Wordle~ Fun With Words

In January I've used the website wordle http://www.wordle.net/ in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  I have the kids create a Wordle Bubble and share their dreams.  The students prewrite in their writer's notebooks then as their final draft, type in their narrative, poem, or story about their dreams in Wordle.  When they are done.  The print them out to publish their work in their portfolio.

Here is one of many examples of wordle art!



Remember:  The writer's notebook is to collect and try ideas.  This is not where the finished product goes.  I have a separate folder with each child's name on it for this.  It is important for the students to understand that writing is a process!

January Bulletin Board& Writing Prompt Ideas

I just love getting kids excited about writing.  Here are some cute bulletin board ideas for January!
I love to share a lot of Shel Silverstein's work.  One of my favorite poems is "Snowball".  I have then have the kids write their own version of the poem.  I then have them take a snowball or snowflake and come up with their own snowball or snowflake pet.  They then write and draw it!  You can have the kids make animal clues to see if other children can guess what the animal is too.  This is super fun when you have an Author Share in your classroom.  This is also something you can keep up during the winter season too.


This is a fun opinion piece I found too!  There are so many ideas I've used this for!

I always encourage the children to give their opinion and support it with at least 3 reasons or facts!


Here are a few writing prompts I've used too!
Dream Jars~ Every year I read the story The BFG by Roald Dahl.  After we read the chapter about dreams, I have the students bring in a plastic clear jar without a label.  I then have the kids decorate and fill the bottles with different items, notes, or pictures that represent their dreams.  I also tie this into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech for Social Studies too for a cross curricular approach.  After they decorate and fill their jar, they then use their jar as inspiration to write.  The kids loved this project!
Here's a picture I've found off the internet to give you an idea.  My personal preference - plastic jars only!


Other January Writing Prompts:
1.)  If I were a snowman I would...
2.)  Yesterday, we had a snow day.  How did you feel?  What did you do on your day off from school?
3.)  What do you think it would be like to live in an igloo?
4.)  Your parents say you can have any pet.  What pet would you pick and why?
5.)  You're sick of snow!  Write a letter to Jack Frost and let him know how you feel and why he should stop.
6.)  How to _________________.
7.)  My goals for the New Year are...
8.)  What is something you really want to do this year?  Why?
9.)  I was sledding with my friends when all of a sudden...
10.)  We had a terrible snow storm and my class was stuck at school.  Suddenly...