January Writing Activities

I start the new year with the poem “Months of the Year” by Sara Coleridge. The rhyming couplets and seasonal imagery makes it an interesting way to launch into a discussion of what happens through the year. After reading and discussing the poem I prompt the kids to tell me the highlights of each month. I write the following categories on the board: holidays, colors, nature, activities. Then on chart paper I list their responses for each month. Using the information gathered the kids write their own “Months of the Year” poem. For each month they write a couplet, but I tell them not to worry about rhyming. I keep this assignment pretty relaxed. Since it’s the first week after winter break, I want the kids to enjoy being back at school, and to perceive the task as a fun activity.

For upper grades: I would encourage 4th and 5th graders to write a metaphor for each month. What are some images that come to mind for a particular month? Focus on one image. Think of something you can compare this image with. Now write your metaphor. Example: April images might be spring flowers, blossoms, new growth, animal babies.
A metaphor might be: April is a paint brush, sweeping cheerful colors across the land.

Dreams ...

We honor Martin Luther King, Jr. by thinking about how the world could be a better place. I got this idea from a book I found at a Scholastic Book Fair called WE DREAM OF A WORLD. This book was created by the students of a 5th grade class and entered in a contest held by Scholastic. They won and the prize was publication of the book. In the book each student contributed a page of text and illustrations. A template guided the format for the text. A really easy task to implement. I thought this idea of thinking about problems in our world and what it would take to solve the problems fit perfectly for the week leading up to the MLK holiday.

The template for this activity looks like this:

WE DREAM OF A WORLD ….

Students think about a problem in the world to focus on and complete the topic sentence with how world would be if the problem didn’t exist.

Did you know?

They write a few facts/statistics about the problem

What you can do:

Here they write down what each of us can do to make the problem go away.


This is how I teach the lesson:


1. Read the book and show students the pictures.
2. Discuss the problems mentioned and ask them to think of other problems we have in our world. List their responses on chart paper.
3. The kids decide on a problem to focus on. For homework they should research facts about the problem and its impact on our lives. They should also think about what we can do about the problem.
4. In class the next day have a discussion and encourage students to share new information. It’s important to emphasize what we, as individuals can do to solve problems in the world.
5. Hand out the templates. Guide the kids through the three main prompts.
6. Students illustrate the idea using symbols and pictures. 

I had a very positive response to this activity. The kids came up with thoughtful responses and my bulletin board looks very attractive with their pictures and pretty borders around their text.