Writing Ideas for January

January is just around the corner. It’s always the start of a new year, but it’s also a time when students fall into a slump during writing time. Here are some ideas to add a little spark to your writing.

Since it is the start of a new year, I like to revisit our classroom goals and then have students write some resolutions for the new year. You can grab this freebie here.

Our winter bookshelf always brings writing inspiration, too! Even if we don’t see snowfall each year, I always use snow to help guide our writing. One of the things we write about is how-to build a snowman. We also use our tub of polar bear books to do some nonfiction writing. You can read about that and grab some free resources here.

One of my favorite books to spark writing interest is The Snow Globe Family. After reading the book, we make snow globe craft booklets. These are a great place to respond to the text or even work on vocabulary and comprehension.

January is also a time when we stop and honor the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. After reading about his life, I have my students write about what they learned. These pieces of writing pair really well with the directed drawings from Jennifer at First and Kinder Blue Skies.

When we aren’t working on a writing assignment, I like to have these 12 writing prompt cards on hand to keep my writers from getting stuck. One of their favorite cards is writing about a snowball fight with the principal.