Happy New Year! It's Michelle from Teach123. This month I thought I would share an idea to use with your students who have writer's block. You can set this up as a center. It is FREE, differentiated, and also works great as an early finisher activity.
Cold and flu season is upon us. That's not the only thing that your students may catch this winter. They may suddenly catch a bad case of writer's block. I have a cure for this and best of all it is FREE!
An idea book is one of the best things I have found to help with writer's block. First, send home a note asking parents for magazines, catalogs, and a small photo album. I found the photo albums in the picture above at Dollar Tree. I usually buy a few extras in case one or two students forget to bring one.
The easiest way to organize this, is to set it up as a center. If you have enough magazines, you can also do this on a Friday afternoon or inside recess. Turn on some music and listen to your students giggle. Even though I do my best to preview the magazines and catalogs that parents send in, there is always a picture/story of a bathroom word or someone in their underwear that I miss.
Your students will look through magazines and catalogs for pictures that look interesting to them. They will cut the pictures out and put them in their idea book.
The next time your students have a free write time and can't think of a topic to write about, have them get out their idea book. They will choose a picture, glue it in their journal, and then write a story about the picture.
There is a planning page and different writing pages included so you can use this as a writing center, too. The writing papers have different sizes of lines so you can differentiate the center. Use this as an early finishers activity, too!
You are invited to pop over to my blog. I love to share tips and free stuff.
