writing center activities
Fall Into Some Fun Common Core Writing For Fall!
I LOVE combining art with creative writing. I call these activities “Craftivities” and when you can mix in a little science at the same time, that's a real win-win.
Craftivities also make simple and easy bulletin boards or hallway displays that are pretty outstanding.
These fall writing prompts will help you teach several Common Core State Standards. They are listed and explained below.
Draw an oak tree on brown bulletin board paper with bare branches so that you can hang the leaves and acorn writing prompts on it, and scatter the squirrels underneath.
The leaves say: I see... I hear... I smell... The acorns say: I taste... and the squirrels say: I feel... (Older students write the entire sentence; younger students trace the first few words.)
Display the tree on a wall in the hallway. You can use the caption: Our 5-Senses Creative Writing Oak Tree OR Using Our 5-Sense In The Fall.
If you want this to appear a bit more 3-D, twist brown lunch bags into strands, and use duct tape to attach them to the branches and down the trunk.
Run the oak leaves off on a variety of colored construction paper, as this will look better than brown leaves, even though oak leaves turn brown when they lose their chlorophyll. Mention this fact to your students.
Gather students in front of the whiteboard. Review what the 5 senses are. Brainstorm with them about using their 5 senses to see, hear, smell, taste and feel different things typical of the fall season.
Review beginning capitalization of words, Common Core State Standard: L.K.2a, as well as ending punctuation. Common Core State Standard: L. K. 2b, and RF.1.1 as well as L.1.2b for 1st grade.
Have students spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships, or write a list of words from your brainstorming session on the white board having students help you spell them as you write them. Common Core State Standard: L.K.2d for kindergarten and L.1.2d for 1st grade where they use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.
Review what a noun, verb and adjective are, with older students. Keep things simple for PK students and have them TRACE the beginning words and complete the sentence with 1 noun and a period. K’s can add nouns and verbs; older students can add adjectives as well.
Make sure that you do an example yourself, explaining the parts of speech, grammar and punctuation as you go. RF.K.1a (Point out to students that they are reading words from left to right, top to bottom and page by page.) RF.K.1c (Point out that the words are separated by spaces and remind them to make sure they have a finger-space between their words too.)
Students can add color to their cut out pieces. Remind them to include their names. For a bit more pizzazz, you can also add glitter. Use this as an incentive for students if they give their best effort and do their work correctly.
To give variety to your “wall board,” I have designed two squirrels. You can run off both kinds and give children a choice. Sprinkle the squirrels around the bottom of your oak tree.
If you don’t want to make a bulletin board, or hallway tree mural out of these writing prompts, you can collate the pages together to make a class book. I’ve provided a cover for you if you want to do that.
You can also suspend the various similar pieces back-to-back from fish line and hang from the ceiling. 
Click on the link to view/download 5-Senses Oak Tree Creative Writing packet. Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.
"It takes time to save time." -Joe Taylor
Tweet! Tweet! Life Is Sweet!
It’s now all the rage to “tweet” news, so why not make tweeting a fun writing prompt.
I’ve designed 2 “craftivity” headers for your students to pick from, that will make writing even more fun.
The results will make a lovely springtime bulletin board as well.
Make a robin template by tracing, then cutting the birds out of old file folders.
Students trace them onto recycled newspapers and cut out their robin.
They can leave the bird as is, or add a bit of color to the orange breast, yellow beak and add a black dot for an eye.
Run off the nest master on brown construction paper and have students cut around it.
The robin’s blue eggs can be pre-cut. Review and discus what a main idea is.
Students’ write the main idea of their “newsflash” on the whole egg.
Print off their school photo and cut the headshots into ovals. Students glue their photo to the back of the “hatched” egg.
Children glue the eggs and newspaper bird to the nest and the nest to the top of their “Tweet” paper, writing one to two “tweets”.
The other option is a word art robin. I made this on the awesome website Tagxedo.
You can use my template, (run it off and have students cut it out and glue it to a sheet of brown construction paper & trim.) or you can have students go to the site and type in their own word list, using adjectives that describe their news, or have them type in their entire tweet!
The site is easy to navigate.
Since they did not have a bird shape, I imported one and have provided the clip art for you. Simply use my pdf, save it as a jpeg to your desktop.
When you click on shapes on the left, you’ll get a window with all the blue shape options, on the bottom is a box that says “add image” click on that.
Make sure “desktop” is in the top file window. Scroll down ‘til you find the "robin" file. Click on it to import, then click "accept" in the bottom right box.
The robin is a state bird for several, so make it a teachable moment with a few facts about your state and the bird if you like.
There’s also writing prompt about those “tweet” friends your students have and a mini certificate of praise to tweet the good news to family.
If you have an I Pad or e-mail account at school, with a real Twitter account, (easy to set one up for pupil praise purposes) why not let students who have done an especially fine job with this activity, really Tweet about it!
Let them know about this bonus ahead of time, for added incentive!
Click on the link to view/download the Tweet Stuff packet.
I hope you can fly on back tomorrow for more fun tips! It's OK to PIN anything you think might be helpful or interesting to others too.
Happy Tweeting!
Scroll down for article #2 today...More preschool kindergarten graduation ideas.
Spin A Story Wheels
Looking for a way to spice up your Writing Center or add something different to your Daily 5?
Include a Spin A Story Wheel and help motivate your students to WANT to write!
Students spin the wheel 3-4 times and write sentences or a 1-paragraph story and include the picture ideas in them.
Challenge students who are writing sentences to try and write one sentence incorporating ALL 4 picture prompts!
Click on the various links for the Spring-Summer Spin A Story Wheels.
March Story Wheel, April/May Story Wheel, Summer Story Wheel
For your convenience, if you’d like the entire collection, I’ve bundled them up in one download as well.
Write on and happy spinning!
Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more teacing tips!
