This short Back-to-School writing extension activity for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade engages ALL students, and gets ALL students to LOVE writing! Students are given emoji prompts to arrange in any sequence, and then they construct a narrative, opinion, or informational paragraph based on the representations of the emojis. This allows flexibility, creativity, and cures writer’s block for ALL students! Seriously- I’ve seen students who strongly dislike writing get so completely focused and engaged in this activity that they can’t even put their pencil down to stop! Students could write a narrative story, a funny story, an informative paragraph, or opinion piece. This product includes everything you need to print and start today!
You can customize the writing objective to fit the needs of what you are currently teaching (figurative language, sequencing, dialogue, vivid details, character/setting development, strong opening, transition words, CER etc.) There is also an illustration opportunity for students. Product examples and photos included. Enjoy!
These emoji prompts could be used for narrative, opinion, or informative writing. Templates are provided for all three.
Consider focusing on specific writing objectives for the paragraph (figurative language, sequencing, dialogue, vivid details, character/setting development, strong opening, transition words, CER etc.)
This can be printed in grayscale (B&W) on color paper. I recommend pastel paper.
I have the students glue their work onto construction paper to make it more sturdy and easy to display.
After students write their paragraph, they could use a digital platform such as Socrative.com to share their writing with their peers. This can be shared anonymously so that the students can vote on the best paragraphs. They LOVE this, and it creates a healthy competition to give it their best effort!
For students that write a lot, use the extra sheet template and staple the two together before gluing to construction paper.
Consider using the rough draft template for students to pre-write before the final draft.