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!

1. A personal narrative about a special day the student will never forget
2. A fictional narrative about a group of friends going on an adventure
3. A descriptive narrative that uses sensory details and describing words to create a vivid image of riding a rollercoaster
4. A historical narrative that tells the story of their favorite president
5. A reflective narrative that explores the writer's thoughts and feelings about going to high school one day
6. A fantastical narrative that includes magical or imaginary elements, like the arrival of a magic hat in the classroom
7. A humorous narrative that uses comedic elements to entertain the reader about a time their gym teacher was replaced by an alien
8. A collaborative narrative that involves students writing a chapter book in small groups