger and growth I need to stay lit.
I am the fire of love, permeating passion for the ones I hold dear.
I am the fire of satisfaction, spreading awe at the sight of my bright fiery wings spreading apart, waiting to fly.
I am the fire.
Nikhil Iyer
I am a raindrop whispering secrets to the flowers as I permeate the quiet earth with refreshing life. I fall through the clouds, I fall past the trees, I fall onto the earth to awaken the world with my gentle song.
Chi-Jiun (Jim) Chen
8th Grade
I am a flame, burning with vigor and determination. I am a flame so adamant that a downpour can’t hiss me out. I am the flame that withstands the rain, the rain that drowns others out.
Anwitha Pendayla
I am a bright orange flame who is not afraid to stand out. I dance despite the cold wind, emitting light, light that gives warmth, warmth that gives comfort, existing to bolster anyone who needs it.
Rakshana Srinivas
I am a raindrop as the clouds gather and send me falling toward the earth. The sky releases me as if it were choosing where I land, and I travel until I find a place to rest.
Shivam Vyas
As I majestically put on a twirly-dance and descend from the sky, my soft body effortlessly floats down. The weightless and free strands fall, clustered tight, symbolizing my stressless thoughts while transcending earthly bounds.
Siddhant Chandrasekhara
I am a raindrop tapping against the ground and splashing on the water, dancing a liquid jig across every surface I touch. Though gravity is a bully trying to ruin all the fun that impels me toward the disappointing brown earth, I like to feign a momentary flight, bouncing off a bright green leaf with a cheerful plink. I catch a glimpse of myself in the puddle, a quick shivering circle that spirals out until it disappears. For that heartbeat of a moment, I feel infinite, as if the whole gray sky full of falling droplets were my twin applauding my performance. Then the puddle slowly reaches me, with arms, and gives me a warm hug, and I have become part of the cycle when I can open my eyes again.