How to Writing Through the Holidays: Fun & Festive Resources for Your Classroom

It's so much fun to teach around themes during the holiday season! But in the flurry of extra Christmas activities in the classroom, finding time to squeeze in writing practice can be a challenge. I'm here to share some awesome no prep resources that will help your students keep their writing skills sharp and celebrate the season at the same time.

1. Deck the Halls: How to Decorate a Christmas Tree

What better way to get into the holiday spirit than by decorating a Christmas tree? This resource provides a fun and festive writing prompt that even reluctant writers will be excited about. Students use their imagination and descriptive writing skills to plan the perfect tree, from choosing the ornaments to stringing the lights. The writing pages have primary dashed lines for younger students and a cute Christmas tree topper that they can decorate themselves!

2. Santa's Nice List: Secure Your Spot!

Ever wondered what it takes to land yourself on Santa's nice list? This resource offers a playful writing prompt that encourages students to reflect on their actions and think about what they can do to be their best selves while Santa is watching! Students may write about their good deeds and cooperative behavior, sharing kindness, being a good friend or sibling and more! They may even give a piece of advice to someone else!

3. Gingerbread Dreams: Building a Delicious Holiday Tradition

Building a gingerbread house is a fun holiday tradition for many families. Students will write about their dream gingerbread house, using their imaginations to describe its design, decorations, and even the sweet treats they want to use to make one. The writing page features a cute gingerbread to color and decorate.

Bonus: Make it a Bulletin Board Display!

Once your students have completed their writing activities, create a bright and colorful holiday bulletin board. Decorate the board with festive lights, snowflakes, or other holiday borders. Then, display your students' writing pages and decorated toppers. This creates a fun and festive display of student work that shows off their creativity and writing skills.

These teaching resources are a fun and engaging way to keep your students writing throughout the holidays. They'll help them celebrate the season while developing their writing skills and creating adorable holiday displays. So grab these resources, get festive, and watch your students' creativity shine! You can find these and other holiday resources here.

Happy teaching!

March Writing Prompts and Papers

Now that Read Across America activities are behind us, maybe you have started planning for St. Patrick's Day and other fun monthly themes! There are so many things to celebrate in March. The list goes on and on! Just for the record though...Daylight Savings is NOT one of them! What can you get accomplished in one hour? For me, that would be a load of laundry, a quick blog post, a trip to the grocery store, a hair appointment, some major housework and a huge dent in my school to-do list! On that note, I'll make this quick! 

This weekend, I brought home writing assessments to check for report cards and data collection. I beyond pleased with my students' growth so far this year! I'm sure that it had a lot to do with the specific instruction that I have given them, but I also feel that providing my kiddos with daily writing PRACTICE opportunities has been a huge factor. 

In case you missed my previous posts, I set up a monthly writing station with a variety of pick-a prompt cards and papers to select from. Here's a peek the March set:

This month, the prompts include these themes:

  Dr. Seuss' Birthday

 St. Patrick's Day

Leprechauns

Leprechaun Traps

Pot of Gold

March Madness

Reading

The Iditarod Race

Spring 

Oreo Cookies

Johnny Appleseed Day

Green Eggs

Feeling Lucky

Children's Poetry Day

and other fun stuff!

The kit also comes with lots of cute papers that coordinate with the prompts!

We are starting our writing station tomorrow.

 I think the kiddos are going to really like the activities this month. 

They get so excited when I introduce the new prompts!

 If you are looking to add more independent writing practice to your day, you may like to get something like this started in your room too!

To read the full description, you can view the March Writing Center {here} at my Creative Lesson Cafe store at Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Enjoy the rest of your day! Make every hour count!

:)

A Sweet February Writing Center for Second Grade

Hello my friends! I just finished up some new writing centers for February!

 I think they turned out really sweet!

There are lots of fun prompt cards this time in these great February themes:

Groundhog Day
President's Day
Dental Health
Valentine's Day
Black History Month
Kindness, Empathy and Love
February Excitement
Chocolate and Candy Hearts
Pets
AND MORE!

Having these writing center materials ready to go every month has been the best thing for my writing instruction. Even though it takes some time to make them each month, it has been so worth it! Not only are the prompts great for independent practice, but I am able to do modeled writing and give mini-lessons using them too! The kiddos are SO excited about their writing time this year and I can't say I have seen that before the pick-a-prompts were created... 

Even the most reluctant writers have something to say!

My students are also taking pride in their work as authors because they love the special papers for writing! 

These are a few of them.

I hope you like the February kit!

If you think you might want to jump in and set up some February fun too, you can see this item {here}.

:)

January Writing Center Activities for Second Grade

Do you have a writing center in your classroom? I love using these winter writing prompts for independent practice during our ELA center rotations. The kiddos love it too. 

 Kids NEVER seem to mind the snow or the cold. They can't wait for that first BIG snow! There are tons of fun ideas for writing prompts around themes this month for all things chilly... snowmen, hot chocolate, playing in the snow, penguins... and MORE! 

I know my class will be super excited about the prompt cards I made for them! 

There's a little bit of all of those COLD themes in here. 

There is also a big selection of cute writing papers with primary lines for neat handwriting!

If you like fun and easy to prep writing activities, you might like this kit too! 

You can read more about it or get it from my TPT store {here}.

A writing center might just be the perfect thing to get your class off on the WRITE foot for the New Year!

;)

December Writing Prompts for Second Grade!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...! I can't wait for all of the fun holiday teaching themes in the classroom! I'm here to share some new ideas, activities and projects for the winter holidays with all of you throughout the month! The first on the list is this December writing center. 

This one has a fun Christmas theme!

I use this as a pick-a-prompt center after the mini-lessons during my writing block!

 This month the kiddos will pull them out from a stocking!

:)

The set has 36 different prompt cards with popular holiday themes.

Isn't this clipart by Teaching in the Tongass just the cutest?

There are also lots of writing papers included.

 Just a few of them are shown here:

 My kiddos are LOVING these so I will keep monthly centers going as long as possible! If you want to read the full description you can see it {here}.

Thanksgiving Writing Project for Second Grade: I Feel Like a Turkey and a Freebie!

Are you counting down the days to the holiday like me? I can't wait to gobble up all of my Thanksgiving favorites and have a little time off to regroup! Today I am blogging over at Primary Powers about a really funny Thanksgiving writing activity to do with your class just before Turkey Day! If you want a good laugh with your kiddos, head on over and read all about it!

A Week in a Second Grade Classroom: November Learning Activities for Second Grade

In November it's time to switch over from all things Halloween to getting ready for turkey day! Our November pick a prompt writing center is all set up and the display table decorated. 

We made a few neat fall leaf projects to use to decorate the room. Most of our projects this year have been cut and paste activities. For the first time, we brought out paint and tissue paper which the class really enjoyed. Stop back soon for more on these in greater detail!

 Our second graders took a field trip to a local science center. We explored the museum area and visited the bat zone. It was an awesome experience! My favorite part of the trip was seeing the magnificent collection of spectacular gems and minerals from around the globe.

 In math, we started working on perimeter with nonstandard units. The students are working on writing equations to match what their cubes showed.  It took a few days to see the equation is really a double fact plus a double fact and that you do not need to measure more than the two unequal sides of these rectangles.

 We also used the level one Superhero Subtraction Scoot. The students got some great practice in and it was the perfect ending to a fun fall week!

 Next week we step it up to level two!

 I had a fun lunch date today with three of my students from last year who completed their entire summer practice packet that was sent home. I treated them to Subway and took them to the office conference room to eat. They thought that was pretty special! 

It was great to spend time catching up with them and hearing all about their adventures in third grade!

;)

How to Structure Your Writing Block for Student Success: November Writing Prompts for Second Grade

Well here it is! November already! My new writing centers have been working out so perfectly, that I decided to keep it going for every month. The November edition is all set and ready for next week!

The kiddos LOVE them, so we have been using them on a regular basis. This time, I have a cute fall basket set out for the prompt cards. 

There are papers to use for a variety of the November themes like life long ago, scarecrows, owls and Thanksgiving. 

My class likes to color the little clipart pictures!

I can't wait to get started and see what they can do!

Recently, I had some questions from readers and those that purchased the October kit about how I structure my writing center time to include these prompts.

I thought you might find it helpful to see how I set up my writing block.

This is what it looks like:

• mini-lesson with a focus skill such as adding details or organization

• modeled writing of one of the genre from the prompt set

• prompt-picking/ paper selecting time (tables are called to the center then return to their seats to write)

• whole-group independent writing practice/individual writing conferences

• author chair for a few randomly selected students

Occasionally, I select a whole-class prompt and take this piece through all of the stages of the writing process from prewriting to publishing. This may be a piece I display in a class book, hang up, or use for an assessment.

I have seen TREMENDOUS growth in my students’ writing using this model. What I love best is that it allows me to conference with students daily about ways to improve their writing. 

The students thrive on that individual attention and feedback. 

If you think you may want to give these a try this month, you can find the November Writing Center Kit {here}.

Happy Teaching!

October Writing Center with a Little Bling!

Halloween is a BIG DEAL for little ones, so I totally take advantage of their excitement! Our October plan includes a week of spiders, a week of bats, a week of pumpkins and a week of all other fun holiday things with good old Christopher Columbus in the mix as well. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the photo of this SPOOK-TACULAR writing center I have ready for my kiddos to begin next week. 

To make this lots of fun for our very first writing center, the table is covered with some cute glittery fabric I picked up at Joanne's.

 I also plugged in some orange and purple holiday lights and wove them around items on the table.

Target carries these cauldrons and black pumpkins I have on display.

 I used a rhinestone kit to decorate them.

They are so me!:)

Inside the cauldron are a variety of prompts I think my class is going to LOVE! They include different types of writing tasks. Even though the kiddos have not had formal instruction on all of the genre included, like persuasive writing, I wanted to have them try their hand at it. They always surprise me with what they can do! 

Before we start, I will read each of the cards to them, so they can begin working more independently. I'm pretty sure they are going to be SUPER excited once they hear the tasks! 

You can find the prompt cards in this new set by clicking on the picture below!

There are enough cards here to have each child choose a different task each day throughout the month but it's not necessary to do them all since we are starting a week into October.

I also made a few different writing papers for the students to use to mix it up a bit. Some require writing a list, so there is list paper. One task is to write a letter to a friend, so that stationery is included too. Other papers have cute bats and pumpkins on them that they can color if they finish early. 

Some things they will just write in a spiral notebook, like the acrostic poems, because I want them to set up the letters and I will have plenty of other writing samples to look at.

It's not too late to begin if you want to set up a center of your own or have something like this for Halloween week only. The center is easy to prep which is nice during this busy time of year! You can just do the prompts as a whole-class journal topic too if centers are not your thing.

So my classroom is mostly decorated, but I need to get moving on my house. I can't believe how October just snuck up on me. I live in the neighborhood where I teach, so tons of kiddos will be coming to trick-or-treat and see me! Today is a great day to start pulling out my outdoor bling! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you got some fun ideas here to welcome October into your classroom!

:)

Food Fractions, Jelly Bean Math, and April Learning Activities for Second Grade

Easter week was full of fun food fractions and holiday activities!

1.) The kiddos were so sweet and many came in bearing gifts for me! One cutie pie made this bunny filled with goodies using a TP tube, scrapbook paper, a glittery pom and some jewels for eyes!

 I am filing this idea away on Pinterest for a classroom craft for next year!

2.) We wrapped up our fractions with a food theme unit this week! I love using the pieces from this Pizza Fractions Fun game as teaching tools. They look good enough to eat!

We also played a round of Scoot with these Food Fractions Task Cards. The class LOVED it! 

They can't wait to do it again!

3.) The class REALLY enjoyed a few yummy activities using jelly beans!

I gave each student a bag of 12 Starburst brand jelly beans. 

The students had to model and draw their fractions of the set and partition the rectangle to show halves, thirds and fourths. We also worked in a little mini-lesson on repeated addition, multiplication and division within the same activity!

Using our five senses, we created a list of adjectives that described our jelly beans! 

The students published a shorter list in computer lab.

 It is a great lesson on inserting an image and changing font size and colors.

If you would like the jelly bean picture for next year, I can send it to you without the watermark! 

4.) The class wrote a progressive Easter story. This is an older example where the children illustrated only one part of the story, but did not know what the others before or after had written. The students enjoyed seeing how the story and illustrations changed from writer to writer! I typed up the story beforehand and passed out a sentence strip to each child. This was published in Kid Pix Studio.

Other centers for the week included some fun with marshmallow bunnies fact families and telling time to five minute intervals.

Happy Easter!

:)

I Wanna Iguana Persuasive Writing

 Teacher, I WANNA IGUANA or maybe a cute little turtle... How about some colorful fish? Fish are very quiet and you wouldn't have to buy them any crickets....We know how you feel about crickets! 

I've never even considered getting a class pet. I can't imagine having to clean cages or change water and all of that good stuff. But we sure had fun as the kids tried their best to persuade the teacher to get them one!

Our latest persuasive writing unit was based around this adorable story!

I just love this unit by Natalies Nook! 

The kids had so much fun with the activities and the printables are just so darn cute!

The kiddos were very clever and gave some terrific reasons for getting the pet on their wish list!

So, in the end, it was decided that although the kiddos' letters were very convincing indeed, a class pet would be hard to care for and lonely over vacations. Whew!

Instead, we got a new class pet that doesn't make a mess, smell or require crickets to eat! 

Hello Jasper Jaguar!

Thanks Ms. S for our new friend! 

This was lots of fun!

Here's another easy and spur of the moment thing to do for persuasive letter writing~
Put a candy (or any non-food item incentive) of your choice on each student desk in the morning and have the kids write to tell you why they deserve to have it!
 I love to see the students focus on all of the positive things they have been doing at home and at school!
:)

Writing Letters in a Creative Way with Frog and Toad

Proper letter writing format can be tricky for little ones. They often forget to capitalize Dear in the greeting and leave out the comma in various places. I have an idea for practicing letter writing in a way I think your students will love! Presenting~ a journal for creative letter writing! 

One of my favorite read alouds for this time of year is Frog and Toad, Spring! 

Toad does not want to wake up from his hibernation and his best buddy, Frog, has to trick him to get him out of bed.

Don't have the book? You can view a super reading of Spring on YouTube! Here is a musical performance of the same story!

How cute would it be after reading to partner up the students and have one write as Frog to Toad and the other write as Toad to Frog? 

Afterward, the students could share out, buddy up and swap letters or just read them in partner groups.

This will be my example!

You can also do this following the story, The Letter, from the Frog and Toad series. If you know Frog and Toad well, you will understand about the bathing suit and the cookies! Ha!

There are so many creative letter prompts you could assign your students. If they have a journal ready to go, you can use this for Work on Writing during Daily 5 or as a writing station with no prep after the journals are made!

To create a journal, simply copy a cover and a stack of the letter writing pages behind it. Then you can staple it as a booklet or bind it. This is the student journal cover they can color.

Sometimes I assign a certain writing prompt that I want all students to follow, so I also made a class book cover with the item. Creating a classbook is super easy with a 1/2 inch three ring binder (clear cover). Slip the colorful book cover page that's included in the clear front pocket and either hole punch the student pages or slip them in page protectors.

This new item is offered at a 50% discount for a short time, which makes it a dollar deal!

 If this is something you might be interested in, you can see more at my Kidsrcute TPT store! 

Well, many lucky friends have started their Spring break. What are your plans?

I sure wish Spring would hurry up and arrive here. No matter what the calendar says, it sure feels like winter! I can't wait for my Florida trip in two weeks!

Have a super start to your week!