Entries Tagged 'Writing Games & Activities' ↓

Math poetry—who would have thought?

I’ve always been a big fan of writing across the curriculum. After all, it just makes sense to tie writing into as many subjects as possible. Why separate the two when they’re so much happier married?

It was’t hard to assign related writing when studying history, art, geography, Bible, or literature, though I must confess that dovetailing math and writing was a stretch for us. (I did sometimes have the kids write their own word problems. That counts, right?)

My new friend Jimmie at Jimmie’s Collage took up Math Mama’s challenge to write a poem that puts a positive spin on math. I think it’s a brilliant idea, and both she and her daughter Sprite wrote some very creative math poems. Here’s one by Sprite. Isn’t it clever?

Untitled, by Sprite
Dividing is divine,
And four plus five is nine.
Adding is just fine,
Four plus five is nine.
Negative and positive are always great.
But four plus six is is not eight.

There are no prizes involved, and no deadline, so why not plan a time to squeeze this activity into your homeschooling—and join Math Mama’s challenge. And if you’d like to share your poems here as well, you know I’d just love to see ‘em!

Meanwhile, you can visit a page filled with fun number poems you’re sure to enjoy. Here’s the first one to whet your appetite!

Money Poem
Penny, penny, easy spent,
Copper brown and worth one cent.
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat,
You’re worth 5. I know that.
Dime, dime, little and thin,
I remember—you’re worth 10.
Quarter, quarter, big and bold,
You’re worth 25, I am told.
Half a dollar, half a dollar, giant size.
50 cents to buy some fries.
Dollar, dollar, green and long,
With 100 cents you can’t go wrong.

Edit: Jimmie duly chastized me, wondering where MY poem is. So I too am rising to the challenge! Here’s my humble offering.

Of Sides and Angles
Geometry, ordered and tidy,
Pyramid, circle, and locus;
Precision of sides and of angles,
A midpoint that keeps me in focus.

Symmetry, area, compass,
Diameter bisects a chord;
Distance, dimension, and drawing,
You see why I never get bored.

Parallel planes and perspective,
The measure and tilt of a line;
Volume and ratio and surface,
Geometry suits me just fine.

~Kim

A Quick Word about Copywork

I’d like to suggest a new way to incorporate copywork into your schooling. In a future blog article, I’ll take time to extol the virtues of copywork, which I think is valuable for pre-writers to 14-year-olds (or thereabouts). But in a nutshell, copying:

• Teaches children a number of foundational writing, grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills.
• Helps them pay attention to detail.
• Offers penmanship practice.
• Introduces them to passages of quality literature.

That’s the Reader’s Digest version! For the time being, you can find a more detailed explanation here: An Introduction to Copywork

A Personalized Recipe Box

OK, so are you ready for a super-fun copywork activity for the junior chefs in your family? Your children won’t be delving into literature, but this little exercise does help fulfill the first three points above.

When I was eleven, I started my own recipe collection in my seventh-grade home economics class—pancakes, Dutchess Spice Cake, and caramel toast were three of my first cards—and I’ve been collecting recipes ever since!

Your children can embark on this journey too. Here’s how:

1. Buy them a set of cute recipe cards, or print some out on card stock. There are tons of free printables available in patterns to suit both boys and girls.
2. Sit them down with your own recipes and cookbooks, using sticky notes to mark your children’s personal favorites as well as special family recipes. Make sure to include several simple recipes they can prepare themselves.
3. Provide pens or pencils and let the copying begin.

Younger, slower, or reluctant writers should have a time limit—perhaps five to ten minutes, depending on the child, but in general, keep this exercise to 20 minutes or less. Motivated writers will have so much fun that they may use this “writing” time as an excuse to avoid other schoolwork, so they’ll benefit from a timer as well.

As your children’s assortment of recipe cards grows, reward them with recipe dividers and a personalized file box to hold their collection.

They’ll treasure it someday, just as I treasure mine!

We can get it in our minds that “writing” means a composition with a proper introduction, conclusion, and three main points sandwiched in between. It’s easy to forget that although writing can be as complex as a research paper, it can also be as simple as making lists.

Writing with lists is still…writing!

Yep—list-making is a bona fide writing activity!

Most children like to create lists anyway, but writing out lists—from the mundane to the meaningful—also helps them become more organized. Taken a step further, when list-making is used as a brainstorming tool, it can even help students plan the elements of an essay or story.

So where do you start? Here are some suggestions for your budding list-makers:

• List your various personal possessions such as baseball cards, stuffed animals, shoes, or CDs.
• Inventory furniture in a room or items in a junk drawer, jewelry box, or medicine cabinet.
• List states you’ve traveled to, friends you know, or places you’d like to visit.
• Make lists of schoolwork, dates for soccer practice and games, family birthdays, to-do lists, etc.

Holiday list-making ideas

Ways We Can Serve Others

There are so many ways your family can think of others, particularly at the holidays. Encourage your kids to list ideas such as baking cookies for a neighbor, packing a shoebox for child in a third-world country, or giving away some of their own toys to needy children.

Christmas or Holiday Traditions

Make a list of your family’s favorite holiday activities. As an example, here’s a list of Kautzer Christmas traditions:

1. Watch lots of Christmas movies
2. Make gingerbread houses
3. Annual neighborhood cookie exchange party
4. Big family dinner Christmas Eve
5. New Christmas jammies
6. Candlelight service at 11 p.m.
7. Block off the stairway with toilet paper so no one sneaks downstairs Christmas morning
8. Stockings first, then breakfast, then presents under the tree
9. Freeze fresh peaches in July for Christmas breakfast
10. New ornament for each grandchild: Eli – snowmen; Grant - bears; Ryan – cookie ornaments; Hannah and Tiana – angels; Ginny – farm animals
11. Jesus got three gifts from the wise men, so each person gets three presents under the tree.

Christmas Wish Lists

Write out a wish list—and not just a list of things your child wants to get for Christmas (though that’s always fun too). In addition, how about a list that tells what your child thinks someone else would like. For example, Grandma might want:

1. Warm slippers.
2. A handwritten note from me.
3. A picture of me.
4. Someone to shovel snow from her sidewalk.
5. To go out to breakfast with Dad and me. 

Year-round list-making fun

Try some of these suggestions to spark ideas for using list-making as part of your schooling all year long. Though lists are useful and fun for all ages and learning styles, they especially appeal to reluctant writers or students with learning difficulties because they’re short, contained, and relevant.

1. Book of Lists. Buy each child a special spiral notebook or journal. This can become his or her own personal Book of Lists.
2. School Assignments. For starters, your children could make lists of books they’ve read this year, countries or states they’ve studied, Colonial American occupations they’ve learned about, American presidents, British monarchs, 27 prepositions, or eight items one might put into an historical time capsule.
3. 10 Things. Write a series of ”10 Things” lists: 10 New Year’s resolutions, 10 favorite cookies, 10 joyful moments, 10 things I should throw away, etc.
4. Adding Flair. Suggest illustrating some of the pages or adding personal photos or pictures cut from magazines or old calendars.
5. Lists Galore. Check out the Writing Fix Personal List Generator. This clever tool generates a random question, which your child answers by making a list. Should you want to take it one step further, there’s also an assignment for writing a related composition. If list-making is your goal, simply skip the composition. Alternatively, make note of the composition topic and assign it another time.
6. The List and Nothing but the List. Remember that the list itself can (and often should) be the goal. Don’t get hung up on needing to see paragraphs every time.

Share a comment: Make a list of any kind in the comment box, whether it’s today’s errand list, a list of supplies you need for a new project, or a list of skills you’d like to learn. Be creative!

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Brrrrrr! Here’s an icy blast of words that will give your young writers a leg up when they’re crafting stories and poems about winter. Remember—using a word bank isn’t cheating! It’s simply another great tool to slip into your children’s tool belt of writing aids.

Try the activities below, and stay tuned for more winter writing ideas and prompts!

Winter Word Bank

winter, season, weather, December, January, February, scarf, hat, cap, beanie, mittens, gloves, sweater, jacket, coat, vest, shawl, leggings, boots, pajamas, robe, slippers, socks, booties, wool, fleece, heavy, wrap, bundle, blanket, comforter, quilt, patchwork, skiing, sledding, skating,  jingle, shiver, chill, breath, snowstorm, blizzard, rain, sleet, snow, snowflakes, snow bank, snowball, powder, drift, crust, ice, icicles, crystals, frost, cold, bitter, windy, nippy, gusting, frozen, frigid, sparkling, slippery, icy, crunchy, lacy, delicate, soft, fluffy, knee-deep, powdery, freezing, melting, blustery, cloudy, dreary, drippy, slushy, rainy, snowman, shovel, bells, sled, sleigh, skis, ice skates, snowboard, toboggan, hill, mountain, pond, rink, forest, woods, creek, river, lane, road, holly, pine, cedar, fir, balsam, scent, boughs, wreath, trees, branches, bare, dark, silvery, blue, white, gray, brown, clear, piney, bird feeder, cardinal, suet, berries, hibernate, knit, sew, snuggle, read, book, stories, hearth, smoke, chimney, coals, flames, fire, fireplace, blazing, crackling, glowing, warm, cozy, toasty, spiced, spicy, tea, cider, cocoa, mug, popcorn, sugar, vanilla, spice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking, aroma, waft

Word Bank Activities

Categories. Here’s a fun pre-writing activity! Copy the list of winter words to a Word document or Notepad. Then have your child copy/paste words into different categories. Alternatively, she can write the words by hand, crossing them off the list as she transfers them to her paper.

The older the child, the more detailed or specific the categories can be. This is not an exact science, so allow freedom and flexibility. Here are some ideas:

General Categories

• Indoor winter words
• Outdoor winter words

Specific Categories

• Adjectives
• Activities and outdoor-fun words
• Weather words
• Clothing words
• Baking or food words
• Comfort words
• Warm and cozy words
• Cold words
• Other ____________________

Synonyms. Older students can add to their Winter Word Bank and build up their writing vocabulary by looking up some of the words in a thesaurus and adding a few interesting synonyms to the list. If you need a good thesaurus, I highly recommend The Synonym Finder. It’s my all-time fave!

Looking for Christmas word lists? Check these out!

• Christmas word banks, part 1: Jesus is born
• Christmas word banks, part 2: Ho, ho, ho!

Share a comment: What are five of your favorite or most descriptive winter words? Or, What new winter words would you like to add to this word bank?

“Write a paragraph about celebrating Christmas.”

Seems easy enough, right? But to struggling writers, this kind of assignment is not only unhelpful, it’s also fear-inducing—for the simple reason that it’s just too vague. 

The 5 Ws

All children—but especially reluctant writers—benefit from a blueprint that lets them know what’s expected and how to achieve their goal. Using the 5 Ws—who, what, when, where, why (and also how)—helps children organize their thoughts before writing. It’s a great brainstorming tool that alleviates the insecurity of writer’s block and encourages more fluent writing.

A Blueprint for Writing

Create a simple graphic organizer to help a young or reluctant child plan and organize a paragraph about celebrating Christmas.

• Who celebrates Christmas with me?
• What things do we do? How do we celebrate? In what ways?
• When do we celebrate?
• Where do we celebrate?
• Why do I celebrate Christmas?

Making It Unique

Older, motivated, or more articulate children can also follow this plan, but instead of writing one paragraph, they can write a longer story by developing a new paragraph to answer each question. And all children should know that it’s okay to rearrange the questions in the order they like best (for example, they might want to start out explaining why).

Using Word Banks

Your children will probably find it helpful to use word banks so they have a pool of vocabulary words available to them. A list of words about celebrating Jesus’ birth can be found at Christmas word banks, part 1: Jesus is born. Also see Christmas word banks, part 2: Ho, ho, ho! for a different assortment of holiday-themed words.

Write Christmas Stories with a Twist!

What’s this? A ragged fir tree helps a stranger on a cold night? A weary homeless man discovers a wallet full of money outside a bakery? A bad-tempered candy maker finds a magic candy cane and disappears into a snow globe? What kid wouldn’t love to write a holiday story filled with such hope, whimsy, or intrigue?

Award-winning WriteShop® StoryBuilders card decks help to jumpstart a creative writing project by providing children with the basic elements of a story—character, character trait, setting, and plot—laying a foundation for a joyful writing experience with some clever surprises thrown in along the way.

During the holidays, use the Christmas Mini-Builder to occupy bored or antsy kids and teens with these fun writing prompts. You get 96 cards to download and print, along with lots of suggestions for writing games and activities.

Christmas Mini-Builder Is on Sale!

Save 25%! Now through December 15, the Christmas Mini-Builder is only $2.98, so grab yours now!

Last year at this time, I showed you how to create a Thanksgiving acrostic poem. Here’s a variation that helps your kids focus on reasons to be thankful.

When you’re scrambling around the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day and the children are underfoot, set them down at the kitchen table with this activity.

Directions

Write the words I AM THANKFUL vertically on a sheet of lined paper. Using each of the letters, make an acrostic

1. Each line can be one word, a phrase, or a sentence. There’s no right or wrong, as you can see from the examples below.
2. If children are having trouble thinking of words, use tools like magazines, catalogs, a thesaurus, or word lists to prompt ideas.
3. Poems can be left-aligned or centered.
4. Afterwards, illustrate your acrostics or decorate the page with photos cut from a magazine.

Gratitude

I want to thank God for

A ll His wonderful blessings, like His
M ercy and grace and compassion. For simple things like

T ea with toast. For big things like
H ope in a dark world. For
A warm, cozy home filled with love. For
N ine fun cousins! For
K eeping me safe. For
F riends that are closer than brothers. I want to always lift
U p praise to You with a thankful heart, knowing how much You
L ove me.

A Thankful Heart

I am thankful for . . .

A ll my clothes and toys . . .
M y mom, dad, and brothers . . .

T rue friends . . .
H ome and health . . .
A back yard to run and play . . .
N ana and Papa . . .
K nowing God loves me . . .
F ood on our table . . .
U ncles, aunts, and cousins . . .
L iving in a free country.

I Am Thankful

I am thankful for

A pples and pears
M y red hair

T oys
H ot dogs
A irplanes and cars
N ew crayons
K ittens and puppies
F lowers and stars
U nited States of America
L egos

Photo of praying girl courtesy of StockXchng.com

Reading and writing are intertwined—and reading picture books with simple story lines can contribute to helping your K-3rd grader become a better writer.

Every story has certain key elements: character, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, end. But how can you help your child remember these elements and translate them to her writing?

Try tossing some pepperoni!

I’m not talking about a food fight, but a fun game you can play with two or more players. Here’s how.

Toss the Pepperoni

Prepare the Game

Make the game board: Decorate a large piece of poster board with paint or markers to look like a giant pizza. Cut out the round pizza.

Make the game pieces: Prepare “pepperoni slices” as game pieces to toss onto the pizza. For each player, cut out seven 4-inch circles from sturdy cardboard. To keep the pepperoni pieces separate, use a different color cardboard for each player. (Alternatively, each player can color one side of his game pieces or mark them with a sticker. )Label each set of pieces with the following words, one word per piece: character, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, end.

Read a Picture Book

Choose a picture book to read to your child. Make sure there’s a storyline, not merely words or phrases. When finished:

1. See if your child can identify the main character of the story.
2. Ask her to describe the story’s setting—when and where the events took place.
3. Ask her to identify the problem and solution.
4. Discuss the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.

Play the Game

Play a game together with your child to help her remember the important parts of the picture book you just read: character, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end.

1. Place the giant pizza game board on the floor. Use a jump rope or piece of yarn to mark a line where players must stand when attempting to toss their game pieces onto the pizza.
2. Take turns tossing game pieces like Frisbees. Before tossing a ”pepperoni,” the player must read the word on the circle and give an example from the picture book that corresponds with the word. For instance, before your child tosses her game piece that is labeled “character,” she must name one of the characters in the story.
3. The player with the most pepperoni slices on the pizza at the end wins the game.

 .  .  .  .  .

“Toss the Pepperoni” is just one of the many fun and creative activities WriteShop Primary uses to reinforce simple writing skills at the primary level. This game appears in Book B.

When all else fails, you can usually extract some decent writing from your children when it centers on a holiday theme of some sort. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here are some creative (and painless) ways to encourage your kids to write.

Vocabulary and Spelling

Hidden in Your Heart

Encourage vocabulary and spelling development.

Supplies: Purchase a package of pre-cut paper hearts, or cut your own from scrapbooking or construction paper.

Directions: On individual hearts, spell out one of the following words or phrases. Let your child find other words hidden within the longer word or phrase and write them down on a list. Older children can have a contest to see who can come up with the longest list of words.

• VALENTINE’S DAY: say, lend, vial . . .
• HEARTS: star, ear, rat . . .
• I LOVE MY FAMILY: mail, yam, live . . .

Short and Sweet

Messages from the Heart

Spread Valentine love throughout your home by hiding heart messages for your family.

Supplies: Hearts cut from red, white, pink, purple, and light-blue paper.

Directions: A day or two before Valentine’s Day, have the kids prepare and sign little love messages on their stack of hearts. You can make some too! Then, on Valentine’s Day, encourage everyone to play Cupid by hiding the message hearts around the house for others to find. Messages can be tucked into shoes, pockets, bedroom or kitchen drawers, in a Bible, under pillows, in the toy box, or into PJs. Be creative! Everyone will have fun giving and receiving these little love notes!

Heartfelt Sentences

Give your younger children some sentence-writing practice.

Supplies: Colorful hearts cut from construction or scrapbooking paper (or a purchased package of paper hearts), glue stick, large sheet of construction paper or sentence strips.

Directions: Write words your children can read without help, including family members’ names, color words, common sight words, number words, and other words they know how to read. Encourage your kids to form sentences from the words on their hearts, gluing the words to the construction paper or sentence strip.

I Am Loved

Help your child think of pets and people who love him. Ask him to complete this sentence, filling in the blank with a different name each time. He can write one or more sentences, depending on his age and ability.

I know ________ loves me because ….

Valentine Writing Prompts

Stimulate writing ideas by providing your children and young teens with some Valentine story starters.

• Write an acrostic poem using the word FRIEND, HEART, or VALENTINE.
• Make a list of ways that you can show your love for your family members.
• Write a letter to a parent, grandparent, or sibling telling them why you love them.
• Tell about a time when you felt especially loved.
• Draw a picture of yourself and a friend or family member enjoying a special moment where you felt or expressed love. Write one or two sentences telling about it.
• Write a poem entitled “Love Is”
• Write a paragraph or essay telling what makes someone a good friend.
• Write a paragraph or essay defining and describing love.
• Imagine a world where everyone loved their neighbor as much as they loved themselves. What would it be like to live in such a world? How would families and communities be changed?

Many children, when faced with a blank piece of paper,  find that they have a blank mind to match. At times, a simple writing prompt or story starter is all it takes to prime the pump.

CanTeach has a web page loaded with writing and journaling prompts. Perfect for elementary or junior high students, some prompts are fun and playful, while others are more provocative and will cause your child to think about important issues or topics. (Use discretion when assigning prompts, because not all topics may be appropriate for your family.)

All Sorts of Prompts

CanTeach divides their prompts into 13 categories.

• What is…
• What if…
• What do you think…
• What…misc.
• How…
• I wish…
• Describe…
• When…
• Which…
• Who…
• Where…
• Why…
• Misc…

Ideas to Get You Started

Visit the CanTeach website—there are dozens more where these came from!

• What is something you do well?
• What is your favourite room in your home and why?
• What would happen if you could fly whenever you wanted? When would you use this ability?
• What would happen if there were no television? Why would this be good? bad?
• What if cows gave root beer instead of milk?
• What do you think of someone who has bad manners?
• What do you think courage means?
• What do we mean when we say, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”? 
• What are you afraid of? Why?
• How would you change the world to make it better?
• Explain how to play your favorite game.
• I wish I could be like…. This person is special because….
• I wish I could learn….. because…..
• When are you happiest?
• When have you felt lonely?
• Which quality best describes your life–exciting, organised, dull–and why?
• Which quality do you dislike most about yourself–laziness, selfishness, childishness–and why?
• Who or what has had a strong influence in your life?
• Why is it important to be honest?
• Why do you think the rules you must follow are good or bad?
• Families are important because…
• Would you like to be famous? Why or why not? What would you like to be famous for?

Photo used by permission. © Gaetan Lee, www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/

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