Freewriting helps motivate students to develop clearer and more confident writing. My Thoughts contains74 writing tasks, each with a brief, open-ended written prompt and a colorful, evocative illustration. All the student has to do is fill the pages with words, sentences, and thoughts -- all without fear of a grade or lots of red marks. A sampling of prompts: How do you feel on a rainy day? Describe an adventure you would like to have. What is your favorite game? How do you play it? Why are people afraid of snakes?

For each page/prompt, there is a small space for the teacher to write a brief response – e.g., "Is this true?" "What a beautiful scene!" "Very funny!