We begin by writing in our journals, writing a paragraph about what they did in the summer and a paragraph about themselves and their family. I like the idea of a letter to the teacher-might just use that this year.

We have our students write a friendly letter to us. Basically, we learn about the students and can assess their writing skills.

See the attachment.

"I Used to Be, But Now" poetry activity explains itself. It is on page one of the attachment.

"Auto-Bio Poem" is on pages two and three of the attachment. I run these back-to-back. The rules and an example are on page three, and the rough draft sheet is on page two.

"Learning," page four of the attachment, has Judith Viorst's example at the top and a rough draft form at the bottom.

"If I Were in Charge of the World" is on pages five and six of the attachment. I run these back-to-back also.

"Diamonte" poetry can be written any time of the year.

Pages nine, ten, and eleven of the attachment have a form for "Winter Poetry" and a brainstorming form that can be run back-to-back. However, this form and the brainstorming forms work equally well for any season or holiday.

I hope these give you some ideas.

I will officially be starting my first writing unit a couple weeks after school starts. What writing activities/lessons do you typically do during the first 2 weeks of school?