Back to School Writing Prompts

Back to school is upon us! Are you pacing yourself to prepare all the things? Remember, deep breaths. I am here to help with tips for back to school writing prompts. They're easy, high interest and easy to prep. 

Most second grade writing begins with a focus on narratives. Narrative writing lends itself to lots of writing about summer vacation, personal experiences, and fun days with a relaxed schedule. These are great for writing! 

Extend these writing opportunities with monthly events or holidays you can use for your narrative writing lessons. Days like Friendship Day, Ice Cream Sandwich Day, Book Lover's Day, or Dogust Day - a day in August when shelter dogs are celebrated -- are highly engaging to second graders and easily adapted for narrative writing. I have assembled a collection of these events for August and September. It is linked below.

How I Organize Everything

I begin by making every student a writing folder for the month. It consists of a title page, about the author page, writing survey, and the graphic organizers for the prompts I plan to use that month. 

I include a copy of the student rubric, a writer's checklist and all the graphic organizers for the month. We store these folders in a basket in our classroom.

How I Rotate Groups

During my writing lesson, I teach a mini-lesson that's usually no longer than 6-8 minutes and then students rotate through groups -- Meet with the Teacher, Work Independently, Work with a Partner. These rotations last about 12 minutes. During this writing block, each student is working on the same piece of writing; each rotation has a different purpose. 

Opportunity to Assess

Meet with the Teacher is a time for me to identify any hurdles a student may be having and record that on the anecdotal record form. Working independently is a time to building writing stamina and focus. Working with a partner is a time to give feedback and help a friend edit and revise. 

Example of Writing Checklist -- an excellent way to monitor student progress

All these tools and forms are available in the Back to School Narrative Writing for August and September found in my TpT shop. 

Happy and Healthy Teaching!

Susan