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The first grade is a special year for many students-they're finally in the same area as the older kids, and many children are attending school all day long for the first time. The following new writing prompts for first-grade students are geared toward kids in this special phase of their lives.

Stretch the imaginations of your first-graders with creative questions about their ideal superhero names and secret backyard fortresses. Then, encourage them to reflect on the things that matter most in life by having them write about their parents, experiences that make them feel safe, and the most important qualities of friendship.

Use these writing prompts for first-grade students to help them learn how to express their opinions and ideas through journaling.

Writing prompts help students better understand their feelings-an important skill that can serve kids well throughout the rest of their lives. Writing is also a powerful way for kids to grow more aware of themselves. In these new writing prompts for first grade students, your class will make great use of their imaginations and creative spirits.

Ok, without further ado, here are those exciting writing starters for your 1st grade writers!

37 Writing Ideas and Prompts for First Graders

1. What is your earliest memory?

2. Would you rather be a pirate or a jungle explorer? Why?

3. What is your favorite thing about your house? Why?

4. What would the world be like if we had a purple sky and orange grass?

5. Write about your parents. Where were they born? What do they like?

6. What have your parents told you about the day you were born? Write a brief summary of it.

7. What would you do if your parents told you that you were going to move?

8. Last year on Halloween, I was _________ because ___________.

9. What do you like to do when it gets warm outside?

10. Who is the best cartoon character? Why?

11. What do you do when one of your friends is sad?

12. What Crayola crayon describes you best? Why?

13. Who is the nicest person you know? What makes him or her so special?

14. What do you like best about living in our city?

15. Would you rather be really tall or really small?

16. I feel safe when _________ because __________.

17. What is your favorite thing to pretend? Why?

18. What is your favorite animal? Why?

19. If you could be a dessert, what would you be? Why?

20. Write about your last Christmas vacation. What did you do?

21. How do you feel when you do well on a quiz?

22. Have you ever been somewhere far away on vacation? What was it like?

23. What is your favorite thing to do in the snow?

24. I feel loved when _________.

25. Write a story about a secret backyard fortress.

26. What is special about our class?

27. If you had a secret superhero name, what would it be? Why?

28. What is your favorite kind of vegetable? Why?

29. Write about a time when you were upset about something that happened at school. What did you do?

30. What is something special you do with your grandparents? How do they make you feel?

31. What is best part of the day? Why?

32. If you could travel to space, what would you want to see?

33. Would you rather ride a giraffe or an elephant?

34. Write something nice about your best friend. Explain what you like about him or her and what you like to do together.

35. What do you think 2nd grade will be like? Why?

36. What's the first thing you do when you wake up?

37. What is the most important quality for a good friend to have?

Until next time, write on...
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37 Writing Prompts for First Grade ⋆ JournalBuddies.com

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The first grade is a special year for many students-they're finally in the same area as the older kids, and many children are attending school all day long for the first time. The following new writing prompts for first-grade students are geared toward kids in this special phase of their lives.

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Daily Quick Writes Bundle For The Whole Year

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Improving student writing is fun and easy with these daily quick writes! These prompts are great for first grade and 2nd grade. Kids love writing with these short journal prompts themed by month in an easy to follow template. Each page has space for students to write and draw pictures. Teachers can easily add these to language arts and writer workshop activities in the classroom or homeschool. If you're looking for ideas to make writing more fun, click on the picture to see more details.

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Award winning educational materials like worksheets, games, lesson plans and activities designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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Do you have ipads in your classroom this year? Are you looking for ways to encourage your reluctant writers? I am always on the lookout for fun new activities for my young writers.

Each year, I have students in my class who just LOVE to write. When I ask them to write one sentence, they write five. If I give them a few scraps of paper, they'll staple it and create their own fully illustrated stories. These young writers are so easy to motivate!

One the flip side, I always have students who will do ANYTHING to avoid writing. They will mysteriously lose their pencils, fidget at their desks, visit the bathroom several times, draw faces on their erasers, and a million other very creative avoidance techniques! They don't think of themselves as writers, and avoid every opportunity to change that self-concept.

Motivation

So, how could I motivate these reluctant writers?
Make my writing tasks both more engaging - and less overwhelming - to students who shut down at writing time.
Luckily, I was able to use what they already loved - technology.

I discovered that the most effective apps to use with my students were the ones that used writing in the form of comics. This became a whole new way for me to engage those reluctant writers!

Just like with other writing tasks, they are still required to come up with logical dialogue, edit their spelling, create a storyline, or communicate their ideas in writing.

Comic Format

The difference seemed to be that using the comics format ensured that the writing would not be too overwhelming; they wrote primarily in small speech bubbles; bite-sized chunks that felt "doable". And as far as providing engaging material, the comics format was instantly accepted and caused a great deal of excitement in my class.
Here are a few examples of the apps that I've used to incorporate this kind of writing. I downloaded the free versions when possible to try out before upgrading any of them.

This app is so fun and easy to use! Click HERE to see a short youtube video that shows you how to use it. I showed this video to my class before we got started and they were so excited to get going!

My students are young, so they need an app that is very simple. This one is simple enough for them to figure out on their own with a bit of exploration time. Students first had to choose a comic book template, and then they click on one frame to add a photo.

I was amazed at the creativity my students showed!
First, with no prompting from me, they thought of using the iPad's camera to take pictures of each other as characters in their comic. They also used pictures of the playground and our classroom as background images in a story about our school.

One student even took a photo of his own drawings, instantly making usable digital copies of his own characters to drag into a frame! Once the picture is selected, they can simply drag a speech bubble where they want it and enter text. They were all very eager to write!

To cover all the required writing goals for our grade, we also used comic-style apps to explore non-fiction. With this app, students were given a picture and simply used the tools to write captions for different aspects of the picture. Here is one of a picture I took while visiting the farm with the class. The task was to write five different sentences about it.

We also used this app for labelling the pictures we drew after taking a photo of them and importing them to the app. On another day, we took pictures of the playground, labeled it, and collaboratively wrote a list of rules to follow. Then we printed it out and hung it on the wall.

This app simply adds speech bubbles to any picture. Its simple enough for grade one students who are just starting. Once the students got used to it, we took photos of students on the playground and also of students dressed up in costume! All students were very eager for a chance to write dialogue for those pictures. They quickly learned to take a snapshot of each picture they made to save it.

This is a fun app that actually has many more features than I've used so far. I asked my students to simply choose one of the scenes, and then choose a character or two to drag into the scene.

Once that is done, I asked them to choose a crayon tool to write some text (with their finger) right on to the screen. This can be as simple as starting a story, labelling the picture, or drawing their own characters (you can differentiate as needed).

In the example below, the student chose the Halloween background, dragged an octopus onto the moon, and then used a white pencil tool to write a sentence about the picture. I could then take a screen shot to use for assessment!

The next app I have to show you is called Toontastic. This interactive app walks students through the creation of a story: Introduction, Conflict, Challenge, Climax and Resolution. Students choose a setting and drag in some characters from below for each part of the story.

The next part is amazingly engaging: students move the characters around with their fingers and verbally narrate what is happening. The app records the action and the students' voice as a small video clip! This becomes the first "scene" in the story.

Once all of the elements of the story are completed, you can add music and play it as a short movie! For the writing task, we watch the clip and then retell that part of the story in writing. Because it's in small parts, it wasn't too overwhelming. Because each student made their own unique story, we were able to repeat this writing task many times without students getting tired of it.

This is a great choice for more advanced students who need a little bit of help coming up with ideas. It begins with a group of words, or selected words, stickers and pictures, and the end result can be stories or poems.

There are many options and features to explore, and students have the ability to create, save and print their stories or poems.

This app is meant to spark imagination while practicing writing skills. The story is mapped out first, and then details are added along the way!

This is very similar to the previous, but has some features that some students may prefer.

This writing app for has three levels to choose from. Students are guided through the writing process by choosing details along the way, and even add photos!

Pin this list for later!

If you're having trouble finding what you need for math, literacy or clip art, you can grab this handy Clickable Catalogue for everything available in my TPT store - a big time saver! Tuck it away for when you need it!
Click here to download the clickable resource list to keep for later.

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Reluctant Writers: Tech Solutions - Whimsy Workshop Teaching

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Do you have ipads in your classroom this year? Are you looking for ways to encourage your reluctant writers? I am always on the lookout for fun new activities for my young writers. Each year, I have students in my class who just LOVE to write.

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Hello Everyone! I love helping first graders express themselves through writing. For me, the first semester of first grade is all about cre…

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The recommendations in this guide cover teaching the writing process, teaching fundamental writing skills, encouraging students to develop essential writing knowledge, and developing a supportive writing environment. All of these practices are aimed at achieving a single goal: enabling students to use writing flexibly and effectively to help them learn and communicate their ideas.
Download full practice guide >
Recommendation 1: Provide daily time for students to write

Level of evidence: Minimal

Providing adequate time for students to write is one essential element of an effective writing instruction program. However, recent surveys of elementary teachers indicate that students spend little time writing during the school day. Students need dedicated instructional time to learn the skills and strategies necessary to become effective writers, as well as time to practice what they learn. Time for writing practice can help students gain confidence in their writing abilities. As teachers observe the way students write, they can identify difficulties and assist students with learning and applying the writing process.

How to carry out the recommendation

The panel recommends a minimum of one hour a day devoted to writing for students, beginning in 1st grade (For students in kindergarten, at least 30 minutes each day should be devoted to writing and developing writing skills.). The hour should include at least 30 minutes dedicated to teaching a variety of writing strategies, techniques, and skills appropriate to students' levels, as detailed in Recommendations 2, 3, and 4 of this guide. The remaining 30 minutes should be spent on writing practice, where students apply the skills they learned from writing-skills instruction.

Time for writing practice can occur in the context of other content-area instruction. In science, for example, lab reports require detailed procedural writing and clear descriptions of observations. Students also can write For students in kindergarten, at least 30 minutes each day should be devoted to writing and developing writing skills. imaginary diary entries of people from the time period they are studying in social studies. Additionally, students can write before, during, and/or after reading, to articulate what they already know, what they want to know, and what they learned. When teachers integrate writing tasks with other content-area lessons, students may think more critically about the content-area material.
Download Recommendation 1 >
Recommendation 2: Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes

Level of evidence: Strong

Writing well involves more than simply documenting ideas as they come to mind. It is a process that requires that the writer think carefully about the purpose for writing, plan what to say, plan how to say it, and understand what the reader needs to know. Instruction should include the components of the writing process: planning, drafting, sharing, evaluating, revising, and editing. An additional component, publishing, may be included to develop and share a final product.

Teach students the writing process

1. Teach students strategies for the various components of the writing process

Students need to acquire specific strategies for each component of the writing process. Students should learn basic strategies, such as POW (Pick ideas, Organize their notes, Write and say more), in 1st or 2nd grade. More complicated strategies, such as peer revising, should be introduced in 2nd grade or later. Many strategies can be used to assist students with more than one component of the writing process. For example, as students plan to write a persuasive essay, they may set goals for their writing, such as providing three or more reasons for their beliefs. Students should then devise a plan for periodically assessing their progress toward meeting these goals as they write. As students evaluate their draft text, they may reread their paper to determine whether they have met the goals they articulated during planning. If not, students may revise their writing to better meet their goals.

2. Gradually release writing responsibility from the teacher to the student

Writing strategies should be taught explicitly and directly through a gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student. Teachers should ensure that students have the background knowledge and skills they need to understand and use a writing strategy. Then, teachers should describe the strategy and model its use. Teachers also should articulate the purpose of the strategy, clearly stating why students might choose to use it as a way of improving their writing. Teachers then should guide students to collaborate in small groups to practice applying the strategy. Once students demonstrate an understanding of the strategy, the teacher should encourage students to practice applying it as they write independently. Teachers should make sure they do not release responsibility to students too early.

3. Guide students to select and use appropriate writing strategies.

When students initially learn to use writing strategies, teachers frequently should discuss when and how to use the strategies throughout the writing process, as well as why the strategies are helpful. Once students learn to use a variety of strategies independently, through the gradual release process, teachers should help them understand how to select appropriate strategies and use them across a range of writing tasks.

To help students select the appropriate writing strategy, teachers might consider posting strategies on a wall chart in the classroom. One column of the chart might include a list of all the strategies, and another column might provide a list of situations in which these strategies could be used. Once students are able to use a strategy effectively and independently, they can identify and add situations to the chart. Students also can identify opportunities to apply strategies in different content areas.

4. Encourage students to be flexible in using components of the writing process

Writing requires flexibility and change. Once students have acquired a set of strategies to carry out the components of the writing process, they need to be purposeful in selecting strategies that help them meet their writing goals. They also need to learn to apply these strategies in a flexible manner, moving back and forth between different components of the writing process as they develop text and think critically about their writing goals. For example, plans and already written text may need to be revised and edited numerous times to communicate more effectively, and writing must be polished to make it suitable for publication.

Teach students to write for a variety of purposes: How to carry out the recommendation

1. Help students understand the different purposes of writing

Students should understand the purpose of each genre (to describe, to narrate, to inform, or to persuade/analyze) so that they can select the genre best suited to their writing task.

2. Expand students' concept of audience

Writing for different purposes often means writing for different audiences. To help students understand the role of audience in writing, it is important to design writing activities that naturally lend themselves to different audiences. Otherwise, students may view writing in school as writing only for their teacher. When discussing writing purposes, teachers and students can generate a list of potential audiences for a given writing assignment. Students then can choose the audience that best fits their writing topic.

3. Teach students to emulate the features of good writing

Students should be exposed to exemplary texts from a variety of sources, including published or professional texts, books and textbooks, the teacher's own writing, and peer samples. Exemplary texts can illustrate a number of features, including text structure; use of graphs, charts, and pictures; effective word choice; and varied sentence structure.

4. Teach students techniques for writing effectively for different purposes

Students also must learn to use techniques that are specific to a purpose of writing. When developing a persuasive essay, for example, students can use the TREE (Topic sentence, Reasons-three or more, Ending, Examine) technique, whereby they make a plan for their paper that includes what they believe, reasons to support their beliefs, examples for each reason, and an ending.
Download Recommendation 2 >
Recommendation 3: Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing and word processing

Level of evidence: Moderate

When basic writing skills become relatively effortless for students, they can focus less on these basic writing skills and more on developing and communicating their ideas. However, younger writers must typically devote considerable attention to acquiring and polishing these skills before they become proficient. Spelling skills can affect the words students choose because they may be less likely to use words they cannot spell. Students also need to be able to generate strong, interesting sentences that vary in length and complexity in order to convey their intended meaning and engage readers.

When a student's writing contains spelling mistakes and poor handwriting, it can be difficult for the reader to understand what the student is trying to convey. Word processing programs can make many aspects of the writing process easier for students, including assisting students with spelling and handwriting difficulties to write more fluently.

How to carry out the recommendation

1. Teach very young writers how to hold a pencil correctly and form letters

Early writing instruction should begin with demonstrations of how to hold a pencil comfortably between the thumb and forefinger, resting on the middle finger. Teachers also should show young writers the most efficient and legible ways to form each letter, regardless of whether print or cursive script is used. Teachers also should show young writers the most efficient and legible ways to form each letter, regardless of whether print or cursive script is used. Because handwriting is a motor skill, it works best to practice in multiple short sessions. Students also should apply their handwriting skills in sentences and in authentic writing activities.

2. Teach students to spell words correctly

A relatively small number of words (850) account for 80 percent of the words elementary- grade students use in their writing. Teachers should help students learn to spell words they commonly use. Although many elementary schools have an explicit spelling curriculum, teachers should connect spelling instruction with writing as much as possible. Students should be encouraged to learn words they frequently misspell, as well as words they wish to include in their writing. Teachers also should help students acquire the skills they need to generate and check plausible spellings for words.

3. Teach students to construct sentences for fluency, meaning and style

Students should learn to write strong sentences that convey their intended meaning and engage readers. Teachers should focus sentence-level instruction on sentence construction, encouraging students to consider the meaning and syntax of the sentences they develop. Teachers also should explicitly demonstrate how sentence construction and sentence mechanics, such as punctuation and capitalization, interact to form strong sentences. Students also need instruction on how to use a variety of sentence structures in their writing.

4. Teach students to type fluently and to use a word processor to compose

Students should be introduced to typing in 1st grade. By 2nd grade, students should begin regular typing practice. By the end of 2nd or 3rd grade, students should be able to type as fast as they can write by hand. Instruction in typing should be accompanied by instruction in how to use a word processor.
Download Recommendation 3 >
Recommendation 4: Create an engaged community of writers

Level of evidence: Minimal

Students need both the skill and the will to develop as writers.97 Teachers should establish a supportive environment in their classroom to foster a community of writers who are motivated to write well. In a supportive writing environment, teachers participate as writers, not simply instructors, to demonstrate the importance of writing. By taking part in writing lessons and activities, teachers convey the message that writing is important, valued, and rewarding.

How to carry out the recommendation

1. Teachers should participate by writing and sharing their writing

Teachers should model how the ability to write affects their daily lives, demonstrate the importance of writing to communicate, model the perseverance required to create a good piece of writing, and express the satisfaction that can come from creating a meaningful text. For example, a teacher could draft a letter or an email to a friend in front of students, thinking out loud to make the invisible act of composing - which occurs internally for experienced writers - more visible to students.

2. Give students writing choices

Teachers should provide opportunities for student choice in writing assignments - for example, choice in selecting writing topics or the freedom to modify a teacher-selected prompt.One way to foster choice is for students to keep a notebook in which they record topics for writing. Teachers also need to provide instruction and opportunities for students to practice writing to prompts.

3. Encourage students to collaborate as writers

Teachers can encourage students to collaborate throughout the writing process by brainstorming ideas about a topic, responding to drafts in a writing group, or helping peers edit or revise their work. Collaboration also can take the form of collaborative writing, whereby students jointly develop a single text.

4. Provide students with opportunities to give and receive feedback

Students need to know whether their writing is accurately and appropriately conveying its message. One way students can determine this is by sharing their writing and responding to written and verbal feedback from the teacher and their peers. Although teachers should provide feedback to students through teacher-student conferences and rubrics, peers also should be encouraged to participate in the feedback process. Students also need to be taught strategies and appropriate language for written feedback.
Download Recommendation 4 >

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Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

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The recommendations in this guide cover teaching the writing process, teaching fundamental writing skills, encouraging students to develop essential writing knowledge, and developing a supportive writing environment. All of these practices are aimed at achieving a single goal: enabling students to use writing flexibly and effectively to help them learn and communicate their ideas.

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a giant on like the one in the photo and/or smaller ones to hand out of pasted to the inside of their homework folders.

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Great first grade writing checklist_anchor chart to remind students what they need in their writing

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Teaching writing to elementary students happens over a series of scaffolded stages. A gradual release towards independence will result in improving writing skills.

The four stages of teaching good writing is a gradual release from teacher-directed to complete independence. It is tightly controlled to ensure success, yet the lessons can be really fun.

In fact, they should be interactive and fun, or you will lose the interest of your class (then you are toast!).

The stages are:

Modeled Writing

Shared Writing

Guided Writing

Independent Writing

For each stage you will find a specific strategy to use in your lessons. Each strategy can be used as a stand-alone lesson or at intervals during other stages.

Modeled Writing

What is Modeled Writing?

A think aloud about strategies

Utilizes a problem-solving approach

Can be used to teach a specific element of language

Modeled writing is the first step in teaching writing to children. This is when the teacher is in front of the class doing all of the writing.

If your students struggle greatly with getting their ideas going, come back to this basic step and model your writing process for them. They need to see it being done. I like to have my students sitting on the floor in front of the chart paper so we are in an intimate setting while I discuss my thinking.

Make your thoughts about the process known (be explicit) while you are teaching writing to children.

For example, you might say, "Today I want to write about what happened to me last night. I need to make a web to sort out my thoughts, then I can start putting the words into sentences."

If it is a specific skill lesson, such as great beginning sentences, you might say, "I know that author's need to have strong beginnings to hook their readers into a story. Today I am going to use a little-known fact to hook them."

The key to modeled writing is to never assume your students are following you. Tell them everything you are doing and why. It is not enough for them just to watch you. As well, don't try to model so many things that the lesson goes on too long - you will lose their attention.

Shared Writing

During shared writing, a teacher will scribe the words, but the students are now invited to contribute to the piece. This is the type of writing I tend to do a lot of at the beginning of the year in my second grade classroom. It would be appropriate for any primary writing.

Students contribute ideas while the teacher writes

Lots of discussion, questions and answers

Think alouds continue to be used

The photos below show a shared writing lesson that my class did for a special assembly we had. We were to write a very simple story that had little detail (it was to be performed by a mime). The entire process, from start to finish, took us about 45 minutes.

Below is our story that we wrote together. Notice that you can see where I made my thinking visible to the students as we worked. That is critical in teaching writing to children. Words are circles and crossed out, punctuation marks are changed, and substitutions have been made throughout.

You can also see where the basic narrative elements were underlined in the story. Doing this helps the students see how the elements are woven into the story without saying, "The main character is..." or, "The setting was..."

Guided Writing

Guided writing is the third step in teaching writing to children. In guided writing, teachers continually provide feedback, redirection and expansion of ideas. Any area of writing can be addressed, but it works well to put similar needs together and address them at the same time.

The step between teacher directed and independent writing

Teacher utilizes prompts and clues to help develop ideas and organization

Teacher works with students either small group or independently

Oral discussion of sentences before writing

You may also choose to do guided writing independently as part of how you approach teaching writing to children. I find that using smaller groups works really well for teaching creative writing as so many children struggle with formulating ideas.

During a writer's workshop, I like to walk around the classroom and stop at my students desks. I have them read to me what they are working on and ask them what they might be struggling with.

It is surprising what they realize they need help with, and it is not always what I thought they should work on, but the motivation to improve an aspect of writing is there so we do it.

The absolute best series of videos to watch on teaching Guided Writing are found at Primary Framework Guided Writing. I have no affiliate relationship with them, so my opinion is completely unbiased. You must watch these though, as they give a clear, conceptual understanding of what guided writing really is and how to use it within the framework of teaching writing to children.

Independent Writing

This is where the students effectively utilize written language for their own purposes or as assigned by the teacher. These writing pieces can be anything, from creative stories and reports to writing journals or letters to friends and family.

Students use ideas from shared writing to produce their own independent piece

Reference to charts and other materials to revise and edit composition

Teacher evaluation for growth

This part of teaching writing to children must always include a time to share. It is critical to provide validation of your young author's process and growth as a writer. This provides them not only recognition, but an opportunity to receive feedback.

While some children gravitate towards writing independently, many need more practice with essential writing lessons. If you have a student who struggles, you must go back and do more shared and guided writing, as well as spending some time simply romancing young writers.

But what about the mechanics and structure of writing?

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4 Stages of Teaching Writing to Children

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Teaching writing to elementary students happens over a series of scaffolded stages. A gradual release towards independence will result in improving writing skills. The four stages of teaching good writing is a gradual release from teacher-directed to complete independence. It is tightly controlled to ensure success, yet the lessons can be really fun.

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Picture Writing Prompts for the Elementary Classroom

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Learn how to use picture writing prompts to keep elementary students engaged, writing, and having fun with the great ideas and suggestions here.

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NO PREP FINISH THE PICTURE - 40 PICS | Teaching | Pinterest | Teaching, Classroom and Art projects

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