Creative Writing Activities and Lesson Plan Ideas for "A Boring Bedtime Story".
- daramurph5
- May 29
- 2 min read
Do you think a boring book will lead to a boring lesson plan? No way! Here are some fun ideas you can use when reading A Boring Bedtime Story by Dara Murphy.
ENGAGE - opening question
Brainstorm this question:
What is the definition of the word BORING?
What makes something boring?
EXPLORE - creative writing activity
Ask them to write the most boring sentence possible. The sentence must make sense. If they have trouble generating ideas, ask them to write a boring sentence that has the word "pencil" in it. If you want to give them a challenge, have their boring sentence contain the word "slime".
Ask them to defend their opinions on why they think one sentence is more boring than another. You could even have a silly vote on who wrote the most boring sentence.
EXPLAIN - reading
Read A Boring Bedtime Story by Dara Murphy.
Ask them to analyze the sentences. Were they boring? Which sentence was the most boring? Why?
Talk about how conflict adds excitement to a story. In A Boring Bedtime Story, the author goes out of her way to make sure that nothing exciting or terrible happens to Frank (the drawings, however are a different story).
EXTEND - a creative writing/art project
Write a boring sentence about Frank (the main character) as a group or individually. Each student then illustrates the sentence with a wacky, contrasting drawing. The drawing must show something exciting or weird happening in the background.
OTHER IDEAS
Choose a boring sentence and rewrite it so it's more exciting. Try adding more description, emotion, or action. Sometimes you can make a sentence more exciting by shortening it.
Brainstorm a list of activities you can do when you feel bored.
Draw a "boring" illustration on one half of the paper and an "exciting" illustration on the other.
Write an outline of a boring story. For example, the main character wakes up, has breakfast, packs their backpack, and leaves for school. Ask students to rewrite the plot outline so it's more interesting. What does the character want? What's stopping them from getting what they want? What conflict could arise?
Math: Frank's boss asks him to type numbers. Check out this anchor chart! It will help you read large numbers: Reading Big Numbers - How to Teach It
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