An Earth Day Writing Activity Your Students Will Want to Share!

This Earth Day, I have the perfect activity for students that want the chance to be authors! Don’t we all remember writing that book that you could send away to the company to get transformed into a “real book”. I had one, and while it didn’t win any Caldecott medals, it sure meant a lot to me. Fast forward to the classroom setting where you are probably low on time but would still like to offer your students a way to create a book while guiding them through story elements they may not have yet mastered. With this low-prep book creation activity, students will be able to get creative and author their own books with an Earth Day theme. This activity can be done individually or you could even pair students up to create their books.

Once the books are assembled (I recommend you assemble the books prior to handing them out to students to ensure the pages are ordered correctly.) students can begin to flex their creative writing skills and decide on a story theme and title. Students will design a front cover for their story to correspond with the theme. Next, they will choose up to 4 characters from the character sheet. The characters are all engaging in activities that go along with the Earth Day theme! This can also help your students to generate ideas about where they want there story to go.

Next, students will select setting from the settings sheet and fill out information about where and when the story takes place. I find that this is the most helpful element of the book creation activity for students that struggle with identifying the setting of a story. This support gives them a visual aid that allows them to see and understand the setting they want for their book. The students will then write the beginning, middle, and end of the story and draw pictures to go with their writing.

The book also includes an "About the Author" page where students can draw themselves and write a few sentences about themselves. When the students have completed their books, they can come together at the carpet to share their stories with their peers. They really love to have the opportunity to read and show off their illustrations and unique stories with their friends.