20 pages.

This "craftivity" is very versatile, as it includes templates for an end-of-the year memory book, with covers for preschool through 6th grade, plus a blank template.  If you already have a memory book, have students write why they think this grade was terrific.  You can also use this as a self-esteem builder (fill a bucket) activity (use the ______ is "T"-'rrific!" template) and have each classmate write a compliment in everyone's booklet; or fill in the blank with My Dad, or Grandparents and use for Father's or Grandparent's Day.  It also works for back-to-school. Have students write about why their summer was terrific.

3 pages.

Here are 16 January writing prompts to help your students WANT to write, by giving them some interesting and fun writing prompts to jumpstart their creative minds, they will be excited to get down to business.  A nice plug in for the writing portion of your Daily 5 activities too.

1-2-3 Come Make A Keepsake With Me!

I’m Surviving In School is a quick, easy and fun way to get students to practice their writing skills.
Graphic organizers are extremely beneficial for visual learners and help students organize their thoughts and think succinctly.  These mini-writing prompts are more do-able and less intimidating. Doing a page at the end of each month, is a terrific Daily 5 activity, or independent writing center. Alphabetize the booklets and number them, so students can quickly and easily find theirs to work on. These are a great addition to a portfolio or file, to share with parents, during conferences, as they should show marked improvements along the way.  Completed books make an outstanding keepsake.

Encourage students to use proper capitalization, punctuation, spaces, adjectives etc. and you have covered a lot of Common Core State Standards as well.  There’s a generic cover as well as covers for preschool through 6th grade.  Define what an adjective is and why using describing words are important.  Pass out markers and have students write adjectives that describe themselves, in each bubble box on their cover.  Explain that they can add more words as the year progresses.  To make this extra special, have students glue their school picture inside the bus.  You may want to make a booklet yourself, to use as an example to help explain things each month.  Students really enjoy learning about their teacher.

The pages are geared from easy to more difficult as students advance.  Later, explain to them that instead of just a list, you want them to write sentences.  You can also have them start with the header, so that they are working on a complete sentence with proper capitalization, instead of just answering the topic.  i.e. Favorite food:  My favorite food is pizza. Later, have them expand their thoughts even more, by explaining why and adding adjectives: i.e. My favorite junk food is pizza, because I like spicy pepperoni.

To get in more fine motor practice and add some pizzazz to the pages, have students use colored markers, pencils and crayons.  In the Me... section, students practice writing their name and drawing a self-portrait.  This is especially important for preschool and kindergarten students.  In the beginning, younger kiddo’s can draw a picture of how they feel, with a happy or sad (etc.) face.  They will be limited to 1-word answers in the boxes.  You can also opt to have students do these 1-on-1 with a helper, who writes down their answers, or send a page home as homework to be returned in a week.

Click on the link to view/download the I'm Surviving School, monthly-writing prompt booklet. If you're looking for another fun keepsake book, that students can write in monthly, check out The Very Hungry Student.  Children write what they learned each month.  Of course they are still hungry for more, so they move on to the next month... The rhyming text makes it a fun read-aloud. There's a page in the back for students' autographs. It's also a nice way to review the names of the months and a super way to show progress/improvement to parents. Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Student.

I also have an entire year's worth of writing prompts.  Each month's writing prompts are based on popular stuff that's going on during that time frame. Click on the link to view/download the Monthly Writing Prompts packet.

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"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why!" -Bernard Baruch

Star Light Star Bright...

Motivate your students and build self-esteem, with these star certificates.

I've also included a poster to hang to show who the star student of the day/week is.

Because students trace the words in the sentence and then complete the sentence of why they are a star student, this makes a great writing prompt.

When students come back after break, tell them that you think they are all stars, and that as their teacher, you will help them shine their brightest.

Have them think of their favorite star quality and then fill in the blank.

When they are done, they can color the picture; they'll be proud to take it home, and share their accomplishments with their family. 

Click on the link to view/download the Star Certificates.

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find helpful.

"Twinkle Twinkle little star, you've learned so much, you've come so far!"