Do you struggle to boost engagement in your writing block? If so, I totally get it! This was a real struggle in my classroom too. While writing may not always be the most popular subject among students, it’s undeniably vital for success! So, if you need some fresh ideas to make writing more engaging in your room, let’s chat!
Let’s Make Writing Fun!
The last thing we want is for our kiddos to check out during writing time. You know what I’m talking about… the glazed look, lack of interest, or even loud sighs you hear when it’s time to write. Instead, we want a group of eager and excited students who look forward to writing time and are begging to use the writing center! The key is to bring writing fun front and center.
But how do we make writing fun? I am so glad you asked! I have spent quite a bit of time exploring this topic in my room and coming up with new ideas to try. I’ve tested them out and come up with a list of things that worked really well to capture student interest and keep it. These 5 ideas are what get my students excited about writing and asking for more and more each week!
1. Seasonal & Holiday Writing Topics
It’s no secret that students LOVE holidays and celebrations. And who could blame them?! They are just plain fun! Aside from being fun though, using a seasonal approach in your writing center will often mean more engagement. After all, we already know that students are excited to celebrate. Why fight it when we can plan activities and lessons around these themes?
In my room, we use monthly writing resources that are jam-packed to the brim with fun, seasonal activities. Each month there are a few themes that align with the season and holidays that form the basis of our writing lessons. We use themed prompts, vocabulary cards, and even letter formation cards that reflect the theme. While this might seem like a simple shift, it makes a BIG impact!
Another way to weave seasonal and holiday fun into your lessons is by decorating your writing center each month. Add a colorful bulletin board, hang up vocabulary charts, and stock the center with colored tools to match the theme. For example, in February you might consider hanging Valentine’s Day-themed vocabulary cards and providing students with festive holiday pencils, red and pink markers, and maybe even some stickers. The addition of these materials gets kids super excited to write! Not to mention, they will look forward to when you make the monthly transformation in your room.
2. Weave Writing Into Your Day
Another way to make writing more fun is to tie it into other areas of your curriculum. When you use a specific theme such as animals, weather, or plants, you will be able to pull writing into many different areas of your lessons. I think this is when the best writing happens organically because students are busy reading and learning about a topic and usually pretty eager to write about it!
One idea to try is to follow up your read-aloud time with a writing activity. Whether you’re reading a non-fiction book or a silly picture book, they usually make a great basis for a writing prompt. This is even more fun and meaningful if you make an anchor chart or graphic organizer before you read the story with your students. Help them learn to use this tool to organize their thoughts beforehand and craft an incredible writing piece!
Another way that writing makes its way into other areas of our curriculum is during social studies and science lessons. I am a big fan of using lapbooks to study many different topics. As we read and learn about the topic, we take some time to record it all inside our lapbooks. They each include many different short writing activities where students can write words, definitions, facts, and sentences about the topic. This is a great way to get kids excited to write and take it in little snippets as you learn!
3. Variety is Your Friend
When it comes to writing, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut of using the same old activities over and over. Before you know it, your students end up knowing exactly what to expect each day. This can get really boring, really quickly! This is why I recommend switching it up with a variety of writing prompts and activities throughout the week. This will keep your students guessing and ensure that you have a mix of activities that everyone will enjoy. For example, in my Monthly Writing Packs, I include many different types of activities such as:
- Vocabulary Cards
- Tracing Cards
- Finish and Write Pages
- Label and Write Pages
- Make a List Activities
- Spin a Silly Story Writing Prompt
- Write the Room Activities
- Sight Word Sentences and more!
Since there are so many different types of activities in each monthly resource, I can count on engagement! Another great advantage to this is that it allows for simple and easy differentiation. I can assign activities aligned to the skill level of my students and ensure that everyone has a writing page that is challenging to them.
4. Incorporate Fun Materials into Writing Time
Primary learners can get burnt out on endless worksheets and predictable pencil activities. This is one of the reasons I like to mix it up with writing and look for interesting ways to practice. Any time you can use art materials alongside your writing, you’ll likely have far more buy-in from students! In my Monthly Writing Resources, I have a set of pages called “Build and Write” that asks students to build a shape with playdough before writing the word for it. This is great because it gives the students a chance to be creative and use hands-on learning while they write. I like to laminate these pages and have students use dry-erase markers alongside them.
Another fun idea to try is to have students write words or sentences outside using chalk or water cups and paintbrushes. This is a great way to get them moving, enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, and of course – practice writing! I find this to be especially fun for sight words. I like to call out a word and then have the kiddos write it out on the sidewalk.
5. Embrace Student Choice with Writing
This might be the most important tip on the list! When it comes to boosting student motivation to write, allowing them to choose can have a big impact! For this reason, one of the writing prompts in my Monthly Writing Sets is super popular! Each month, I have a set of prompts called “You Pick”. On this page, there are 2 pictures displayed that usually relate to the theme or topics we’re focusing on. The idea is that students will choose which one they’d like to write about and then craft a couple of sentences about it. This activity usually produces some very creative writing pages! I love reading through and seeing what my kiddos came up with.
Another way to embrace student choice in writing is with a dedicated writing center. I have a whole post about the benefits of using a writing center in the classroom, but one of the best is that it allows students to choose what to write about. Once your students understand how to use the writing center, you can stock it with a variety of prompts and activities and allow them to decide how they’d like to practice that day. This autonomy not only excites students but also gives them a feeling of ownership over their work and can boost confidence as well. If you ask me, that’s a win-win!
Get Kids Excited About Writing All Year Long
So which of of these ideas was your favorite? I hope you found something new and fun to try to inspire your students to get writing! I think the most important thing to remember is that we’ve got to switch it up to keep writing fun! Kids don’t want to do the same old activities day after day. Instead, finding new ways to practice important skills like writing will make all the difference.
If you’d like a low prep way to practice writing all year long, then I know you’ll love my Monthly Writing Resource Bundle. Inside you get a jam-packed resource for each month that is aligned to common themes and holidays. Each monthly pack features approximately 15 different writing activities with differentiation options for each one. This will take the guesswork out of planning your writing lessons and ensure that you have engaging options to use each and every month! Head over to TPT to check them out!
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