I’ve written before about our Weekly Writing Challenges here which were inspired by Chris Curits (@Xris32). We love them so much that we now have year 10 doing them and we’re seeing a real improvement in the quality of our students’ written responses.
I thought I’d share this year’s Weekly Writing Challenges for year 7-10 which include a retrieval practice starter which tests students on the ambitious vocabulary they learn as part of their homework. Feel free to use or adapt. Google Drive folder here.
Week One: Describe this room from the perspective of a bee.
Week Two: Budget cuts mean one subject must be cut from the curriculum: pick a subject and write a letter to the minister for education arguing why it should or shouldn’t be cut.
Week Three: Miss Scarlet murdered Mr Black in the library with poisoned ink. Write the final scene of a detective story where this crime is explained.
Week Four: Write an essay on the title: My biggest fear
Week Five: He was timid and moved with caution. Continue describing this character.
Week Six: What is the most important colour in the world and why? Write a persuasive speech.
Week Seven: Write the opening of a story that begins with this sentence: Last Friday began like any other day.
Week Eight: Write the text for a leaflet persuading people to visit Marwell Zoo to see their new animal.
Week Nine: Write a description as suggested by this image.
Week Ten: ‘Spiders are our friends – if left alone, they will consume most of the insects in our homes’. Write a newspaper article arguing for or against this statement.
Week Eleven: Write a story that begins and ends with this sentence: Looking back, I didn’t mean to do it.
Week Twelve: Write a letter to a family member advising them on how to use social media effectively.
Week Thirteen: Write a description from the perspective of an aquatic creature inside an aquarium.
Week Fourteen: Write an essay for the following title: Christmas is the most wasteful time of the year.
Week Fifteen: Write a description as suggested by this image.
Week Sixteen: Write a short story in which a magician, a clown and a mime artist are trapped in a lift together.
Week Seventeen: Write a speech persuading parents that homework should be scrapped.
Week Eighteen: Write a description as suggested by this image.
Week Nineteen: Write a leaflet giving advice to teenagers about staying safe on the internet.
Week Twenty: Write a short story entitle ‘The arrival’.
Week Twenty-One: Write an article arguing for or against this statement.
Week Twenty-Two: Write a description as suggested by this image.
Week Twenty-Three: The most important play/novel/author to study in English is… Write this essay.
Week Twenty-Four: Describe a street at 6am, 3pm and 9pm.
Week Twenty-Five: Write the text for a leaflet persuading others to contribute to a charity of your choice.
Week Twenty-Six: Narrate an unusual day starting from the end of the day.
Week Twenty-Seven: Write a letter to a friend giving them advice about how to make up with someone they’ve fallen out with.
Week Twenty-Eight: Write a story about an unusual journey to school.
Week Twenty-Nine: Write an article for a newspaper arguing for or against this statement.
Week Thirty: Write a description as suggested by this image.
Week Thirty-One: Bringing my pet(s) to school would help me to achieve more. Write this essay.
Week Thirty-Two: Write a scary story set in a children’s soft play centre.
Week Thirty-Three: You are the manager of a sports team (any sport) and you are losing at half time. You have to deliver a speech which is good enough to motivate your team to go out and win the match.
Week Thirty-Four: Write a description from the perspective of one of these statues.
Week Thirty-Five: A cartoon character has died (you pick one). Write a speech for a school assembly commemorating them.
Week Thirty-Six: Write the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of the wolf.
Week Thirty-Seven: Write a letter to Wiltshire County Council persuading them to increase funding for activities for young people.
Week Thirty-Nine:
The Learning Profession 
How do I get these?
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There’s a link in the post to the Google Drive.
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These are fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing. How do you use these in class? Do you always mark these pieces too? We’re looking at ways to reduce marking workload at the moment so looking for new ideas! Thanks again.
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No we don’t mark everything students do. We regularly look at books and give feedback (see my feedback post). I think English teachers have avoided regular writing because of this very reason. Feedback is important but regular practise is key and our girls’ writing is really coming on.
In class we have 5 mins for the vocab test and then the teacher will talk through the challenge and model anything that needs modelling or show an example e.g. of anaphora. Students will then have 5 mins to plan and 25 mins to write a response. Following this there’s peer and/or self assessment before we share a couple with the class.
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They are great! Thanks so much for sharing! Do you have them stick to the 200 word limit?
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Hi Colin – thank you. We don’t give a word limit/target – we’d just rather they wrote something well crafted. We do set a time limit, though, of 5 minutes to plan and 25 minutes to write/proof.
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Wonderful!
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