Writing Menu Display

The other day, Lory, from Fun For First, made my day when she blogged about my writing menu display. This visual display contains 18 different writing activities for my students to choose from when they are done with their station work. Sometimes, I use it as an actual station.

Lory had an amazing idea to number the posters and then number the baskets where the templates are kept. I immediately sprung into action and did the same thing in my classroom. Here is the final result:

Sorry about the restroom sign! Going to the restroom is NOT one of my writing choices!

Here is where I keep the writing templates.

Posters 16 and 17 are not included in my writing menu product. However, you can purchase the message books separately here. If you have the message books and the writing menu and would like the poster, just send me an email, and I'll send it to you.

If you have my writing menu posters and want to number them, too, you can grab mine by clicking on the image below. I printed them landscape to get the larger numbers on the wall and I printed them portrait to get the smaller numbers for the mailbox slots. I used binder clips to secure them. You can read more about that here.

The children are really enjoying this new system. Thanks for the great idea, Lory!

I have another mailbox system in my classroom. This one has a dual function. My first graders use them as mailboxes and I also use them to hold the writing activities for my kindergartners. When they are finished with their station work, there are tons of exciting writing activities waiting for them in the mailbox. You can check them out here:

I loved Lory's idea so much and saw how organized it kept the templates and how easy it was for the children to find what they wanted, that I decided to do the number system for these activity sheets, as well. For these, though, I have no posters. So, I put an example of each sheet in a binder and numbered the sheets and the corresponding mailbox slot. Now, my students look through the binder, find what they want to do, note the number, and grab their sheet out of the mailbox.

No more searching and searching. No more taking out the wrong sheet and putting it back in the wrong slot. The binder also serves as an example of how each sheet should be completed.

I am really loving this! And, so are my students!
Please note that all the writing templates shown in this blog post have been updated through the years and are even better now!