Writing Archives

A new school year usually brings a new set of worries for parents…and for kids.

I’ve noticed that, as my kids grow older, they start to struggle with feelings of self-consciousness and uncertainty. And the first place I start to notice it is in their writing.

Even my bookworms who used to be able to write with abandon start to feel unsure about how to express their feelings as they move through the upper elementary grades and closer to middle school.

So I thought this set of back to school writing prompts would be a great way to start the conversation about the new school year, even if students feel less than enthusiastic.

These would be great for individual students or take-home writing assignments. Or you could use them for a collaborative writing activity as a group!

Keep reading to see how to get your copy! And, for more practice with writing in elementary grades, take a look at my Back to School All About Me Writing Prompt!

Back to School Writing Prompts for Kids

To use these back to school writing prompts, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This product includes a list of back to school writing prompts and a word bank that features nouns, verbs, adjectives, and questions for students to use in their compositions.

Plus, there are 10 different lined pages for students to use as they work!

All of the questions are very open-ended and personal, so even the most reluctant writer will feel comfortable with a least one of the prompts.

Need to save on ink? A line art version is also included!

If you use that one, let students color in the pictures for themselves to add a little art to this activity.

As the teacher, you can complete a prompt too! Be sure to share your response with the class!

Scroll down to get your copy of our Back to School Writing Prompts!

Stop by to see these other ELA learning ideas!

Follow my Fun Language Arts Ideas for Kids board on Pinterest for more ELA teaching tips!

To get your copy of our Back to School Writing Prompts, click the image or the link below to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

>>> Back to School Creative Writing Prompts <<<

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Hi all! We’re co-hosting the Poetry Celebration and Contest over at Preschool Powol Packets today! All month long, the co-hosts have been sharing great tips for introducing poetry to kids and we’re wrapping up the series today with a look at the work of Shel Silverstein. We decided to examine poetry with the Shel Silverstein book A Light in the Attic.

As we read the book, we noticed that some of the poems followed a certain rhythm pattern and some did not. For example, in the poem “How Many, How Much?” every other line rhymed. In the poem “Fancy Dive”, though, every line rhymed. We spent a little time writing two-line poems as a family using the section on poetry in Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 3.

We ended up with these:

“There once was a flea

Who wanted to ski” (Pooh)

“There once was a crow

Who played with Play-Doh” (Roo)

We also discovered that poems can change patterns. The Shel Silverstein poem “Tired” changes patterns from every other line rhyming to every line rhyming. Tigger used one of the poetry planning pages from the School Zone Second Grade Big Workbook to design a poem of her own that changed patterns. Here’s her poem called “My Family”.

“Friends don’t know about my family

And they don’t know about me.

My family is so cool!

It is probably better than being in a pool.

Love and hugs and kisses galore!

You know, they’re so kind. They even help me when I fall on the floor!” (Tigger)

We also learned about how poetry can make use of onomatopoeia. On page 58 of A Light in the Attic, we read the poem “Eight Balloons” and noticed the use of the sound effect “POP!” as a sound effect and a rhyming word. We talked about how onomatopoeia allows us to use sounds as words, and then we made our own poem using onomatopoeia.

We jotted down the sound effects first and then put them into a poem called “The Wind”.

“With a roar,

The wind went WHISH!

The kites went WHOOSH!

And the leaves went SHISH!”

The kids spent most of the rest of the day inventing their own rhymes, so I’m counting this as a successful creative writing lesson. 🙂

During the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you and your kids can submit original works for a chance to win some great prizes! If you’d like to enter to win some of the great prizes in the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below!

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The following companies are sponsoring the Poetry Celebration and Contest!

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