Fall Fun Writing
So, the weather across our country right now spans anywhere from humid, nasty summer (where I’m at in Nashville), to freak snow storm (Montana). But, regardless of what Mother Nature puts out there for us to deal with, it’s late September and that is fall!
I’m one of those people who pushes through fall customs no matter how sweaty I may get. I’ll be out there in my flannel in a pumpkin patch, even if it’s 91 degrees. I’ll be damp and grumpy because of the heat, but I’ll have my pumpkins, and that’s important enough to me to brave the heat.
The other thing about fall, is that it gives me a lifeline to make it to all of the holiday breaks. Fall brings parent conferences, chattier kids (because now they really feel at home in your room), shorter days…and the standards are officially not introductory anymore. You’re teaching the hard stuff. So, being able to hang some leaves in my room, or throw a pumpkin or two up on a shelf, keeps me going until Fall Break. And then I can hang some spiders and bats and get through Halloween. Then I can swap them out for Turkeys and cruise through to Thanksgiving. Seasonal decor gives me one extra thing to smile about when I walk in the door.
It’s the little things.
That being said, I am always looking for ways to incorporate the seasons into my classroom, so I have some adorable student work to hang up in the midst of my pumpkin spice lattes and paper spiders. And I have some ideas to share with you today!
If you follow me on Instagram, or if you’ve seen my blog video on Projects vs. Centers, you know how I feel about prepping independent center/station work once a month maximum. The work you need to do at your small group table is just too. dang. important. And you have been led to believe that you need high-quality, differentiated instruction at that table, and it needs to be changed weekly to match the skills you’re currently working on, AND you need to do the same thing around your room.
Wrong. All wrong.
Yes, please have high quality station work. Please differentiate it. But please only use things that last for weeks rather than minutes. Why are you wasting precious ink on something your kids will only see for one, 20 minute rotation? Worksheets do not translate well to center work. Sure, you can use them. But you can also expect some kids to be done in 3 and half minutes and start acting up over in the corner while you’re trying to teach at your table. They will be bored, done early, and wasting learning time in your room, distracting you from the important work you’re doing with your small groups.
Long-term work is my jam. And it does not have to be boring. In fact, it can be really fun! My fall creative writing build-a-story activity could be left out for the entire fall season, and your kids would still have new stories they could create. Check out this video to see the gist:
A seasonal activity that can span from ultra-simple (write a story with one character and one setting), to ultra complex (pull two characters, two settings, and three objects to include in your story), is MY kind of activity. It’s authentic, because your students are applying narrative writing standards: through this one activity they will draft, peer edit, revise, and publish. But it’s also silly and fun, and can call on some creative thinking skills that we don’t always get to top into (what kind of story do you write if you pull a talking acorn, apple cider, and a school playground as your cards, for example?)
The Halloween and Thanksgiving versions of this activity came a little later, and I changed their structure slightly. You can see how students spin for how many characters/settings/objects they will include in this video:
Building a silly story, practicing lots of writing standards, and only needing to be prepped once, and left out for weeks at a time? Sign. Me. Up.
If you want yours, you can get the individual sets, or the fall bundle by clicking the pictures below! Happy Fall Teaching, Y’all!
