1-2-3 Come Do Some Bat Activities With Me

The writing prompt, “Driving My 5 Senses Batty” is an interesting way to reinforce the 5 senses, which in turn helps students be more descriptive in their writing.

Because this is a topic students easily identify with, they will be excited to get down to the business of writing!

You’ll love the versatility of this bat packet; as a variety of options make it easy to diversify your lessons for various abilities, grades & skill levels.

As always, patterns come in black & white for students, as well as full-color, so that teachers can quickly & easily make an example to share. I’ve also included my completed worksheets as a real time saver.

Samples not only help explain things, but act as a catalyst for excitement.

Anytime I add a bit of craftiness into our writing block, my students are engaged and focused from the get go, which is why I designed a “cave topper” as well as a “bat dangler” to add extra fun & pizzazz to their writing worksheet.

Younger kiddos can simply write or dictate a one-word answer to a classroom helper, or assign this as homework to be done with parental help. 

If you have older "reading-helper buddies" you can also do this activity with their assistance. 

My kiddos absolutely love working with our 5th grade friends, and the feeling is mutual.

Encourage older students to write in complete sentences, giving several examples. 

Completed projects make a striking bulletin board or hallway display, so I’ve also included 2 posters to enhance things.

Use the "definition poster" to introduce your lesson,

The Packet Includes:

• A bat cave with & without text, with 2 patterns to choose from for different cutting abilities. This graphic is glued to the top of their writing prompt paper.

• A bat “dangler” which will be glued to the bottom of their worksheet.

• A “Five Senses” writing prompt worksheet, which come with & without lines, as well as with and without labels ( hear, smell, see, touch & taste ).

• A “definition poster” to introduce your lesson.

• A “Going ‘Batty’ Over Great Writing!” poster.

• For additional writing, I’ve also included 3 different “bat papers” to choose from, which you can use to assign other writing prompts for, or perhaps use for an acrostic poem, bat facts, bat vocabulary or whatever else you think of.

• A bonus extension about the positive & negative connotations for the word “batty”, with an extra writing prompt, which can be done as a whole group, with a partner or as an individual assignment. Great for early finishers or homework too.
• These activities would be fun for the week of Halloween or that "something different" on party day too.

Today's featured FREEBIE also helps practice descriptive writing, as students describe fall.

Including adjectives, enhances students' writing, so I designed 10 fall-themed describing worksheets that will help your students practice this skill. 

Students write  a "describing" word in each of the boxes on the themed worksheet, which include bats, school, apples, pumpkins,spiders, leaves, sunflowers, scarecrows, turkeys, and pilgrims. 

These worksheets make a nice Daily 5 fall writing activity, and can also be inserted into a writing folder or journal. 

I've also included an adjective definition anchor chart.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

I’m Diane from Teach With Me, hoping you & your students will go batty over learning.

Wishing you a fun-filled time of it.

For more 5 Senses activities, click on the link.

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"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." -Thomas H. Huxley

1-2-3 Come Do Some Fall Writing With Me

Since the "Apple Sense" craftivity was downloaded quite a bit, I decided this format would also work well for Pumpkin Sense.   No matter what grade your students are in, they need to be reminded to use their senses to make their writing "come alive."  The use of adjectives is equally important, and such a simple thing to explain using examples.  I find that if students can add a bit of art to their creations, writing is more fun and completed projects make wonderful bulletin boards that build self-esteem.   

Run off the pumpkin template on orange construction paper.  Students add a bit of color to the the stem, with a green crayon.  You can make this even cuter, by having students trace their hand (with their fingers spread) onto a sheet of green construction paper, trim and glue their "leaf" next to the stem.  Adding a photograph gives things that finishing touch.

Run the "pumpkin guts" off on yellow construction paper.  Students trim and fill in their answers.  Before hand, discuss the 5 senses, as well as what an adjective is, explaining the importance of using both to write better.  

Brainstorm words that can be used to describe a pumpkin using the various senses and write them on the board.   Students can draw from this word bank when they write. 

So that they are practicing starting a sentence with a capital letter, have students write a complete sentence, rather than filling in their answer.  Review proper end punctuation.  To make sure that they use adjectives, encourage students to underline them.

You may want children to write a rough draft, checking to make sure that every noun has a descriptive word before it.  Can they think of a better word to describe what they are seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, etc?  When they are satisfied with their final draft, they can write it on the yellow insert.   Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Sense craftivity.

Continuing with adjective practice, I designed a Describing Fall packet. 

Students think of words that describe the various fall themes: school, apples, leaves, pumpkins, spiders, bats, scarecrows, sunflowers, turkeys and Pilgrims, and then fill in the appropriate boxes with adjectives.  Once they have done that, students incorporate several words into 1 or 2 sentences that they write on the back of their worksheet. 

Children can add a bit of color with crayons or markers.  When everyone is done, have them share their work.  I've also included a definition of an adjective anchor chart. Click on the link to view/download the Describing Fall Adjective Writing packet.

If you're looking for more activities involving the 5 Senses you may like Sam's Senses craftivity.  Children cut and glue the labels to Sam the pumpkin man.  What makes Sam special is that his hands are the traced hands of the student.  Click on the link to view/download Sam. 

My Fall Senses, is a quick and easy candy corn graphic organizer that again helps students practice their writing skills.  Click on the link to view download this fall writing activity.

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"Strength: A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence." -Unknown