As part of the daily writing challenge I offer my students I usually add a fun fact about the day to inspire them. For example, March 18 is National Awkward Moments Day, and as we all can probably attest, awkward moments make good writing topics. March 24? Harry Houdini's birthday, and a possible writing topic was a time someone escaped from something. Students are not limited to these prompts by any means, but the suggestion can throw a lifeline to a young writer without a ready idea.
Sometimes I tie the extra, fun challenge to the day, or have our warm-up question relate to it somehow. Any of these activities might also have ties to the mentor text we may be using or the brain break in the middle of our block, as well. I do my best to keep things fun and relevant.
As I was planning the lesson for today, though, all the pieces really fell into place. In case you weren't aware, March 31 is National Tater Day. Before I even knew about that, the model text I planned to share was Potato Pants. Of course the question of the day had to be What's your favorite way to eat potatoes? and the extra challenge? Do the Mashed Potato (video instructions and music provided).
The spud-themed day was a hit, full of spirited debate about fries vs tots, laughter at the antics of the main character in Potato Pants, and toe twisting to the 1962 classic by Dee Dee Sharp. (We also got some writing done!)
Even so, the kids had a couple of ideas to make the day even better. "We should eat potato chips!" suggested one.
"And our brain break should be to play Hot Potato!" added another.
"Yes and yes!" I said.
Thank goodness National Tater Day comes every year!
Three big cheers for Potato Pants!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of potatoes, so I could have used this lifeline. Isn't it wild to see that chatter and writing can co-exist? It surpasses my expectations every time.
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