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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Paragraph of the Week PowerPoint - Literary Paragraphs
A Paragraph of the Week PowerPoint presentation to use when setting up this writing strategy in your classroom.
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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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Picture Writing Prompts
These picture writing prompts are a great way to help students develop their writing skills. A visual writing prompt can be generated at random or chosen specifically.
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Random Story Starter Generator
Use the random writing prompts for kids in our short story generator widget to inspire your students creativity and boost their writing skills.
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Celebrating Poetry Month in the Primary Grades – Weeks 4 and 5
Celebrate National Poetry Month in the primary classroom with this planning guide and set of resources.
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Celebrating Poetry Month in the Primary Grades - Week 3
Celebrate National Poetry Month in the primary classroom with this planning guide and set of resources.
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Celebrating Poetry Month in the Primary Grades - Week 2
Celebrate National Poetry Month in the primary classroom with this planning guide and set of resources.
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Experimenting with Poetry Unit Plan - Grade 5 and Grade 6
This English unit addresses the common elements of poetry and explores how these may be applied to shape poems, limericks, odes and simple ballads.
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Exploring Poetry - Year 3 and Year 4 Unit Plan
This English unit addresses common poetic devices such as sound play, word play and imagery and explores how these may be applied to narrative poetry.
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Narrative Poetry - Simple Ballads
A 60 minute lesson in which students will plan and write a simple ballad.
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Exploring Narrative Texts Unit Plan - Year 1 and Year 2
This English unit uses fairy tales to introduce the narrative text type to younger students. It addresses the structure, characters and language features of a narrative.
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Writing Narrative Texts Unit Plan - Year 5 and Year 6
This English unit addresses the narrative text type; specifically, how to write an engaging narrative text.
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Introduction to Personal Recounts Unit Plan
This writing unit has been designed to introduce the recount text type to younger students; specifically, the purpose, structure, and language features of personal recounts.
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Developing Narrative Writing Skills Unit Plan - Year 3 and Year 4
This English unit addresses the narrative text type, specifically, how to plan and write an engaging story.
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Narrative Features - Building a Character
A 60 minute lesson in which students will use descriptive language effectively to build a character.
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Narrative Skills - Independent Writing
A 60 minute lesson in which students will independently write a narrative, using appropriate text structure, language and features.
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Narrative Skills - Planning a Story
A 60 minute lesson in which students will independently plan a setting, characters and plot for a narrative text.
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Narrative Skills - Shared Writing
A 60 minute lesson in which students will write a narrative, in pairs, using appropriate text structure, language and features.
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Narrative Skills - Sensational Story Starters
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate exciting, attention-grabbing methods of starting a story.
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Narrative Features - Developing a Plot
A 60 minute lesson in which students will develop a plot for a narrative which includes a setting, characters and a problem to be solved.
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Quotation Marks in Narrative Writing
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the correct use of quotation marks in narrative writing.
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Narrative Features - Building a Character
A 60 minute lesson in which students will use descriptive language effectively to build a character.
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Narrative Features - Creating a Setting
A 60 minute lesson in which students will use descriptive language effectively to create a narrative setting.
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Constructing a Narrative Paragraph
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify and use the correct paragraph structure for narrative writing.
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Parts of a Narrative Story
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify and explore the parts of a narrative text.
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Narrative Texts - Language Features
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify and explore the language features of narrative texts.
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Narrative Texts - Text Structure
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify and explore the structure of narrative texts.
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Creating a Narrative Writing Station
A 60 minute lesson in which students will discuss writing goals and explore a classroom writing station.
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Tell Me A Story
A 60 minute lesson designed to introduce narratives and the parts of a story using familiar texts.
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Writing a Fairy Tale
A 60 minute lesson in which students will independently write a fairy tale, using appropriate text structure, language and features.
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What's the Problem?
A 60 minute lesson in which students will develop a complication and resolution for a fairy tale.