5 More Fun Activities for Teaching Writing in Small Groups

Hey there! Welcome to part 2 of Fun Activities for Teaching Writing in Small Groups! Part 1 is here.

Teaching Writing In Small Groups If…Then

This post is organized by topics you may want to try in your small group writing instruction. Check them out for some super fun ideas for teaching writing in small groups!

If students need practice with descriptive writing,

Then try these fun writing activities for teaching in small groups:

• Conduct a “Describe the Picture” activity where students look at and label a detailed picture. Then, have students write a sentence describing what they see. Encourage them to use sensory words and adjectives. Show students where they could expand their sentences to improve them.
• Do a similar activity as “Describe a Picture,” but use a type of food or a toy for the students to describe. Do a different toy or food in each group. Read the descriptions to the whole class without divulging what is being described. It is a good description if students can easily guess what is being described. Talk as a class about what made it a good description or what must be added to clarify it.

If students are learning to write narratives,

Then:

• Help your students map a story you have read in class. Show them all the parts of a story they must include in their narrative. Let them draw a picture of their story with you in your small group. Help students label any parts they need help with, and then they can write their story during independent writing time.
• Use a “Story Map” graphic organizer where students outline a story’s beginning, middle, and end. They can draw pictures for each part and then write corresponding sentences. Help students complete their graphic organizer in your small group, then write their narrative during writing time.
• Try a writing game with your students. Pass the Page is a fun way for your students to practice their narrative writing!

If students are working on sequencing and logical order in writing,

Then try these fun small writing group activities:

• Silly Message or Silly Story: With your small group, write a quick message written out of order for them. Cut it apart, and then work with your students to put the message back together into a coherent sequence.
• Do a “Sequence the Story” activity with picture cards that students arrange in order and then write a corresponding narrative or explanation.
• Act it out: Use picture cards for a sequence of events. Pass out the pictures and have your students act out their cards. First time, act out the events out of order. Then, try to put the events in a logical order and act them out again. Have students write a sentence about the event they acted out and combine them into one piece.

If students are focusing on using a variety of sentence types,

Then use these ideas for teaching writing in small groups:

• Model, Model, Model: When teaching writing in small groups, choose a sentence type you want to focus on (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory). Show your students some examples of the sentence type. Talk about what they look like and sound like. Talk about the correct punctuation mark for the type of sentence you are working on. Work with your students to write that type of sentence together. Give your students a quick prompt and have them write a sentence. Check the sentence together to confirm the type of sentence that they wrote.
• Use Types of Sentences Sentence a Day to help your students practice writing different types of sentences. Use the worksheet to have them practice every day. Meet with your small group on Friday to review the rubric and help your students check their sentences. Use the last sentence of the week to take a writing grade or to create your small writing groups for the next week. Check out this blog post for more ideas and a freebie.

If students need to work on editing and revising writing,

Then these activities may help your students:

• Use an editing or revising checklist! When teaching writing in small groups, show your students a sentence. Use a revising checklist (such as ARMS) with your students to improve the sentence (make mistakes). Then, have your students help you to edit the sentence using the editing checklist (such as CUPS). You can find an amazing one-page student writing helper with editing and revising checklists HERE! It is not yet in my shop!
• Organize a “Peer Editing” session where students exchange their writing and give each other feedback using a checklist for spelling, punctuation, and capital letters. Students should use their editing and revising checklists.
• Use Revising and Editing Sentence a Day with your small group. Get together on Monday to complete the sentence writing mini-lesson with your group. Then, for the rest of the week, they practice each day using the sentence-a-day student worksheet. Then, you can get back together with your small writing group on Friday. Go over the rubric with your students. Have them write their sentence in the group with you. Edit and revise using the checklist and mark their rubrics. Collect for a grade!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Pin now to save these valuable tips for your next small group writing session!

Happy Teaching,