Writing About Christmas

 

Writing About Christmas

Is it okay to have our students write about Christmas? Is Christmas not a favorite holiday for many people? Friends and family gather during this time. We decorate our homes inside and out with holiday decorations. Special foods and desserts are being made to celebrate. Dinners, parties, and festive celebrations happen. These are such memorable times!

To take advantage of all this, I have created a writing resource, Christmas Writing Prompts are made to spur creativity in a short amount of time. A picture with labels will help to get the writing process going. The prompt will provide direction to their responses and ask them to think about what the holiday means.

Amped Up Learning

TPT

Anchor Charts

As part of this product, there are two anchor charts that can be used as instructional tools before assigning a writing prompt.

Writing Rubric Anchor Chart

This can be projected onto a board. Then each line can be read and explained.

Read the prompt (This can be read to or with students).

Observe the picture (Students can share out loud, in a               group, or with a buddy).

Connect the prompt to the picture (Students can share out loud, in a group, or with a buddy).

Use capital letters at the beginning of a sentence and on names.

Use punctuation marks.

Write in complete sentences. (Either point out what makes this sentence model a complete sentence. Or have your students discuss with a buddy or small group.)

Writing Sample

This Writing Sample is a great way to show your students what a prompt is, how to observe the picture, and how to respond to the prompt.

After going over both the Writing Rubric and the Writing Sample, then your students should be ready to begin a week of fun writing!

Assignments

The writing pages have been differentiated into three versions. There are five pages of each set. Print the pages, front and back, starting with the cover page. There are two cover pages to choose from.

You can introduce this unit by presenting the two anchor charts to your students. Make sure to display the anchor chart in a location where they can refer to them. On the first day, go over the Word Bank. Then students can work on each page for the next 5 days. You can choose which writing version to assign to each student depending on their writing level.

When they have completed the writing assignments, as they work on each page, they can go to the Word Bank and check off the words they encountered on each writing page. In the end, students can add drawings to the cover page and color it. Then you can display their work on your bulletin board.

Differentiation

A sentence frame is provided for your emergent writers who need more writing structure. Sentence Starters are available for your transitional writers that need just some writing structure. Your fluent writers, get a writing prompt. A whole week of different writing prompts is included for each stage of writing.

Resources

This writing resource is available in my store, Froggy About Teaching both on Amped Up Learning and Teachers Pay Teachers.

If you need some reasons for allowing your students to write about the holidays then read Why Holidays are Great for Writers.

Continue the Christmas theme with this writing resource, Santa Letter Activities. To see what is included in this resource read, Writing Santa a Letter.

I am so happy to continue making these resources for you and your students. Look at my other Christmas-themed resources, on Amped Up Learning and Teachers Pay Teachers.

Happy Holidays!

Debbie – Froggy About Teaching