I don't always believe that writing prompts that come out of nowhere can always help our kids gain stronger writing skills. But, I do believe that high interest books can prompt kids to want to write! I've frequently written about books and the writing prompts I've given as a homeschool mom and co-op teacher. Here are the things I've written about on my blog. Many of these ideas have printables included. Others simply discuss great books and how writers can learn from a concept therein.
These prompts are for little kids who are just starting out writing. They may want to put their own words into sentence frames, but sometimes they will need adult assistance with the writing. These are basic writing ideas and prompts, but they could be lots of fun.
Because these writing ideas are a little bit more complex, it may require a planning step before the kids write down their final draft. Or, maybe these writing ideas deal with slightly more complicated figurative language or language concepts. At any rate, these have been fun for my kids in the second and third grades.
Even upper elementary kids love to practice writing with picture books!
The first two years of my homeschooling career, I taught an elementary level writing class at my son's co-op. Here are the essentials I needed for our writing center so the kids had the freedom to brainstorm, write, and/or even edit their writing.
I hope these writing prompts and lessons help make writing a bit more approachable for you as a teacher or homeschooling parent!
I’m always excited to find picture books that would work well as writing prompts for elementary school kids, so I was extra excited to find Ten-Word Tiny Tales: To Inspire and Unsettle by Joseph Coelho (Candlewick, 2023). This new volume has stories that are each, as the title suggests, just ten-words long. With a variety of illustrators
Read MoreA fantastic 60-page picture book geared for middle school students (The One Thing You’d Save) can mentor your students in in the writing concepts of ideas, voice, a new type of poetry, and even more. Just like in the book, an open discussion can help students recognize the impact of these good writing traits. Further,
Read MoreThe students in my co-op writing class (who are in first to fourth grade) really struggle with starting a story. For the most part, every story starts with “Once there was….” and goes from there. “Once upon a time…” is a close second. It is a challenge to get them to think outside of the
Read MoreWith Thanksgiving coming, it’s time to reflect on what it means to us personally, as well as the context in which we traditional celebrate the holiday. For my older students in my homeschool writing co-op, I found writing about history is a nice way to approach it. Why Read and Write about Thanksgiving? When it’s
Read MoreTo encourage my children to write more often, I’ve tried to make sure I have a writing center easily accessible to them in our school room (which is also our playroom). As we make writing a fun part of our days, my children get handwriting practice as well as practice writing from their own creativity
Read MoreWe created our own mail center in our schoolroom and play room because my kids love getting the mail. They love to send letters to friends, teachers, and grandparents. They love to send and receive mail. I made some monster post cards to help us practice writing, addressing, and sending mail. Of course, these aren’t
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