Tools we have used and forgot about #3 Telescopic Text

In my wanderings around classrooms I have seen a lot of teachers working with students on developing descriptive writing and expanding sentences.
I find Telescopic text the best way to show students how to expand their writing. I demonstrated to a class the other day by showing them the 'I made tea.' first.

Next I showed them the Telescopic Text Write site. We typed in one of the simple sentences their teacher wanted them to expand around their poem  'My mother saw a Dancing Bear.'

As a class we started to add words to the sentences learning how to insert text, and fold and unfold. The students were going to carry on the next day in teams of 2 or 3 for 15 minutes, expanding that sentence and then eventually sharing their sentences with each other.
I have tried this several times with students from many different schools and it has always been very successful. Their general writing improves because they become aware of how to make sentences more interesting.