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Middles - Snapshot Writing

SNAPSHOT WRITING: When you paint a picture with words, you draw the reader in. This is all about description. Snapshot Writing is a method of training students to write in sensory detail about a specific moment in time. Using an interesting photo, students write a short piece using the first person, and lots of adjectives to describe what they see, hear, feel, smell, taste and think/wonder, so they can create strong imagery for the reading audience.

Here are some examples of this writing format from Middle C:

As I walk into the dry, dead hot forest I can see a small, hot dehydrated and thirsty Koala. As a CFA gives the soft furry koala a plastic bottle of clean, clear water the koala's thirst has gone. As I walk further into the forest I can see thick, grey smoke flowing through the forest. I can smell the strong, black charcoal burning as well as the dry, dead dehydrated trees. I can hear the koala quickly gulping down the clean fresh and cold water as the man feeds him/her. I can hear people's footsteps as they quickly run out of the dark hot forest and peoples screaming getting softer and softer as they run out of the forest. I can feel the hard, dry trees and the dry crunching leaves and I walk onto them. I wonder what has caused all these animals to lose their homes and how the CFA person found the little soft furry koala?  Diaz

I look up to see black burned trees surrounding my presence. In front of me the fogginess starts to drift away and I start to see a thirsty koala with absolute fear in his eyes. It smells of burnt bark and I started to choke on the thick foggy air. I start to wonder how this fire has quickly turned into this. Evelyn

I am in a big forest, with lots of dark trees. I smell something really bad which is coming towards me. I begin to feel really sick… “it is a heavy smell”. I start to feel really hot and wonder when this smell will leave me alone. Suddenly something BIG and REDDISH - ORANGE  passes through the forest. I am super scared. “That must be what’s so hot and that bad smell must come from there too”, I think to myself. A few minutes later a big truck making loud noises passes through the forest. A man with a yellow suit and grey hair jumps off the truck. He rushes over to me with a bottle of water. He holds my furry hand and gives me the water to cool me down. On his back there are three letters in capitals, ‘CFA’. I can smell all the burning leaves and heavy smoke. They bring me to a building with a sign reading “VET”. They check if I am ok, and I hear them saying that I only have a small burn. They look after me until the forest grows back. They release me and I climb up a tall tree. “I will never forget you”, I say to myself about the kind humans, as I edge towards the juicy, green leaves. Liesel

The forest is dark as the night sky. It brings a sense of fear and unsafety when walking through it. The trees are bare and I can see charcoal wherever I step. I feel lonely and hurt as so many innocent animals have been hurt and now have no loving home to come to. I start walking ahead step by step, my feet crunching on the burnt leaves. I suddenly see something moving in the distance. A spark of bright yellow comes upon me and I walk up to it. I wonder what it is? A kind man with a sunny yellow top reading CFA. He has grey, curly, short hair and a friendly face. The man from the Country Fire Authority holds a clear bottle of water in his hand and another bottle on the right of him. He is crouching down and pouring water into an injured and dehydrated koala. The koala is grey with big fluffy ears. His paw is on the man's hand, as if to say thank you for giving him water. In my mind I am extremely happy as not many people tend to help the animals or care for them like this. They only care about themselves and their well-being. I walk away inspired by that person and wanting to find an animal and help it. Mira

Glug.

The koala slowly drinks the water I give it.

Glug.

I think of when I first found the little guy.

It was hot, hotter than any summers’ day I’d ever experienced, and that was saying something, considering I spent my childhood living in the outback. I stroll through the forest, the heavy smell of smoke stinging my nose. The crunch of half-burnt leaves beneath my feet remind me of Autumn spent stomping on golden-brown leaves that clutter my grandma’s driveway. I shake my head, putting myself back into focus. I scan the ground before eventually coming upon the koala, nearly missing him because his coat looks rather like the carpet of ashes that covers the ground.

I’m glad I’ve come across this one, or he probably would’ve died.  Susie