Lesson Plan 1: Tuck a Topic in Your Pocket

Tuck a Topic in Your Pocket 

Level: Emergent, early, adaptable to developing and fluent

Trait: Generating ideas for writing and saving some for another day 

How many times have you heard these sentences: "but I dont know what to write about" , " I can't think of anything to write about", "I already wrote about that" ?

Here is the solution! 

This lesson plan encourages the students to choose one topic a day to write about and save other topics for another day. You will never hear the sentence, "but I have nothing to write about" ever again!

1. Provide each student with an envelope to paste in their writing books; this is their "pocket" to tuck away good topics. It is important to allow students to include pictures, jotted notes, prewriting plans etc. Give the students options!

2. Model, Model, Model! Gather the students on the carpet and demonstrate/talk about what topics you want to write about. Get the students thinking, you can also implement "talk partners" to get the students thinking, talking and sharing. 

3. Get the students thinking by giving each student a piece of paper with four boxes. Then get them to think about a person who is very important to them. After think time, show them how you would draw a picture, with enough details that you will remember what it is about. Then provide time for students to draw their own picture.

4. Continue the same process for:

• a special place they like to go
• particular food they love to eat
• something they like to do

5. After, choose a topic and show the students how you would draw a picture of the topic and add some writing.

6. Get the students to choose a topic,then draw and write about it. The rest of the topics can be "tucked away" for another day! 

This lesson creates the foundation for generating ideas, picking one topic to write about and tucking away the rest for another day. It will also get the students excited to think about possible topics. By choosing topics that they are interested in, students will become more engaged with their writing.