A lot of people from our area have gone off to war and last year our language arts teacher was talking to the children and asked how they felt about the people who went to war. their assignment was to write an essay of what they would like to say to a person fighting for our country. I don't know if this is really a theme but some of the essays were so beautiful that we made a book and sent it to the airforce base near us.

This isn't a theme but is a lot of fun.

A micro-short story contest. Essays are to be 3 sentences long with no run ons. Extra credit is given for characterization, forshadowing, ect.

It can take hours to write a brief essay like this, but it teaches Strunk and White's* philosophy of being brief and clear. It's an important talent to learn in writing.

*authors of "The Elements of Style" which is a standard for writers

How about something along the Character eduacation theme. Like "the person I respect the most is..." or "Responsibilty to me means..."

I am from KY and our 4th graders have to do portfolio entries. Last year they did persuasion letters to their families, friends, and neighbors about the importance of donation blood. Then they went a step farther and held a blood drive. It was a record donation day for our county and some sort of education magazine even came and did interviews. We were so proud the kids worked so hard and enjoyed every minute of it. They are planning to do it again this year.

I am in charge of our essay, art, and poster contests at our school and am looking for theme ideas for this year's contests. Do any of you have any ideas that kids would enjoy, but also challenge them to think "outside the box"? I'm feeling stumped. Last year was "Louisiana Unique" for essay, "I Wonder What Would Happen If..." for cultural arts, and "If I Could Make The World A Better Place" for poster. Can ya'll help me with some things for this year?