End Of Year Writing Idea

Are you looking for a class writing project for the last few weeks of school?

I have the perfect mentor text and writing project for you!

The mentor text:

What Do You Do To Celebrate?, written by Ashleigh Barton and illustrated by Martina Heiduczek, is a poem that looks at the different ways people around the world celebrate around Christmas and the New Year. Each page introduces a new person and shares an activity they do to celebrate.

It includes celebrations from Australia, Venezuela, New Zealand, Syria, Greece, the Bahamas, America, Cape Town, and China. 

In addition to the poems, a short informative summary of each person, their background and their celebration is provided at the end of the book. 

The writing project:

Read the mentor text to your students and then use it as inspiration for your class to write their own version of the book:

How does each person in your class celebrate around Christmas / New Year’s?

The process:

Share a story about something you celebrate at the end of the year. Explain what you do to celebrate and then ask your students to Turn and Talk to share their own celebration stories.

Examine a few of the poems in the book closely to create possible scaffolds for your students' poems. 

E.g.:

Yonatan strolls in the snow, 

to see Old City windows glow.

He lights a candle for eight nights straight

and eats fried treats to celebrate.

This poem introduces the person's name first and then explains what they do to celebrate.

The syllable pattern is 7, 8, 9, 8.

The rhyming pattern is A,A,B,B. (Meaning the first and second line rhyme and the 3rd and 4th line rhyme, but the rhyme is different in the 2 sets.)

Model how you use one of these examined models to create a 4-line poem about your celebration.

E.g.:

Riss examines all the trays,

There's enough food to eat for days!

She yanks a bonbon and finds a toy,

Then shares the joke- oh such joy!

Support your students to create their own individual 4-line poem, sharing who they are and how/what they celebrate. Tip: use a rhyming dictionary such as Rhyme Zone to help find potential rhyming words. 

Follow this poetry writing up with explanation writing.

Model how you draft a one-paragraph explanation about your celebration to provide extra information to your reader. Use the mentor text to find examples of these paragraphs. 

E.g.:

Riss gathers with her family to eat a large buffet of food on Christmas day each year. They celebrate at a different family member's house each year and enjoy eating roast ham, chicken and pork, as well as roast potatoes, pumpkin and carrots. The main meal is quickly followed by the most popular course of the day: dessert! The 'famous' Christmas trifle is quickly devoured first, followed by favourites such as pavlova, mousse and cheesecake. Once the eating is over, the family usually engages in a game of dangerously-competitive backyard cricket.

Once students have created their poems and their explanations, they should create an illustrated 'good copy' to be included in the class book.

P.S The author of this mentor text has a whole series of similar books. Each of these could be used for a similar writing project:

• How do you say hello?
• How do you say I love you?
• What do you call your grandpa?
• What do you call your grandma?
• What do you call your dad?

Related Blog Posts:

• How To Teach 'Show, Don't Tell' In Writing (Part 1)
• How To Improve Your Writing In 2 Minutes A Day
• What Are Mentor Texts?