Narrative Writing Teaching Resources
Teach narrative writing this school year with writing prompts, printable worksheets, storyboards and story maps and more teaching resources created by teachers for elementary teachers like you.
This collection of TEKS and Common Core curriculum-aligned teaching resources has been carefully curated by our expert teacher team. That means not only is every resource teacher-created, but each one has undergone our review process to ensure it's ready for your lesson plan and your students!
Is this your first year teaching students about writing narratives? Or maybe you're just looking for some fresh ideas to tackle the topic? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Narrative Writing?
Narrative writing is the act of writing a story, and those stories can be fictional or non-fiction accounts of something the student has experienced or learned about.
This type of writing is often popular with students as it allows them to use their imagination and creativity.
Which Elements Does Strong Narrative Writing Always Contain?
To make their narrative writing engaging and strong, there are certain key elements students need to understand and include, so we've compiled this quick refresher for you.
Plot
The plot of strong narrative writing is crucial — without it, there's no narrative! Keeping the reader interested from the start of a story involves developing the characters well and including conflict.
Structure
Structure of the text is just as important as the plot when writing a strong narrative. Students should be writing texts that include a beginning, middle and end. This can include a clear introduction that sets up the main conflict, a rising action that builds tension and excitement and a resolution that provides closure and ties up loose ends.
Descriptive Language
Teaching students to go beyond overused words like "said" or "nice" and using more descriptive language can help them make their narrative writing stronger. This graphic element of writing works with imagery and figurative language to help readers visualize the story.
Descriptive language helps the reader to visualize the setting and the characters. Sensory details can help kids set the scene in their essay or story.
Point of View
Whether it is written in the first-person, the third-person or flips back and forth, a piece of strong narrative writing has a clear point of view. This helps the reader better understand the narrator or protagonist.
What Is a Hook in Narrative Writing?
One feature of narrative writing you may want to focus on with your students this school year is the art of writing a "hook" to capture the reader's attention and draw them into the story. This is a compelling introduction that will engage the reader and make them want to keep reading!
There is no one kind of hook! It can be anything from an interesting fact or question to a dramatic opening scene or dialogue.
8 Narrative Writing Examples and Assignments to Get Students Writing
Are you looking for some different examples of narrative writing assignments that will engage your students and inspire them to write? Try these ideas from our teacher team!
- A personal narrative about a special day the student will never forget
- A fictional narrative about a group of friends going on an adventure
- A descriptive narrative that uses sensory details and describing words to create a vivid image of riding a rollercoaster
- A historical narrative that tells the story of their favorite president
- A reflective narrative that explores the writer's thoughts and feelings about going to high school one day
- A fantastical narrative that includes magical or imaginary elements, like the arrival of a magic hat in the classroom
- A humorous narrative that uses comedic elements to entertain the reader about a time their gym teacher was replaced by an alien
- A collaborative narrative that involves students writing a chapter book in small groups
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Winter Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate winter and your growing writers with Winter writing worksheets for Kindergarten and first grade.
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Write With Your Senses: Daily Descriptive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write descriptively using our 20 daily descriptive writing prompts slide deck and graphic organizer.
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Write About It! I Am Thankful
Differentiate writing instruction this Thanksgiving with a group of “I Am Thankful” writing prompts for second grade and under.
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On the Farm - Vocabulary and Writing Prompts
Inspire young farmers to read and write about the farm with farm-themed writing prompts and word wall cards.
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Ocean Writing Center
Build stronger vocabulary and writing skills with an ocean-themed writing center.
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Primary Weekly Poetry Guide - Week 3
Use this weekly poetry guide to celebrate National Poetry Month in your primary classroom.
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Primary Weekly Poetry Guide - Week 2
Use this weekly poetry guide to celebrate National Poetry Month in your primary classroom.
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Concrete Poem Poster and Templates
Use this concrete poem example and accompanying template to teach your students how to write a concrete poem.
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Writing Template - Primary Grades
A blank template to use for a variety of writing pieces in the primary grades.
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Topic Sentence Starter Cards
A pack of 32 narrative, persuasive, and report (informative) writing sentence starter cards.
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Assessment Rubric - Narrative Writing
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' narrative writing.
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Daily Writing Prompts Calendars - Upper Grades
Inspire your students and encourage them to write regularly with a set of printable Daily Writing Prompts in calendar format!
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Storyboard Template
A template for use when planning a narrative text.
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Write a Color Poem Worksheet
Set your students up for success when writing a color poem with this set of scaffolded, easy-to-follow worksheets.
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The Park (Poem) - Sequencing Activity
A sequencing activity using poetry.
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Narrative Writing Stimulus Wheels
5 writing wheels that provide stimulus ideas for narrative writing.
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5 Ws and 1 H Planning Worksheet for Narrative Writing
A 5 Ws and 1 H worksheet to use in the classroom.
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Journal Writing Prompt Cards
46 writer's notebook journal writing prompt cards.
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Narrative Criteria Checklist Pack
Use this narrative criteria checklist pack when teaching your students how to edit their narrative writing.
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Plan Your Own Adventure - Writing Template
Students use a template to help them plan stories with alternative pathways for their friends to read.
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Fairy Tales Narrative Writing Pack
A fairy tale themed narrative writing teaching pack containing 8 worksheets and posters.
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Fairy Tales Settings Posters
A set of 6 fairytale story settings background posters.
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Write a Ballad Worksheet
Set your students up for success when writing a ballad with this set of scaffolded, easy-to-follow worksheets.
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Poetry Anchor Chart With Annotations
Use this poetry anchor chart to introduce your students to the structure and language features of poems through an annotated example.
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Bring Your Characters To Life Poster
A poster to remind your students to add detail and description to their writing to bring their characters to life.
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Bloom's Taxonomy Fast Finisher Task Cards - Upper Grades
44 Bloom's Taxonomy fast finisher activity cards.
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Narrative Template Pack
Choose a narrative template from our versatile writing planning pack to help your students plan a fantastic piece of writing!
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Life Event Poetry Prompt Task Cards
Use these poetry prompts to help your students write simple poems about their life experiences.
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People and Places Poetry Prompt Task Cards
Use these writing prompts for poetry to help your students write simple poems about people and places.
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Nature Poetry Prompt Task Cards
Use these poetry writing prompts to help your students write simple poems about nature.
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Write an Autobiographical Poem Worksheet
Set your students up for success when writing an autobiographical poem with this set of scaffolded, easy-to-follow worksheets.
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Letter to a Paralympian - Lined Paper Pack
Write a letter to a Paralympian using our printable letter-writing templates.
- Narrative Writing Templates
- Narrative Writing Worksheets
- Narrative Writing Posters
- Narrative Writing Games
- Narrative Writing for Kindergarten
- Narrative Writing for 1st Grade
- Narrative Writing for 2nd Grade
- Narrative Writing for 3rd Grade
- Narrative Writing for 4th Grade
- Narrative Writing for 5th Grade
- Narrative Writing for 6th Grade
- Narrative Writing for 7th Grade