Summer Descriptive Writing Activities

Product description

From the author

These three activities for grades 3–4 move from an adjective chart to descriptive sentences and a postcard. Students describe seven pictured summer nouns, use those words in sentences, then write and address a postcard and illustrate its back.

The 11-page PDF includes color and black-and-white versions of the noun chart, the sentence and postcard sheets, section covers, three repeated sheets marked “Answers will vary,” and credits and terms. The answer section provides no model responses.

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activity

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Generate several describing words for a pictured concrete noun
Build a complete descriptive sentence from a self-collected word bank
Apply the same summer vocabulary in a personal piece of writing addressed to a real reader

Teaching tips

Run the three sheets in order - the chart states that its words feed the writing activity that follows, and the sentence page tells students explicitly to use the words from the chart they filled in on the previous page
Model one sentence that stacks two or three describing words from the chart before releasing sheet 2, since the directions ask for commas or transition words to join them
Name and date lines on the chart and sentence pages make the pair easy to collect as a short check on describing-word use at the start or end of a summer unit

Skills covered

Describing-word generation - students study the picture of each of the seven summer nouns and write as many describing words as they can in the box beneath it.
Descriptive sentence construction - the second sheet gives a numbered two-line frame per noun and asks for a sentence built from the words collected on the chart.
Writing to a named reader - the postcard is addressed to a friend or family member, must be properly addressed, and is illustrated on the back once written.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

Which summer nouns do students describe?

Seven, each with its own picture and box on the chart: seashell, beachball, fireworks, watermelon, lemonade, crab and sunscreen. The same seven carry through to the numbered sentence frames on the next sheet.

Do the three sheets have to be used in sequence?

They are written to run in order. The chart says the collected words will be used for a writing activity, sheet 2 opens "Using the words from the chart you filled in on the previous page", and the postcard asks students to use nouns and adjectives from that same chart.

What does the postcard task involve besides the writing?

Addressing and illustrating. Students write to a friend or family member about their summer using their chart words, address the postcard on the four ruled lines, then illustrate the back once the writing is finished.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

L.3.1

Core concepts

Adjectives
Descriptive writing
Sentence writing
Summer vocabulary
Postcard writing

Topics

Descriptive writing Summer activities Adjectives Creative storytelling Language arts Summer descriptive words

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Categories this resource belongs to

ELA Activities Writing Activities Creative Writing Activities 2nd Grade Activities 3rd Grade Activities 4th Grade Activities

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