Elijah has been struggling with writing more than a few sentences each day, and I really want to boost his handwriting endurance and confidence.
Today we tried a game, Roll to Write. Idea adapted from Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing book.
To play you need:
- two pencils
- paper
- a die (or two)
- some titles (see printable file below)
How to Play:
Randomly select a title (draw one out of a bowl). Elijah chose "Chocolate for Lunch." Start the game by rolling the die and writing the corresponding number of words on the paper. If you roll six, write six words. Then the next player rolls the die and adds the corresponding number of words to continue the story. Do not write more or less than what the die says. Try to finish the story up as you run out of room to write.
This was so much fun! Even though Elijah doesn't like to push his pencil, he didn't complain about writing (not ONE time). We laughed a lot. I also had the opportunity to explain when and why to add end punctuation.
Our Roll-to-Write Story
Chocolate for Lunch
One day I thought I should have chocolate for lunch. I started out with a fat Hershey bar. Next, I ate a chocolate bunny. I also gobbled brownies with chocolate ice cream and delicious hot fudge sauce. For dessert I had chocolate covered pretzels. The next day I was feeling icky. I went to the dentist. He was not happy with me! The End
Oh my goodness, what a fun game! Hannah would LOVE this!! Gotta try it!! 🙂 THANKS!!
Great idea Ami! We made a file folder game that has sentence parts. Inside are 5 pockets:
– who or what? (nouns)
– when?
– where?
– did what? (verbs)
– describing words (adjectives/adverbs)
In each pocket are word or phrase strips like your titles. (I color coded each pocket and set of strips so it can all get jumbled and sorted easily). Draw one slip from each pocket and make it into a sentence. I would have my DD make 5 sentences and write them down.
🙂
Love it! I am gonna try that tomorrow!
That is a neat idea! My dd6 will love it, actually I think both dd will! Thanks for sharing
Parker would love this. And, I too have this book on my shelf (though not for the past five years given that Parker is only five!).
And thanks for the tip about e-mailing Mark Shasha – on our to-list for tomorrow 🙂
You are a great mom. You made something otherwise a chore (to E) FUN through the game element. Plus it was silly. Also YOU did it with him, engaging alongside rather than giving an assignment to do solo.
AND it’s very controlled and bite sized — no more than six words at a time. Super easy, but it’s writing! So your plan worked!
Just wanted to thank you. You are so inspring and have such great ideas. Love your blog.
What a great idea! I have a reluctant writer, I’m definitely giving this a go. Actually I eventhink I have that book, off to check my shelves now. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
We just tried it! He did great! I blogged about it!
Ami, I love this idea! Thanks for sharing it!
I love your ideas. Thank you for sharing about Peggy Kaye, her books look amazing.
This is a great idea. At first I thought it was copywork from the book that is chosen but they are self-written stories, just so many words at once. I really like this idea and plan to use it as well.
Thanks for sharing!
Carol of SchoolinR’Home
thesese are really adorable ideas. In reference to working through writing i was unable to access the fonts you used for your lists. when i clicked all that came up was a blank page with the word done at the bottom. Do you know why? thanks fran in nc
Hi Fran,
I’m not sure what the problem might be. The pdf is opening for me. Do you have Adobe Acrobat Reader?
Thanks 🙂 Ami