here's a mystery riddle what island in Michigan has its own aquarium conservatory and nature center bell Isle Park bell Isle is a stunning state park in the Detroit River everywhere you look there's beauty and history i just visited Bell Isle with my family and it got me thinking about special places i'm Mrs defall and I love Michigan State Parks bell Isle Park is very special to me when I visit a special place like Bell Isle especially with people I care about I like to reminisce or remember those experiences my experiences give me ideas for topics I can write about when I was at Bell Isle I picked up this map maps are marvelous because they can take a large piece of land like this 985 acre island park and create a smaller image where we can locate all that Bell Isle has to offer visitors we can also use this map to jot or write short memories today we are going to create maps of our favorite places and use those maps to help us think of writing topics one of my favorite things at Bell Isle is right here the James Scott Memorial Fountain with my three children we start every family trip to Bell Isle by first visiting the fountain to take our picture james Scott was an eccentric that is a person who behaves in an unusual way he was a wealthy land owner in Detroit when he died in 1910 he left all of his money to the city but only if they agreed to build a fountain featuring a life-sized statue of himself if we look over here we can see two really popular buildings on Bell Isle the Anna Scripps Witcom Conservatory and the Bell Isle Aquarium i love to visit the conservatory with my family a conservatory is a building with a glass roof and walls like a greenhouse it is over a century old this conservatory was built in 1904 it is the oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States it features a huge collection of plants in fact the conservatory is named after Anna Scripps Witcom because she donated her collection of 600 orchid plants to the conservatory back in 1955 next to the conservatory sits the Bell Isle Aquarium which up until it closed in 2005 was the oldest continually running aquarium in the United States but don't worry the aquarium reopened in 2012 my kids love the aquarium we never miss it it's such a magical place have you ever been to a place that is special to you don't forget about your home that's a special place too no matter where you've been you have topics to explore in your writing writers we have a special superpower even though our lives may seem ordinary when we choose to see our lives as writers our lives become extraordinary let me show you a map of one of the ordinary places from my childhood that I choose to see as extraordinary right here in my yard I jotted down a memory I have of writing on the birch trees white bark this dog house reminds me of our playful dog here in the front yard I remember seeing my parents pick up my younger brother who had been lost for hours by using the map of my childhood home I now have ideas for stories I could write i'm not sure I could craft a story about the three birch trees but maybe I can write about them in a different way i definitely could write stories about my dog and my brother i want you to create your own map let's get started writers picture a place you love a room in your home a place you visit can you see that place in your mind take a moment to draw a map of your special place have the people around you create a map too it's really fun to have people you care about and have shared experiences with to create a map of the same place the ideas they write down on their map will probably be a little different even if it's the same experience take a few moments to jot down your memories on your map did any of your memories surprise you which memories could you write up as stories poems or reflections while you were creating your map and jotting down your ideas I checked out my two maps and looked for a topic I felt motivated to write about today at first those birch trees seem ordinary but they were extraordinary to me i'm excited to share with you a poem I wrote based on the memory I jotted on my map please read along with me using your procity which means expression when we read with fluency we read with procity once upon a birch tree sitting under my three birch trees I love to watch the green leaves dance with the invisible wind flashes of sunlight seem to skip leaf to leaf inspired by my birch trees I'd peel away a piece of tree pull out a pencil a pen a crayon a stick or even a rock and etch my words into the soft bark my birch trees listen to my ideas my stories my moments my memories take some time to write your special memories you can write a poem like I did or you can write anything you wish a list a journal entry a story let the writing take you back to that moment so you can share your memories with others our lives are extraordinary just like Bell Isle Park using maps can help us create more ideas to explore in our writing and conversations i hope you'll always choose to share your writing with others thank you for joining us if you want more fun ways to practice literacy skills don't forget to subscribe to the Michigan Learning channel and be sure to check the description below for links to activity guides resources and more