How To Make a Paper Airplane: Functional Writing & Transition Word Activity

When the Spring weather arrives and it gets harder and harder to keep your students motivated in writing, this engaging and interactive writing activity will save the day! Making your own paper airplane from a piece of copy paper is a blast! This activity capitalizes on this high-interest activity and sneaks in some functional writing practice and the use of transition/linking words.

Included in this packet is everything you need (minus the paper) to get this activity off the ground:

- a page of instructions
- 3 pages to record beginning, middle and ending linking words- hang in your class for future reference
- a student sheet to record these words and keep in their writing folders for future reference
- a planning sheet to record the steps and the number in the process
- 2 publishing pages
- student rubric (smiley faces scale)
- teacher rubric (4,3,2,1 scale)

Students will create their own paper airplane and record the steps along the way on their planning page. They will then use the class-created anchor charts and their own version to include linking words to tie this how-to piece together.

When they publish on the included page, you can display their paper airplanes alongside. You can also have them switch with a partner who will follow the directions and compare at the end to see how close they are.

For added fun, take the planes outside at the end and see whose floes the farthest! Loads of fun and days of engagement awaits you in this activity!

This activity aligns with the following 3rd Grade Common Core State Standards:

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2a Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2b Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2c Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more,but) to connect ideas within categories of information.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2d Provide a concluding statement or section.

For more information, check out my blog: 3rd Grade Thoughts

Thanks and enjoy!