Judith Darling's
Teacher and Homeschool Writing Blog

Introduce writing on the first day of school, whether it is in a home school classroom or in the public classroom.  Students need to know from the onset that they will be expected to write every day.  A good beginning of the year writing assignment would be for students to write something about themselves.  To make the assignment much easier for parents and teachers, I have attached a pdf. The pdf includes the brainstorming sheet and the paragraph organizer

Give the brainstorm sheet to the student and ask them to fill it out.

Next give the student the paragraph organizer to fill out.

Once the students have filled out the paragraph organizer have them write a rough draft and have a peer or parent edit it.

Next have them write their final paper.

If you are teaching a group or class of children, instruct them to not put their name anywhere on the story.  Once each student has completed their final paper, ask them to draw a picture of themselves in the situation they described.  They could also including some clues about themselves and things they are interested in, in the picture.  Example:  Draw a picture of yourself with a soccer ball or baseball glove and bat, or draw yourself in a mall shopping, or with your favorite musical instrument.  Once everyone has turned in their papers with pictures of themselves, hang them up around the room and instruct parents to find their child’s paper from the story they wrote and the picture they drew.

Even if you are teaching one child, ask them to draw a picture of themselves to go with the story including things they are interested in, and then see if family members can remember the event.

Good luck and let me know if the pdf helped. I know this was a favorite assignment with students and parents alike.