Beginning of Year Writing Ideas

This year I adapted the idea of the Alphabet Key from The Writing Book. Determined to complete the writing activity on the first day back, I gave each child only one letter to focus on, rather than attempting to get everyone completing 26 sentences.

After sharing our holiday news, we looked at the model and discussed what would make a quality sentence. Each child was given a Post It note with their focus letter (differentiated for ability) and brainstormed on their whiteboards some words they knew that started with their letter. Confident children quickly started to compose their sentences, some worked with a buddy and I worked with those needing more support.

The finished sentences were conferenced and then typed up to add to our hub blog. It was great to see the children discussing ideas and helping each other and they were excited to share the finished piece with family the next morning.

Our Holiday ABC

At a restaurant for dinner. (Blake)

Bus to the mountains - climbing high. (Sofia)

Calling Mum from Nana’s - nice to hear her voice! (Sarah)

Driving to the airport to go to Wellington for my birthday. (Daniel)

Exciting fishing off the rocks at Karaki beach with my family. (Lundon)

For a treat at New Plymouth park, we got delicious ice cream. (Olivia)

Going to my friend’s house. (Hilary)

Hot and sunny days with my family. (Charlie M)

Interesting games on my device. (Wynter)

Josie came to give me a birthday invitation. (Georgie)

Keeping cool in the pool on hot days. (Will)

Listening to the birds chirping in Australia. (Hamish)

Me, Mum and Grandad at Hanmer Springs. (Tamaki)

Nerf gun games. (Aryadeep)

On my device playing Roblox. (Zam)

People at the mall. (Brodie)

Queenstown with Mum and Dad. (Ashley)

River fun - swimming with my Mum and Dad. (Rick)

Swimming in the school pool with Zara. (Matilda)

Time with my cousin in Parnassus. (Max)

Underneath the water blowing bubbles.

Very sick from too much ice cream. (Charlie D)

Wellington Zoo with Dad and Sarah. (Audrey)

eXciting family tramp to noisy Washpen Waterfall. (Leo)

Yelling and screaming at the beach.

Zooming around the Margaret Mahy playground with friends.

Mixed up animals

25 Sculpture Prompts

Clips for narrative writing inspiration

A collection of short clips to use for writing.


A series of team work inspired clips.



An unexpected ending.






A series of clips about Oscar.



Choose an ending - If you want a happy ending - stop this by 5.05, or continue to the end for a more interesting one.


Good message about bullies.





Quite long but could be stopped earlier.


 







Very cool animation. Click on this image to get to the link - the embed code not accessible.

Piper - Pixar Short Film

Very cute video clip to use for writing.

Toitoi - giving writers (& illustrators) a real purpose

Have you seen this excellent NZ resource? It contains a wide range of writing by NZ kids - from 5 years and up. There are also teacher support materials. They are also on Facebook at this link. If you sign up for their quarterly newsletter you get a free copy of the first issue.

This links really well with some reading I have been doing about giving children a variety of audiences and real purpose for their writing by Mem Fox. I highly recommend 

this book for making you think and re-inspiring you at the end of a stressful term.

And this will be my next!

The Best Part of Me

Another cool idea that I intend to try.

Once Upon A Picture

Found this cool site on Facebook. It has some great images for inspiring writing along with question starters and lesson ideas.

Story Stones

Found this idea on Facebook at Relief Teaching Ideas. (Link to site on the sidebar of this blog). There are heaps more on Pinterest - you can even buy them if you are 'drawing challenged'. Looks like I'm going to be busy collecting stones. I think the kids in the class will enjoy making their own stones for the class resource which will make it even more meaningful for them.

The Olympics

There have been some great writing opportunities with the Rio Olympics. Totara started off with using a clip of the highlights from the Opening Ceremony and a photo to "Describe a moment in time".

The Olympics is also an opportunity to look at some of the other aspects of the Olympic Games. 

Here is a link about abandoned Olympic venues from the Bored Panda site. We are going to use this as ignition for a debate about the cost of holding the Olympics leading onto some persuasive writing. 

This is a link about a young boy who met his childhood hero Michael Phelps eight  years ago and today beat him in the 100m butterfly, denying Phelps his 23rd Gold medal in swimming. This could be used to inspire some writing about what makes a hero or who they would really like to meet.

You have probably heard about Eddie the Eagle - but do you know about Eric the Eel? Who should be allowed to compete in the Olympics?

Free Choice Writing

After a term and a half of structured writing sessions to build on the student's writing skills, Totara hub decided to give the children the opportunity to do some Free Choice Writing activities, after all we allocate time for free choice in reading.

There was an air of excitement as the children discussed their ideas with each other before and during the writing process. They worked by themselves, or with others and many of the children continued on with their writing before school for the rest of the week - even the group of boys who usually spend the time before the bell playing soccer - much to the surprise of their parents and teacher.

The majority of pieces were narratives and many featured the latest class pet - Pumpkin the Dragon. The finished pieces were often long and not edited to the standard we strive for in more structured sessions, but the children were really engaged and excited about their work, and this was great to see. This is definitely something that I will do again. Providing some photo prompts may help the few children who struggled to come up with initial ideas, along with some suggestions about different genres they may like to try.

http://www.kidsplayandcreate.com/50-positive-creative-writing-topics-for-kids/

Alfie Kohn has an interesting article about providing choices for children

 http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/choices-children/

Making a wormery

Wild and wacky wormy witers 
(Spelt incorrectly so it didn't ruin the alliterative string! - Anna)

This week we went on a trip to the Botanic Garden to participate in the Christchurch City Council  programme; Casting Magic with Worms. Everyone really enjoyed the trip - despite the chilly weather. If you are interested - here is the link. http://www.ccc.govt.nz/culture-and-community/learning-resources/learning-through-action/list-of-programmes/casting-magic-with-worms/

On our way home some of the children asked if they could write some instructions to explain how to make a mini worm farm - of course we thought that was a great idea and canned the ideas of a recount. We also decided to use it to extend our collaborative writing sessions.

Session 1. After a discussion about the features of instructions, the children selected a buddy to work with. Although partners were the children's choice, able writers were praised for choosing others who indicated they would like the support they could provide. Most of the children managed to get the title, equipment and some of the steps recorded.

Session 2: After finishing the instructions, each pair was able to display their drafted work on an A3 sheet of paper using relevant illustrations. Some of the writing is displayed in the green room and the rest is in the A3 display folder in the library area. 

Reflecting on the writing afterwards we discussed how well the children worked together, the lower stress of displaying drafted writing rather than the time consuming (for teacher & students) of correcting every single error on every piece and the either rewriting or typing up work to display. The children were engaged in working together, sharing their ideas and seeing their work on display quickly.

Headline Quick Write

Idea from the Literacy Shed for a quick write activity - this could easily be done with a selection of your favourite images. I have included a few examples below. See link at side for more ideas from The Literacy Shed.

My Name

Found this link again on Facebook and thought it would make a great beginning of year writing activity.

Images to inspire

I found some stunning images from the 2016 National Geographic Traveller Photographer contest on boredpanda. Check out this one! or click on the photo to follow the link.

Favourite Reading Nook

Here are some great places I would love to curl up with a book.

Which one would you choose and why?
What book would you most like to read there?
Draw a picture of your idea of a great reading nook , don't forget to and it.

Name the Albatross

Here is a quick write idea with the possibility for a prize of a trip to the albatross colony.

You might want to also share this link about the naming of a UK Polar Research ship Boaty McBoatface.  A good discussion about the pros and cons of of internet voting.

Dangerous Journeys to School

Check out some of these dangerous trips some children are prepared to take in order to get to school. Puts crossing Sheppard Place into perspective.

Alphabet Thinkers Key

This is a handy writing activity for the end of a focus topic or the end of the term. It is quick to set up and provide feedback. The children are able to use their classmates for inspiration if they get stuck. I like to use this for a publishing example to display for the kids to show how their handwriting skills are developing.  

This is one I hadn't thought of before. It would link well to the focus on the Key Competencies from term 1.