Choices, choices!

Hi all!  It's me!  Hilary from Second Grade is Out of This World.  Today I wanted to talk about one of the things that I have found to be the biggest motivator for my students:  Give them a choice.  Now, I know that there are times when you CAN'T give your students choices.  But, I always try to think about when I can.

Some basic choices that my kiddos can make are: their partners, where they sit to do their work, where and what to read and most of the time where and what to write.

Now, I know that the kiddos need to be able to write to a prompt for the all important TEST, so I do writing prompts in my class.  This is another area where I can give my kiddos a choice!  I use Pick a Prompt!  These are a fun way to have the students write to a prompt, but it gives them some fun options.  They choose one (or more) items from each category and write!  No more "I don't know what to write about!" 

This was written by one of my kiddos who is in the "I don't know what to write about crew!"
He usually writes one to two sentences at the most!  Hurrah!

 These are also perfect to have in your writing center or to leave for a substitute!  If you would like to try them in your classroom here is a free sample!

I love teaching writing in my classroom and blog about it often!  You can find me here: Second Grade is Out of This World!