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Fun printing practice for the even the most reluctant writer

My daughter loves to write.  She writes all day long and on EVERYTHING.  My son though is a very reluctant writer and printer and he avoids it whenever he can.  So I am always looking for creative ways to make printing and writing ideas to encourage him to write since we are still working on his pencil grip and fine motor skills.   With the reluctant writers I work with at school I always suggest "tricking" them into writing by giving them activities and assignments that are so fun they don't even realize they are practicing writing.  One of the ways I do this at home is to have my kiddos set the table and write each family members name on a napkin.  At school they can do this in the kitchen center.

writing practice activities for kids printing on napkins

The kids love to do this.  Often I get a little message or drawing on my napkin as well.  This activity not only works on printing but name recognition as well.  I find that when kids are given a reason or a purpose to write they are much more willing to engage in these activities as opposed to giving them printing practice worksheets.

Here are some more writing ideas that encourage kids to write and print:
  • write thank you cards, birthday cards, I love you cards
  • write notes to family members and friends (at school I supply envelopes and paper at the writing center)
  • have kids help write the grocery list
  • have them write important events on the calendar
  • write texts and/or emails to family members
  • make lists of books they like or have read (add a clip board to the reading center)
  • write out their birthday and Christmas wish list
  • help make chore charts
  • make books
  • have kids pretend they are waiters and have them take your order
  • have kids pretend they are doctors and have them write up a report or prescription
  • let them be the score keeper on game night
  • making writing fun by using a variety of multi-sensory materials such as sand, rice, paint, etc..
  • use chalkboards and whiteboards
  • use fancy gel pens, markers, and hi-lighters

Got any fun writing ideas?  What do you do to encourage printing and writing?

You might also be interested in:

Practice printing with sensory paint bags   A years worth of weekly spelling activities and worksheets  Learn to read with magnetic sight words




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Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids on St. Patrick's day

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's day?  We do!  In fact every year a naughty little leprechaun visits us and plays tricks and pranks on us and causes all kinds of troubles!  Over the years our naughty little leprechaun has created quite the mess.  Every year he does something different but without fail, when we wake up St. Patrick's day morning we are greeted with all kinds of sneaky tricks!


Fun St. Patrick's day tricks and pranks to do on your kids and class

In an attempt to entice our sneaky little friend we made the leprechaun some green cookies in hopes that he would behave and be nice to us.  


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for st. patrick's day make green cookies


But he just ate our cookies and made a mess everywhere he went.


One year he put all the chairs on top of the tables!


St Patrick's day tricks and pranks for kids like putting chairs on tables



He made green footprints and he stacked green cups on the coffee table.


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for st. patrick's day make a tower with green cups


He gathered all the green toys and made a big pile.


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for st. patrick's day make a pile of green toys



He even left green footprints on the toilet, made the toilet water green and made a toilet paper tower!


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids like a toilet paper tower



He tied our shoelaces together.


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids like tying shoes together



He left us green juice!


Make Leprechaun juice for St. Patrick's day


He wrote green messages all over the place.

Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids like writing green messages


He hid our shoes in the dryer.


Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids like hiding shoes



He created an obstacle going down the stairs.

Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids like creating an obstacle


He even created a maze with green yarn.  We couldn't even walk around the living room without having to climb through this obstacle course.

Create Leprechaun tricks like an obstacle course for st. patrick's day



But once we made it through all the obstacles we found his little pot of gold! 


Leprechaun tricks for St. patrick's day reward kids with a pot of gold


 Hopefully he doesn't cause too much mischief this year!!


We also have a naughty leprechaun that comes to my classroom.  In my St. Patrick's day thematic unit plan you will find ways to engage your students as they get riddles and messages from a leprechaun, build traps, create wanted posters, a class book and much more!


St. Patrick's day lesson plans and activities for grade 1



Want to trap a leprechaun??  Check out this handy kit, which comes with a handy book on how to make a trap.



How to trap a leprechaun book

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Need some great books for your unit?  Check out these great reads!





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My favorite resource for learning to read sight words


This week I wanted to share with you all, my favorite resource for learning to read sight words.  It is a package from Scholastic called Sight word poetry pages.  I love this resource!  I copy each page and compile them into a duo-tang and call them our poetry books (I include other poems as well).  

learn to read with sight word poetry pages


When I meet with my students in small groups we read the sight word of the day, write the word on the lines, choral read the poem together and then they each read the poem to a partner.  After that we go back and re-read a couple of the poems we have done before. They continue to re-read these poems by reviewing them for home reading work, buddy reading and even independent reading time.  It's a great way to expose kids to sight words.

write sight words in this resource by scholastic


What is your favorite resource?  



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You might also be interested in:


Year long spelling program filled with fun activities 
Learn to write activities for reluctant writersLearn to write activities for kids print on napkins
Read color words by matching pompoms on gumball machine
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