• Index cards, enough for each participant to have three
• Pencils for all participants

• Distribute three index cards per child and pencils at work tables.
• Ask readers/writers to help others write and spell their words.

Tell the children the group is going to make up a poem together about flowers. Ask participants to write down words after the instructions. Ask the participants not to put their names on any of the cards.

Ask them to write on one of their cards a color, any color they like.

Give them time to write. Offer to spell or write for any child who needs help; they can also ask a neighbor for help. Collect the cards and set aside in one pile.

Next, ask the participants to take another card and write a kind of flower. Offer to help them spell flowers that have long or difficult names. Ask them to try to think of flowers that are out of the ordinary. You may get a lot of "roses" or "tulips," which is fine. Give them time to write. Then, collect these cards and set aside in another pile.

Finally, ask them to write on their last card an action word-something they like to do, such as dancing, kicking, running, walking, or biking. Give them time to write. Then collect the cards and set aside in a third pile.

Without arranging the cards in any way, read one card from each pile in a row and keep doing this until you have read all three piles. For example: If the top card in the color pile is "red," the top card in the flower pile says "rose," and the top card in the action pile says "dancing," you would read, "Red Rose Dancing." You will have a free form poem that you may want to type and distribute to the children at a later session. Keep the piles in order so that the poem remains the same as you read it originally!

Have reading/writing peers and adult leaders ready to help participants write the words they think of in this exercise.