LitLinks: 4 easy steps to half birthday writing prompts for a whole lot of fun

GUEST BLOGGER ERIN DEALEY

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It’s Half Birthday time! Actually, every day is someone’s Half Birthday, right? And if you or some of your students have birthdays on any major holidays, a Half Birthday is a way to celebrate just them, or YOU. And we can’t forget the students with summer birthdays, which means wonderful teachers (like you) celebrate their Half Birthdays, so they don’t feel left out.

Fun fact: I wrote THE HALF BIRTHDAY BOOK (Illus. Germán Blanco /Genius Cat Books) on the suggestion of a school VP who had searched for a book about Half Birthdays and couldn’t find one. It was fun coming up with lots of silly half-ways to celebrate.

Since then, I’ve had teachers tell me they also use THE HALF BIRTHDAY BOOK as an introduction to fractions: halves and wholes. But what if we take it one step further—with a fun, easy LitLinks activity?

The HALF-writing prompt = A WHOLE lot of fun!

Note: The following can be presented in four easy mini-lessons (each step as a mini-lesson) or as a whole writing activity or journal prompt.

Step 1: What do you see?

Materials: 1 glass, filled to the half-way mark with liquid.

Ask students to look at the glass in the picture provided or, better yet, hold up a glass you have filled half-way.

Ask students: “Would you say this glass is half -full or half-empty?”

Follow up questions:

• What’s the difference between half-full and half-empty?
• Some say one is a more positive perspective than the other. Which do you think that is? Why?

Step 2: Pre-writing + discussion

Materials: whiteboard, with the following three phrases written on it.

1. I have half a mind to________________________.
2. If given half a chance________________________.
3. Half the fun is______________________________.

Ask students (in small groups or individually): How would you finish these half-phrases?

Next, ask students what the following phrases mean.

1. There’s no point in doing things by halves.
2. Six of one, half-dozen of another.
3. A problem shared is a problem halved.
4. I’m not half the man I used to be. (lyrics from The Beatles)

Step 3: Get creative!

Materials: writing utensil and notebook or paper, or Chromebook – whatever your class uses.for in-class writing

• Using one or more of the phrases from Step 2 & 3, ask students to write a silly story. Perhaps, stories can take place at half birthday parties with the Half Birthday Buddies: Big, Best, Blinger and Bright. Draw some pictures to go with it.
• Write the story as a page from a graphic novel or a comic strip.
• Write a joke that uses one of the phrases from Step 2 or 3 as the punchline.

Step 4: Share student writing

All of the usual sharing methods apply here, of course. If your students wrote jokes, consider a Stand-up Comedy Hour where they practice their joke and tell it to the class. In addition, you are also cordially invited to send your students’ writing to me at erin@erindealey.com and I will post it as a Classroom Takeover on my blog. It’s fun and easy. Here’s a sample takeover.

Featured image credit:

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Erin Dealey is a former classroom teacher turned blogger, playwright, and author of 16 children’s books (so far). Dealey’s original career goal was Olympic Gold Medal tetherball player. When that didn’t pan out, she became a teacher, theater director, actor, mom, and author.She lives in northern California with her husband and welcomes any opportunity to visit schools around the world. You can find her online at erindealey.com and on Twitter @ErinDealey & Instagram @ErinDealey.

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