When winter washes away the bright colors of fall and fills the world with white snow and gray clouds, the winter blues may kick in. Cold temperatures and short days may lead young students to have a less than positive mood in class.
With lengthy holiday breaks and time off because of snow days, it can be hard to get your students to focus on class activities.
As a teacher, you can help your students beat the winter blues and maintain focus by giving them writing tasks that will take their mind off the cold. These writing projects for elementary students can help bring their focus back and make them excited about writing again during this season.
Writing Projects for Elementary Students That Beat The Winter Blues
Writing Prompt #1: You are an animal in the rainforest. What type of animal are you? What do you do every day as that animal?
Imaginative narrative prompts are a great way to get your students’ creative juices flowing. This prompt is a great opportunity for students to learn about a new animal that they do not see every day and take their minds off of the cold weather outside.
Appeal to your students’ introspection and communication abilities by leading a discussion about their works. Talk about their “experience” as their chosen animal for a day. What are some of the things they see and do?
PROJECT IDEA
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Make this writing activity into a classbook by asking your students to draw their chosen animal next to their writing. The drawing can help them describe what they’d look like by focusing on certain features of the warm weather loving animal they chose.
An alternative option is to have your students describe what they would see around them if they suddenly turned into a rainforest tree.
With this alternative prompt, students will write from the perspective of an inanimate or unmoving object. Instead of focusing on what they would do, they can instead describe what the tree may observe throughout the day in the rainforest.
Writing Prompt #2: You own a restaurant. What does your restaurant look like? What type of food do you serve to your customers?
One of the best ways to keep your elementary students engaged is by making them write something descriptive. A fun challenge is to have students describe what their restaurant looks like and the food they would serve to their classmates. Imagining themselves in front of a warm oven, making delicious food for customers in their restaurant will be sure to warm them up after a chilly recess.
PROJECT IDEA
Give your students a list of descriptive words to use in their writing such as creamy, smoky, and hearty to help them describe the food on their restaurant menus. And spacious, cozy, or modern to describe the interior of the restaurant. Remind your students of the “show, don’t tell” technique when they are describing their restaurants. With this prompt, your students will not only practice writing in sequence, but they can also exercise their vocabulary by using adjectives. You can combine the restaurants your students came up with into a “restaurant guide” as a classbook project.
Winter Writing Prompt #3: If you could go on vacation anywhere, where would you go and what would you do?
The possibilities of this prompt are endless. Let your students think about their ideal getaway. Will they go skiing on the Colorado slopes? Or do they want to go somewhere tropical like Jamaica? Maybe they don’t want to celebrate winter anywhere but here.
Ask them to describe why they’d go to their chosen place. Why is this place more appealing than where they are now? Or, if their answer is to stay in place, why?
PROJECT IDEA
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Ask students to describe why they’d go to their chosen place. Why is this place more appealing than where they are now? Or, if their answer is to stay in place, why?
With this prompt, they can paint an attractive picture in their minds, transfer those descriptions to paper, and convince their readers that their chosen winter vacation place is worth visiting using persuasive writing skills.
Winter Writing Prompt #4: If you could give everyone in the world one gift, what would that gift be? Why did you choose this gift?
This prompt is good for any grade level, but we suggest trying it out with more experienced 4th and 5th-grade writers.
PROJECT IDEA
Nothing piques children’s enthusiasm more than thinking about gifts. This writing prompt plays on the idea of holiday gift-giving rather than receiving. Instead of getting your students riled up about the presents they get from Santa, this prompt makes them think about generosity. The way your elementary students justify their answers will make for a great discussion in class and potential material for a classbook.
The fact that your students first need to reflect on how their gift will impact the world is something that older students can better grasp than those who are just learning to comprehend and participate in the world around them. With this prompt, students would be taking a closer look at who they really are and learn to develop self-awareness at a young age.
Winter Writing Prompt #5: Pick 3 adjectives that describe summer and write about one memory you have that illustrates each word.
One of the easiest ways to write many things about a simple topic is by starting with the small details. For this prompt, your students first need to think about three words that describe summer. From that, they will associate the memories they have that perfectly shows why they described summer using those words.
PROJECT IDEA
Want to make this writing activity more fun? Brainstorm with the entire class about words that describe summer. Write each of your student’s suggestions on a piece of paper and fold it. Then, have your students pick their three adjectives and start from there. By doing this, they not only rely on their own descriptive but the words of their classmates as well.
This writing prompt allows your students to get inspiration from one word and their own experiences. It’s an activity where they can practice personal narrative storytelling.
These writing prompts are just a few of the many projects that can help your students overcome the winter blues and stay focused until the weather warms up. Your students will have too much fun writing these prompts to worry about the short, cold days.
If you’re interested in more writing projects for your elementary students, check out Studentreasures Publishing’s Teacher’s Lounge to gain access to more topic ideas and lesson plans.