Winter Write About The Picture and a FREEBIE!

So…..I started this Winter Write About The Picture resource a few years back when I needed something for my littlies who were struggling with writing. Unfortunately, I never got it finished at that time – no surprise! With my new goals for this year, I am revisiting all my ‘started, but never finished’ resources. Some ended up being trashed, but others, I felt, still had merit!

On those ‘tiring, stressful, run out of ideas’ days when you just need someone to do it for you – this ‘grab and go’ resource should prove useful. I really needed some printable resources for my below grade writers, especially for evidence folders. These printables needed to be flexible, include differentiation, as well as the opportunity for these emerging writers to extend their sentences. They also needed to be well-structured, with a simple format that my students could cope with.

Winter image showing bear paw prints in snow

I decided that writing about a picture would provide the scaffolding that my students needed. By making it seasonal, I hoped that my students would be a little more engaged. My main goal was to enable my students to achieve some level of success with independent writing.

Click here for this winter write about the picture resource on TpT!

Students have been provided with a word bank to help with spelling and encourage ideas for writing. To begin to extend sentences, color words have been included. Students should first color the picture with the ‘best’ color, then use the finished colored picture to enable them to begin to write longer sentences. This is the core of this resource.

Teaching Points:

Students will need some prior knowledge of what it means to extend a sentence and the role that adjectives can play in this
Students should be encouraged to use as many colors as possible to color their pictures

Differentiation:

Alternative handwriting lines
A second bordered page for students who wish to write at length
The photo section provides more difficult vocabulary and could lead more able writers towards a ‘what happened next’ story style, should the teacher wish to lead them in this direction
An editable version of all content has been provided for the teacher to make vocabulary choices. Just type your chosen words in each box!

This Winter Write About The Picture for Struggling Writers resource will work equally well as a ‘grab and go’ resource or as a small group activity where students are encouraged to verbalize their sentences first.