I love the start of a new season! It gives me the chance to introduce new activities in my classroom. In my opinion, the transition into fall is one of the most exciting. It’s the first chance you have to start celebrating the seasons with your students. All of the pumpkin and apple activities build anticipation towards crisp, cool weather, fall break, and more!
The tough thing about Fall, however, is that everything is still a little new. It’s difficult to send your students off to do tons of independent work, especially writing. There is still so much that they need to learn! Today, I have a few of my favorite Fall writing activities for first grade. These will keep your students engaged, without being too complex. Plus, they are seasonal, which is fun!
Why Seasonal Activities Work
Working seasonal activities into your classroom will help keep your students working hard for a few reasons:
1.) They can make better connections to the work. When the work students are doing in the classroom reflects the activities, weather, holidays, etc. outside of the classroom, it is easy to make connections! When students can make connections from classwork back to their own lives, it’s easier to motivate them!
2.) Motivation = resilience. When our students are motivated to finish an assignment, we see more focus and resilience against distractions around the room. We also see students digging deeper to finish work, even if it’s more difficult. Having more connections to an assignment, and finding the work more engaging will motivate students to finish.
3.) Resilience results in growth! When our students are focused, engaged, and pushing through distractions, we will ultimately see more growth. The more students practice any skill in our classrooms, the more they will grow.
Related Reading: How to Motivate Reluctant Writers
Fall Draw it! Write it! Read It!
One of my favorite seasonal writing activities are ‘Draw It! Write It! Read It!’ journals. Each page of the journal comes with a brief, directed drawing, as well as a title that prompts students to come up with a story.
Students use the steps of the directed drawing to sketch an illustration that matches the title of the paper. After drawing, they write a story to go along with their illustration!
My Fall Draw It! Write It! Read It! journal has 10 different fall writing prompts and directed drawings! My students love these writing prompts so much, we use them in my classroom all year long. I know yours will love them too, and your students will grow as writers!
Fall Writing Journals
My Fall Writing Journals are designed to inspire students who aren’t sure what to write about! These prompts are printed directly onto writing pages, so students simply grab and begin writing. These are the perfect writing center for early in the year, when students may not be strong self-starters in their writing.
Each journal comes with 25 different prompts. You can print and staple together, make a booklet for each student that can be used in a Work on Writing center, as early finisher work, morning work, and more!
Fall Opinion Writing
Opinion writing is a simple way to get students started on making a claim and defending it. Over time, this leads to writing thesis statements and all kinds of big things! But the first step is simply to form an opinion and explain why. Fall Would You Rather Opinion Prompts are a fun, seasonal way to do just that.
This resource comes with 25 different prompts that ask students to choose one of two options. Each page has the prompt, lines for writing their choice, and space for illustrations. This is an engaging center that your students will love!
Using these fall writing activities, your students will be engaged in writing all through the season! Your students will love writing, and you will love how easy everything is to plan and prep! Happy teaching!
