Seasonal writing: Letters to Santa

I'm sure you haven't realized this yet with all of the holiday music blaring and the stores telling you every few days, but Christmas is coming.

"What?" you say it's every year.  I know, I know it is.

But in all seriousness, Christmas is coming, and it's a great time to work on letter writing skills.

Back when I was teaching my class always wrote a letter to Santa, and he always wrote back to them.  It was a magical moment.  But, I want to share another way kids can write to Santa other than just what they really want.

When Santa Lost His Ho! Ho! Ho! is a super cute book with lots of great reasons to write letters.  Santa loses his "Ho ho ho," and is depressed.  Children write him hundreds of letters to cheer him up, but nothing works, until finally he gets that ONE letter.

Last year I read this book to my kids and then they spent a lot of time thinking of ways they would make Santa laugh.  Teacher Files has some cute Santa lined papers that would be great with this book and activity.

For early or pre-writers have them draw a funny cartoon.

All 3 of my kids are still at the early writing stages, so we concentrate more on process and how to create ideas.

So we brain stormed together what makes things funny.  Is it what you write or what you draw?  Why is one joke funny and another isn't?  After everyone had an idea we talked through if the idea needs a picture.  The letter that made Santa laugh in the book had a funny picture to go with it.  Did their funny idea need a picture to help explain it?

When they started writing I emphasize a lot that I do not care about spelling right now.  I want them to write.  My kids are worried about it being perfect.  I want them to get words on the page and then we can edit it for spelling or grammar.  This can be a very hard thing for kids to understand and grasp at a young age, but if they can get past wanting it to be perfect it can really help them be more willing to write on their own.

I'm always on the look out for other good books to lead into writing prompts, do you have some Christmas favorites for my kids to write about this year?

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Teaching with Ticia: Writing Centers

A few months ago I wrote a post about the portable writing center I designed, and it was wildly popular.  I realized that I'm not the only Mom or teacher who wants ideas on how to encourage writing.  I started researching and looking into more ideas and wanted to share a few things I figured out from that.

Provide a variety of writing materials

Pink and Green Mama shared her portable center and it had many different pens, markers, crayons, pencils.  I've found that the more things available to write with, the more they will write.

Try different sensory experiences.  Try writing in paint, or my personal favorite shaving cream (it cleans the surface your writing on, I used this all the time while teaching).  Dry erase boards also make a great place to practice.

Set up a permanent space

If you have the ability and wall space (this is great in a classroom, it was my most visited center).

Lessons Learnt Journal shared how she set up her area, along with where she got everything.  I've found in my various experiments less is better, because it forces them to think it through more.

Or you could set up word walls and other important writing information.

Provide many different things to write on

If you look at my picture up above you see all sorts of different cards in there.  Other great things to leave in there:  note pads with funny pictures, those little pads of paper given away as freebies, old stationary, construction paper, scrapbooking paper you're not going to use.

Fun things to add: stickers, magazines, pre-made books, writing prompts, examples of correct writing form

Writing Ideas board-some more ideas of activities, things to do

Do you have anything to add?  Did you write a post about writing or a writing station?  I'd love to add it to my writing board or come back later and add it to this post.

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St. Patrick's Day Reading and Writing Activities

Make, Take and Teach created a sight word BINGO freebie for you, just in time for some lucky reading fun.

Extra Special Teaching has a download for a St. Patrick's Day making words activity.

Ingles360 is sharing a St. Patty's Day packet for free that includes uppercase and lowercase letters.

Fabulous in First has shared some ideas for St. Patrick's Day writing paper with prompts such as Lucky to be Me and If I Caught a Leprechaun.

Mrs. Wills Kindergarten will be making words with this St. Patrick's Day printable (available for purchase from her TPT store).

Minds in Bloom has a list of writing prompt ideas for elementary age students.

 HoJo's Teaching Adventure has several writing prompts and lined paper options for you to choose from for an elementary writing activity.

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Telling Stories: Prompting Creative Writing

Whimsical Ways helps young writers get creative with story stones.  A simple and fun way to encourage character, setting, and plot development.

Teach Beside Me made color coded blocks labeled with interesting nouns, verbs, and places to set writers up with a story idea.

TLSBooks offer several creative writing prompt ideas, similar to this Serious Question activity.

With a few fun pebbles and a sharpie marker, First Grader at Last will inspire creative writing.

meg writes uses a simple jar to inspire creative writing.

I may have mentioned it before, but my favorite resource for creative writing prompts is Rip the Page by Karen Benke. {fyi: not an affiliate link, just a fave}

I also really like the idea of these story cubes from The Literary Gift Company.  What do you think, do you have an idea for a DIY version of these cubes?

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Handwriting Tool: Word Spacing

My daughter is a Kindergartener , which means she is also a beginning writer.  It has been delightful to watch her figure out the sound/symbol relationships and now she is becoming more aware of writing conventions.  In the past few days she has been analyzing the spacing between words in all types of print media.  She is quite concerned that some magazines don't have a big enough "finger space."  Her interest in this developing skill encouraged me to check into the type of tools you are all using to teach this beginning writing skill.

Thoughts from a Kindergarten Teacher explains how to use Mr. Spacey to teach Kinders the importance of spacing between words.

Debbie's Resource Cupboard has a downloadable Space ship.


Remind students to use proper spacing with this 5 Finger Rubric from Kindergarten Crayons.

The Long Way Around introduced some cute little Spacemen.

The Enchanted Homeschool submitted a wonderful link for a Helpful Handwriting Tool.  She explains:

Learning Objective:
The general purpose of this tool is to help children with spacing. I know that the rule of thumb is to teach children that they need a “finger tip” of space between each word in their writing but my kids lost that concept within a week or two, especially my son who struggled with handwriting initially due to lack of interest and being left handed. So I came up with this tool! 

Materials:

-         1 Sticker (either leave the manufacturers backing on it or place the sticker on a piece of paper so there is no sticky side left)

-         Elmer’s glue

-         1 Large sized regular old paper clip

-         Small piece of wax paper

-         Scissors

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Valentine Writing Prompts

Sub Hub has shared a free Valentine's Day poetry writing activity that can easily be downloaded.

Classroom Freebies has a downloadable Valentine themed lined paper for you to use for any of you classroom writing projects.

Kindergarten Freckle Teacher posted a Valentine poem freebie for shadow writing.

Practice writing with prepositions following this Lilly's Chocolate Heart writing project from Suite 101.

Journal Buddies suggests 77 love themed writing prompts for elementary students.

Elementary Technology Lessons used Party Printer to turn writing assignments into Valentine shapes.

Connect a Blog offers free Valentine's themed stationary for writing projects.

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Journal Writing with Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

Let The Children Play uses journaling portfolios to show children's progress and learning.

Preschool Lesson Plans encourages writing with a creatively stocked center.

Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds uses a matchbox picture activity to stimulate story starting suggestions for storytelling which could be recorded by an adult.

Katie, from A List Maker's Life, uses cut up sentences with early elementary children to encourage journaling.

Waddleeachaa has a great series on teaching writing.  Here are the basics about journal writing with preschool age students and another about working on journaling with kindergarteners.

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Playful Learning: Creating a Writing Center (giveaway included)

Update: This giveaway is now closed. It was fun to see all of the excitement about Mariah's book and e course.  The winners below have been contacted regarding their gifts.  Thanks for your participation!

 Katie (book winner) comment  #49

 Cindy (e course) comment #45

Today we are thrilled to introduce you to Mariah Bruel, the author of Playful Learning: Develop Your Child's Sense of Wonder and Joy.  We are honored to be part of her blog tour.  She is a creative teacher and talented writer.  Find out more about Playful Learning by checking out her site.

Creating A Writing Center

It never ceases to amaze me how a well stocked, organized writing center, inspires spontaneous writing among young children. The goal is to create a space that invites a variety of impromptu writing experiences for your child. By having an area dedicated to providing writing tools, papers, and a place to work children can independently write lists, letters, stories, or books—building writing skills through authentic and engaging writing experiences.

Creating a writing area in your home or classroom does not need to be complicated or overwhelming. By simply leaving out a few interesting writing supplies  you can inspire the young writers in your life. Here is a helpful list of some fun materials you can add to your child's writing area...

•       A variety of writing papers printed on colorful, playful paper (download the Nurturing Young Authors printables here) 
•       Alphabet Chart
•       Blank note cards and envelopes
•       Sticky notes
•       Blank books 
•       Assortment of fun pens and pencils 
•       Fine point permanent markers
•       Fine point black markers
•       Colored pencils
•       Alphabet stickers
•       Alphabet stamps
•       Interesting hole and paper punches
•       Tape
•       Glue sticks
•       Scissors
•       Erasers
•       Pencil Sharpener

One of my favorite ways to create interesting writing areas for children is to think "out of the box" when it comes to the storage, organization and display of the materials. I love it when I can re-purpose items I already have on hand. Below are some images of storage solutions that can be created by using everyday household items.

Magazine racks and file holders make great displays for a variety of writing papers.

If you have limited space, I recommend filling a utensil caddy with pens, pencils, and other interesting writing materials. Most caddies are big enough to hold blank cards and books as well. Simply place the caddy on your coffee table and watch the writing begin! Caddies are also great for moving from room to room or even outside when the inspiration strikes.

A wire fruit basket along with some buckets cab be used to house scissors, hole punches, tape, pens, pencils and glitter glue. Napkin holders also make great holders for blank cards, envelopes or list paper.

Hooks and buckets are an easy and inexpensive way to make use of open wall space above a table or desk.

Here are some more "out of the box" sources of inspiration...

• Tin Can Caddy
• Peg Board (my new favorite)
• Pen Cups
• Simple Wood Box
• More Tin Cans Here and Here

GIVEAWAY

After spending time reading and re-reading my copy of Playful Learning I am especially excited to be joining Mariah this fall for her Playful Learning Spaces E-Course.  While taking the course I will be sharing brief tidbits here on ABC & 123 during our bi-weekly Show and Tell feature.  However, I would love for as many of you to join me as possible.    

Mariah, and her publisher Shambhla Publications, are offering 2 great resources as giveaways to you!  

~1FREE admission to the 6-week e-course (value $125)

~1 copy of the book 

Areyou  as excited as I am about either of these opportunities?  Please leave a comment here to be entered into the random drawing.  If you would specify whether you are interested in the book, the e-course, or both that would be helpful.  Comments will close on this giveaway on Tuesday, September 6th and the winner will be notified immediately.

If you are interested in reading more, here are other stops on the Playful Learning blog tour!

8/17  Sew Liberated
8/18  The Artful Parent
8/19  Ohdeedoh
8/22  Let the Children Play
8/23  Simple Kids
8/24  Spell Outloud
8/25  Not Just Cute
8/26  Make and Takes
8/29  ABC 123
8/30  Modern Parents Messy Kids
8/31  A Bit of This and a Bit of That
9/1   Adventures in Mommydom
9/2   Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds
9/5   Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
9/6   Tinker Lab
9/7   Helping Little Hands

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Encouraging Creative Writing

Mommy Labs believes that in order to get  kids interested in writing we have to give them reasons to write!  She helped her little ones create pin up noteboards out of upcycled DVD cases.

This activity from Primary Graffiti will give kids of any age a chuckle. Parents donated magazines. The kids selected funny pictures and created quirky dialogue to enhance each picture. 

The Important Book  became an interested writing spring board at Together Time 4 Families.

Creative Writing Now has ideas for starting your own creative journaling.

In honor of The Royal Wedding today I just had to share a goofy little book that I had fun working in to a creative writing lesson.  In the story, a little girl lets her imagination run wild as she imagines which knickers the Queen will be wearing when she comes to visit the child's school.  Kids Book Review shares a complete review of the highlights of the book. The illustrations are adorable and the text is sure to bring some giggles.

Check out what one school did to get creative after reading the book.

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Poetry

Welcome! New to ABC and 123? Please check out our FAQ in the sidebar.

Sneaker Teacher explains how to write an "I Am From" poem.

Ignite a poetry unit with Poetry Bags.

Small Types inspired her lego crazed little one to create poetry with his favorite toy.  I imagine this would make a fun center activity in any classroom.

At Crayon Bits the first grade teacher encourages reading fluency using poetry.

Small Types also put together their own version of an on-the-go poetry activity that does not require any materials.

Read. Write. Think. has a fun interactive acrostic poem building activity.

First Grade Serenade explains how she uses poetry in the classroom and shares poems of the month.

Celebrate Poetry with a great list of activities from Kristine O'Connell George: Post It Poems, Balloon Poems, Cookie Poems and so much more!

If you haven't had a chance to enter to win a copy of Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing, check it out.  It is a great resource for teaching children to write poetry.

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Dictate, Draw, and Drama Activity with a Build Your Own Stage Suggestion

Welcome! New to ABC and 123? Please check out our FAQ in the sidebar.

Karen, the Sippy Cup Central Mom, submitted this interactive language arts activity titled Dictate, Draw, and Drama.

The idea behind the 3 D's (dictate, draw, and drama) is creating or retelling a story, illustrating it, and then acting it out.

Have your child begin by telling a story using his or her amazing imagination.

As the child tells the story write it down in his or her own words.

When the story is complete, allow the student to draw an accompanying picture on a separate piece of paper.

Finally, set up your stage and prepare your props to dramatize the new story.

Don't already have your own puppet stage? Check out these step by step instructions for inexpensively creating the fold up stage shown below.

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Tips for Teaching Writing

Welcome! New to ABC and 123? Please check out our FAQ in the sidebar.

There are so many different pieces to the puzzle of learning to write. Often as parents we focus on the logistics of letter formation and printing, however there is much to be learned about creativity, sentence formation, grammar, story structure, character development, writing to demonstrate understanding and so much more. This post features a variety of tips and activities that have been submitted.

Alicia, at Discoveries of a Teacher, writes about the steps she uses in her classroom to teach the writing process.

Nurture Store has submitted the following link for a child-led, nature inspired way to begin writing letters. This post focuses on letter formation and shows C is for Caterpillar.

Layers of Learning has shared an informative post on the basics of a Writers Workshop.

Katie, at A List Maker's Life, has a post explaing the step by step instructions for using Cut Up Sentences to help young children start to put their ideas into words. This is an early journaling activity.

Teaching Two explains the process of interactive journaling as a method for developing quality writing skills. In this post, there is also a link to anothe post explaining a Morning Message.

Quirky Momma uses playdough, gel packs, sticky sticks and a mini-whiteboard to practice writing skills.

Becca Burda sent us the following useful suggestions in an email:

~I used Writer’s Workshop and Reader’s Workshop with my Kindergarteners and First graders throughout my teaching. There is a wonderful book called “Reading with Meaning” By Debbie Miller that integrates both reading and writing activities. I love this book because she gives examples of differentiated lessons, activities, and books to use with young children. She goes into detail about each lesson’s objective. Every time I read through one of her lessons the wheels in my head would start turning and it always got my “creative juices” flowing! It’s a FANTASTIC book!!

~I love the “Fancy Nancy” books and I found that my first graders did to…even the boys!! I used these books to help develop good word choice in our writings. I created two puppets for our classroom. They weren’t fancy puppets by any means, but the kids loved them. I used two brown paper lunch bags to create a girl puppet named “Fancy Nancy” and a boy puppet named “Larry Very Ordinary.” I attached a piece of paper to the end of each bag (receipt paper rolls work well). We would write ordinary words on the paper underneath Larry and then write better word choice or “fancy words” on the paper underneath Nancy. The kids took off with this…I couldn’t believe it! They were soon asking to use a thesaurus! I went out and bought several age appropriate thesauruses and created several mini-lessons on how to use one. Keep in mind, I did not introduce the thesaurus until mid-year after the kids were familiar with and comfortable with “ABC” order. Even children who were having difficulty with their writing would choose better “fancy” words from the thesaurus. Many times, I would be busy working with students on their writing and I would look over to see my advanced writers helping other students with their writings! My first graders came up with a goal of stretching the paper 200 words long…they said they wanted it to reach across the room. By the end of the year, we had well over 200 words! J This activity can be used to teach writing skills, vocabulary skills, reading skills, comprehension skills, book skills, cooperative learning, etc. AND it created excitement in learning!

Thanks Becca & all of you who also submitted your great writing links!

If you are looking for more great links, perhaps you'd like to check out the link list from last year's Picnic Table Talk on writing activities and inspiration!

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Review and Giveaway: This is Me: A Kid's First Keepsake Journal

Congratulations to Pati at A Crafty Escape, comment #3 and winner of this giveaway! Pati, we left you a comment on your blog, please email us right away! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Today we have another fabulous birthday celebration giveaway! We especially love the "This is Me" journal because it gets kids to begin expressing themselves by recording their feelings and memories through writing.Journaling can provide a snapshot of your child's thinking, language, and writing developement. Journaling habits begun at an early age can last well into adulthood. It can provide an outlet for them to cope with their fears and frustrations as well as promote self-awareness and increase self esteem. Both you and your child can look back at entries and see how they've grown.

The "This Is Me Journal" is the perfect way for your child to begin recording their memories and provides a simple, easy, and fun way to do so. It provides lots of space for drawings, photos, and writing. It's also a great way for parents to connect with their child. Pre-writers can dictate their answers to their parent and young writers can start off with the simple prompts.The first part of the"This is Me" journal, pages 1-31, is comprised of pages with subjects ranging from “My Favorites” to “My Family” to “I Feel Proud“. The writing and drawing prompts are not only designed to capture your child’s life but also promote creativity and self-esteem.Pages 32-49 covers eight major holidays (including the child’s birthday) and also has a generic “Celebrate!” page to fill with another family specific holiday celebration. Pages include questions about each holiday celebration as well as holiday specific drawing prompts and spaces for a few choice holiday photos.The second half of the "This is Me" journal, pages 50-93 is set up as “free space” for weekly journal entries and drawings (or whenever there is something to write or draw about). Writing spaces can be used to record events, activities, and emotions that were not already covered in the journal. Drawing spaces can be used to accompany journal entries, doodling or even for small photos or mementos.The online descriptions says that "The journal ends with a couple pages for parents to record all those awesome things your child says that you never want to forget. Now they are all recorded in one place!" This may refer to an updated version, our reviewers copy did not have these pages, but we think they'd be a great addition. Our copy ended with a one page parent's guide with tips on how to use the journal and on the back cover was a pocket titled "My Most Important Things", a place to store cute notes, special drawings, or other keepsakes.

Over all, we thought the "This is Me" journal was very eye appealing and liked how it starts with prompts that help reluctant writers know where to start. It includes many high interest subjects such as favorite sports, pets, and food. The format is fun with some areas to check off, fill in the blanks, complete the sentence, and cute doodled frames for drawing in. While portions are guided there is still ample space for your child to write on topics important to him or her. It's a great tool to help your child capture their childhood in their own words and pictures and will definitely become a treasured keepsake.
The author Carrie Lundell is also the talented blogger behind This MAMA Makes Stuff, it's where first got to know Carrie. She has great tutorials there for fun things like hydrangea headbands, Kid's Art Christmas Ornaments, and the one that's been bookmarked on Katie's Nesting Spot almost from the beginning, her art case.

Giveaway!
One of our readers will win a copy of This is Me: A Kid's First Keepsake Journal!!! Thank you, Carrie!

To Enter:
Tell us which feature you like about the This is Me journal the best.

Extra Entries: {leave an extra comment for each additional entry}

• Tell us which TIP from the This is Me Journal website, is your favorite.
• Publically follow our blog, using Google Friends Connect.
• Subscribe via email to our blog.
• Follow either Katie on Twitter (links in right column), tweet this giveaway, and leave us a link to your tweet.
• Fan our blog on Facebook.
• Post our link button on your blog.
• Share this giveaway on your blog and leave us a link to your post.
• Publically follow Carrie's blog, This Mama Makes Stuff, using Google Friends Connect.
• Follow Carrie on Twitter, @thisiscarrie or @thisismejournal

Giveaway open through April 6, midnight EST to US residents. Good Luck!

Disclaimer: Thank you to Carrie for providing both the reviewers and giveaway copies of the "This is Me" journal. This review relates our own personal opinions and experiences with it, and yours may differ.

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