Writing Archives - Page 4 of 6

Spring Would You Rather Game For Elementary That Students Will Love!

April 1, 2022 teachersbrain Distance Learning, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips, Writing

There’s nothing I love more than when students get excited to learn. It’s the best feeling to see their faces light up as they fully engage in their lesson. It’s every teacher’s dream! However, it can be tricky to achieve. Especially as we approach the end of the school year. Students start to get a little restless so it takes a little creativity to really capture, and keep, their attention.

One of my favorite ways to do that is by playing games! Games in the classroom are proven to increase engagement, learning outcomes, and fun! In fact, research says that along with increased participation, playing games with your students can also encourage social and emotional learning and motivate students to take more risks.

One of my favorite games to play in the classroom has to be Would You Rather!

If you aren’t familiar, Would You Rather is a fun game where you have to choose between two different scenarios or items. For example, would you rather see a bird or a butterfly? These questions are intended to be silly and fun and encourage creative thinking. It’s guaranteed to get your students giggling.

With spring officially here, I created a spring-themed Would You Rather game that your students will love!

These Google Slides come with several questions to get your students thinking about spring. After making their choice, students will then use the paper provided to explain why they made that decision.

These Google Slides are interactive and editable. Which means you can change them up to fit your needs. Feel free to delete slides, add your own directions, or change the pictures as you see fit.

You can have students hold up one or two fingers to share what they would pick. It even comes with a movable highlighter to highlight your student’s most popular choice! This resource comes with 50 colorful slides for endless writing fun. If you are distance learning, this resource is easily adaptable to do digitally as well.

If you love this activity, you can also get it for every season!

The complete bundle comes with Would You Rather slides for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. This means you get over 200 colorful slides. A great way to teach students the seasons as well!

What are your favorite games to play in the classroom? Let me know in the comments!

Looking for some more fun spring resources? Create a bunny trap with this resource!

Stop Motion Animation Activities To Encourage A Love of Creative Writing

January 21, 2022 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers, Winter, Writing

One of the most universally loved things right now is Disney movies. Frozen, Luca, Encanto… parents and kids alike love these movies. Which makes sense! The animation capabilities of these Disney creators are incredibly impressive.

Since it is something students love so much, naturally, I tried to think of ways to make it educational so they can enjoy it in the classroom as well. I found that stop-motion animation is a great introduction to animated movies and the enormous amount of skill, creativity, dedication, and art that goes into each movie.

It all starts with a good story! I found this way of approaching narrative, creative writing to be an extremely effective way to hook students into the concept because they want to create their own masterpieces.

With that in mind, I created a winter resource that will teach students about animation from a REAL Disney animator. How cool is that?!

This Stop Motion Animation Creative Writing three week unit is jam-packed with activities to get your students fully engaged in the creative process.

The focus of this resource is creative narrative writing through the integration of beginning animation concepts. The real Disney animator will get your students inspired and get those creative juices flowing.

The Animator Spotlight and Animator Interview will teach students everything they need to know to complete an animator study report.

Teaching students about short animation will help them better understand sequencing events and how to make their own creative endings. After that, students can use the printables provided to design their own book covers!

You’ll get everything you need with this resource. This includes lined paper along with writing toppers to make displaying your students’ work in your classroom easy and cute.

In addition to these activities, you’ll also get narrative writing choice boards, narrative lead ideas, creative writing story elements, a snowman flip book, and so much more. Furthermore, the stop motion animation directions will teach you how to create an animation with your students easily with tools you already have.

I included lots of extras with this resource for centers like the snowman drawing instructions and comprehension checks.

Interested in learning more? Check out my video here!

Looking for more winter activities? Check out these Winter Olympics activities!

The Best Winter Writing Activities For Elementary

November 26, 2021 teachersbrain Winter, Writing

Around the holidays, I usually like to try and come up with some really unique holiday or winter writing activities that will be different from the stuff that students have become used to. Adding in a variety of lessons, crafts, and activities never fails to get students excited and engaged in our writing practice.

With many teachers and students still learning virtually this year, I have been thinking about winter writing activities that students can get really engaged with whether they are learning in person or online.

This Trapped In A Snow Globe writing activity has to be my favorite this year!

Students will get to create a photo of them trapped in a snow globe and write about it. It comes with 14 background slides to choose from and 4 slides of movable parts to add. Just choose a background, palace a picture of your student “trapped”, and then add your accessories!

After that, there are 6 slides for students to brainstorm, organize thoughts, and write a story about their snow globe. What I love about this is that it is designed for distance learning so you can easily add gifs in place of photos.

You’ll also get black and white slides for students to digitally or handwrite their stories. You can choose from narrative, persuasive, or opinion writing. You’ll get 4 writing prompts to choose from or 2 pages that are left blank so you can create your own prompt.

There is also a Google Form so you can do a “Favorite Design Contest” with your students!

Step 1. Choose a background

Step 2. Add your photo or gif

Step 3. Add your accessories

Step 4. Write about it!

Afterward, you can create a slideshow with music that includes all of your students’ creations!

Another fun twist to this activity is that students can all trap the teacher! Add your photo to each of their designs and they can write about how you got trapped.

Check out the video here

What are your favorite winter writing activities? Let me know in the comments!

Memorial Day Activities For Elementary

May 7, 2021 teachersbrain education, Teaching Tips, Writing

While some students may just see Memorial Day as a day off from school, it is a great time to teach them about Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. It is important for them to know about those who gave their lives while serving our country.

Here are some ways you can teach elementary students about Memorial Day in your classroom.

Start by giving them the definition. It seems simple, but this is something that not a lot of students know or understand.
Read a book about the holiday. Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden and Raul Colon is a great book written by the First Lady.
Write a letter to a hero. If your students have any friends or family members that served they can write a letter to them. For other students you can have them write a letter to hero you select for them. This is a great way to give students perspective and a chance to express their gratitude.
Discuss the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. On Veterans Day we celebrate those still living who served our country, on Memorial Day we celebrate those we lost.

My Memorial Day Writing Activity is the perfect addition to your lesson!

Perfect for students in first through third grade, you’ll get a variety of writing activities.

Included with this resource, you’ll get

an informational sheet about the holiday
acrostic poems with self rating systems
Home of the Free Because of the Brave printable
Informational writing planning page
Informational writing page
Thank you, Hero Letter
Thank You Letter
Posters for students to fill out
Poster about informative writing
Transitional words and phrases list
Word wall words
Rubric

You’ll get everything you need to get your students engaged in learning about our American heroes.

Looking for more teaching activities for May? Check out Mother’s Day ideas here!