Summer 2020 is now upon us after the conclusion of online school. Many kids are probably ready for summer break and would like to forget the thought of school. However, there is no better time than now to prevent the summer slide that is predestined for students. Writing workshops help students practice using their new skills throughout the summer.
Oxford Learning found the average student to re-learn past year’s school material for six weeks beginning the new school year (Oxford). Here are some entertaining and essential activities parents can give their children to strengthen their writing skills over the summer.
Summer Writing Workshop Activities
Writing Prompts For Middle School Students
Doing your own writing workshop at home over the summer ensures your student keeps their writing skills sharp.
- Parents can have their children write about their favorite memories of summer vacation. This would include writing one or more paragraphs starting with the overall topic. Then a child could list out 4 or 5 examples such as to why this was their favorite summer memory. Of course, then this evidence should be put into supporting sentences by your child. A one or two paragraph paper can be fun and good learning for children at the same time.
- Students can also write in a journal throughout the summer, writing about their everyday experiences. This is a great middle school writing prompt for students, and also highschoolers. Journals are a fantastic idea, no matter the age of the student. Also, a child could take their journal and write a paragraph highlighting their favorite activities.
Writing Prompts For Younger students
Support your elementary or middle school student with these writing workshop activities you can do from home.
Write about their favorite superhero and support their reasoning with facts from their movies.
- In this paper younger students could start with a topic sentence, then add three sentences based on these three reasons and a conclusion sentence. The total length would be one paragraph, increasing the student’s knowledge of paragraph structure.
Favorite Meal Description Writing Prompt
- Younger students can sharpen the vocabulary and practice using adjectives to describe their favorite meal. They could first describe the image of the meal, the smell, the sound, the texture, and the taste (example: The scarlet, crisp, juicy, and crunchy apple tastes sweet on my tongue.) Then they can put those descriptions into sentences to support the topic sentence in a paragraph.
Write about their dream job and what their hypothetical life would be like if they had that job.
- This writing prompt, entertaining and effective exercise, younger students can practice their sentence structure, vocabulary, volume writing, and descriptive language skills. To further develop your children’s writing skills, students could write a two-paragraph story with a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a conclusion sentence, for each paragraph.
“Would You Rather” Writing Activity
- Playing the game “Would You Rather” with your child, ask them what option they would choose, and then have them write a few sentences on why they chose that option. They could also explain why you should pick that choice as well. Through the “Would You Rather” writing activity younger students can practice persuasive writing while enjoying the process.
Writing Prompts For High School Students
In high school, students must write more advanced papers, and prepare for admission to college. These more advanced writing workshop activities help your student hone their skills and keep them sharp over the summer.
- Persuasive and Narrative writing skills
Older students can work on their persuasive and narrative writing skills, by writing their version to the end of a movie, and why their version would be more accurate and superior to the real movie’s ending. Parents can ask their children to back up their persuasion with evidence from the movie, to further help their persuasive writing. These are essential skills that writing prompts of high school students help students to practice.
- Informative writing skills
Students can work on their informative writing skills, by writing an informal informative paper on one of their favorite hobbies. Parents can have their children pick a hobby they like and inform them of the benefits of their hobby, backing it up with evidence.
- Compare and Contrast Writing
Older students can work on their synthesis writing skills, by writing a paper about their favorite summer vacation and least favorite summer vacation. They can compare the similarities of the two, while also finding the differences of why one was superior to the other. This engaging activity can help your children learn to accurately put together two stories in one paper, strengthening their synthesis writing skills.
- Point of View Writing
Students can practice their point of view writing skills while using their favorite movie characters. For instance, students can write about a favorite movie. This includes writing from the point of view of the protagonist, the antagonist, and then the spectators. Not only does this fun activity provide students with high volume writing, but it also helps them learn the difference between writing in first, second, and third-person point of view. This activity can improve students’ knowledge of how they will later phrase their writing. (Who is my audience and what point of view do I need to right in to best reach my audience?)
There are many great activities kids can do this summer to strengthen their writing for the upcoming school year. Summer slide can easily be avoided by practicing educational skills throughout the summer. These 10 writing exercises can be practiced by students of all ages, providing a great variety of necessary skills for the upcoming school year.
