Ask students to create a memory book that reflects on school year experiences. This is one way to engage them in a fun writing activity that can, especially for younger children, include artwork to accompany their memories. This type of activity gives students a chance to write in an essay format. You can include a sheet of possible subjects, such as their favorite food served in the cafeteria or their favorite games, or they could write about school staff like the school librarian and the principal.
More and more, personal opinion seems to be influencing the information people receive. Advertisements, and sometimes even the news, will often blur the line between fact and opinion. As educators, it is important to teach children the difference between opinion and fact. A fun way to do this is to give children the opportunity to become reporters and commentators on stories in the news or from history. Create a mock news desk in your classroom, giving students a chance to write and present their newscast to their peers. Teach students how to gather and verify facts on a topic, as well as what constitutes opinion. Provide students with examples, such as clips from actual news programs.
Allow students to write their own fable that teaches a particular moral, like kindness being re-payed with kindness or that cheaters never win. Next, provide students the materials needed to create puppets that they can use to tell their story. Puppets can be made with basic craft materials like wooden craft sticks and construction paper or socks that students can glue button eyes, ears and other accessories to. You might even want to create a puppet show stage using a cardboard box as the base and a showcase on a rod as the curtain.
A very basic game that can be used to help kindergartners and first-graders just learning to write is to place the letters of the alphabet on notecards, with one letter on each card. Put students into pairs and divide notecards, like a deck of cards, into two piles. Next, explain the game to your students, which simply asks students to choose which letter comes first in the alphabet. The game begins when children turn over the first card in their own pile, whoever choosing the correct letter in terms of its placement in the alphabet keeps both cards. The game is won when one child has all the cards.