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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Write a Cinquain Poem Worksheet
Set your students up for success when writing a cinquain poem with this set of scaffolded, easy-to-follow worksheets.
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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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The Penalty Kick - Write a New Ending to a Story Activity
Promote resilience and boost narrative writing skills with a soccer-themed ‘Change the Ending’ Writing Activity.
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First, Then, Finally Sort and Writing Template
Help your students sequence ideas for a narrative story with these narrative element prompts and a First Then Finally Writing Template.
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2nd Grade Narrative Writing Assessment Pack
Help students nail narrative writing with this scaffolded zoo adventure narrative writing assessment pack.
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Narrative Writing Craft Packs
Help early writers escape writer's block with this scaffolded narrative writing craft pack.
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1st Grade Narrative Writing Assessment Pack
Help your students master narrative writing with this scaffolded Grade 1 Narrative Writing Assessment Pack, built around an exciting “Unexpected Visitor” story theme.
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Write a Short Story – Adventure in Space
Get your students analyzing and writing adventure in space stories with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Exploring and Building Narrative Characters PowerPoint
Use this editable PowerPoint template when teaching younger students about how to build a character for a narrative text.
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Thanksgiving Acrostic Poem Templates
Download these Thanksgiving acrostic poem templates to inspire your students to celebrate gratitude, reflection and creativity in your classroom.
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Adventure Storytelling Cubes & Writing Templates
Use our Adventure Storytelling Dice templates to create an engaging Narrative Writing Station in your classroom.
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Roll an Adventure Story - Storytelling Dice Game
Roll and write an adventure story using our Roll An Adventure Storytelling Dice Game.
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Adventure Story Starter Task Cards
Print and use these Adventure Story Starter Task Cards to inspire adventurous narrative writings.
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Narrative Writing Lesson: Story Leads to Hook Readers
Hook readers with this narrative writing lesson that introduces your students to eleven story starting strategies.
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Wheel of Story Ideas
Download this wheel of story ideas to give your students access to dozens of fun story starters.
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Sentence Starters for Writing Slides
Spark creativity with our sentence starters for writing slides that provide your students writing prompts across three writing genres.
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Digital Storytelling PowerPoint Templates
Use this set of PowerPoint templates to foster creativity and explore digital storytelling with your students.
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Change the Ending of the Story Worksheets
Help students change the ending of a story with this set of worksheets.
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How to Write a Fractured Fairy Tale Worksheet Pack
Engage students in narrative writing and explore how to write a fractured fairy tale with this set of worksheets
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Visual Narrative Worksheets
Download these visual narrative worksheets that help students create and analyze their own stories using sets of images.
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Direct and Indirect Characterization Anchor Chart
Reference a direct and indirect characterization anchor chart to teach your students the difference between types of characterization.
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Storytelling Cubes
Roll our Storytelling Cubes to generate fun narrative writing prompts to use in your classroom.
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Poetry Cloze Passage Worksheets
Use these poetry cloze worksheets to introduce your students to various types of poetry in a fun and engaging way.
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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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Five Senses Poem Craft Templates
Use this five senses craft to introduce your students to descriptive language and five senses poetry.
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Roll-a-Holiday Poem Dice Game
Get your students to write fun holiday poems with this engaging “Roll-a-Poem” dice game.
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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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Genre of the Month - Writing Prompt Grids (Upper)
Introduce your students to a variety of writing genres with our printable genre-specific writing prompt grids.
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Narrative Story Starter Worksheets - Writing Prompts
Use our printable narrative writing prompt worksheets to boost your students' imaginative writing skills.
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My Monster Story Template
Use this simple story template to get your students writing simple narratives based on a sequence of events.
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Story Ideas - Character, Setting, and Complication Cards
Help your students choose a topic to write about with this set of 36 character, setting and compilation task cards.
- Narrative Writing Templates
- Narrative Writing Worksheets
- Narrative Writing Posters
- Narrative Writing Games
- Narrative Writing Word Walls
- 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