Work on Writing: End-of-the-Year Options

How many times have you heard students say, “I don’t know what to write about” when they’re stumped for ideas? As the year draws to a close, you can remind students that they now have a wealth of opportunities for Work on Writing. Here are a dozen topics to share with your wonderful writers!

1. Invitations: There are so many special events that herald the finish of the year. Children can use their Work on Writing time to compose invitations to their families for graduations, class parties, and field trips.

2. Thank-You Notes: Throughout the school year, many volunteers have given a lot to the class by reading stories, offering an extra pair of hands, and providing support. Be sure that students show their appreciation with a note of thanks.

3. Letters of Appreciation: How could the school possibly run without a patient office staff, caring school nurses, efficient lunchroom staff, skilled maintenance workers, and punctual bus drivers? Encourage students to express their gratitude to these staff members by writing sincere thank-you letters.

4. Reflections: During the last days of school, urge students to reflect on the past school year and tell about their hopes for the new one. Ask them to describe their accomplishments and make a personal goal for the next grade level. You can collect the reflections and return them with a note of encouragement to students when school starts.

5. Advice: After nine months in your classroom, your students know your expectations well. Have them pen some snippets of advice to the incoming class. This guidance will surely help the new boys and girls succeed in the fall. You are likely to find that this “advice” brings a smile to your face, too!

6. Introductions: Suggest that students compose an “All About Me” article that will help their new teachers get to know them. Explain that they can tell about their personalities, families, hobbies, sports, favorite books, television shows, and more.

7. Book Reviews: Next year’s readers will want to know about all the great books in your classroom library. Invite your readers to create reviews that will help incoming students find good-fit books that are fun and interesting. The class can create a volume of these reviews, or students can write their reviews on index cards. You can also have students place each review in an envelope and insert it in the book. Potential readers can use the reviews to determine if they might like the book.

8. Student-Created Books: Expand your classroom library by asking students to create fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books to add to your collection. Ask them to add attractive covers and illustrate the books. They might even include an “About the Author/Illustrator” page.

9. Classroom Humor: Engage writers by challenging them to write a funny story about one of the year’s many humorous classroom events to contribute to a class book. Surely there have been many memorable ones, so it will be hard for them to pick just one!

10. Poem-a-Day: Explain to students that you want to feature a Poem-a-Day for your incoming class. Suggest that they use lots of figurative language and onomatopoeia. Let them know how much you would appreciate their original creations.

11. Book Lists: Provide students with access to the children’s department of your community library website. Allow students to browse the recommended book lists and make personalized lists of books they want to read.

12. Summer Fun Guidebooks: Student writers can create guidebooks of places to have fun during the summer. For this writing project, they may enjoy doing a little research to learn more about places in the community for summer fun. They can also create text features to enhance their guidebooks. Best of all, they can share their books with their families and plan some outings.

With so many Work on Writing options for the end of the school year, students are sure to be very busy and productive!