Motivate Students to be More Descriptive in Writing Using Magical St. Patrick’s Day Activities

In upper elementary, it becomes important to add a description to writing to engage readers and to add more detail. Some students grasp this concept quickly, and others need a little support. But how do we go about supporting students with being descriptive in writing without boring them? The holidays are a great time to introduce fun concepts and motivate students to write more descriptively.

Instead of giving students a blank piece of paper and instructing them to write about their weekend events, invite them to partake in fun writing prompts that are relevant to the season. When they are excited about the holidays happening, they will add fun details to their writing. Take a look at how you can use St. Patrick’s Day activities to encourage students to descriptive in writing!

Motivate students to be more descriptive in writing using st. patrick's day activities

St. Patrick’s Day Roll and Write Activity

What is Roll and Write?

Roll and write activities are a fantastic way to engage students and to get them thinking critically while they write. Using dice and a planning sheet, students create fun-themed writing pieces. These roll-and-write printables have a space for students to write about the characters, setting, and objects in the story and power words simply by rolling a die.

Then, in the spaces at the bottom of the page, the students map out their story using the elements they rolled. They create a conflict, a climax, and a resolution. The roll and write activities are a simple way to get students thinking about alternate ideas and create an eventful story for readers to enjoy.

Examples of Things Kids Can Roll

For the St. Patrick’s Day activity, students will roll their die to determine the characters, setting, object, and power word. For example, they might roll:

  • Character: a thief
  • Setting: on the playground
  • Object: rainbow
  • Power word: magical

Using those words, they will write their story. They will have so much fun creating stories about leprechauns, rainbows, people in their lives, green objects, and tons more. There’s something so fascinating about seeing what kids come up with when they are given just a few extra words to work with.

See how simple it is to be descriptive in writing by just providing students with a few ideas they may not have thought about themselves?

Get descriptive in writing using st. patrick's day roll and write

Exciting Ways to be Descriptive in Writing

Adding more description to writing takes practice, but it doesn’t have to be boring! There are super fun ways to make all sorts of writing fun. Collect a list of descriptive writing prompts to have on hand for the whole year. When you run out of ideas, this list will save you and spark new ideas to share with your students. There are 60 descriptive writing prompts to keep on hand and students will love using them.

When teaching descriptive writing, remember to discuss figurative language, use mentor texts, and model every chance you get. Students will see you being more descriptive with your writing, and they will add more details as well. This natural progression takes time, but throughout the year, you will notice their confidence growing as they add more details to each writing piece.

Weekly Descriptive Writing Prompts are a great way to practice as well. They give students the opportunity to build on their writing during the week without stressing about finishing the piece the same day. Implement these in your morning routine or during the writing block for extra practice. They’re easy to prep and use all year.

Try the Roll and Write Year-Long Bundle

If you enjoy this St. Patrick’s Day activity during March, use the year-long bundle to encourage your students to be more descriptive in writing. There are activities for

  • Back to school
  • Fall
  • Halloween
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas
  • Winter
  • Valentine’s day
  • St. Patrick’s Day
  • Spring
  • Earth Day
  • End of School
  • Summer

Students will enjoy rolling and writing fun stories in the classroom and sharing them with friends and family! With a little bit of something for every month of the year, their writing will blossom, and they will become descriptive writers in no time.

More St. Patrick’s Day Activities for the Classroom

Besides working on being descriptive in writing, students can work on their multiplication and division skills using these March-themed centers. Print the fun activities and use them in math centers or as morning work games. Kids always love the fun games added during the holidays, and they will adore these just as much.

March fluency math games

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun time of year! Kids love all of the leprechaun tricks and the luck when you wear green. Invite them to be more descriptive in writing using the fun roll and write activities for March, and don’t forget to try the year-long bundle! For extra fun, dive into the math fluency activities as well!

Thanks for reading; I’m so glad you’re here!

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