How to Make Writing Fun with Secret Student Writing Activities

There are so many different ways to incorporate writing into your curriculum. Writing reports and learning the mechanics of writing are important, but what really helps students get engaged and invested in writing is making it FUN! One way I love to make writing exciting is by using secret student writing.  And as a bonus- these activities also build your classroom community as well!  With different secret student writing options for holidays and seasons, you’ll love learning how to make writing fun with secret student writing.

Make writing fun by starting with story time.

Each secret student writing resource comes with an original story to introduce the activity. Let your students get comfortable and share the story before you get to the next step of assigning their secret student!

Add the element of surprise!

So much of the school day is planned for the sake of getting through standards and curriculum. Secret student writing brings in the element of surprise. To start, each student will be a “Secret Student” to an assigned classmate. Their goal will be to write to their assigned student using the writing prompts you as a teacher will provide (or, if you use my secret student writing bundle, they will already be written for you!)

The surprise comes that the students will not know who is writing them letters. Each prompt focuses on kindness, which means good feelings and fun! While your students are having a blast writing, you’ll stay organized with the recording sheets and bundle materials that auto-fill with student names!

Make it a game.

When you introduce secret student writing, share it as a game with your students. Even for reluctant writers, writing made into a game can be a lot of fun! After emphasizing the secrecy an element of surprise, let your students know that they will get a chance to guess who their secret student writer is at the end of the unit. Although it’s not a required part of the prompts, you could encourage your students to give small clues throughout the unit to help their secret student recipient get to know them a little bit better and make it more like a game.

Color and create!

Each secret student writing activity comes with black and white and color versions of the writing prompt pages. Let your students color and decorate the pages to bring in art and creativity. Elementary students definitely love to color, and it makes writing seem less intimidating for students who struggle.

Throw a reveal party.

Secret student writing can be fun from day one. From the story you’ll share with your class to the elements of surprise and sweet writing prompts, your students will definitely be engaged. Tell them from the beginning, however, that the end of the unit will culminate with a party! The reveal party brings everything together!

For the back to school activity, have students create intro posters for each other!

For October-April, students will play a fun guessing game at the end of the unit by asking yes or no questions to each other until they guess who the person is using reveal cards (included with instructions in each unit!)

And for the end of the year, have the students create awards for each other for an end of the year award ceremony.

You may consider having snacks and games after the reveal. Invite parents as helpers and watch your students get excited to do another secret student writing unit! You can even do this using the editable parent letter included within each secret student writing unit.

The Secret Student Year-Long Bundle Makes Writing Fun!

The secret student writing activities year-long bundle includes the activities for Back to School, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and End of the Year. Enjoy secret student writing all year long with these fun activities!

You can also purchase individual units if you want to just try one to start. The Secret Student units are available below, or in my Teachers pay Teachers store.

If you try one of these activities in your classroom, I’d love to hear all about how it helped make writing fun in your classroom!

Not only do these activities help make writing fun, but they truly make a difference in building your classroom community. To read more about how they do this and experiences other teachers have had, read the post below.