Christmas Trees For Sale!

Christmas Trees for Sale! This creative writing activity is one of my favorites. The kids imagine a special and magical Christmas tree that they will try to get others to buy. They have to describe what is unique about their tree and how much they would charge for it. The tree ideas this year were very imaginative! We had a Rock and Roll Tree, a Candy Cane Making Tree, a Drilling Tree (to drill holes in your yard), a Decorating Tree that decorates the house for Christmas, a Wishing Tree that grants wishes, an Elf Tree (comes with FREE elves!), a Flying and Disappearing Tree, and even a Protecting Tree (tells on those bad guys trying to take the presents!). Most of the first graders charged about a dollar for their trees, while some were $28.99. One tree was pretty expensive--9 trillion dollars!

The Imagination Station

The imagination station. I think the name says it all, but it could also be named the inspiration station. This is the place in our room where children become authors and illustrators. Stories come to life, and favorite books we have read together inspire my students to create their own characters and new stories. I like to think they become "little imagineers"! I had two little boys a few years ago who loved to sit and make up their own non-fiction books together. They seriously blew me away with the things they wrote! Usually the first page would begin with a serious, yet simple introduction like, "Sharks are dangerous. Stay away from them." Or, "Fires are dangerous. Stay away from them." Everything was dangerous. But the pages following the introduction would be full of charts, diagrams, labeled drawings, timelines, and interesting facts they had learned about volcanoes, tornadoes, snakes, bears...you know, all the dangerous things! I really wish I had kept some of their books. They loved to share everyday, and the other kids in the class really looked forward to hearing what else was dangerous! It was amazing though--their excitement and enjoyment for writing got the other kids excited too!


I added the chalkboard and bird tree mural to the inspiration station this year, but I am still on the hunt for a larger writing table! The two blue boxes on top of the table are the "author's toolbox" and "illustrator's toolbox".