Story Starters with a Musical Twist!

Finding the perfect first sentence for a story can be a tricky task for our students. Sometimes, we see our students struggling to get started on a piece of writing because they just can’t get over that initial hurdle… the very first sentence!

Your students are bound to find a musical story-starter sentence that inspires and excites them during Book Week 2026 in this set of 24 task cards! Some of the musical story starter sentences included in this resource are:

• When Rebecca blew into the wooden flute, the clouds began to…
• The old trumpet had been completely silent for many years until someone finally…
• The moment I struck the tuning fork, I noticed the other instruments began to…
• The conductor was halfway through the orchestra’s encore, when suddenly…
• As the opera singer hit the final note of the epic song, he…

Plan, Write and Publish a Musical Story

Need some more guidance as to how you might use these story starter task cards with your students? Here are some thoughts from our experienced teacher team:

1. Choose – Have your students choose a story starter that appeals to them.
2. Plan – Allow your students to plan their stories. Teach Starter has many narrative planning templates perfect for this purpose.
3. Write – Allow your students to write their stories. You may wish to set a time or page limit to keep the activity manageable.
4. Edit – Allow the students to edit their work. This could be done independently, in pairs or even in small groups.
5. Publish – Allow the students to create a final copy of their story. Why not use our narrative booklet template? Your students will feel like real authors when they produce a real book with a story they themselves have written!

Download to Celebrate a Symphony of Stories!

Use the Download button to access the colour PDF or editable Google Slides version of this resource.

Print the task cards on thick card for added durability. Store them together in an envelope or large zip-lock bag for safekeeping.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher and Teach Starter collaborator.

More Narrative Writing Teaching Resources

Teach Starter has an extensive range of resources to support you in teaching narrative writing to your students. Click below to explore just a handful of resources from our collection!

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