Sunday, May 3, 2015

Mother's Day Writing Sample

Hello, friends!  Anita here from Primary "Teach"spiration.  I can't believe it's already May, but I love it!  The sun is shining, birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and mothers everywhere are awaiting that special day set aside just for them.  

In second grade, I've always saved this week, right before Mother's Day, for my students to work on a book dedicated to Mom or the special woman in their lives.  

So, today, for Sample Sunday, I'm excited to share with you a sample from my Mother's Day~Mom Is the Best writing activity for creating the Mother's Day book!  It is the last page of the book that sums up all the earlier pages. You can grab both a "Mom" version and a "blank in place of Mom" version by simply clicking one of the images below.



Throughout this writing activity, I include regular "Mom" pages, as well as versions with "blanks in place of Mom" for those who will make their books for a grandma, aunt, or some other special woman in their lives.

When I do the entire book with my students, I always have them work on it, page by page, each day.  The kids really enjoy making a special book for Mom, and it helps keep them focused as the year is winding down. But, the thing I love so much about it is that it also gives them another chance to practice main idea and supporting details!  Let me show you how the week usually goes:


First we brainstorm things that our moms are best at, like making us feel better, etc. Then they do a pre-writing worksheet like this. 


I do a mini review lesson on main idea and supporting details. The students choose 3-5 things from our brainstorming session as the main ideas that they will put on the worksheet. Then they must write 1-4 supporting details for each main idea.  Most of my students used two worksheets for this.  Others, however, only wrote a few main ideas and details.  So, as you can see, this is a great activity for differentiation.


The next step is to use the pre-writing worksheet to create our pages for the Mother's Day book.  I made several pages of this template for every student to use.  This is one of Emma's.

After each main idea with details are made into book pages, it is time for the final culminating page.  On this page, every main idea is listed to complete the sentence "My Mom is the best at....." and a colorful picture is drawn to show Mom how much she is loved.  This is Emma's final page, and it is the SAMPLE page you can snag above.


When all writing is done, students get a cover page to color (if you use the black and white version), and they can also color the other pages in the booklet.  See how Emma did hers.

That's it!  The book is stapled together, and the kids are excited to take it home to surprise Mom on Mother's Day!


If you're interested in the full Mother's Day writing packet, you can find it HERE.

Have a great May and Happy Mother's Day 
to all the mothers out there!

See you next time :)



Anita Keil (Primary "Teach"spiration)


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