Writing prompts can help children develop creative writing skills and can be a fun way to learn a new skill. This article will offer 50 different prompts that you can use to teach your students how to write in the format of a short story. Some of these writing prompts are fiction, while others are non-fiction. This means they can be used by teachers in almost any classroom setting, whether with students that need development in writing or if you have students who simply love to write down their own stories and this is a fun way to get them involved.
Contents
1. What are some things your teacher asks you to do in order to be a good student?
2. What is something you can’t wait to learn about in school this year?
3. Why does it matter if we get grounded for doing something wrong?
4. Describe a time when someone treated you unfairly, but then the situation was resolved and everything got better
5. What are three things that make your day more fun or interesting?
6. How do you think animals feel when they see humans fighting with each other or harming their environment?
7 . What is the best thing to do when you feel sad or upset?
8. What are some things that make you happy?
9. List five things that you can do to show gratitude
10. Describe a place where you feel safe and secure
11. Share an experience of being bullied online, in person, or in school and how it made you feel
12 . What is something that makes you feel angry?
13 . What is something important you want to accomplish this year?
14 . Make a promise to yourself that helps motivate yourself to achieve your goal(s)
15 . What are some things that keep your family close during hard times?
16 . What are some ways to show respect to people in your family or your community?
17 . How might a teacher be able to help students who have trouble making friends?
18 . What is something you can do next time you see someone being disrespectful?
19 . Make a list of three problems at home and three problems at school. What are some solutions for the home problems and school problems?
20. Write about a time when you made a mistake, but then learned something important from the experience
21. Share an experience you’ve had that made you feel proud of your family or community and how it made you feel
22 . Describe a time when you had to ask for help. What happened?
23 . What is something that makes you proud of your community?
24 . Is there a family in your life who has helped you out and inspired you? If so, how did they inspire you?
25 . Describe a time when the people in your family or community showed your respect. How did they show respect?
26. Share an experience of a time when someone treated you unfairly, but then the situation was resolved and everything got better
27 . What are some ways to make school and home more fun, interesting, safe, respectful, or peaceful?
28. Write about an experience when someone was kind to you and how it made you feel
29 . Make a list of at least 10 ways that people in your family, community, or school can be respectful and safe
30 . Describe a time when you were bullied online, in person, or at school. How did this make you feel?
31. If you could travel back to another time, would you? Why or why not? Tell about an experience that you would have when traveling back in time
32. You are the new kid at school. How would you introduce yourself? What is one thing that people might not have known about you before they got to know you?
33. It’s your first day of school. Give an account of what you will be doing on your first day of school, and how that day might feel for someone who is new like yourself. Could it feel different for them than it does for you? Tell why or why not
34. Talk about what makes a story interesting and why an author would add more details to certain parts of the story. Tell me about one of your favorite stories and why you like it so much
35. Describe a character from your favorite book and then write about an experience you had where you were able to apply the characteristics of this character to yourself or somebody else that you know? What did you learn from this experience?
36. Describe a day when you had an adventure at school and then write about what you learned from that experience
37. Write about the most interesting experience you had in school, then write about a time when you had a boring experience…and tell me why
38. Have you ever been to a play or watched one on TV? Then write about your favorite character or scene…or maybe when something unexpected happened during the show. Tell me what it was and what did you think of it?
39. List 10 things that are funny about being in the fourth grade, then list 10 things that are hard (this one is harder than it looks)
40. Do you like to read when you are not writing? If so, what types of books do you like to read before bed?
41. Which school subjects do you like best and why is this? Write a paragraph telling me why…and don’t forget to include some examples in there…(you can make up some details if you need too)
42. Describe a picture that makes you happy
43. Who is your favorite person?
44. Where have you traveled?
45. What are you stuck on in school right now?
46. Describe one thing that scares you and why it scares you
47. What is your favorite part of the school calendar year? Why?
48. Give an example of a moment in your life when someone helped you accomplish your goals more easily than before and why it made an impact on your life
49. What is the most important invention of our time?
