As students get older, teachers tend to step away from seasonal writing prompts. Students still experience the different seasons and holidays, but it seems the time set aside to celebrate and enjoy the uniqueness of the seasons has dissipated. Shouldn’t we help our students remain kids and enjoy those special times as much as possible? I know a lot of people don’t celebrate every holiday so that can get tricky, but writing about the seasons can always help us get to know our students better.
What Writing Prompts About Winter Did We Use?
When I was teaching 4th through 6th grade I followed what most teachers did. We didn’t use writing prompts about the seasons or holidays. If we did use a writing prompt it was for a big assignment that counted for a big grade. If we used a writing prompt about winter it was usually about a holiday and it was busy work. Teachers would give students fun writing prompts before a holiday. If the students happened to complete them the teacher would say “Good job!” and send them home. It didn’t count for a grade and their work and creativity weren’t appreciated because of time constraints. This was true of writing prompts about winter and every other season and holiday.
How Would You Feel About Writing Prompts About Winter?
If your teacher simply said, “Good job!” and handed it back, how would you feel? I would feel that my opinions and work didn’t matter. I would be upset that my work wasn’t given credit after I did work hard on it. A huge battle we fight as teachers is learning how to show our students their writing is real and valuable. We are constantly trying to show them that the assignment wasn’t just for a grade or to keep them busy, but that their work matters Writing prompts about winter can add value to our classroom but we have to do it right.
Why Use Writing Prompts About Winter?
Writing prompts about winter are exactly what they sound like. It’s using winter to help students engage in writing. As students get older we step away from these kinds of prompts, but they are still useful. Kids are in school for almost the whole winter season. Other than a few breaks students are learning during the winter months. It makes sense to have them write about the season. Winter is a unique season and very different depending on where you live. Students can write about a winter they imagine or the winter they really experience. The smells, animals, air, and trees are very different in winter. It makes for great descriptive writing. Students can tap into their creativity as they try to imagine what winter would be like in different places. It’s a creative challenge for students to use writing prompts about winter.
Writing prompts about winter does not have to be the focus of your lesson. You can make them long assignments or short bell ringers. Seasonal writing is beneficial for your students either way. You don’t have to grade every writing prompt in detail. It’s okay to give students a grade for completing the assignment or just have them share their work. Keep it as simple or complicated as you want. Winter writing prompts can also relieve some of the stress of preparing the curriculum because they can be so simple.
More Writing Prompts About Winter
20 Winter Writing Prompts for Tweens
My Favorite Writing Prompts About Winter
Writing prompts can come in many forms but I have been working on creating a unit focused on writing prompts about winter. Eventually, I will have information, opinion, and narrative writing prompts about winter. Let’s take a look at how these prompts work and a few bonus poetry prompts.
Writing Prompts About Winter Informational Writing
I love lessons that are versatile so that is what I created with Winter Information Writing Prompts. When I created these lessons I also created five ways to use them. What I am going to share with you is my ideal use, but from that, I think you will be able to visualize the other ways you can use them.
How often have you given your students a writing prompt and they don’t connect with it? It seems like a simple and easy prompt, but getting them to write a few sentences is painful. The idea of getting them to write an actual essay seems impossible no matter how much support you offer. I love the idea of giving students several writing prompts over the course of a week. This means that I might offer the choice of 7 writing prompts and ask them to complete 5 of them. I leave myself the option to either grade them or check off that they are complete. At the end of the week, students pick their favorite writing prompt to develop further.
The next week the students are working on the prompt they picked. They have more options and control over what they are going to spend their time on in the next week, which will hopefully be their best piece and increase their engagement and effort. They could be working on researching, expanding their ideas, adding details, or simply answering the question. Each student will be working on the skill they most need to work on as they develop their piece further. If you meet with small groups you can break students up by what kids are working on.
I love how this writing prompt unit works for students because it challenges them to write more and be thoughtful about their own work. The work you get from them should be their very best because they told you this was what they could do the best job on. Another bonus is there is a little more variety in what you read while grading their work.
Winter Narrative Writing Prompts and Winter Opinion Writing Prompts
Though I don’t have an opinion and narrative writing prompts up for sale yet in my TpT store they are coming. Using a similar format to present the different types of writing can help students understand the differences in the types of writing. A similar format can also make teaching students easier. There is a reason the big curriculum companies always use the same format. Kids can engage with the material a little better when they aren’t worried about the directions as much. If they know how the assignment works, then they can focus on doing it instead of figuring out the directions.
This writing prompt unit provides you with some versatility and options while also providing the students with some consistency.
Poetry Writing Prompts About Winter
Writing prompts about winter are great and I love a true writing prompt. But I also wanted to share a quick peek at my winter poetry writing prompts. The format is different from my writing prompts unit, but they are great lessons that will teach your students a lot. Here is a quick peek at my winter poetry lessons.
Winter Haiku Poetry
In this Winter Haiku Poetry students will practice writing about the season. The haiku syllable format of 5-7-5 naturally causes students to become more concise and descriptive.
Winter Cinquain Poem
Cinquain is a five-line poem that originated in France. In a cinquain, students use specific parts of speech to describe winter. The format of the poem makes it easy to write, but a challenge to determine the right words.
Ode in Winter Poem
An ode is a poem that praises or glorifies the subject. There are several different formats that odes can follow, but I choose the simplest for students so they can focus on the purpose of the poem. Students will tell all about the parts of winter that they love and think are so great.
Poems on Winter Onomatopeia
Onomatopeia are sound words and poetry is a great way for students to practice them. This lesson and super simple poem are a fun way to write about the unique sounds of winter and learn about onomatopeias.
Winter Poems Funny
Rhyming poetry is easy to make funny, but rhyming well can take some practice. This rhyming poem is a silly way to talk about the winter season and write poetry.
Haiku on Winter Trees
Trees go through huge changes during the winter months and this haiku poem highlights them. Haiku poems originally focused on nature and this poem does too.
Writing Prompts About Winter
Just because students are getting a little bit older it doesn’t mean they don’t need to talk and write about the seasons. If your students start to pay attention to how winter is unique they will be able to incorporate that into the rest of their writing. Think of it as specific practice to teach them how to focus on details they might otherwise forget. They should be able to use what they learn about writing details in all of their writing. The skills they learn are transferable to the rest of their writing assignments.
Here is Your FREE Prompt for Writing Poetry
I know that you needed a prompt to help kickstart your students’ writing. Here is an entire lesson for FREE. My Our School Poem guides students on how to use sensory language to describe their school. The step-by-step directions guide your class through the writing process with all the necessary worksheets making this the perfect lesson for your classroom.