Teacher’s Brain

Stop Motion Animation Activities To Encourage A Love of Creative Writing

One of the most universally loved things right now is Disney movies. Frozen, Luca, Encanto… parents and kids alike love these movies. Which makes sense! The animation capabilities of these Disney creators are incredibly impressive. 

Since it is something students love so much, naturally, I tried to think of ways to make it educational so they can enjoy it in the classroom as well. I found that stop-motion animation is a great introduction to animated movies and the enormous amount of skill, creativity, dedication, and art that goes into each movie. 

It all starts with a good story! I found this way of approaching narrative, creative writing to be an extremely effective way to hook students into the concept because they want to create their own masterpieces. 

With that in mind, I created a winter resource that will teach students about animation from a REAL Disney animator. How cool is that?! 

This Stop Motion Animation Creative Writing three week unit is jam-packed with activities to get your students fully engaged in the creative process. 

stop motion animation

The focus of this resource is creative narrative writing through the integration of beginning animation concepts. The real Disney animator will get your students inspired and get those creative juices flowing. 

The Animator Spotlight and Animator Interview will teach students everything they need to know to complete an animator study report. 

stop motion animation

Teaching students about short animation will help them better understand sequencing events and how to make their own creative endings. After that, students can use the printables provided to design their own book covers! 

You’ll get everything you need with this resource. This includes lined paper along with writing toppers to make displaying your students’ work in your classroom easy and cute. 

stop motion animation

In addition to these activities, you’ll also get narrative writing choice boards, narrative lead ideas, creative writing story elements, a snowman flip book, and so much more. Furthermore, the stop motion animation directions will teach you how to create an animation with your students easily with tools you already have. 

I included lots of extras with this resource for centers like the snowman drawing instructions and comprehension checks. 

Interested in learning more? Check out my video here! 

Looking for more winter activities? Check out these Winter Olympics activities!stop motion animation

 


 

The Best Winter Olympics Activities For Elementary Students

The 2022 Winter Olympics are right around the corner! They will be taking place this year from February 4th to February 20th, 2022 in Beijing. I have always loved the Olympics and teaching about them when I was in the classroom because it is a time when the whole world comes together to celebrate and watch the world’s greatest athletes in awe.

Given that it only happens every 4 years, it is a pretty momentous occasion. This makes it a great teaching point in the classroom. You can tie so many subjects in with your Olympics lessons. History, social studies, geography, STEM, science, and more! 

I created these Winter Olympics Activities to use during the winter games to compliment my lessons about the Olympics. 

winter Olympics 2022

It covers multiple subjects like math, science, writing, history, and it even has some fun crafts included! 

These activities were created with early elementary students in mind so they’re ideal for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd-grade students. They’ll learn about winter sports, traditions, and symbols as they complete these engaging activities. 

Winter Olympics

The Winter Sports Interactive Notebook is included for some extra educational fun. Other activities include Shadow Puppets of Winter Games, Winter Sports mini-book, The History of the Flame, Medal printables, and so much more. There are even instructions for making fake snow! 

Another resource that would be perfect for teaching about the Winter Olympics is one of my NEW resources, Winter Olympics STEM Challenge! 

Winter Olympics magnetic skater activity

This magnetic ice skating challenge is perfect for helping those younger students learn about ice skating, skates, magnets, number patterns, force, and motion while designing a magnetic ice skater that follows number patterns around a rink.

a sample of the magnetic ice skater activity

This activity comes with 3-day plans where students will sort magnetic objects, read the ice skating reading and comprehension questions, design their own magnetic skater, and reflect on their project. It also comes with writing paper and other printables you need to complete the activities. 

a photo of the Winter Olympics Magnetic Skater Activity

I hope your students love these Winter Olympics activities. They offer a variety of options that you can use throughout the duration of the Winter Olympics or while studying sports so that you can bring the festive excitement into your classroom. 

How will you be teaching about the Winter Olympics in your classroom? Let me know in the comments! 

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Writing Prompts For Every Day Of The Year

One of the most important things we teach in elementary school is reading and writing. These skills provide so many valuable benefits for students. Being able to express yourself, your thoughts, and your ideas is a great way to share and communicate. 

writing prompts

These skills will continue to be important as they write resumes, emails, cover letters, articles, or whatever else their future careers require of them. Developing these skills early is crucial to success. 

Writing takes practice, and a lot of it. Our younger students aren’t necessarily naturals at telling stories. It is up to us to teach them about a beginning, middle, and end. We must also remember to teach them the importance of adding details to their writing for better reader comprehension. 

With lots of practice and direction, students will eventually become great writers, readers, and better communicators. 

When I was in the classroom, I made time for writing every day, no matter what! It was important to me that my students got ample time to practice and hone those writing skills. It was amazing to see the progress they have made with their writing skills at the end of the year! 

To keep writing exciting, I provided fun and creative prompts for them. Having something different every day would spark their imagination, creativity, and keep them from getting bored with it. 

This lead me to create these writing prompts for every day of the year. 

You read that right- every day! 365 writing prompts so you can always add variety into your writing time. These writing prompts are themed to go along with the month so you’ll get some Halloween and Christmas writing prompts too. 

writing prompts

Each month comes with a journal cover that students can color and make their own. Each journal has a rubric, self-checking list at the bottom of each prompt, a word bank, along with the decorative cover. Just print and staple!

 You can use them as quick writes or add a second page of extra lines in between each prompt to encourage more writing. One of the student’s favorite activities with these writing prompts is when I asked for volunteers to read their writing to the whole class. I only picked a couple a day because of time, but it is what motivated them to become better writers. They knew someone might hear their words. It gave their writing meaning.

writing prompts

There is a themed word bank in front of the journal with room for students to add their own words. This allows them to feel ownership when they get to add their own words. I would also have students use the Self Check off at the bottom of each page to remind them of their writing expectations. Then, I asked them to each take a green crayon to highlight their capital letters, and a red crayon to highlight their punctuation.

Happy Writing!