At the start of each school day I give my kids a two minute writing assignment. It is a short and sweet thing to get our day started. Here are some examples (I left the spelling):
"My favorite sport is soccer because I love it and my coach is my butiful, lovely mother."
"My favorite person is God because he loves us and he made this world for us."
"My good wish for your race is: FINISH!"
"The thing that makes me sad is canser because it took my mom's butiful hair and my mom; we can't play with her."
"Something that meas me happy is candy because it's sweet and tasty."
"If I could have one wish it'd be that Mom didn't have cancer, but, I can't, so I'll just settle for mom winning the race, Go Mom!"
"My favorite job is "table" because it's easy and I get to ask "What's for dinner?" without getting in trouble."
"Something that makes me sad is rain, because it's here when the sky is gray and it's wet."
"A good wish for my mom's race is to finish with dignaty"
"Yesterday was great because I had fun with a nerf gun and made a new friend."
"Good wishes for my mom's race is that she will last through the race."
"Something that makes me sad is losing a soccor game. I hat losing; it makes me feel bad and sad and that is my fault."
Golly, I just love my kids!