Wednesday, January 31, 2018

List Writing Prompts and Extension Activities

Throughout the school year I like to place different writing activities in my writing center.  I change out the activities based on what we have covered during our writing lessons.  One of my favorite writing lessons to teach is list writing.  List writing is a super easy and fun writing lesson to teach the students.  It’s also an important skill that the students will use the rest of their lives!

I start my lesson out by having a class discussion on what lists are, what they are used for, why people make lists, etc.  I have my students give some examples of lists they have seen.  Many of the students have seen their parents make grocery lists, to-do lists, etc.  I make lists all the time, so I show my students some of the different lists I make and explain to them why I make them. We continue the lesson talking about why it's important to give the list a title.  Then, we write a list together as a class on the board so I can model what a great list looks like.  We give our list a title, number it 1-10, and add things to our list.  After we have written a class example, I have my students practice writing a list independently in their writing journal.

After I teach the lesson on writing lists, I then place list writing activities in my writing center.  I thought I would share some of the activities I have my students do with their lists.  Not only do they write lists over certain topics, but I also have extension activities they do with their list.

Here is an example of what the list writing templates looks like that I place at my writing center.  I made the lists 2 per page so it saves paper and is faster to copy.



I place a different list writing topic at the center each week.  I choose the topic based on what we are learning.  My list of topics range from language arts, math, science, social studies, seasonal, and more!  Sometimes I place a blank list writing template at the center so the students can choose what they want to write about that week.






When it gets close to the 100th day of school I have my students write a list of 100 words.  Some students can complete this list in no time...others take a little longer.  LOL 



One of the extension activities I have my students do is illustrate their list.  They draw pictures that go with each item on their list.  I have a couple different versions of each of my extension activities.  I change the activities up each week.  Each activity progressively gets a little harder.




The students also use their list to write one sentence, two sentences, and even a story.  They choose words off their list to include in their sentences/story.




They also create a list of rhyming words that go with each word on their list.


Here the students put their list of words in ABC Order.


These extension activities are perfect if you have a Top 10 Center!

I have found that the students love this writing center so much they don’t even realize they are practicing their writing skills!

Click HERE to download my List Writing Prompts and Extension Activities from my TpT Store!

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