Discover how to build your students meta-cognition skills with fun journal writing ideas. You can promote literacy across the curriculum with active writing topics that encourage kids to share. Daily exposure to writing lessons and practice is critical, especially for students with learning differences. We want to develop an intrinsic desire in our students to … Read more
6 benefits of journal writing for elementary students, plus some ideas for making writing lists to spark kids imaginations. Daily writing in a relaxed format provides a non-threatening way to be able to explore different thoughts, ideas and topics without being concerned about audience presentation. The ultimate purpose of journal writing is to be able … Read more
6 trait writing ties in seamlessly to the Common Core standards. Teaching one strategy at a time makes being successful a reality for every student with improving their writing skills. These ideas are for any grade level (just adapt and adjust as we all do). If you haven’t used the six traits of writing before, just … Read more
Six trait writing process makes teaching writing strategies a snap. The key is to use mentor texts for modeling and provide lots of practice. The beauty of using mentor texts with the six trait writing process is that they are meant to be used for many purposes, they are to be imitated and help our … Read more
Use creative story ideas for teaching narrative writing! Find out just how easy it is to use these short story writing tips. Have you ever wondered why some teachers are just better at teaching children creative writing? It seems their students do not struggle with how to write a narrative. They have loads of creative stories, and look … Read more
The truth about using creative writing prompts in an elementary classroom – this is what works and these are my best prompts for getting your students to write! The best ideas come from experience, and students must be able to web their thoughts prior to putting them on paper. Using story starters is a great … Read more
Quick and easy creative writing topics that will spice up your journal writing time – any grade level can use these! Students often need a prompt to jump-start their brains. Some children really struggle with finding enough to say that they think is worthwhile. The more you prepare your students for the task at hand, … Read more
Bored with the same old creative writing ideas? These prompts are perfect for the primary classroom. Just like reading, kids need to be writing a lot. We need to saturate them with quality pieces as mentor texts and provide them with real reasons to write. Even our youngest students should be creating meaningful and authentic … Read more
You will be amazed at how eagerly your students will take to this five paragraph essay lesson. I guarantee that they will beg to write (a little show and tell never hurts either!). Organizing thoughts in expository writing (sometimes referred to as “explanatory writing”) is difficult for children. Often they do not even understand that … Read more
Make paragraph structure easy for students to visualize using the Stoplight Writing method. The question “How to write an essay?” becomes easy to answer. Stoplight writing is an essay writing format that teaches students how to use a basic paragraph structure. This way of teaching was developed by the Step Up To Writing program. The … Read more
These are rigorous rubrics for writing, K-5, to guide and evaluate grammar and mechanics instruction. Most teachers are very good at coming up with creative writing ideas and using the 6 Traits of Writing, but consistently teaching grammar and mechanics is sometimes a struggle. Some have even – gulp! – completely ignored implementing consistent … Read more
Kindergarten writing activities set the stage for life-long learning and writing. This is a time to razzle dazzle your kids while still meeting your standards. Did you know that high-achieving schools do two to six times as much authentic reading and writing as other schools? Through teacher modeling and interactive writing experiences, we can have … Read more
Teaching writing to elementary students happens over a series of scaffolded stages. A gradual release towards independence will result in improving writing skills. 4 Developmental Stages of Writing The four stages of teaching good writing is a gradual release from teacher-directed to complete independence. It is tightly controlled to ensure success, yet the lessons can … Read more
These 6 ideas for teaching writing can be used in any classroom – with any subject. The foundation of a writing framework is to “romance” your students into wanting to write and to love expressing themselves in a variety of forms. Writing should be a pleasure, for both students and the teacher. Often teachers become … Read more
Essential lessons for teaching writing skills to children and creative writing prompts with rigorous rubrics for grading. We learn to write by the act of writing. Often we teachers get a bit too caught up in making everything a formal lesson, don’t we? There is a time and a place for writing lessons. Yet there … Read more