Writing Captions

Need some creative writing ideas to help your students.  Writing captions is harder than you think.  They  have to be short and express creativity. Scholastic News has a section in their website that allows students to write and submit a caption for a picture each week.  Below is the picture for this week.

I was thinking this would be a great weekly activity for the classroom. Print the picture and have your students come up with the caption. They could work in groups or individually.   Have them vote on the best two and you submit those.  That way everyone is sharing ideas and trying to come up with the best.  The next week you can see which captions were chosen.  

All students can submit a caption they came up with, but I think the sharing and explaining would help some of us "less creative" individuals. I also am thinking of some of my past students who would just submit anything so they could say they did and would have benefited by the sharing, etc.

Adjectives Ideas and a Freebie

Looking for some cute activities for your students to do while learning about adjectives?  

Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons has activities to reinforce the study of adjectives.  

She has five activities, a great poster, and a set of sorting sentences to download for free!

Thanks Mrs. Lemons for sharing these wonderful resources.  Don't miss out on these adorable activities!  My favorites are the Frankenstein's and the Witch's Legs!  Then again, the scarecrow is really cute too!

Story Starters

Are you or your students looking for a new idea to write about?

Would you like to have a simple, fun way for students to come up with an idea?

Scholastic may have the tool for you to use with a fun-filled interactive virtual selection tool.

Writer's Workshop With First Grade Friends

Jodi from First Grade Friends has graciously agreed to be a guest blogger at Vintage Teacher!  Thanks Jodi.  If you are not a follower of her blog, you might want to be!

Writer's Workshop in First Grade

This is Jodi from First Grade Friends!  


In my first grade community, Writer's Workshop is a big deal!  I have been working with my kids since the first day on Writer's Workshop procedures, and it is almost time for parent teacher conferences and the end of my first quarter.  My school is year round, so my firsties have been working hard since July.  


In reading we are working on characters, setting, problem/conflict, and solution.  Since reading and writing go hand in hand, I created this template for my first graders to publish a piece of writing using all the skills they have learned this quarter.  


The first page is a brainstorm template to write or draw anything they are thinking they might want in their story.  We have read many picture books, so I pull out some favorites (anything Mo Willems, for example) for reference and to spark ideas.  


After this, each day is devoted to creating a different page in the story line.  We spend a day on each page to make sure that each part of the story is created with care.  After each page is created, we put the book together!  


We have a "publishing party" then where each first grader puts their story on their desk, and the children (and myself) walk around the classroom to read each others' stories.  They can leave comments or a smiley face with their name on a piece of paper next to the child's published story.  


This is a great way to end the quarter, and I am sure other first grade communities are doing this as well!  Enjoy the template and I hope it helps to create some wonderful first grade pieces of writing.  Template for published piece.

Students Drawing and Writing

Cindy (Kinder Kay)

Cindy at Kinder Kay has agreed to be a guest author today at Vintage Teacher.  (She has allowed me to share her freebie products as well on past Five Friday Freebies.)  I am amazed at the talent she shares with her students and the way she brings drawing and writing together.

Student Drawing and Writing

                            by Cindy (Kinder Kay)

I am so flattered that I have been asked to be an author on Vintage Teacher! I have been an elementary  (second grade and presently, kindergarten) teacher for 23 years (can’t believe it!) and through those years, I have grown into the teacher I am today because of all the advice I have received from some really awesome teachers! So I am glad to be able to share, in a small way, a classroom-tested idea that I have used with my students that has involved into something that brings pride to both my students and me!

I love to teach children to draw and write! Helping children to visualize shapes within everyday objects is such a joy! Even my kinders can make some really cool pictures once they start to realize that all they have to do is draw shapes! I start with teacher-directed lessons and then once they get the hang of how it is done, I let them go and usually what my students come up with is SO MUCH better than what I could do! I am NOT an artist! I struggled with drawing and painting all through school – just like most of us! But once I started observing the world through different eyes, I realized that just knowing a few basic shapes or strokes can help us to create almost anything!

In the “old days”, I introduced my lessons with an overhead projector and I would put pictures of everyday objects on the screen and allow my students to take the pen and circle the shapes that they saw in the picture. Now I have a Promethean board and we can have all sorts of fun searching for shapes on the “big” board! Another fun way to search for everyday shapes is to simply attach paper to a clipboard, walk outside, and start sketching! It is so amazing to see what children can see! Their observation skills are so much more attuned to visual cues than mine and they have taught ME to see shapes I didn’t realize were there!

For awhile, I was simply teaching my students to draw, but I soon realized that they were so excited to see what they could create, that I thought “Why not have them write about their creation, too?” So from the beginning lesson, I ask my students to add some words to their picture. Even if is only the beginning sound of the word prefaced with a high frequency word such as “the or a”; it is the start of their writing journey. The drawing/cutting techniques that I use with my students help them with their handwriting, too! Once they can take control of their pencil or scissors to create a picture, they have more confidence in their ability to write a letter, a word, or even a sentence. The end of the school year astounds me by what they can do!

If you are interested in trying some of my ideas, I have a product in my TPT store that gives children step-by-step directions for drawing or cutting simple everyday animals. 

 

Above are some examples of a finished product as well as an example of a step-by-step illustration of how easy it is to create! Do you see the ovals? The circles? The arrows? The hills?

Anyone can do this – teacher or student! All it takes is a pencil, some paper, and a desire!

                                                           

Happy drawing! Cindy (Kinderkay) http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kinderkay

Christmas Writing Paper Freebie

The blog Fun in First is sharing some adorable writing paper for Christmas as a Christmas In July freebie.  Be sure to visit them and put it in your Google documents.  Otherwise, if you are like me, when Christmas comes you will be saying "I wonder where I saw that?" and regret not having saved it!  Thanks Fun in First for sharing.

Father's Day Writing Activity

We often have children go home with something special for Mother's Day, but why not Father's Day?  This year why not show dads that we value their participation in a child's life.  If your school year is winding down, why not do this writing activity and have the child "save it" to give to their father or father figure in June. 

Since many children do not have their biological parents in their lives due to many different reasons, they often hesitate in actively participating in any holiday honoring parents.  For this reason, this Father's Day writing activity includes three different themes.  One is for Dad, one is for Grandpa, and one is for Someone Special to Me.

There are different pages and clip art for My Earliest Memory pages, my Favorite Memory, and three different acrostic poem outlines.

This 29-page pdf will allow students to "design" the packet that best fits their relationship with the "father figure" in their lives.

Included in the download:
  8 Cover pages
  3 Acrostic poem outlines (Daddy, Grandpa, Special)
15 Different Earliest Memory Pages
  3 My Favorite Memory Pages

This is a great writing activity or could be used in a writing center.

Thanks for looking,
Vintage Teacher

Father's Day Writing Activity

Mother's Day Writing Packet

Mother's Day is a day to celebrate those that influence our lives no matter what age.  This 34-page pdf  is filled with pages to print that will allow each student to write to the "mother" figure in their life.  The pages have students writing telling about the first memory they have with their "mom",  their favorite memory they made together, and an acrostic poem outline for them to make about this person.

Many children do not have mothers taking part in their life due to death, divorce, being in foster care, or are being raised by a step parent or a grandparent.  They often feel a sense of betrayal if they acknowledge this person on Mother's Day.  Therefore, they feel uncomfortable in completing things for the traditional idea of Mother's Day.  For this reason,  this packet includes the same activities but with different headings.  There is one set for Mom, one set for Grandma, and one set labeled Happy Mother's Day for Someone Special to Me.

There are 5 different pages for My Earliest Memory in each section.  Each of the pages has a different picture.  They all have a mom. but the children are different.  There are different ethnic groups, genders, and even a set of twins, so this writing activity can be made personalized to match the student. 

There are 6 coupons with ideas that students can include if you make a booklet for a present and one blank coupon that can be made if a student wants to "gift" a different thing.

Included in the download:

6 different cover pages

3 Acrostic poem outlines (Mother, Grandmother, Special)

15 Different Earliest Memory Pages

3 My Favorite Memory Pages

7 Pages of Coupons (6 with items-1blank)

This is a great activity for a writing project or in a writing center.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day!

Vintage Teacher

Mother's Day Writing Packet