Writing About a Picture

I purchased Tara West's (Little Minds at Work) Early Finisher pack back in December.  I've used a few things here and there, but I today I was going through it again and saw these little story starter pictures.  I decided to throw one out this morning and see how it went.

I was pretty impressed for their first time.  I put this out for morning work.  Typically morning work is what students work on after they eat their breakfast (they eat breakfast in the classroom).  It is usually a worksheet to review a skill we've been working on.  I have been looking for more ways to get my kids writing throughout the day and this seemed like something my kiddos could try.

This week we've been learning about spring and the signs that spring is coming.

The bird laid eggs.  Then they hatched.  

A bird lays eggs.  Birds can fly.  The chick is in the egg.

I see a bird.  She was laying egg in her nest.  And they watch it. (She would also like everyone to know that she made the bird a robin and that she named it after my student teacher :) ). 

A couple kiddos went onto the back of the paper; one even started with "once upon a time..." and made up a story about the bird.  The pictures you see are some of my better writers.  As you can see, conventions are not necessarily their forte, but we are working on it.  Pretty proud of their work today!

How do you keep writing interesting in your room?  I'd love to hear some new ways to incorporate writing and keep it interesting in my room!