I’m always excited to introduce and teach new things to my students. As an elementary teacher, I have the responsibility of teaching my first graders how to become great readers and writers. This isn’t always easy to do. Sometimes students are unsure of themselves and their abilities. I truly believe that each and every one of them is capable, they just need to be given encouragement, support, and the right tools. If they know that you believe in them, they will be more likely to try and to succeed!
During "Workshop Time" in my classroom, one of the places students may choose to visit is the "Independent Writing Center". I have the area set up for them and stocked with paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, and other tools they may need. Every few weeks, I try to rotate the writing activities so that students stay interested. One of the easiest ways to get students in your classroom excited about writing is to pull out some stickers! I don't think there's a kid on the planet who doesn't love stickers! Providing them with a fun, hands-on writing activity involving stickers is definitely a great way to keep them engaged. 
I just finished putting together a "Write a Sticker Story" activity for the start of the school year, using various sticker scenes from Oriental Trading. Have you seen these in their resource guide yet? I ordered some Farm and Under the Sea Sticker Scenes, as well as Mini Beach and Mini Camping Sticker Scenes. Students will be working with the mini sticker scenes first and later in the year, when they're able to write more, I'll put out the regular-sized ones for them. My writing area has a really cute blue Classroom Storage Bag Rack and some Classroom Hanging Storage Bags to use with it, that are also available on their site. I use the bags as a way to organize the sticker scenes in my center. They are clear and allow students to see their sticker scenes choices and easily grab what they need. The bags are really a great way to keep the writing station organized and also make it easy for me to swap out the activities in my "Independent Writing Center" or even to transform it to something else, such as a Math Center. 
Setting up the writing area and being organized is a great first step. However, there are other things you'll need to do in order to "train" your students to work successfully and independently at this activity. At the first grade level, this could take a few weeks at the start of a new school year. Modeling for the students is so important. After you've modeled it on a few different occasions, you should move onto some guided practice, even if it's just short trials. Watching them do the activity and providing them with feedback will let them know how they're doing and also what they need to do differently next time. 
You'll notice I have a mini easel with a "Write a Sticker Story" printable sitting on the desk, at the writing station, which is supposed to help walk them through the steps and remember what to do. It's important for students to have visual reminders. You can grab it as a free printable HERE for your own classroom.
- First, they choose the sticker scene they'd like to use, from one of the clear storage bags on the hanging rack.
- Second, they get to make a sticker picture with it, using the "scene" that's included in the sticker scenes package.
- Third, they write their "story" on a piece of lined paper. Depending on the student's ability, this may consist of 1 or 2 sentences that state something about their picture, or it may be an actual story about the picture. I encourage inventive spelling. I also encourage students to look around the room for words they need or even look on their high frequency word lists. My goal here is for them to try and to avoid having them think they can't do it.
- Fourth, I ask the student to draw a picture in the picture box part of their writing paper. When they finish drawing, they may also color their picture using the art supplies at the station.
- Finally, I ask students to check their work before turning it in. I train them from the beginning of the year to check their work and you can also see I have a printed reminder on a clipboard at the station. If they attempt to hand me a paper without their name on it, I just say "Check your work." and they go back and look at the sign to figure out what they're missing. You can get the Check Your Work free printable HERE.
I can't even describe how over the top excited my students are to write now that they have these sticker scenes to choose from! Once again, it's stickers for the win!
