Using Sensory Details to Bring Writing to Life (2024)

Listen to the full episode to hear how to use sensory details to create sensory storytelling:

Over the last month, I’ve been sharing different ways you can engage your students to help develop their simple sentences into more detailed and complex sentences. With this being the final episode in the series, I’m finally covering my favorite way to bring writing to life, which is by using sensory details to create sensory storytelling.

Using sensory details in your writing engages the reader and paints a clear and vivid picture in your reader’s mind. The way it creates an image is by using descriptive elements that speak to our senses, which are hear, smell, taste, sight, and touch. With this being the target goal for every writer, I dive into the precise steps you need to take in your classroom to best teach this form of descriptive writing. I also share sample sentences you can use directly with your students to show how to add sensory details that bring their writing to life.

It’s no question why this form of descriptive writing is my absolute favorite. By adding sensory details to create sensory storytelling, you are creating an immersive experience for the reader that paints a picture as if they were living it. After listening to this sentence expansion series, I hope it encourages and shows you simple yet effective ways to add details to simple sentences.

In this episode on sensory details, I share:

• How to use sensory details to create sensory storytelling in your writing
• Ways to use a person’s sensory organs to incorporate those descriptive details
• Steps to use in your classroom to implement this strategy
• Sample sentences to use directly with your students that include sensory details

Resources Mentioned:

• Descriptive Writing Charts Bundle
• Writing Reference Helper
• Vocabulary Writing Prompts Sampler
• Episode 156, Enhancing Sentences with Prepositions [Sentence Expansion Series]
• Episode 155, Joining Forces: Combining Sentences with Conjunctions (Sentence Expansion Series)
• Episode 154, Make Writing Come to Life with the 5Ws and H Strategy [Sentence Expansion Series]
• Episode 153, Using Adjectives and Adverbs to Brighten Up Student Writing [Sentence Expansion Series]

Connect with Megan:

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• Read my blog posts here

About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new implementations when it comes to literacy instruction? Do you crave fresh ideas and engaging lessons to transform your students into skilled readers and writers? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to provide educators, like you, with actionable steps and strategies to improve teaching reading and writing.

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner of The Literacy Dive, a company that creates educational, literacy curriculum that aims to close the gap and support children in reaching mastery. Being a literacy specialist and having over a decade of teaching grades K-5, Megan knows the power of collaboration and working alongside teachers and parents to provide them with the support, confidence, and resources they need to meet students where they are.

Dive in each Monday as Megan and her guests unpack an element of literacy or various topics relatable to educators. Here are some topics covered in this literacy podcast: writing strategies, reading comprehension, the writing process, the science of reading, and small group instruction.

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I am a literacy specialist and curriculum designer who loves sharing tips and ideas to help students thrive in literacy! It brings me joy to await those a-ha moments and to see light bulbs turn on!

I have a huge passion for reading and writing and love to co-mingle the two any chance I get! You can expect to learn new strategies and ways to keep your students engaged during your literacy block! I am so glad you’re here!

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