personal narrative writing kindergarten

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Moffatt Girls

Hands-on learning made fun

July 11, 2020

Kindergarten Writing: Personal Narrative

Teaching writing in kindergarten can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. In fact, this is the biggest struggle for many teachers in my private Facebook group. While we are talking about this struggle, let’s be honest: not all kids love to write. In like manner, children can struggle too! This is exactly why I have created the Kindergarten Writing Bundle! This easy to use curriculum has EVERYTHING you need to make writing successful in your classroom or homeschool! Simply put, my desire is for kids to learn to LOVE writing because they feel successful at it!

Fortunately, I think this curriculum hits the spot! I am SO excited to share this Kindergarten Writing Curriculum with you!

Kindergarten Writing Curriculum Scope:

There are a total of 7 units included in this comprehensive writing curriculum:

• Unit 1: Personal Narrative: Sharing My Story
• Unit 2: Non-Realistic Fiction: Using our Imagination
• Unit 3: Writing to Teach and Inform: How-to-Books
• Unit 4: Poetry: Exploring Poetry
• Unit 5: Realistic-Fiction: Writing Interesting Stories
• Unit 6: Opinion and Persuasive Writing: Changing the World
• Unit 7: Non-Fiction Chapter Books: Creating a Chapter Book

Let’s take a look at Unit 1 in the Kindergarten Writing Curriculum!

Teaching writing in Kindergarten can be one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences! They change and grow so much, even in the first weeks of school! Before you know it, you will see your students begin to blossom and grow as writers!

This Kindergarten Writing Curriculum uses a Writers Workshop type model. This means that there will be a mini-lesson, status updates (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, evaluating, or publishing), writing, and sharing! Don’t worry… I have you covered on how to effectively implement this curriculum in your classroom!

So when do you start teaching writing in Kindergarten? Good question! Right away! You can get this curriculum up and running during the first or second week of school! Luckily, you don’t need to wait until students know a certain number or sight words or letters. During Unit 1, we are not expecting them to write sentences….yet! Instead, in Unit 1 we will help students understand that their drawings/illustrations tell a story. Consider all of the wordless picture books you have “read.” You can certainly understand the storyline in those books. Allowing students to draw pictures and orally tell their story will show them that they too are authors!

*Side note: If you are looking for fun ways to teach the alphabet, click here . For fun phonics activities, click here .

What is Included In Unit 1: Personal Narrative?

• 22 Detailed Lesson Plans
• Suggested Schedule for (60, 45, and 30 minute blocks)
• Tips for Getting Started
• Curriculum Scope and Unit Scopes
• Developmental Writing Stages Chart
• Mentor Text Guides
• Conferencing Guides, Planners, and Trackers
• Assessments Guides
• Writing Templates
• Publishing Party Guide and Templates
• Writing Posters
• Personal Word Wall
• Writer’s Checklist
• Personal Narrative Writing Idea Charts
• The Writing Process Poster
• Young Author Award Certificate

Let’s start with the Lesson Plans!

These easy-to-follow lesson plans set you up for success. They are broken up into 6 simple parts:

Focus-  The skill, strategy, or idea students will be focusing on this lesson. 

Warm Up-  A quick activity that has students review and practice previous skills. 

Mini Lesson-  Teach, model, and discuss the new skill in today’s lesson.

Practice- The hands-on portion of the lesson where students apply what they have learned in the mini lesson to their own writing. During this time you will conference individually with students. 

Mid-Practice Teaching Point- A quick reminder and chance to highlight the great work students are doing. 

Share-  Lesson wrap up where students analyze, reflect on, and share their work. 

I have also laid out what a lesson might look like with a 60 minute , 45 minute , and 30 minute time block . We all have different schedules, and this writing curriculum is designed to meet your needs! Do what works best for YOU!

Also included are some tips for getting started! With this cohesive curriculum, I have set you up for success! All the work has been done for you. Just print out your materials and open up your lesson plans! Of course you will want to monitor students progress, and change your plans appropriately.

Here are a few things that will help you, your students, and your classroom be ready to implement a Writers Workshop model. 

Things to keep on-hand:

Teacher Materials-  You will need a teacher copy of each template for modeling. You may find it helpful to use a document camera or recreate the templates on chart paper so students can easily see them. Many teachers find that putting their example away at the start of work time reduces the likelihood of students copying your work. 

Writing Process Poster-  This poster helps students learn the steps of the writing process and track what the class is currently working on. 

Use Velcro, tape, or a clothes pin to attach the marker to the laminated poster so it can easily be moved.  

Word Wall-  A wall and/or personal list that students use to help them spell sight words. 

Alphabet Chart-  A wall chart and/or personal list that students use to help them identify and shape letters. As students start learning digraphs and other special sound combinations it can be helpful to add these. 

Writing Materials-  Providing students with extra pencils or creating an independent system for them to get a new pencil when necessary will reduce interruptions. 

Writing Folder-  During the writing process students will have several drafts and templates. A dedicated writing folder can be helpful for organizing these materials. I’ve included a cover that you can personalize to add to the front of each writing folder.

Kindergarten Personal Narrative: Unit 1 Scope:

22 detailed lesson plans that will walk you through how to teach a personal narrative! By the end of the unit, your students will have written 3 personal narratives, and will be ready to move onto Unit 2!

In order to make your writing block effective, be sure to implement procedures and plan out your routines and expectations. Get your materials set up and provide students with a writing folder. Be sure to model, model, model!

Organization:

Each child will get his/her own writing folder. This folder will be the place where they keep all of their writing templates, charts, and materials.

Inside of each folder, you can include the Alphabet Sound Chart, the Letter Chart, Letter Formation Chart and any other resources about the unit.

Included in the files are pencil labels…

Mentor Texts:

Mentor texts are an important component to each unit in the Writing Curriculum. What are Mentor Texts? Mentor text(s) are 1-2 example texts that illustrate the writing style we are focusing on for the unit. 

For the Kindergarten Personal Narrative, here are some examples of mentor texts you can use:

• “Fireflies” by Julie Brinckloe
• “Kitchen Dance” by MaurieJ. Manning 
• “Shortcut” by Donald Crews 
• “Hello Ocean” by Pam Munoz and Mark Astrella
• “New Shoes” by Chris Raschka
• “The Leaving Morning” by Angela Johnson 

In Lesson 1 , we introduce mentor texts. Discussion- Who is the main character? What happened to them first? Then what happened? What happened at the end? What makes this story interesting to read? Would this story be as interesting without the pictures? Why? 

The mentor texts will be part of your Writers Library.

Writers Library

A Writers Library is a larger collection of on-topic texts that students can read and reference throughout the unit. Consider keeping these books in a special location where students can access them throughout the unit. 

“Ralph Tells a Story” by Abby Hanlon is a great way to introduce students to the idea of being a writer. This is a story about a boy named Ralph who thinks he can’t write a story. Consider using it in Lesson 2 to help students start brainstorming ideas of things they can write about. 

Planning Stage:

During Lesson 2 , students will start planning their narratives. They will complete fill in their own heart with things they like to do, places they like to go, and people they like to spend time with! Students will use these hearts to help plan their writing. 

Students will be reminded that they are focusing on a “small moment.” Maybe they went camping, but we don’t want them to tell about their entire camping experience. Rather, we want them to focus on a “small moment.” Maybe they tell about the fish they caught in the stream.

Posters help students understand what a personal narrative is and that their narratives will have a beginning, middle, and end.

Students learn that personal narratives include words like I, me, my and mine.

Their personal narrative will include detailed pictures.

Students will also have access to Personal Narrative Writing Idea posters , if you choose to use them.

A Writer’s Checklist can be used during small groups to help students edit their writing once they get to that stage.

The Writing Process poster will help keep students on track as you move from lesson to lesson. This will highlight where they are in the writing process and what is coming next.

The unit includes templates to get students started by mapping out their personal narrative with pictures.

Choose the template of your choice from the Level A Writing Templates.

Developmental Stages of Writing appropriate for Kindergarten:

While all students develop differently, most student writing progresses along these developmental writing stages. Therefore, use this chart to determine a student’s current writing level and identify next steps and goals. Keep in mind, it is normal for students to progress through some stages quickly and linger at others. 

• Pre-Writing Stage:
• Random Scribbling
• Linear Scribbling. Scribbling moves from left to right
• Letter-like Symbols
• Random Letters. Letters do not correspond to sounds.
• Beginning Writing Stage:
• Letter Strings- child can “read” writing.
• Letter Groups
• Labeling Pictures
• Copying Print (Writer can’t read their writing.
• Sound Writing:
• Beginning Sounds
• Beginning and Ending Sounds
• Medial Sounds
• Fluent Writing
• Phrase Writing
• Mixed Sound and Recall Spelling
• Sentence Writing
• All Syllables are Represented
• Paragraph Writing

Conferencing:

Conference is the heart of Writer’s Workshop! This is where you will work with your small groups and get a good feel of where they are in their writing. Certainly keep in mind that you’re conferring with them. It’s an opportunity to provide individualized instruction, assess students writing, reinforce skills taught during the mini-lessons.

Highlighting Strengths

When you confer with your students, you can identify their strengths and notice what they are doing well. Specifically, these moments are great opportunities to celebrate those moments and help build self-confidence. As a result, students’ writing stamina grows as students learn what they are doing correctly.

Improving Weaknesses

Conferencing also gives the chance for students to think about where they can improve their writing. Certainly you can easily make this your teaching point. You may want to pose questions during this time. For example, what else do good writers do? Suggestions could include adding more details. Or they might need to make sure their writing has a beginning, middle and end. Perhaps the student is working on labeling. Whatever the case, conferencing time is a time to set goals for something they can work on to improve their writing so they can become even better writers.

Scaffolding

In light of the vigorous process, I have included Wordless Picture Books to help make this process more effective! Use the Wordless Picture Books to address specific writing goals with students. Some may be working on labeling. Some might work on detailed pictures. By the end of the year, you will see students progress in the Developmental Stages of Writing and move onto write sentences and even paragraphs.

Laminate the Wordless Picture Books and use them model what good writing looks like while meeting with your small groups.

There are blank lines to write a beginning,

and end to your story.

As students progress through their personal narratives, they will continue to grow as writers. Therefore, it is an exciting process to watch! In the example below, students can use the circles at the bottom of the page to show green for beginning, yellow for middle, and red for the end. Alternatively you can have students number their pages 1, 2, and 3.

Remember, some students will just draw pictures, some might label their pictures, and some will attempt to “write” words or sentences. First and foremost, let the creativity flow. Consequently, you will be able to watch your writers blossom and fall in LOVE with writing!

Celebrate your students successes as you continue to build writing stamina!

Rubrics provide a structured way to measure student writing ability. Use these rubrics to grade pre-unit on demands, post-unit on demands, and final writing pieces as needed. Most teachers find that grading all three writing pieces is not necessary. 

Conveniently, there are several options of rubrics provided so you can select the rubric(s) that best fits your needs. 

Publishing Party :

Now it’s time for students to share their writing in Lesson 22 ! This is such an important component to Writer’s Workshop, especially in Kindergarten! Finally, it’s time to have a Publishing Party! Students have worked hard to complete 3 personal narratives! It’s time to celebrate their accomplishments!

Publishing parties look different in each room. The main thing is that each student gets a chance to share their work! For a small class you could have students share one at a time. On the other hand, for a larger class you could have students share in small groups or sit at their desks while guests rotate around and see all of the books. 

Plan Ahead:

Mark your publishing party on your class calendar at the beginning of the unit to help your students get excited. Additionally, during revision and publishing days remind your students that they are authors and an audience is coming to hear their stories! 

The main goal of a publishing party is for students to celebrate and share their accomplishments as a writer . A variety of party supplies and props are provided including crowns, compliment pages, signs, party invitations, an “I’m an Author” banner and name tags. Use these to make your party something your students and families look forward to each unit.  Let’s get this party started!

For your convenience, you can use the included invitations to invite family, friends, or another class to come hear your student’s stories. 

I hope this post was helpful to you as you set out to implement kindergarten writing workshop this year!

Be sure to join my private Facebook group with other likeminded educators and homeschool families that are using Moffatt Girl Curriculum!

Happy Teaching!

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Reader Interactions

February 8, 2023 at 4:07 pm

I. Am intereses on the kindergarten currículum, where caI get It.

February 16, 2023 at 6:06 pm

Hi Karina, here’s the link to the Kindergarten Writing Curriculum: Click Here .

Kindly, Annie

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How to Teach Narrative Writing for Kindergarten and First Grade: Step by Step

Narrative writing is often one of the first forms of writing kindergarten and first grade students do. This is because writing a personal narrative, or writing about our own experiences, is often less challenging than other form of writing. Still, teaching young children how to write narrative pieces can feel overwhelming. Here is how to introduce narrative writing step by step in a first grade or kindergarten classroom from a classroom teacher.

Are Your Students Ready for Narrative Writing?

Are your students ready to dive into narrative writing? Before you begin writing a personal narrative, it’s important to make sure your students are already comfortable with a few other things. Here are the things to teach before you dive into narrative writing.

• Letter sounds – Your students don’t need to know all of their letter sounds, but they need to know enough so they can easily sound out simple words . If your students can’t yet stretch and tap out some words, they are not ready for this type of narrative writing. Instead, it’s more important to focus on strengthening their letter sound, segmenting, and blending skills. This doesn’t mean they can’t draw a picture of a personal experience and have you write a caption for them (which is a valid form of narrative writing), but having them attempt to write their own sentences without a firm letter sound foundation is simply not a great use of time. So, make sure they have a solid letter sound foundation first.
• Illustrations- Although most students are comfortable drawing, we shouldn’t just assume that they are. Instead, it’s very helpful to take some time to discuss the importance of illustrations. (After all, illustrations enhance the story.) You can explore the illustrations in some favorite picture books, and even take some time to practice drawing different objects, people, and animals. The more details students can convey through their pictures, the easier it will be for them to use those illustrations to support their writing.
• Sentences – Lastly, before diving into narrative writing, it’s important to spend time teaching your students the basics of sentence writing . Do yourself (and their future teachers) a favor, and take at least a full week to develop their understanding of sentences. If you’re teaching first grade, you can even go a bit further if they’re ready for it. (Learn how to teach your students about basic sentences and going further with sen tences .)

Step 1: Introduce Beginning, Middle, and End with Mentor Texts

Okay, so now your students are ready to dive into personal narrative writing. The first step is to spend some time reading some mentor texts together. I personally prefer to read realistic fiction texts. Some of my favorites are Jabari Jumps , Jabari Tries , and Anything by Ezra Jack Keats (because who doesn’t love Peter!).

Discuss how every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Make an anchor chart together for students to refer to. Each time you read a story, have students retell the beginning, middle, and end. ( Read why mentor texts matter here. ) Taking the time to show them good narratives makes it so much easier for them to develop their own.

Step 2: Draw It Out

Once we’ve read and retold some narrative stories, it’s time to give it a try. Planning writing is so important, so we start there. First, talk about potential topics. I always tell my students to think about things they do often, such as what they do before and after school, on the weekends, or on special days like birthdays. Then, I model drawing a beginning middle, and end of a personal narrative. I talk through each step and we make sure that the series of events are consecutive and go together. This is where picking something that is routine can be helpful- such as getting ready for school. After I model, I have students draw their beginning middle, and end. If possible, it’s really helpful to allow them to pair up with a partner and tell about their pictures. This helps them find the words for their story.

Step 3: Label It

After they have drawn their beginning, middle, and end, I model labeling each of their pictures. We talk about how, when we label, we only need 1-2 words. This is helpful because typically writing a personal narrative will span over many days, so the picture and the label helps them (and me) remember what they’re writing.

When my students are labeling, I ask them to tap out their words and try their best with spelling. I do not spell words for them. This is because I am able to learn a lot about where they are in their literacy journey and understanding by what they can write on their own and how they can write it. For example, if a student writes “et” for eat versus “ete”, I know that the second child is aware that “et” is a short e so there needs to be something else that makes e say the long e sound.

Step 3. Write a First Draft

Once my students have labeled their pictures, I model how to write a first draft. I model looking at my picture and label and them using it to write a sentence. When we read narrative writing and create our anchor chart, we talk about using transition words like first, next, and last. We use these words when we retell the stories so they are already familiar and comfortable with them. So, we write first and then a sentence about our first picture. For example, “First I put on my shoes.” I model this for the beginning, middle, and end. One important thing is to add some mistakes in your writing. (This is important for step 5.) I tell my students that I am going to make some mistakes, and we don’t have to worry about them yet because this is just the first draft.

To start, I only ask them to write 3 sentences. One for the beginning, middle, and end. Although eventually we’ll work to writing a introduction and closing sentences, at first I keep it simple. I would much rather my students confidently write 3 sentences than push them to do more before they are ready.

Once I’ve modeled, I have my students write their draft. I will write the transition words on the board for them, or encourage them to look at the anchor chart. As they write each part, they check it off so they can make sure they include each one. Drafting typically takes a full day, sometimes too. Again, I do not spell words for my students at this stage. I want to see what they can do on their own. Plus, it is important for the next step.

Step 4: Editing Your Draft

After everyone has written their first draft, I introduce the idea of editing. Together, we create this anchor chart of the different editing marks. Then, we look back together at my first draft. We read each sentence together, and I let my students tell me what mistakes they see . I make sure to have at least one of every common mistake in my writing.

Once we’ve edited my writing, I show them how to rewrite my story to a final draft. We talk about going word by word so we don’t miss any important changes.

Step 4.5: Sit and Edit TOGETHER with Each Student

Once they have helped me edit my writing, I sit with each and every student and help them edit their story. I ask them to read me the story. This is important because I want to make sure they can understand and read what they wrote. After they read the whole thing, I make sure to compliment them on a few things they did really well. Then, we go through sentence by sentence and talk about what things we can fix. I make sure they understand why any changes need to be made. Once we’ve finished, I give them a paper to write their final draft on and they get started right away while it’s fresh in their mind.

If you’re wondering, yes, this takes a long time. Sitting one on one with 25 students takes many days. Sometimes a full week, but this is the most valuable time in the writing process because it gives me a window into where they are, gives me a chance to focus specifically on the areas the student needs, and allows me to encourage them in the areas they’re doing well. Often times, this turns into a one on one mini lesson on capitals, certain spelling patterns, punctuation, etc. It is time well spent, even if it means that it takes 3 full weeks to complete a writing piece.

If you’re also wondering what the other children are doing, that is a great question. It really varies, but typically I meet with students while the rest of the class is working on literacy centers . I also might work on editing writing when they’re working independently on their inquiry work or morning work . Really, any time is fair game. Any time I have a few minutes, I’ll grab a student to edit their writing.

A helpful tip: If your students struggle with tracking when they’re rewriting a rough draft to a final draft, this works like a charm. Cut a piece of construction paper in half, cut a little window, and that’s it! This allows them to only focus on 1-2 words at a time. As time goes on, you can make the window longer, if you want.

Step 5: Publishing and Celebrating

The final step is letting students enjoy the fruits of their labor! After they have all finished their final draft, we take time to share our writing. The first time, I typically have them partner up and share two stars and a wish . Long before we begin narrative writing, I like to share this video about Austin’s Butterfly with my students. It helps them understand the purpose and benefit of getting and giving feedback. We practice giving feedback often, so this is not a new thing for our class. After they share their writing with a partner, I ask willing students to share some of the stars and then some of the wishes they received.

As we continue, sometimes I ask students to share their writing in small groups, with the whole class, or sometimes on Seesaw for their parents. This step is so important, though, because it allows them to feel a great sense of completion and accomplishment.

I typically tape or staple the two drafts together so the students can see the progression of their work. They always love to see what they started with and where they ended up! They also enjoy checking off their self assessment when they’re finished.

Step 6: Going Further

You might be wondering, if or when we make more detailed changes. When I first introduce narrative writing, we stick to 3 sentences and just fixing surface errors. With the next writing piece, I encourage my students to add a topic sentence or more details. Each time we work on adding more and more until they have created a story with an introduction, beginning, middle, end and closing sentence. I also encourage them to expand their sentences and add more details. I would rather my students take it slow and really feel confident than to rush and their teacher next year to have to reteach all of this.

If you’d like the template that I use for personal narrative writing, you can find it in my free resource library for email subscribers . Click the picture below to find it. You can also read more about my year long writing curriculum here .

You might also enjoy:

3 Ways to Build Confidence in Your Developing Writers

Free At Home Parent’s Guide for Supporting Student Writing

Why Strong Sentence Skills Help Students Produce Better Writing

The Easy Way to Teach Students to Expand Sentences

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Narrative Writing - FREEBIE

PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3

I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit!

This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms.

In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative .

We practice writing about what we like, what we do and how we feel.

Our kiddos love to share all about what they did over the weekend, their personal experiences and their preferences.

Now we get to put it all on paper!

These activities provide students with the scaffolding they need to be successful. 

Try a couple activities for FREE right here on this blog post.

I just updated my best selling narrative writing unit to include even more activities!

The new worksheets and centers shown above are not included on this blog post yet, but you can view them all on TPT on the product preview.

BILINGUAL ACTIVITIES: all of my writing units have also been translated to Spanish as a FREE bonus.

Let’s get started with narrative writing!

These adorable anchor charts are the perfect way to introduce this writing unit.

In Unit 1 Labeling and Unit 2 Making Lists , students were learning that letters and words have meaning.

Students are now learning how to combine words to make a sentence.

These can be printed as a 16x20 poster and we discuss the differences between letters, words and sentences.

There are so many activities to help scaffold students into writing a narrative piece.

We start by using these sequencing practice pages. A topic sentence is given, and we get to give the details by looking at the pictures.

I do these activities using direct instruction at first, and then once students have the hang of it they can complete them in small groups, literacy centers or even on their own.

These come in both color and BW.

Next I tell students that they get to tell me about something they did! These graphic organizers provide the perfect scaffolding.

With these pages, students finish the sentence starter, and then draw three pictures - one in each box.

If they are ready, they can also add words to describe their picture in each box.

The goal is for students to simply be thinking about an event and providing a topic sentence and detail through their pictures and words.

Complete sentences, conventions, etc. will come with practice and time.

This narrative All About Me book is the perfect opportunity for students to practice writing complete sentences.

Students must complete the sentence “I like…” using a word from the word bank.

They also check their conventions and can check if they used a capital, finger spaces and punctuation.

Then they rewrite the sentence on their own on the second line.

Students are now ready to use the Narrative Prompt word bank posters!

These are so fun to complete with students and provide the exact support they need to begin writing a narrative piece.

The different combinations and possibilities students can write about are endless.

They simply choose one box from each poster and then complete the coordinating recording sheet.

Students get to choose:

Where did you go?

What did you do, what was it like.

This is the perfect way to scaffold students and provide the support they need to complete their first narrative writing pieces.

I do these activities using direct instruction in small groups first.

We walk through the expectations and then I show them how I would complete the activity.

Then we do a narrative piece together, and finally they complete one writing piece with me observing.

These posters are the exact same, but instead students get to decide “If I were a…”

I love to see how quickly students become confident and excited to write!

They are not facing a blank paper grasping at straws… rather they have scaffolding in place so they are ready to get to work. It is so cute to watch them complete a piece they can be proud of and excited share.

Now that students understand how to compose a narrative piece and have practiced using many different resources, we are ready to move on to snapshot moments !

These are so fun to do with kiddos.

I can usually do these whole group, but depending on the kiddos, they may need small group instruction.

By now, students understand how to use the word banks and sentence starters which makes my life so much easier!

To help them with complete sentences, we say the sentence out loud (at least three times) count the words and then get to writing it down.

I always review our writing and say, “Does this sound like how we talk?”

For a year-long writing center, I use this Narrative Writing Prompt poster that gives the sentence starer One Time I….

Students simply choose a box to complete their sentence and then give details.

I use this at the end of our unit and then throughout the rest of the school year so students can continue using their narrative writing skills. I provide different kinds of writing paper shown below for students.

Extra writing pages and graphic organizers are provided as well for any other narrative writing ideas you have!

FREE DIGITAL BONUS

I now have coordinating digital Boom Cards to support all of my writing units!

This digital task cards have embedded audio and are self correcting. Students instantly know if they got the correct answer, so they can be 100% independent writing activities.

This makes teaching writing virtually, homeschooling or classroom instruction so much easier!

Watch this quick video to see a few of these activities.

These interactive, digital Boom Cards are now an included BONUS in my complete Narrative Unit .

Try these narrative writing activities with your students for FREE !

Purchase the entire writing unit below.

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“This is an incredibly rich resource for beginning writers to use. WOW, I am in awe of the creator. No rock left unturned. Look forward to seeing your other writing genres. The price is a fantastic value.”

“These are great units- the kids really respond well to them .”

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“I love all of your writing units. They are perfect for my writing centers and for writing lessons. Thanks for all of the wonderful resources.”

K-1 WRITING UNITS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR

Click each unit below to learn more, or save with the year long bundle!

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5 tips for kindergarten personal narrative writing.

If you know kids, you also know that kids love to tell stories… like, a lot. If you’ve ever asked a room full of Kindergarteners or 1st graders what they did over the weekend, you know! And, we don’t see all those memes out there about having to sit through your kids’ never-ending stories for nothing! (Hint: there’s something to them!)

So, kids have lots of stories to tell and they love to share them. That’s awesome, right? So, how can we transfer this enthusiasm to writing?

We can teach them with a kindergarten personal narrative unit !

Personal narrative writing allows students to share their stories with structure and detail! 

What is a Personal Narrative?

When you begin to introduce personal narrative writing to your students, you’ll first want them to understand what it even is!

You can start here…

• Personal means about you. 
• And, a Narrative is a story
• So, a personal narrative is a story about you . 

Additionally, a personal narrative has to be true, something that really happened. And, it has to have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Here are 5 tips to help you teach a Kindergarten personal narrative writing unit:

1. mentor texts.

The first thing I do when starting a new writing unit is begin reading books in that genre. Some of these books will become mentor texts that I can use throughout the unit.

Mentor texts are any texts you use to demonstrate a skill you want to teach your students. These can be picture books, texts you’ve written, or even stories from their peers.

Some of my favorite mentor texts to use to teach kindergarten personal narrative are:

• Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe- Great for beginning, middle, end; sensory details; adding feelings; show, not tell.
• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall- So relatable! Excellent for stretching out a story with details; show, not tell feelings.
• Ralph Writes a Story by Abby Hanlon- My favorite to kick off writing at the beginning of the year and revisit for story ideas in a personal narrative unit!
• One Day, the End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich-Perfect for teaching the importance of adding details for the middle of the story! Also great for simple beginning sentences.

A few more personal narrative picture books I like to read to demonstrate the genre are:

• Kitchen Dance by Maurie Manning
• My Dog Mouse by Eva Lindstrom

It’s hard to find picture books that are simple enough to use as models for kindergarten personal narrative writing, so I often create my own. For my Kindergarten Personal Narrative Unit, I created 3 simple texts you can use to model the concepts of beginning, middle, and end; adding a feeling, hope, or thought; and adding dialogue and onomatopoeia.

You can use the digital version on your whiteboard or print the books to use hard copies.

TIP : Make copies of exemplar writing from your students that you can use in future lessons.

2. Model the Process

When teaching personal narrative writing, you want to start by modeling the entire process for your students. I like to do this by writing about a shared class experience. That way, all of the students are familiar with the story I am telling- they were all there and experienced it, too! 

• First, I think of the topic
• Next, I plan and sketch it
• Then, I write and reread it
• Finally, I revise and edit

I love using songs and poems to teach important concepts and here’s one I made for my Kindergarten Personal Narrative Writing Unit .

Then, my students write a personal narrative about another shared class experience. It’s important to let kids pick their writing topics but when I introduce a new genre, having everyone write about the same topic for their first story is so helpful. It eliminates the “I don’t know what to write about” bug, it’s more manageable, and it ensures students are using the skill you are teaching them.

After learning the steps to write a personal narrative with this starter story, students write their independent personal narratives, while I teach mini-lessons to guide them.

Check out my Kindergarten Personal Narrative Unit for step-by-step lesson plans to help you teach this essential writing genre easily!

3. “I Don’t know what to write about!”

If you teach kindergarten or first grade, you’ve likely heard this phrase! So I cover story idea generation in one of my first lessons. It’s important to teach students strategies to come up with their own story topics, as well as brainstorm topics together.  

Ralph Writes a Story by Abby Hanlon is a great book for this!

TIP : When brainstorming topics, write students’ names next to their ideas. If they get “stuck” on an idea, remind them of what they contributed! Suggesting a shared class experience is another great topic.

4. TELL the Story First!

If you’ve followed me for some time, you know how I feel about oral rehearsal! It’s a MUST, especially in kindergarten! Before your students begin to write down their stories, have them tell the stories out loud. Don’t skip this step! We do this because it helps the students to get their stories together in their minds before they put their pencils to paper. 

My favorite way to do this is to have students tell their story to a partner, then switch partners and tell the same story again. I challenge them to add details and fancy words in each storytelling!

For more tips, check out my post with 11 Tips for Oral Storytelling Practice.  

5. Revise and Edit

Even in kindergarten, students can learn to revise. Adding details to pictures and words, making sure you have a beginning, middle, and end, using “fancy words,” answering questions your reader will have. . . there are many ways kindergartners can learn to enhance their stories for readers.

You can also provide students with simple revision checklists near the end of your personal narrative writing unit. I like to include a checklist of Must-haves, along with a checklist of ways to “level our stories up” to make them great for our readers.

Of course, you’ll also want to teach students simple editing skills. You can embed lessons like stretching out words for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation throughout your personal narrative unit. Working together to edit stories with a simple editing checklist is one of our final lessons before publishing.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to do a pre- and post-assessment to see your students’ growth! Not only will you be able to see their growth and better assess their progress, but you can also share this progress with them and their parents!

DONE-For-You Kindergarten Personal Narrative Lessons

Not sure how to sequence or plan your lessons for teaching personal narrative writing? I have a brand new Personal Narrative unit just for you! It has 30 step-by-step lessons plus 6 bonus mini-lesson ideas, teacher notes, student material, pacing calendars, conference forms, rubrics, and more!

Check it out in my TPT store or my Tejeda’s Tots Shop :

I hope these tips help you to have a successful narrative writing unit with your students! 

Remember, kids love to tell stories about themselves and their lives, but it’s not always easy for them to get those stories into writing. You can make the personal narrative writing process not only easier for them, but also fun! Take the pressure off and let those kiddos get creative! You’ve got this. 

If you have any questions or ideas for teaching a kindergarten personal narrative writing unit, please leave them below!

Reader Interactions

December 20, 2022 at 9:24 am

Just curious- how are they writing? Are they dictating as they can’t write or spell yet? Thank you so much!

December 20, 2022 at 1:56 pm

Thanks for your question! Yes, dictation at times can be very helpful. By the time I got to this unit, however, most of my students were writing words and at least attempting to write sentences, even if not with perfect grammar or spelling. I encourage invented or phonetic spelling while they learn conventional spelling (and hold them accountable for sounds and patterns we’ve covered during the editing stage).

We focus a lot on speaking before writing, and oral rehearsal helped greatly with their pictures and organization. Some students will write strings of letters, but can tell their events, so our writing conference may consist mostly of developing the oral story and adding details and labels to their pictures.

Hope this helps!

Writing Mentor Texts for Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade

• February 24, 2016

Need some narrative, opinion/persuasive, and informational mentor texts for your Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade students?

I’ve got LOTS of book recommendations for you – you can use these books to teach students about writing genres and specific writing skills!

In this post, I’m sharing 50 great mentor texts, as well as 5 important “how to” tips for using mentor texts in the primary grades!

Photo credit: Tiplyashina Evgeniya, Shutterstock

The books listed below are best for use with Kindergarten, first, or second grade. The ones that are most appropriate for Kindergarten are *starred* (not to say that any of the books would be inappropriate for Kindergarten, but having taught this grade, I know that some books are a little too long for the little ones!).

Within the lists, I’ve linked to these books on Amazon, so you can quickly and easily add them to your cart or wishlist!

Narrative or Personal Narrative Writing Mentor Texts:

Salt Hands (Picture Puffins)  (Jane Chelsea Aragon) – personal narrative

* Fireflies  (Julie Brinckloe) – personal narrative

* Bigmama’s  (Donald Crews) – personal narrative Shortcut  (Donald Crews) – personal narrative

Oliver Button Is a Sissy  (Tomie dePaola)

Roller Coaster  (Maria Frazee) – can be used to teach personal narratives, but not told from 1st person perspective

* Kitten’s First Full Moon  (Kevin Henkes) – fiction

* Amazing Grace  (Mary Hoffman) – narrative

* The Leaving Morning  (Angela Johnson) – personal narrative

* Peter’s Chair (Picture Puffins)  (Ezra Jack Keats) – can be used to teach personal narratives, but not told from 1st person perspective

The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats) – can be used to teach personal narratives, but not told from 1st person perspective

* Whistle for Willie  (Ezra Jack Keats) – narrative

* Kitchen Dance  (Maurie J. Manning) – personal narrative

One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffins)  (Robert McCloskey) – narrative

Mirette on the High Wire  (Emily Arnold McCully) – narrative

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother  (Patricia Polacco) – personal narrative

Thank You, Mr. Falker  (Patricia Polacco) – narrative / personal narrative

Thunder Cake  (Patricia Polacco) – personal narrative

The Relatives Came  (Cynthia Rylant) – personal narrative

When I Was Young in the Mountains (Cynthia Rylant) – personal narrative

Too Many Tamales  (Gary Soto) – narrative

* Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)  (Mo Willems) – fiction

* Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale  (Mo Willems) – realistic fiction

* A Chair for My Mother  (Vera Williams) – personal narrative

* Owl Moon  (Jane Yolen) – personal narrative; great for teaching descriptive details

Opinion or Persuasive Writing Mentor Texts:

* One Word from Sophia (Jim Averbeck)

* Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type  (Doreen Cronin) – can also be used to teach letter writing

The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About their Bodies in Pictures and Words  (Wendy Ewald)

Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School  (Mark Teague) – can also be used to teach letter writing

Hey, Little Ant  (Phillip Hoose)

Should We Have Pets?: A Persuasive Text  (Sylvia Lollis)

I Wanna Iguana  (Karen Kaufman Orloff) – can also be used to teach letter writing

I Wanna New Room  (Karen Kaufman Orloff) – can also be used to teach letter writing

The Perfect Pet (Margie Palatini)

Earrings (Judith Viorst)

* Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  (Mo Willems)

* Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!  (Mo Willems)

Informational / How-To / Nonfiction / Expository Writing Mentor Texts:

* All About Sharks  (Jim Arnosky)

* Surprising Sharks (Nicola Davies)

Solids, Liquids, And Gases (Rookie Read-About Science)  (Ginger Garrett)

* How a House Is Built  (Gail Gibbons) – how-to book

The Bicycle Book   (Gail Gibbons)

* The Pumpkin Book  (Gail Gibbons) – one page has a how-to

* Make a Valentine (Book shop)  (Dale Gordon) – how-to book

All Kinds of Habitats (It’s Science!)  (Sally Hewitt)

Chameleons Are Cool (Martin Jenkins)

The Abcs of Habitats (Abcs of the Natural World)  (Bobbie Kalman)

Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! (Kathleen Kudlinski)

* What Is Weather?  (Ellen Lawrence)

* How to Make Salsa  (Jamie Lucero) – how-to book

What Is the World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases   (Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld)

All of these texts can be used with my Kindergarten, first, or second grade writing units or writing bundles. These bundles have lesson plans that show you exactly how to use mentor texts to teach writing! (However, not all of the lessons use mentor texts – many do not. I think it’s important to have a balance of both.)

In addition to complete writing lesson plans, the bundles also include:

• Writing rubrics / assessments
• Printable posters
• Kid-friendly writing checklists
• Printable writing paper

Read more about the bundles here:

Five Tips for Using Mentor Texts

Now that I’ve shared some of my favorite mentor texts, let’s talk about how to use them effectively in the classroom! Here are five things that I do when working with writing mentor texts:

1.  Before utilizing a book as a mentor text, I read it aloud to students for purposes of enjoyment and comprehension. Students need an opportunity to understand, enjoy, and discuss a text before they are asked to think about it as writers. I always read aloud the mentor text a day or two before I use it in a writing lesson.

2.  I use modeling and clear, explicit language to teach students how to “read as writers.”  I explain that people read books for many purposes – for pleasure, to learn, and to grow as writers. I like to read a familiar book aloud to students and think aloud as I “read it as a writer.”  I comment on what I notice about character development, how the author introduces a problem, the author’s word choice, the author’s use of punctuation marks, how the illustrations complement the words, and so on.

3.  I use the same mentor text for multiple writing lessons.  While it’s helpful to expose students to many different mentor texts, you can also use a single text for multiple minilessons.  In my second grade writing workshop curriculum , for example, I use the book Amazing Grace  (Mary Hoffman) to teach students how to include a problem in a story, write a strong ending, and incorporate dialogue.  This saves us time, because students are already familiar with the text so we can dive right into the teaching point of the minilesson.

4.  I use mentor texts to guide my own planning. When I sit down to plan a writing unit, I sometimes struggle to determine what, exactly, I want my students to be able to do as writers of the genre we’re working on.  When this happens, I spend some time carefully examining mentor texts on my own.  For example, if I’m planning a nonfiction unit, I take out a couple of children’s nonfiction books and pay attention to how the authors convey information.  Are examples given?  Does the author provide definitions of important works?  Is the information organized into categories – and if so, how?  These are all strategies that I can teach students to use as they learn nonfiction writing.

5.  I teach students to learn about writing from the books they read independently.   I show students that, as they read, they can also grow as writers. You might have students keep a list of interesting words they find in books, and then encourage them to share these words with the class and try them out in their own writing.

Last but not least, if you’d like to grab some FREE writing printables  that include alphabet charts, kid-friendly checklists, and more, get my writing folder tools freebie here!

Do you have any favorite mentor texts or tips for using them? Please comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Disclosure: Amazon affiliate links are included in this post.

Related Posts:

Thank you so much for writing this detailed post! We’re looking to build our collection of mentor texts for each grade level. This will be a huge help!

You are so welcome, Chrissy! I’m glad it’s helpful!

Do you have one made for 3rd grade?

Just for K-2; sorry about that!

Thank you for sharing! Even as a third grade teacher, I found this post to be helpful!! I struggle as a new writing teacher so your advice is very practical.

So glad it’s helpful even though you teach 3rd! This post might be helpful too: https://learningattheprimarypond.com/writing/student-choice-in-writing-workshop-primary-grades/

Thanks for reading and commenting!! 🙂

Thanks Alison for such a great list of mentor texts. I love the photograph images you use in your blog on on your products. Can you tell me where you get them?

Hi Sandra! Most of them are from Shutterstock.com, but some are from Pixabay. 🙂

Great resources, thanks. I appreciate seeing some female and minority authors and characters, and encourage you to keep up the good work!

This is is a super resource! I’m always on the lookout for mentor texts for writing. I’m so glad for your email about this – I just recently subscribed to it. I also bought your complete writing bundle this week and am delighted with it. Thank you!

So happy to hear that, Debbie!! I hope you enjoy using the lessons – feel free to reach out anytime if you have questions!

thank you so much for your help. I really appreciated it . This will be a hug help for my kindergartens

I’m so glad!! 🙂

Hi Alison and thank you for this. We are a tc school and are building our k mentor text reaching text collections and I was wondering if you could suggest a few for Non Fiction and How To ( beyond the Gail Gibbons). For example I want to emphasize certain elements such as bold words for both caution and new or important words -not just for the index. I would love a few ideas that you use or feel are your go to titles for non fiction and how to Thank you for any ideas and the resource list above. …  Read more »

Is there a link somewhere that I can download just the list of books? I want to be able to save it and I don’t see a list in the post, just it listed with links. Thank you for all of your hard work!

Hi Danielle! I don’t have these particular books in a list form, but I do have the mentor texts I use with my Kinder, 1st, and 2nd grade writing units in document form. If you’re interested, you are welcome to email me and I will send it over to you! 🙂

Hello Alison, I would also love the mentor text list in document form for Kindergarten and grade 1.

Hey Paula! I don’t think I have this exact list in document form, but I have others that I can send to you. Please email me at Alison@learningattheprimarypond . com!

Thank you for sharing!

This is amazing! Do you have any mentor texts for Poetry? Thanks!

Hey Anny! I love Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and the Random House Book of Poetry for Children. 🙂

Such a perfect list of books for each genre! Thank you!! 🙂

Wow! This was an awesome resource. I have been teaching math, science, and health only for a while. Now I have to get back in the grove of teaching reading language arts and writing. Writing doesn’t get the proper time like it should in my class. So reading your blog and doing your workshop will help me become more efficient when teaching writing.

Hey Leslie! So glad this is helpful. Welcome back to the world of literacy! 🙂

Thanks for reading! Alison

Thank you! Looking forward on using the second grade writing bundle. Great Mentor text list.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this wonderful list of mentor texts to help build up our Writing Workshop program this year.

You’re welcome! 🙂

I purchased, I thought, your K,1st, and 2nd writing workshop bundles from the webinar that I watched. Thank you for sending the video. I had major technical difficulties that day and couldn’t log in. I went to the bundle link in your e-mail and used paypal to purchase all 3, but I can not find the downloads. Can you check for me please? I really want them. Thanks, Sue

Hi Susan! I’m so sorry that you were having technical difficulties! I have contacted my customer service team and a member will look up your purchase and get that resent to you within 24 hours. 🙂 Thank you for reaching out!

Can you recommend a mentor list in Spanish for the Units of Study poetry unit? (K-2, specifically 2nd grade) Thanks!!

Hey there! Right now, I can’t think of a solid recommendation off the top of my head. I’ll let you know if I come across anything!

I’m Alison, a literacy specialist. I love getting kids excited about reading and writing – and sharing teaching ideas with other teachers!

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Classroom Management

Classroom ideas, classroom community, 15 personal narrative mini-lessons.

Of all the writing genres, I think personal narrative is the hardest to teach, which is why I’m sharing my favorite 15 personal narrative mini-lessons.

While students all have stories to tell, I’ve found that students struggling telling their story in writing. After teaching personal narrative writing mini-lessons for years, and never feeling like I’ve done it well, I can officially say that I think I’ve found the “secret recipe.”

I use a lot (A LOT) of mentor texts that help illustrate various personal narrative traits, but my absolute favorite is Stella Tells Her Story .

Reasons Why Stella Writes Her Story is the BEST :

• It’s written by a TEACHER, someone who actually teaches students how to write personal narratives
• The main character, Stella, is a second grade student who needs to write a personal narrative
• Writing mini-lessons are built right write (see what I did there?) into the story
• It’s super relatable for students – they are amazed to hear words that their teacher has said about writing

Day 15 – Read p. 28 – 30. Students will share their writing.I have plan shared above as a printable version is my personal narrative writing resources product, which you can find HERE , or by clicking the image below.

• Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and you may need to spend more than one day on each mini-lesson.
• Publishing may take longer than one day, especially if you want students to add illustrations to their writing.
• You may want to consider a “publishing party” in which you invite families to join in the writing celebration. Take pictures, have a special author’s chair, invite your administration. Students are THRILLED to have an audience (other than their teacher) with whole to share their writing.
• Write your own personal narrative ahead of time. Plan where you are going to make intentional mistakes so that you can model how to revise and edit in front of your class.

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• Personal Narrative Mentor Texts and Read Alouds
• Easiest Classroom Slime
• Is an Erin Condren Teacher Planner Really Worth the Money?
• Favorite December Read Alouds
• Read more about: 1st grade , 2nd grade , teacher must - haves , Uncategorized , writing

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How to Teach Narrative Writing

In this post, I share 5 tips for How to Teach Narrative Writing and provide details about the Narrative Writing Units I have created for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students. Be sure to download 3 FREE narrative writing graphic organizers !

As teachers we spend a tremendous amount of time teaching our students to write. And for good reason! The ability to clearly express one’s thoughts in writing is an essential academic and life-skill. Study after study has shown that students who are able to master writing skills early on struggle less in overall literacy and communication .

The Common Core writing domain focuses on three big types of writing: informative, opinion and narrative writing.  Each genre serves a unique purpose and follows a specific structure which we must explicitly teach our students.   

In earlier posts I shared tips and resources for teaching Informative Writing and Opinion Writing .  Today I’m excited to move on to the final genre, Narrative Writing.  

I love to teach narrative writing.  Personal narratives are a great genre to start the year with because they allow you to get to know your students a little bit better.  Most kids love to tell us stories about their lives, so writing personal narratives often comes naturally to them.  

Imaginative narratives, on the other hand, allow students’ creativity to shine!  Many students find it very motivating and engaging to be allowed to write the stories they create in their own mind. 

Today I’m sharing 5 tips for teaching narrative writing, as well as details about my narrative writing resource. It is a writing unit that has everything you need to bring narrative writing into your kindergarten , first grade, or secon d grade literacy centers! 

Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

1.  read narrative writing mentor texts .

Before you can ask your students to write in a genre that is new to them, you must first immerse them in it.  So to begin your unit, you’ll want to share examples of narrative writing with your students.  These mentor texts provide students with examples of excellent narrative writing. 

As you read them aloud, highlight the way the author structures their writing.  Identify the author’s purpose, the topic, the order of the events, and how the author felt.  All of these things will help students better understand what type of writing we are asking them to do.    

When you’re picking narrative mentor texts to share with your students there are a few things to consider .  First, do you (the educator) think it is excellent?  Second, is it easy for your students to understand?  And finally, is it relevant to the type of writing you are teaching?  If you answer “Yes!” to all three, then you’re good to go!

To help you out I’ve created a list of excellent mentor texts you can use when teaching narrative writing to kindergarten, first, or second grade students.  

A List of Narrative Writing Mentor Texts:

• New Shoes – Chris Raschka
• Jabari Jumps – Gaia Cornwall
• Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale – Mo Willems
• Library Mouse – Daniel Kirk
• Rocket Writes a Story – Tad Hills
• Diary of a Worm – Doreen Cronin
• The Night I Followed My Dog – Nina Laden
• Rubia and the Three Osos – Susan Middleton Elya
• The Three Snow Bears – Jan Brett

I’ve saved all these titles on one board so you can easily take a closer look at these mentor texts.  Click here to see this list on Amazon .

2.  Model Your Own Narrative Writing

When modeling your own narrative writing I suggest you use an experience you’ve shared as a class.  It could be as simple as a short nature walk outside the school building, a field trip you went on, or a class celebration you had.  Show your students that narratives don’t have to be about big events.  Small moments, like a walk outside, can be stretched out and turned into a great narrative writing piece! 

Next, model how you plan your writing using a graphic organizer.  Highlight how you have a topic, use temporal words to order your events, details and a closing sentence.   Don’t be afraid to put the events out of order!  Let the students catch the mistake and help you fix it!   

Model how you use the graphic organizer to guide you as you write out your full piece. 

Finally, reread your work aloud to ensure it makes sense and that the events are in the correct order.  Check for any silly mistakes and come up with a fitting title! 

3. Use Anchor Charts

You want your students to know that when they write a narrative piece they are writing a story to entertain the reader.  It can be a true, personal story from their life, or an imagined fictional one.  Creating an anchor chart with this information helps to remind students their purpose for writing.

Create a second anchor chart that reviews temporal words.  Words such as yesterday, today, first, next, or last describe time or order of events and help make a narrative story more clear for the reader.  

When writing fictional narratives, an anchor chart of fictional sentence starters can help students to get ideas for a story.  

Finally, you’ll want to create an anchor chart using the writing you model. This will serve as another example of excellent narrative writing.  As a class, add labels to identify the title, the topic, temporal words, details, and the closing sentence in your shared writing.  

All of these anchor charts can be posted in your writing center. Encourage your students to refer back to them and use them as support as they write their own pieces.

4. Allow students to edit and share their writing

Provide a good writers checklist at your writing center.  For narrative writing you’ll want the checklist to include items such,  “Does my writing have a title?”  “Is there a clear beginning, middle, and end?”  “Did I use temporal words?” as well as reminders to check for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.  

You can also create a rubric specific to the genre. Model how you use it to assess your own work and how it can be used to provide feedback to others.   

Give students the opportunity to share their writing with others!  Pair students with partners and let them read their pieces to each other.  Encourage them to provide feedback using the editing checklist and the rubric as a guide.  

5. Provide Daily Opportunities for Students to Write

As with all things, writing takes PRACTICE!  Students need dedicated instructional time to learn the skills and strategies necessary to become effective writers, as well as time to practice what they learn.  

When you think about your daily instructional schedule, make sure you are giving your students ample opportunities to practice their narrative writing through whole group instruction, small groups, and/or through independent practice in writing centers. 

Narrative Writing Units For Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade Students 

Today I’m excited to share with you the details about my Kindergarten Narrative , 1st Grade Narrative , and my 2nd grade Narrative writing units!  I love them because they have ALL the resources you need to give your students the practice needed to master narrative writing.  

These narrative writing units were developed with standards-based research specific to each grade. You can use them within whole class or small group lessons, or as a literacy center activity where students can practice narrative writing independently!  

Let’s take a closer look at each one…. 

Kindergarten Narrative Writing Unit

The kindergarten resource has everything you need to incorporate narrative writing into your literacy centers all year long!  

To help your students better understand the genre you’ll get two mini-lessons , one on personal narratives and the other for imaginative narratives.  I recommend focusing on personal narratives at the start of the year and moving onto imaginative narratives in the second semester.  

You’ll also get a list of suggested mentor texts and online resources, academic vocabulary posters, printable anchor charts, graphic organizers and differentiated writing prompts.  

These seasonal and all-year-long writing prompts come in 3 differentiated versions to meet your Kindergarteners where they are developmentally throughout the year.  Each writing prompt comes with a vocabulary word web to assist young writers in brainstorming ideas and spelling words while writing.

Finally, you’ll get a narrative writing editing checklist appropriate for the kindergarten level. 

First Grade and Second Grade Narrative Writing Units

The first and second grade resources were designed with standards-based research specific to grade.  You’ll get a personal narrative mini-lesson and imaginative narrative mini-lesson to use as a review of the genre.  You’ll also get a list of suggested mentor texts and online resources, academic vocabulary posters, anchor charts, graphic organizers and seasonal writing prompts! 

You won’t hear students say, “I don’t know what to write about!” when they are using this resource!  The seasonal writing prompts include choice boards for personal narratives and imaginative narratives, as well as sentence starters and vocabulary banks to assist in brainstorming ideas and spelling words while writing.

The personal narrative and imaginative narrative seasonal prompts are both PRINTABLE & DIGITAL. The digital version has been PRELOADED for you, with 1 click add them to your Google Drive or upload them to SeeSaw.

Finally, you’ll get self-editing checklists and rubrics for both personal and imaginative narrative writing.  The rubric makes a great self-assessment tool and can be used as a guide for peer feedback.     

I love these resources because they can be used in so many different ways.  They offer opportunities for students to practice both personal and imaginative narrative writing as a whole class, in small groups, as a literacy center activity, for homework, or as a meaningful activity for when they have a substitute teacher!  

FREE Narrative Writing Graphic Organizers

Are you ready to begin teaching Narrative Writing in your classroom? To help get you started, I am happy to offer you 3 FREE narrative writing graphic organizers! You can download them here.

Writing is an essential skill that benefits students well beyond the walls of our classrooms. As teachers, we work hard to plan engaging activities that we hope will build our students’ confidence and help them to develop a lifelong love of writing.

I hope the information and resources I’ve shared on narrative, opinion and informative writing will help to bring stronger instruction and more meaningful writing practice to your kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms!

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Joyful and Systematic Ways to Build Kindergarten Narrative Writing

Overview of a comprehensive kindergarten writing model, why do we value the common core writing standards, all kindergartners can develop stamina for personal narrative.

We raised our expectations, developed accelerated learning strategies, involved Parents as Partners, gave children crystal-clear learning targets, and became skilled teachers of beginning writing. The result? Learning to write in kindergarten became an authentic and joyful process with dramatic outcomes!

Narrative Writing: W.K.3. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events , tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. See our Pinterest boards for additional samples.

We Develop Mastery of Letters, Sounds, and Handwriting Building the Writing Brain

Early in the year, we encourage mastery of letters and sounds through multisensory strategies using music, fingerspelling, and sign language. (Read 20 Days to 26 Letters and Sounds .) We reinforce letter knowledge through daily individualized handwriting instruction with each child’s name and 16 high-frequency “heart words”. 

If handwriting motions are not efficient, it interferes with the whole writing process.

Kindergarten Writing and the Common Core: Joyful Pathways to Accelerated Literacy by Nellie Edge: Ch. 2 and 3.

Oral Language Fuels the Curriculum!

Oral language fuels the curriculum! Based on the familiar language patterns of songs, we use drawing, dictating, writing, and photos to adorn the walls of our classroom and make class books about our new friends.

Our lives are worth singing, drawing, reading, and writing about!

Kindergarten Writing: Ch. 1.

Fluency with High-Frequency “Heart Word” Sentences Builds Writing Stamina

We build fluency with high-frequency “heart words” and “heart word” power sentences: “I love you.” “I see the dog.” “I love Mom.” “This is my house.” Children practice “quick writes” until the sentences are automatic.

Kindergarten Writing : Ch. 4. See “Heart Word” page .

Receive Our Weekly Nellie Edge Kindergarten Blog High-Impact Strategies to Inspire Your Practice. Free Downloads!

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Thinking and Writing Skills are Developed Throughout the Day

In our Comprehensive Writing Workshop Model, children write across the curriculum, throughout the day, with guided drawing and writing lessons, literature and genre study, writing workshop, phonics lessons, authentic word work, and book making. Diverse student needs are met through targeted, differentiated learning.

Interactive Story Songs and Musical Dramas are Part of a Comprehensive Literacy Model

Interactive Story Songs and Musical Dramas are used as models for building narrative stories, teaching vocabulary, and playing with language and images.

“Here’s a Little Birdie”   Kindergarten Writing : Ch.1.

Handwriting Lessons Simultaneously Teach Sight Words

We build handwriting and word work fluency, stamina, and writing motivation through “secret messages” : I love you! Thank you. Josh was here! Children are excited to take these home and hide them around the house.

We Immerse Children in Predictable Texts!

Children internalize language and story patterns from mentor texts, using the frames for their own ideas: I Have a Cat, a Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Book™ becomes a frame for writing about a favorite animal.

Children Love "Stamp and Read Skinny Books"

Making “Stamp and Read Skinny Books” teaches concepts about print , and builds high-frequency sight vocabulary: “I see the…” “This is a …” Stamping is soon replaced with fluency writing power sentences: “I see the dog.” “This is my cat.” “I love Mom.”  See Weekly Focus Blog .

Kindergarten Writing : Ch. 9.

Children Learn: Your Pictures and Words Tell a Story

The Sing, Sign, Spell, and Read! song This Is My House (also sung as I See My House ) provides an illustration study and an aesthetic experience exploring the images of “house” while building skills in narrative storytelling and drawing with details. Explore “Sight Word” page .

Enjoy audio: This is My House (Song from Sing, Sign, Spell, and Read! CD)

Family Literacy Includes Home/School Book Buddy Bags

Home/School Book Buddy Bags (both fiction and nonfiction) are a motivating opportunity for children to draw, dictate, and write about class mascots and encourage family literacy . Photos are often added. 

We Write Elephant and Piggie Books

Elephant and Piggie books motivate children to learn to draw and to try on the narrative style of author and illustrator Mo Willems.

Comprehension Questions Guide Our Thinking: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?

Kindergartners learn to sing and sign the basic comprehension questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? These become embedded in long-term memory to support writing as a thinking process—K-12!

Weekend News Journal Involves "Parents as Partners"

The Home/School Weekend News Journal is an authentic and powerful invitation to narrate a single event or several loosely-linked events and provide a reaction: “I went to…” “It was fun!”

End-of-Year Published Books  Documents Writing Proficiency

End-of-year published books from the Writer’s Workshop feature a child’s favorite story which is proofed, edited, revised , rewritten, illustrated, and shared. (Copies of books are made and used as mentor texts.)

We Celebrate our Prolific Kindergarten Writers!

Children have been drawing and writing lists, labels, letters, messages, skinny books, draw-an-animal books, folded books, science journals, math journals, weekend journals, “heart word” sentences, and Writer’s Workshop stories—all year long!

We have created systematic and joyful pathways to beginning writing proficiency. It is an exciting teaching journey!

See Kindergarten Writing Program Bundle and individual resources on Nellie Edge TPT store.

Look for 2020 updates to the remaining kindergarten writing bundle pieces.

• News Stories and We Love Lists!
• Authentic Kindergarten Assessment
• Publishing Kindergarten Books

Nellie Edge Online Seminars

Nellie Edge teaches you essential skills designed from 30 years of experience in step-by-step videos: Seminar #1: Multisensory ABC and Phonics Immersion Seminar #2: Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Matters! Seminar #3: Authentic Sight Word Work

WITH EACH SEMINAR YOU'll RECEIVE:

• Unlimited Access to Online Video Tutorials
• Companion Teacher's Guide
• Coordinating Classroom Resources - ready to use!

Includes unlimited access and optional PD credits  

Narrative Writing Resources

Free downloads.

• A Yearlong Overview: New Heart Words, Handwriting, ABC Phonics, and Bookmaking
• Kindergarten Writing and the Common Core: CCSS Progression Overview
• Great Drawing, Writing, and Word Work Resources – Where to Get Them
• Why We Are Optimistic about Kindergarten
• Publishing Tips for Young Authors and Illustrators
• Growing Engaged and Purposeful Writers in Kindergarten

Additional Resources

• Kindergarten Writing and the Common Core: Our Vision and Challenge

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How to Boost Kindergarten Phonics and Writing Skills:

Free e-book. Grow Your Kindergarten Writers: Use Proven High-Impact Strategies That Dramatically Accelerate Literacy

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40 Impressive Personal Narrative Examples in Children’s Books

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Build empathy by reading personal narrative examples in children’s books , including picture books and middle grade books . In other words, read someone’s authentic memoir based on their life experience. And see how it gives you empathy as you walk in that person’s shoes. (It will also help you become a better personal narrative writer!)

Choose from these picture book and middle-grade book mentor text examples to show your growing writers examples of good personal narrative mentor texts with sensory details, vivid verbs, small moments, and organization. Share with your writers how these personal narrative examples are written with sensory details to show experience and authority.

NOTE: I’m listing children’s books that are not personal narratives per se but still can be used as personal narrative examples. I’m doing this so you have a bigger list of choices to find good books that appeal to your writers and model skillful writing.

If you’re teaching personal narrative, it’s worth reading adult memoirs like Anne Laaott’s Bird by Bird , Jeannee Wall’s The Glass Castle , or Suleika Jaouad’s Between to Kingdoms . (Three of my favorite books of all time.)

Here are my favorite children’s memoir books to share with growing writers who want to write a personal narrative or memoir. Starting with a mentor text of sample writing will make your students’ writing stronger. That’s what I recommend that works for me in my writing workshops for children.

Picture Books: Personal Narrative Examples

Palace of Books  by Patricia Polacco Fans of Polacco’s books will enjoy this personal narrative story of her moving from the farm to a town where she starts school. Patricia discovers the library and the library’s collection of bird artwork from John Audubon. Not only does she fall in love with the library, but drawing her own bird pictures as well.

My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World  by Malcolm Mitchell, illustrated by Michael Robertson Henley finds reading hard — and when his teacher gives the class an assignment to find their favorite book in the whole wide world, he struggles to find anything that he doesn’t hate. After asking his librarian and bookstore owner for help unsuccessfully, his mom helps him realize that inside he has his own story.  What he brings to school, his favorite book in the world–is a story that he writes about himself!  Use this as a personal narrative example.

Priya Dreams of Marigolds and Masala  by Meenal Patel An irresistible sensory experience of India with vivid descriptions ! When Priya helps her Babi Ba cook rotli, her Babi Ba shares her memories of India… the smell of roasted cumin and masala, the sound of motorbikes whizzing by, the taste of a steaming cup of cha, the feel of the hot sun on your face, views of arches and domes of the buildings, rainbow of saris, and brightly colored marigolds. I adore the writing, the illustrations, and the story that celebrates India’s culture and their grandparent-grandchild relationship.

Finding My Dance  by Ria Thundercloud, illustrated by Kalila J. Fuller Ria loves dancing — and starts dancing as a child in a powwow.  As her love of dancing grows, she learns different styles and becomes a professional dancer, and travels all over the world.

Alma and How She Got Her Name  by Juana Martinez-Neal Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela thinks her name is too long …until her father explains about each person she was named for — like Esperanza, Alma’s great-grandmother who hoped to travel.  This helps Alma make a personal connection to each person she’s named after.

Middle-Grade Books: Personal Narrative Examples

Knucklehead Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka Growing up Scieszka was a WILD time. There’s quite a bit of potty humor in Scieszka’s hilarious musings on his childhood, but the writing is excellent and captures personal narrative in short, digestible stories.

Lawn Boy  by Gary Paulsen It’s summer vacation and  our 12-year-old narrator needs to earn money.  Which he does by starting a lawn mowing business. Not only that, he learns about investing his money and makes a lot more money than he could have imagined. Fictional but reads like personal narrative examples.

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day The author of this book skillfully crafts a heartfelt story about growing up, family, and finding your identity in the context of adoption, the historical maltreatment of Native Americans, and the mystery of your own heritage.  Edie’s mom is an adopted Native American who can’t trace her heritage. When Edie unexpectedly finds a box of photos and letters from the woman she suspects was her mom’s birth mother, it prompts a journey to discover the truth of her heritage. And the truth is not what she expects but it opens her eyes (and ours.)

Inside Out & Back Again  by Thanhha Lai ( VERSE ) In this personal narrative memoir,  Thanhha reveals the overwhelm of immigrating from Vietnam to the American South in the 1970s, a completely different culture and language.  Despite feeling turned inside out, Hà resiliently figures out life in the U.S., despite the many challenges she faces. I loved this book –it’s written with such an authentic voice . Plus, it gives readers a first-hand look at an immigrant experience. Winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Honor.

Brown Girl Dreaming  by Jacqueline Woodson ( VERSE ) Written in verse, this is the author’s life story about  growing up as an African-American girl in the South and the North during the Civil Rights movement.  It’s a powerful introduction to this time period and the issues of race in the United States since it’s told through the eyes of a child. National Book Award finalist.

For Black Girls Like Me  by Mariama J. Lockington Just like the author’s own experience as an adoptee,  it’s hard for Makeda to be a black adopted girl in a white family  that she loves but doesn’t feel like she fits– or is even seen. But there are even more challenges for Makeda these days, starting with being the little sister to a newly-distant teenager, moving to a new town away from her BFF, having parents who constantly fight, and watching her mom’s mental health deteriorate and blaming herself. After her mom’s mania takes them on a trip to Colorado which abruptly nose dives into severe depression and a suicide attempt, Makeda reaches out for help.

The Last Cherry Blossom  by Kathleen Burkinshaw (ages 11+) In this beautifully written, eye-opening story, we follow the life of Yuriko,  a Japanese girl who lives in Hiroshima during World War II.  Initially, her life revolves around drama with her family and friends, just like a typical child’s life in any country. But, in this recounting of Burkinshaw’s mother’s actual experience, her life is torn apart when the atomic bomb is dropped. Not to mention that it comes as a shock to learn that Japan has been losing the war. Yuriko’s life becomes a nightmare of survival and endurance.

Family Style by Thien Pham ages 12+ In Thien Pham‘s immigration story, he begins with his life in a refugee camp where he played and watched his parents be entrepreneurial. When they immigrate to the US, he learns English slowly and makes friends as he watches his parents be entrepreneurial by starting their own bakery after working hourly jobs. When he is an adult, Thien becomes a citizen to vote. I love how the earthy color palette and gorgeous illustration style help to narrate Pham’s personal memoir.

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Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She's a mother, former teacher & literacy trainer, and freelance education writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Penguin Random House's Brightly website, USA Today Health, Adobe Education, Colorado Parent, and Parenting. She is passionate about matching kids with books that they'll love.

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Hello, I used your letter writing unit and loved it. The students were very involved in the unit. on the last page that I printed off, yoiu mention other units you have such as personal narrative, fictional narrative, informational and procedural. There is a link to SEE ALL THE WRITING UNITS. I have searched throughout your website and cannot find these links. I’d love to incorporate them into my lessons. Can you please send me the link to them as I am not having luck with my search.

I sent you an email.

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Narrative Writing for Kindergarten and First Grade

Planning a writing unit of work can be quite overwhelming, particularly as a beginning teacher. I'm here to help you create engaging, effective lesson plans and narrative writing units for your young writers. These tips will be most appropriate for Kindergarten students or Grade 1/2 students, but could also be adapted for older children too!

I'll also share a range of quality mentor texts and writing prompts to support young children, and even the most reluctant writers, in learning to write a narrative story! 

START WITH BACKWARD MAPPING

The first thing you need to identify is what the end goals will be for your little learners. What understandings or skills do you want them to have by the end of your unit of work or set of lessons? This is a crucial first step because it then allows you to frame all of your lessons, activities and teaching points around that end goal. This process is known as   backward mapping,   where you begin with the objectives of a unit and then work backwards to create lessons that will achieve those goals.

For example, in our Kindergarten Narratives unit, the end goal is for most students to be able to write a simple story. I also think about how I will   differentiate that end goal.  For students who require additional support, their goal might be to write a sentence about an imaginary character or setting. For students who require extension, their goal may be to use more advanced descriptive language (e.g. adventurous adjectives or similes) or to write a more detailed story (e.g. include details about a character’s inside and outside traits, or more than one problem or single event).

As with anything we teach, it is so important that students understand the WHY of what they’re learning. What is the point? Why are they learning it? If they understand this, they will be much more motivated and on board with learning it!

In writing lessons, we talk about the three purposes of writing- writing to inform, writing to entertain and writing to persuade. We use the PIE acronym to help us remember this (Persuade, Inform, Entertain).

When we are writing narrative pieces, we discuss the fact that our writing purpose is to ENTERTAIN others with interesting and exciting stories!

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO GET THERE?

Next, I think of all the skills and knowledge that my students will need to learn in order to be successful. I make a list of all the key teaching points, and break down how I will not only cover all those skills throughout the unit of work, but build upon those skills in an incremental way.

For example, in our Kindergarten Fairy Tales unit, I break down what the components of a story are that I will need to teach my students. This includes:

• Creating imaginary characters, and describing their traits
• Using our senses to describe a setting
• Thinking of interesting problems for a story
• Fixing that problem

Students will also need revision in other key writing skills such as:

• How to write a complete sentence - using capital letters and end punctuation correctly
• How to spell simple words, applying their knowledge of letter sounds and common heart words
• The editing component of the writing process - re-reading over their work and checking for errors.

These skills may be reviewed in small moments throughout our narrative writing lessons, as well as explicitly in our spelling, phonics and sentence structure lessons.

Towards the end of the unit, I begin to teach students how to plan out a whole story with graphic organisers, and also how to adapt known fairy tales to create their own stories. All of these things will need to be   EXPLICITLY taught through modelling and scaffolded practice.

Once you know what skills you need to teach, you can have some fun in thinking about what activities you are going to use to teach students all of these concepts. For example, I love finding fun ways to explore characters. We create our own monsters and write a character description, focusing on interesting adjectives. Or we re-imagine characters and discuss whether they might have just been misunderstood- perhaps the Big Bad Wolf was actually good?! Plan activities that are going to explicitly teach the skills, but will also be FUN for the students and get them excited about what they are learning!

HOW WILL I SCAFFOLD LEARNING ALONG THE WAY?

This part of the process is so often glossed over or skipped past, but it is SUCH a crucial step. Too often I think teachers jump straight from explicit teaching to independent practice, without giving students enough scaffolding or opportunities for guided practice in small groups.

The research into   cognitive load theory   suggests that when we are teaching new knowledge, content or skills to our students, we will be far more effective and successful if we support our students with explicit guidance and scaffolding, along with practice and feedback.

The   Gradual Release of Responsibility   model is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind whenever you are planning any unit of work or lesson sequence.

Also,  don't underestimate the power of modelling examples to your students.   This is a great way to scaffold and support young learners in their own writing. Whenever we write, I model writing my own version first on the interactive whiteboard. The quality of my students’ writing is always so much better when I’ve taken the time to model to them first what it is that I’m looking for.

Non-examples   are also a really powerful teaching tool as well. I model what NOT to do or make mistakes in my writing, and get my students to help me to edit and correct my own work. Students love being the ‘experts’ who need to help their teachers, and this process allows students to develop much deeper understandings of the success criteria for a lesson.

Some examples of how I scaffold students when teaching fairy tales:

1. break up story elements into manageable chunks and explicitly teach each of these components.

We build up our skills for writing an entire story in incremental chunks, rather writing full stories at the very beginning of the unit. Some examples of what we work on throughout the unit include inside and outside character traits, replacing known characters in fairy tales, and identifying the problem in familiar stories.

  2. Verbal before written

We do lots of verbal practice of concepts before we even begin writing. For example, we look at lots of character pictures and unpack ways to describe that character’s inside and outside traits. We also look at lots of setting pictures and use our senses to describe everything about that setting- what can we hear, what can we see, what could we feel, what could we hear and sometimes even what could we taste?

3. Provide students with a scaffold to base their stories around

In the earlier years I use a very simple structure of:

Once upon a time...   (interesting character)

One day...   (descriptive settings)

Suddenly...   (exciting problem)

Luckily...   (fix the problem).

These sentence scaffolds are obviously a very simplistic break down of a story, but they are a really useful tool for when you are first helping kids to get their heads around structuring a story! It helps to set them up for success.

Here is an example of how this simple scaffold can lead to a simple story:

As an extension, some students may use alternative sentence starters (e.g. One bright sunny morning... All of a sudden.... As quick as a flash...) or write longer paragraphs for each section.

4. Innovating on known stories

This is another great tool for reducing cognitive load and allowing students to have the confidence to attempt their own stories when they are first learning to write.

We use known stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, and just adapt some of the elements (e.g. change the character of Jack to Sally, the beans to magic rice, the beanstalk to a ladder, and the giant to a dragon).

You could also adapt/change parts of a story e.g. change the problem in Three Billy Goats Gruff or change the ending to Hansel and Gretel.

In older years, I use Pie Corbett’s Story Models to give students lots of different story structure scaffolds that they could base a story around (e.g. warning tale, rags to riches tale).

5. Effective Learning Displays 

As a class, we create a variety of learning displays and anchor charts to support our unit. For example, we create word banks using words that we come across throughout our lessons. These displays become an inspiration for students when they are creating their own characters or stories.

It’s important that your learning displays are clear and easy for your students to read, and that the students have helped to create them. Sometimes I give my students a challenge- e.g. I want you to have included at least three outside character traits or three adjectives from our display.

6. Practice, practice, practice

For whatever concept I’m teaching, I give my students plenty of opportunities to practise that skill before we move on. For example, we write LOTS of short character descriptions or setting descriptions. In older grades, I might get students to write five different story openings or five different character descriptions in a lesson. Or if we were learning how to plan a story, we might just practise creating lots of story plans.

One of my literacy centers will often be a writing center, where children can review many of the narrative writing concepts that we have been exploring in our explicit whole class lessons. For example, if you have been working on speech marks and speech bubbles, children could use macaroni pasta to add speech marks to different pieces of writing!

BE FLEXIBLE PLANNERS

It is so important that we are willing to be flexible with the programs that we have created. We need to adapt them as we are teaching, so that they are based around the needs of our learners. Sometimes you will find that students grasp a concept much quicker than you’d anticipated, and you’ll be able to delve much deeper into that concept or move along to the next concept a bit sooner.

Other times, your students will really struggle with a concept and you may need to slow down and spend more time on something, or adjust the activities to better support your students. Most of the time you’ll probably need to do a mixture of all of the above, because the reality of teaching is that we tend to have a huge range of learning needs within the one classroom!

Be reflective practitioners and don’t be afraid to adjust your programs as you go! I recommend reading up on formative assessment techniques (otherwise known as assessment FOR learning) in order to build up a repertoire of ways that you can be checking in on student understanding throughout your entire teaching and learning sequence!

HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

1. My free resource library, The Freebee Library , is packed full of free resources for you to use with your students to take good writing to GREAT writing! You'll also find a full Imaginative Texts Writing Program .

2.  My Kindergarten Writing Bundle for Imaginative Texts will be the perfect addition to your kindergarten writing curriculum. Whether you're looking for a mini lesson, or a full week or term of lesson plans, you'll find loads of quality and engaging activities to use with your students, including:

• Narrative Writing Activities & Templates | Fairy Tales
• Narrative Writing Lesson Slides - Fairy Tales - Imaginative Texts POWERPOINT
• Narrative Writing Posters  

3. If you are teaching personal narrative writing (recount writing), where your children are writing a personal narrative based on their own experiences, you might like to check out my Recount Writing PowerPoint Slides . This PowerPoint is most appropriate for a Kindergarten classroom setting, but it can also be a helpful scaffold for older children who might need a little bit of extra support when writing about their own personal experiences. 

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25 Fun Kindergarten Writing & Storytelling Prompts (Free Printable!)

To help you get them writing from the get-go.

Most kindergartners are just learning how to put letters and words together, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be writers. What they lack in technical ability, they more than make up for with creativity and imagination. Plus, kindergartners usually have lots to say! Kindergarten writing prompts, often called story starters, help young writers focus on a single topic as they develop writing skills. Topics should be broad enough that every child can easily think of something to write about and interesting enough that they stay engaged. Developing a daily writing routine helps kindergartners develop confidence as they learn to articulate their thoughts in a structured way.

The following writing prompts are designed to spark your kindergartners’ imaginations and get them writing! And they are perfect for in-person or virtual learning.

(Want this entire set in one easy document? Get your free PowerPoint bundle by submitting your email here, so you’ll always have the challenges available!)

1. Tell about your favorite stuffy.

2. Make a list of 3 things you like and 3 things you don’t like.

3. What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

4. I’m really good at …

5. If I could fly …

6. Describe an interesting place you’ve visited.

7. Something I like to do that makes me happy is …

8. Do you prefer to play inside or outside? What do you do there?

9. What is your favorite season and why?

10. The best part of being in kindergarten is …

11. If I were a superhero my superpower would be …

12. When I am 100 years old …

13. When I was a baby …

14. My favorite part of the school day is …

15. Tell about a time you were a good helper.

16. What is one activity you like to do with your family?

17. Tell about your best friend.

18. My mom (or dad) always …

19. My favorite animal is _____ because …

20. Once upon a time …

21. If you made dinner for your family what would you make?

22. What is your favorite color? Name 3 things that are that color.

23. If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for?

24. What makes you giggle?

25. Tell me about your favorite book.

Get My Kindergarten Writing Prompts

Love these kindergarten writing prompts? Make sure to check out our kindergarten jokes to start the day !

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Description.

• Lesson 1- What are Narratives?
• Lesson 2- Brainstorming a Narrative Story
• Lesson 3- Sequencing Events
• Lesson 4- Providing Reactions and Feelings
• Lesson 5- Practice #1
• Lesson 6- Practice #2
• Writing Prompts for cyclical practice throughout the year [also in digital option]
• Graphic organizers to use as needed [also in digital option]
• Writing papers with primary lines and regular lines (3 options with picture sizes) [also in digital option]
• Assessments (teacher and self) [also in digital option]
• Click here for the Kindergarten Writing bundle!
• Click here for the Kindergarten ELA Year-Long Curriculum bundle.
• Click here to follow !

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Personal Narrative Writing Templates for Kindergarten

Description

Questions & answers, awaken curiosity encourage character.

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