November Writing

After last week's INSANITY (Halloween, torrential rain = inside recess, power outage, field trip) it was a relief to get back to normal today.  It gave us the first real chance to try out the November writing prompts.  I gathered a bunch of journal ideas from the internet and wrote each one on a leaf.  I put them all in a pumpkin and the kids could pick one if they wanted.

I found leaves and pumpkin at Roberts Craft for 75% off!!  Score!  Writing on the leaves was a bit tricky.  I tried markers first, but they bled too much.  I ended up using my favorite Muji pen and it turned out great.  I imagine any gel pen would work as well.

Here are the prompts I thought would appeal to my 2nd graders.  They're not my original ideas, but I didn't think to pay attention to my sources while I was collecting them.

• Write a letter to a fall tree.  Try to convince the tree not to drop its leaves.
• What will you do during Thanksgiving break?
• Write a recipe for cooking a turkey.
• What if you found a magical pumpkin patch?
• What if Thanksgiving were in the summer?
• If your Thanksgiving turkey burned, what would you eat?
• Imagine you'll turn into a pumpkin at midnight tonight.  Write about all the things you'd like to do before you turn into a pumpkin.
• Once upon a time there was a turkey who never…
• Tell about your favorite thing about autumn.
• Imagine the school voted you principal.  What would you do?  What changes would you make?
• Write about an autumn day.  What would you do?  Tell about the colors, smells, tastes, and sounds.
• Would a turkey make a good pet?  Why or why not?
• If you could have whatever you wanted for Thanksgiving dinner, what would you have?
• Write a story about a squirrel getting ready for winter.

I also got the new lists posted, as well.  This still isn't nearly as popular a choice as journals and letter writing are.  In fact, I think maybe 2 kids chose it all of October.  For now, at least, I'm going to keep offering it.

You can download a copy of the file here.  The clip art is from Lettering Delights.

My goal is to get December's writing taken care of this week.  Maybe I can get on top of this little project!!