It’s Turkey Time! *FREEBIE*

Time sure has been flying by this year!  I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving already.  Each year my teamies and I send home this awesome project.  The kids are told to disguise their turkeys so they won’t be eaten for Thanksgiving.  I’m always amazed at what the kids come up with. 

This is the pattern we give them.  The turkey is from Lita Lita.


Here are a few from this year.







We have the kids include speech bubbles with their turkeys.  It’s a short piece of writing, but it is great for discussing writing from 1st person point-of-view and persuasive techniques.

You can get your own copy of this PowerPoint file here.  I’ve included an editable parent letter that you can customize to your liking.



Have a great week!

Leave a Comment freebies, Holidays, Writing

Ten Pin Linky: Writing Ideas

I’m linking up with Just Reed to share some of my favorite writing pins.  I hope you get some pinspiration from these.

Here’s a great activity for show – don’t tell.

The bulletin board turned out super cute!


This is another great activity for showing emotions and feelings.  I’ll definitely be adding this one to my writing journals this year.



My class did this one last year and LOVED it!  If you need a persuasive writing activity, be sure to check it out.  It’s from Teach on a Limb and it’s awesome!


This one is from Katie at Rock & Teach.  This is a great idea for getting kiddos ready for icky state testing.  I must admit, I love everything foldable!


Here’s a fun anchor chart for word choice.  Love the lips!


I haven’t done this one yet, but I certainly plan to.  It looks like snow much fun!


Here’s a cute activity for descriptive writing.  Create a snowman, and describe the snowman so that others can find the one that is yours. Very cute for a Winter Writing board!


I saw this one this past spring and instantly fell in love.  This one is from Krista Wallden at the Creative Chalkboard.  She uses this activity as an incentive for kids to “expand” their writing.   Krista bought one of those tiny little critters that grow when you add water.  The more descriptive detail the kids include in their writing the more water they get in their cup. The kids get to pour the water they earned into the critter container and watch the critter grow.  I can’t wait to try this!!



Here’s another pin that I plan to use next year.  It comes from Ms. Fultz’s corner and includes a FREEBIE.  I’ll be using this set to help my class write autobiographies.


Have you heard of Boom Writer Kids?  It’s a web site that allows kids to collaborate together to write and publish small chapter books.  They even have an online summer camp.  I signed my daughter up for a session that starts next week.  Bestselling author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will be a part of it.  My daughter is uber excited!!



I hope you have gotten some pinspiration from this post.  If you haven’t entered my Summer Giveaway for a Mastercard Gift Card, be sure to check it out.

Have a great weekend!

1 comment Anchor Chart, linky, Writing

There’s a Nightmare in My…

Are you familiar with Writing Fix?  It is an amazing collection of writing activities that are easy to implement.  Not only do Writing Fix writing ideas come with graphic organizers and student samples, they use children’s literature as a starting point.  If you haven’t checked this site out yet, click on the graphic below.

I recently had my kids write their own nightmare stories based on Mercer Mayer’s There’s a Nightmare in My Closet.  I got the idea from this activity from Writing Fix.  I started off by showing a video I found on YouTube with Billy Crystal reading the book.

After the video, we brainstorm a list of the different things we have been scared of.  I included some of my own childhood fears which the kids got a kick out of.  I then showed the class the student writing samples from Writing Fix.  At this point, I turned them loose to start writing and they were definitely enthusiastic about this project.
When they were finished with their writing, they created their own monsters by coloring on coffee filters with markers.  I sprayed the coffee filters with water and the colors bled together which gave us some interesting effects.  Once the filters were dry, the kids added details.

Here are some of the more interesting stories that were written.

The Monster in My Potty

The Monster in My Desk

Ghost in My Attic

Here are some nightmares that I just HAD to share!



I’d like to hear about your favorite writing activities.  Leave me a comment about which picture book is your favorite to use as a springboard for writing.

Leave a Comment Writing

Yummy Writing

I hate to see coworkers move on to new schools, but the good news is you get a new teaching buddy with fresh ideas.  Here’s a cute writing activity that I stole from my newest teaching buddy.  Thank you Liz!

My teacher gave me a kiss and it turned into…

Each kid gets a Hershey Kiss and creates something with the wrapper.  The wrappers are flimsy so the kids have to be careful with their creations.  Our 3rd graders came up with some cute ideas.

I really enjoyed doing this activity with my class and I loved seeing what they came up with.  However… when I first read this story starter to my class, they got a little out of hand.  They are too big for kisses and I heard lots of grumbling.  In response, I held up the bag of Hershey Kisses and sweetly told them I thought they would want one but since I was wrong we could skip this writing activity.  And we did.  I had them put their papers up and we went on to something else.  They were definitely disappointed but I think I made my point perfectly clear.  A few days later we tried the activity again and their attitudes were much better!
This writing activity is a definite keeper and I look forward to doing it again next year.  I’ve typed up a template for you to use if you would like to try this out with your class.  Just click on the picture below to download it.  The frame I used is from Fancy Dog Studio.

2 comments Writing

Rate Your Writing Chart

This summer is flying by and I’m starting to feel a little panicky even though school doesn’t start until the last week of August.  It’s time to get crackin’ on my to do list. 
I’m sure many of you have seen this rating chart on Pinterest. 

Source: zeekszoo.blogspot.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

Not only do I love it, but I NEED it!  The only problem is that it’s geared towards 1st grade.  I decided to create my own to use with my 3rd graders. My kiddos still need a visual of what good writing can look like.  Even though they should be writing more lengthy stories, I decided to keep my samples shorter so that my poster wouldn’t be too big.  My emphasis with this poster will be on word choice.  I haven’t finished putting mine together yet but this is how it will look.

I haven’t decided  if I want to start with the 4 sample on top or the 1 sample.  I just hate making decisions some times!  I used the stars from Zeek’s Zoo which is a free download if you want to go grab them.  If this poster set is something you can use in your classroom, you can download it for free by clicking here or on the picture above.  I think this visual will be really good for kids.  Let me know what you think.  Do you use a rating anchor chart that works well for your class?

13 comments Anchor Chart, freebies, Writing