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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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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Imaginative, Persuasive and Informative Paragraphs PowerPoint
Learn about the different structures of imaginative, persuasive and informative paragraphs.
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Summer Santa on Vacation - Christmas Writing Prompts
Inspire hilarious Christmas narratives with a printable set of Santa on Vacation writing prompt worksheets.
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Roll to Create a Christmas Story - Writing Prompt
Roll the die to generate a fun Christmas writing activity with a roll-to-create Christmas worksheet.
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Haunted House for Sale - Creative Writing for 5th Grade
Use persuasive language and description writing to sell a haunted house with this exciting Halloween Haunted House Project!
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Grandparents' Day Writing Prompt - The Very Best Day
Surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a special story telling about the Best Day Ever with a Grandparents’ Day writing prompt.
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Halloween Narrative Writing Prompts — Finish the Story Writing Activity
Develop narrative writing skills this Halloween season with a printable “Finish the Story” writing prompt and craft.
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Roll to Create a Silly Book Title - Differentiated Writing Activity
Have some fun with a hands-on Read Across America activity using a die and chart to create a silly book title and storybook.
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Wheely Wonderful Words – Emotional States Vocabulary
A word wheel of synonyms and similar words used to describe emotional states.
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Types of Poems - Instructional PowerPoint
A 28 slide editable PowerPoint template the use when introducing students to structured forms of poetry.
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Disguise a Turkey — Thanksgiving Activity
Save Tom the Turkey with a Disguise a Turkey project template for Thanksgiving time in the classroom.
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Father's Day Acrostic Poem Worksheet
Create a special keepsake for dad, grandpa, uncle, or another special father figure with a Father’s Day acrostic poem template.
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End of Year Writing Craftivity - Summer Plan Gumball Machine
Excite your students for the upcoming summer with a writing and craft activity.
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Mysterious Story Setting Background Posters
A set of 3 mysterious story setting posters for students to use in a variety of ways.
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Readers Theater – Play Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing their own Readers Theater script.
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Concrete Poem Template – Thunderstorm
A template for students to write a concrete poem about a thunderstorm.
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Onomatopoeia Poems Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of an onomatopoeia poem.
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Rhyming Poems Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of a rhyming poem.
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All About My Family Mini Booklet
A template for students to complete a booklet all about their family.
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Alliteration Poem Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of an alliteration poem.
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Sensory Poem Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of a sensory poem.
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Narrative Setting Craft Templates
A set of circular diorama templates that combine to create three scenes.
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Acrostic Poem Template - SPORT
An acrostic poem template for the word 'sport'.
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What Happened Next? – Cinderella Writing Template
A template for students to finish the story of CInderella in their own, unique way.
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Acrostic Poem Template - LOVE
Write a LOVE acrostic poem for Valentine’s Day with this handy template.
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Acrostic Poem Template - LEARN
An acrostic poem template for the word 'learn'.
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Animal Poetry Prompts Task Cards
A set of 12 poetry prompts for younger students.
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My Alliteration Poem - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to write and illustrate a poem with alliteration.
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Writing a Friendly, Personal Letter Poster
An educational poster showing students how to lay out a personal letter.
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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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Personal Recount Planning Template
A template for students to use when planning a personal recount.
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Introduction to Personal Recounts PowerPoint
An 18 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching younger students about the structure and language features of personal recounts.
- Narrative Writing Templates
- Narrative Writing Posters
- Narrative Writing Worksheets
- 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