Embrace Spring:  Bring Your Writing Lessons to Life with These 5 Writing Ideas

Spring writing ideas to use in the elementary classroom to increase student engagement.
The changing season will spark their creativity and love for writing.

Spring is coming!  The earth is warming up and beginning to awaken.  As the colors Spring forth, now is the perfect time to carry your writing instruction past the four walls of your classroom.  Because as the world wakes up, so do the children.  Before the springtime jitters and misbehaviors hit your classroom, begin to take the children outside for part of their writing and learning lessons.  The changing season will spark their creativity and love for writing and open up a world of wonder that will carry over into their other subjects.

If this sounds wonderful, but you need help with how to bring that about, here are five suggestions on mixing in the Spring season with your teaching.

Embrace the magic of Spring.  Spring is a time of renewal and growth, making it an ideal backdrop for writing activities.  Please encourage your students to step outside and immerse themselves in the season’s sights, sounds, and sensations.  From the first peek of the new blossoms growing on the tree limbs to the bloom of the first spring flowers, the kids will be thrilled to discover all the signs of Spring.  Nature provides endless inspiration for young writers.

Spring Writing Ideas.

Nature Journaling.  Hands down, nature journaling has been one of the best things I have ever introduced to my students.

Nature Journaling enhances writing skills and fosters a deeper connection and understanding of the natural world.  Students stretch their observational skills by documenting what they see and keeping ongoing records, by words and drawings, of the changes they notice.  This journaling allows the students to learn to appreciate the beauty and diversity of nature and gradually learn to care for it.

Nature provides inspiration
Let nature be your teacher.

You can easily integrate nature journaling into different subjects like math, science, and art.  When you can connect real-world experiences to your instruction, you’ll inspire a love for learning that extends far beyond the classroom.

Nature journaling can be a simple curriculum and materials.  Just bring the students out regularly to write and observe their surroundings.  When first starting, students will need guidance on what to watch and draw, but with practice, they will soon develop their own understanding of what to journal and begin exploring independently.  (You can read my article on Nature Journaling here.)

Provide students with a place to keep their notes and observations.  Additionally, always include the same four things in every entry:  date, time, place of your journal, and the weather.  (Need more ideas?  My Nature Journal resource contains ideas and instructions on taking your students outside and journaling.)

Experience in nature allows students to develop concern for the environment
Experience is the world’s greatest teacher. As the students learn about the environment, they learn to care for it, too.

Spring Poetry.  The outside world is bursting forth in colors, sounds, and activity.  This beauty will inspire your students to capture these moments on paper.

Poetry is emotion put into words, and Spring is the perfect backdrop for creative thought.

Introduce students to the traditional Japanese form of Haiku.  This poetry form focuses on observations of nature.  Encourage your students to create haiku poems from their experiences outdoors and express them in the traditional three-line poem.  (Reminder:  three lines.  Syllable pattern 5-7-5.)

Acrostic poems are also a fun way to embrace the new season.  Guide your students in creating acrostic poems using the words “SPRING,” “SUNSHINE,” or “BLOSSOM.” Take students outside with their writing and let them be inspired as they create poems from their observations.  Remind students that they can use adjectives, nouns, phrases, and even sounds for each line of their poem.  (Writing Spring Poetry resource contains various poetry forms with a Spring focus.)

Spring Adventure Writing.  Provide students with sentence starters or story ideas related to Spring, such as “One sunny spring day…” or “Legend says that in the time of Spring, a magic door opens…”.

Encourage them to use their imaginations to continue the story and create their own adventure.

Bring the students outside and allow them to be inspired and write simultaneously.  A Spring Time Adventure (as seen here) is always easier to write when you can see and compare blooms and the sizes of various springtime objects.  Sometimes, it helps to be immersed in what you are writing about.  This immersion allows students to visualize their story better as they write.  (Spring Writing Prompt)

 

Students develop deeper connections with each other when assignment results are shared.
When the students share this learning assignment, it also deepens the connections of the students in the classroom.

Letter Writing. Allow students to write letters to friends and family members describing what they love about Spring, the changes they have observed, and even weather conditions.

Students can add in their experiences and changes they may enjoy watching.  This activity improves their writing skills and encourages them to communicate their thoughts and experiences.  This activity also increases their understanding through this real-world connection to others.

Letter writing provides powerful learning when family members who live in different places write back and share the differences of the season they are also experiencing.  The students can then share the letters with classmates and create a wall display showing the differences in the regions where the family members and letters are coming from.  My students are always surprised when there are extreme differences in the weather.  When the students share this learning assignment, it also deepens the connections of the students in the classroom.

Celebrate the Bees.  Bees and other pollinators play such an essential role in our environment, and Spring is the perfect time to plan a celebration to teach others about these vital creatures.  (check out this bee resource)

Students can learn and share all about bees, from the life cycle and parts of a bee to the list of foods that bees pollinate and help grow.  They can share drawings, diagrams, and journal entries on bee activities they have observed outside.  Allow your students to learn the waggle dance, and then they can teach others about it.   Your students can work with other classes and plan a schoolyard habitat presentation for the administration and community to help save the bees.

Enhance the understanding of the season and of nature.
By incorporating nature and the outdoors into your curriculum, you’ll cultivate a love for writing and enhance a deeper connection with the world around us for your students.

Spring is a season of growth in nature and the classroom.  By incorporating nature and the outdoors into your curriculum, you’ll cultivate a love for writing and enhance a deeper connection with the world around us for your students.  Seize this opportunity to bring your students outside this Spring, embrace the beauty and changes, and watch your students and their writing flourish in the beauty of the great outdoors.

 

Hugs, Teacher Friend.

Thank you for continuing to share your sunshine with your students and helping them grow.  Keep

sharing your magic with the world.  The world needs you.

Kinla

 

Nature lends itself to so many learning opportunities.

Learning about weather?  Try these Daily Weather Reports

 Weather Bear

Want to try animal reports? Turtles and Tortoises

  Butterflies and Moths