Matt 
Helping our students, particularly young children, plan an outline of the story they’re setting out to write is an extremely useful technique.
This helps them to consider different narrative elements such as characters, settings, and their overall story arc.
Today we’ve put together a couple of handy worksheet PDFs for you to download and use with your class – and we will go through some our tips for how best to introduce your students to a story planner.
Enjoying reading a good book, and losing yourself in a richly woven story is a wonderful addition to anyones life.
I have my own memories of being a child entranced by a fantastic tale, and credit my love of the written word to being surrounded by books since before I could even read.
It should come as no surprise then to discover that I try to encourage the enjoyment of reading in all children.
Today I’ve got a couple of reading log templates to share with you, which your children can use to keep track of what they’ve read.
When we are teaching our students reading or writing skills there are numerous techniques we can use to help guide their thought process.
One such method which I’ve used to great effect over the years with my students is the “Beginning Middle End” graphic organizer.
This allows me to easily guide the kids to think about the different phases of a story or narrative, and allow them to better understand (or create their own) story arcs.
Encouraging our little writers to take full advantage of the English language is an important aspect of teaching writing skills.
Children tend to default to using the same basic verbs in their writing, and we can open their eyes to all the possibilities with a decree that “said is dead”!
Even from the earliest ages we can help our students understand that there are many verbs they can use instead of “said”.
The mind.
The creative muse.
The universe.
Whatever you believe helps you to be creative and write a story that takes the reader on a journey, let’s give it a helping hand – through just a single word.
Let’s use one single word to spark the imagination, and let creativity take over.
One word not enough to trigger your creative writing?
Ok, fine. How about 102 in quick succession?!
I’ll eat my hat if that doesn’t activate your neurons enough to get a concept for a story bubbling to the surface.
How could it be?
There was no explaining the strange events of that stormy night.
I bet you’re curious to know what happens next, and what this is all about? You wouldn’t be the only one – and for good reason!
A mystery has the power to capture peoples attention. It is well suited to weaving complex plots and sudden twists and turns to it’s storyline.
Writing a mystery can be a challenging and rewarding creative endeavour, for young and old alike.
So here are 19 story ideas for your next mystery, to help build those writing skills!
A picture says a thousand words, or so the saying goes more or less.
And there is something to that for sure – we all know it.
We have all experienced it – looking at a striking image which immediately conjures up a story in our mind.
So let’s take advantage of our extremely visual brains, and use a range of very different images to inspire the creative process, and get interesting unique stories started in no time at all!
It’s time to give your 2nd grade students a heaping helping of enthusiasm for writing.
Or for getting a great class discussion going for that matter.
However you choose to use them, there is no doubt that writing prompts can be extremely effective for most ages during schooling in the classroom or at home, and today we’re focusing on the 2nd grade.
So let’s dig into this a little further…
Never underestimate the power of a good story.
And while that is certainly true when it comes to encouraging children to read more, and consequently develop their reading ability – it is no less true when we are wanting to help students develop their writing skills.
In fact, for many kids, writing a story is one of the most enjoyable activities they take part in at school, and I’ve always tried to lean into this in my classes.
But how can we help ensure every student in the class is going to use their imagination and write a story to share?
Today we’re going to look at using writing prompts to do just that!
Capturing the attention of a writers creativity, so that a story starts to weave its way into existence is a wonderful thing.
Consider a superhero, whether with fantastic powers beyond human ability, or simply an extraordinary character with a driving force to their actions.
Yes, the superhero is a concept enough to grab the attention of even the most reluctant writers!
