By Rachel Lynette
Kitten Soft and fluffy Meows until I pet her There on my favorite pillow Purring with contentment. A pensee poem is a 5-line, non-rhyming patterned poem that is both fun and easy to create! Like many other poem patterns, it is a great opportunity to practice syllables. Here is the pattern for writing a pensee: Line 1: Subject (2 syllables) Line 2: Description (4 syllables) Line
Writing Prompts for After Winter Break Two whole weeks without school…what have those kids been doing all that time? What are they looking forward to in the new year? One great way to find out is to have your students write about it! I got a little help from some of my friends on Facebook to compile this list of 20 interesting prompts to start
Comparing and contrasting is a higher level thinking skill important across the curriculum. We compare and contrast characters in a story, word choice in writing, equations in math (think < > =, not to mention word problems ), different hypotheses in science, how holidays are celebrated in different cultures, etc. That is probably why comparing and contrasting shows up multiple times in the Common Core Standards. Here
Here are five free worksheets (with answer keys) to use with your class to help reinforce affixes and to introduce word roots. These five worksheets will work fine as stand-alone activities but are actually part of a much larger 40-page prefixes, suffixes, and word roots product. Download this worksheet plus four more right here!
The other day, my sweetheart’s third grade daughter, Claire, was talking about how much she loves her new teacher. When I asked why, one of the first things she said was, “She makes writing fun! I used to hate writing, but she gives us neat stuff to write about.” When I asked for an example, she enthusiastically told me about how the teacher had them write
Here is something fun to try this year: have your students find the teacher’s mistake! Let your (upper elementary or middle school) students know that sometimes you will intentionally make a spelling or grammar mistake on a handout or worksheet. It is their job to find that mistake. They will never know if there is a mistake on any given worksheet – it could come
Want to go beyond the classic “What I Did Over Summer Vacation” essay? Try some of these engaging writing prompts. Who is someone you spent a lot of time with this summer? Describe this person. Where did you go this summer that you have never been before? How did you spend Independence Day? Where did you spend most of your time this summer? Describe
Here is a fun activity that integrates creative writing with math by having students use dice to write a non-rhyming poem. Students will also get practice with syllables. You could do this as a whole class, if you have enough dice, or at a center. Here is what to do: Give each student a pair of dice. Students roll the dice and add them up
Kids often embrace the idea of a summer journal because it is a nice way to capture some summer experiences and it has a finite end – the end of summer is the end of the journal. Here are three fun ideas. Nature Journal Use a book with unlined pages (or half lined pages) for a nature journal. Use the journal to record interesting things found
Grab this super fun Word-O-Rama Freebie! Word-O-Rama is played like Boggle. Each card is a different game. At a literacy center For fast finishers With partners or small groups (use the same card, score only unique words) As morning work (display for the whole class) Or any time you have a few spare minutes Students can play with or without a time limit. They can
Totally and completely FREE
Here is a fun way for students to practice their spelling words using a phone keypad. Students use the letters on the keypad to create a number for each word. To make the activity more challenging, have students translate their words into numbers and then switch papers to solve. Just be sure they mix up the words. This worksheet, plus another version to use with
Want to add a little holiday magic to your journal writing program? Try this free journal prompt choice grid. At the start of the week, students choose three of the nine prompts. Since they must choose three in a row, they will have to make some choices, weighing one prompt against another. You can get the whole set of Holiday Tic-Tac-Toe Journal Prompts here. Or you
Getting students to stop using those tired, boring words can be a challenge. But word choice is one of the easiest ways to make a ho-hum essay, poem, or story into one that people will want to read. Here are some ideas for helping your students to choose better words: Make finding synonyms for overused words a class activity. This is a great way to practice
Teaching Idioms? I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say that idioms are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. There is a boatload of idioms at GoEnglish. Beyond going over the literal meaning of such phrases as, “It’s raining cats and dogs,” there are many other out-of-this-world things to try. They are the cat’s pajamas, so give them a whirl!
10 Awesome Dictionary Activities Are you looking for some fun activities for National Dictionary Day? It’s October 16th, which was Noah Webster’s (the father of the American dictionary) birthday! Hopefully, you’ve got dictionaries, maybe even a class set. They are, of course, great for looking up words and you will use them to teach dictionary skills, but there are also other great things you can do
