Early Elementary Writing Prompts

These are geared for your first time writers. Very basic prompts that allow them a great deal of creative spark.

One Day of Anything
You can do anything for day. A day without having to worry. What would you do with the day?

If You Could Be A Superhero
You as a superhero. What would you be able to do? What would your name be?

I am afraid of...
What are you afraid of? Is it something scary to most people or just odd?

I Am Proud
What makes you feel good about yourself? There has to be something that every one is proud of themselves or other for. If don't have hope, what do we have?

No Grown-ups
Welcome to a land of children only. Welcome to kid island of sorts. Assuming you're a kid; what would you do?

My Family Alphabet
Use letters to display the qualities of your family. You might have to give the kids an example of this, so they can get the hang of it.

Changing Your Name
Have you ever wanted to change your name? What if you could change your name? What would it be? Mine would be something motivational. I'm leaning towards "Horizon" or "Altitude". I might have to drop it if I ever have to change careers though.

What Animal Would You Be?
If I could be any animal I would be a turtle. It must be nice to never have to rush. Most teachers are on the world's treadmill 24/7.

Crying Over Broken Glass
Your friend breaks your sister fish bowl. What do you do? This is based on a true story, my daughter's friend spilled old Joe on the floor. We saved him though.

Talking To Soldiers
What would you say to bring peace? I'm not sure words will ever bring about world peace, but it's definitely worth a shot.

Later Elementary Grade Level Writing Prompts

These worksheets are focused for writers that have had a bit of success in writing.

Hollywood and Your Life
Your life as a movie. Is it a drama, action, comedy, or complete horror show?

Principal for a Week
What if you literally ruled the school for a week? How would you run your school differently? What would be hard to do?

The Latest Gear Bully
They pick on you for your lack of gadgets. What if you were bullied for not having the latest iPod or Video System?

You're the Chef?
Explain your recipe. Explain how you would prepare a dish for your guests.

If Grandma Had An Ipod
What if technology had always been around? What if technology had always been available? How would the world have changed for your grandparents?

Helping Your Sick Friend
How would you help a seriously sick friend? Your friend is very ill. What would you do?

School Uniforms
What are your thoughts on the topic? What is your take on School Uniforms? Do they help, hurt or do they have zero affect on education?

Mom and Dad At Work
What do your parents do all day? Do you know what your mom and dad are doing all day?

Letter to the President
Write a letter to the Commander and Chief. Write a letter to POTUS. That a cool acronym. See if you know what it stands for.

If You Were Invisible?
What would you do with that super power? If no one could see what you were doing, what would you do?

Middle School Writing Prompts

Your middle level writer are usually the most creative. They are in that awkward phase of life where they are working to understand themselves. We have all been there.

What Good Is Facebook?
Is it all bad or is there some good. Think globally. We always hear the negative side of Facebook. What are the good qualities?

My Favorite Friends
Why are they your favorite? What makes one friend stick out from another. Why do you have a best friend?

Help Your Parents Understand
Tell them something that you want them to understand about you. There has to be something that you feel that you can't express to parents. What is it?

Pressure from Friends
Is peer pressure real? Is peer pressure legit? Or just an excuse for teens to use?

Excited About Me
This is a fun one for everybody. The reader and writer will both have fun with these. Caution laughter will ensue when reading these.

Self Esteem and Eating In Youngsters
What hurts your inward feelings? Youngsters have unique challenges that fade over time. Explore them.

My Hero
Who is yours? Who do you look up to? Why?

Make Me Laugh
What makes you cry laugh? What makes you laugh hysterically? Sheep perhaps? Maybe not.

Why Do We Worship Differently?
A look at religion. This one may not be appropriate for all class rooms. It is a valid question to examine.

Can You "Rise To The Occasion"?
We analyze a statement. What does that mean? Are you living up to it?

High School Writing Prompts

Students at this level are ready for more of a challenge and need to include critical thinking measures.

Goals and Careers
Are they a good thing or just an obstacle? Are goals and career planning overwhelming? Should we plan or just let things happen.

Over The Next Thirty Day I Would
No obstacles, what would you do over the next 30 days? Let's say you had unlimited money, were able to travel through time, and had 30 days. What would you do?

Changing the World Just a Bit
How do you improve the world? Students analyze a common saying to see if they understand the meaning.

The Influence of Violence
How does our culture influence our attitudes? How does what we see and hear in popular media affect our outlook on what is right and wrong.

Wisdom of Your Parents
What do you want to learn from your parents? What do you wish your parents told you. You can always ask.

High School and Life
Are they connected or separate? Is school a reflection of real life or are they two completely different animals.

Having Hope
A real serious issue that you shouldn't approach lightly. Students will critical analyze a cruical topic in the teen population today.

World In Chaos
What is your outlook on the world? Kids have so many challenges today. How do they feel their future is looking?

The Crazy Food Court
Write about a time at the mall food court. We find that writers tend to drag this one out, so you might need extra paper.

Global Disasters
What is your take on the global impact? How have natural disasters changed the course of history? Where are we headed?

How Writing Prompts Help Students

Writing prompts effectively encourages students to be creative and increase their interest in writing. Students are often asked to write about a topic to assess their understanding, which helps them recall information they have learned, make connections, and express their ideas and thoughts. Students need prompt writing to give them the spark of creativity they need to start writing on a topic.

If you're wondering how writing prompts are beneficial for you, we've compiled a list of reasons to explain the benefits of writing prompts for students.

Writing can be challenging for some students. Conceiving and organizing ideas and converting ideas and thoughts into words is not an easy task for students who don't have a lot of practice in writing. However, teachers can help students overcome this by encouraging writing prompts. Let's first try to understand what writing prompts are.

What It Means!

Writing prompts are learning assignments that require students to write about a particular topic in a particular way. These are short tests, statements, or images that allow students to start their writing process and direct their writing in a specified manner.

Prompt writing help introduces and focuses on the topic you are writing about. It is a cue that helps someone focus on a specific topic and provides a potential topic idea or a starting point for an essay. After writing prompts, you then jot your idea around it. The point is to get into the flow of writing.

Here are a few examples of writing prompts:

- It was the first snowfall of the year.
- The smell of freshly-cut grass.
- Stars blazed in the beautiful night sky.

Tips on Introducing Them to Students

Here are some tips that you can use to introduce writing prompts to students to improve their writing skills and promote creativity.

1. Explain the Purpose of Writing Prompts

The first step toward helping students with writing prompts is to help them understand its purpose. You must help your student to figure out prompts and understand what is being expected of them in terms of the content they have to produce.

To help students understand the nature of the prompt, you must encourage them to ask the following questions:

- Who is the audience?
- What type of writing is necessitated by this prompt?
- What are the details that need to be included?

2. Organize a Strategy

After students have understood the purpose and importance of writing prompts, it is now time to model the strategy. You can take the help of examples to do this. You can display a writing prompt in your classroom and refer to it while explaining the use of writing prompts.

Pick a topic and brainstorm ideas with your students to help them generate ideas with a prompt. Use the ideas you and the class have generated to write a simple text that becomes the starting point of their essay.

3. Facilitate Daily Practice

After you have taught writing prompts to the students, encourage them to practice this in their writing. Incorporate writing prompts in their daily lesson plans. The more they practice, the more they will understand and use prompts to facilitate their writing process.

You can organize discussions at the end of the assignment, allowing students to share and discuss what they have written so you can identify and work on areas that need improvement and allow the students to do the same.

4. Assign Homework

To encourage students to write independently, you can assign writing prompts as homework. This will help them develop and work around their ideas independently and gain the confidence to write well. This strategy is effective for encouraging free-style writing as well.

5. Use the Warm-up Writing Strategy

Assign specific prompts to your students and allow them to write a few sentences as a warm-up exercise. This will allow them to see how prompts are used. Get their minds to focus on the assigned topics to get their creative juices flowing and focus on the learning process.

Benefits of Writing Prompts for Students

The significant advantage the writing prompts has for students is the confidence they get in writing. Let's look at some other ways how writing prompts help students.

1. Allow Students to be Creative in Their Writing

Writing prompts encourage students to be creative in their writing. It allows students to create and build on different storylines by letting their imaginations go wild. Responding to a prompt allows students to write whatever comes to their minds.
Writing for a few minutes on a prompt allows students to return to the piece after taking a break and easily continue writing.

2. Allow Students to Write for Longer Periods

Responding to prompts can be fun, allowing students to write and write, especially if they are satisfied with the direction their writing went with the prompt. It allows students to revisit their ideas and thoughts and develop something more valuable or interesting. Extended hours of writing are essential skills that will help students in other aspects of the learning process.

3. Improves Writing Skills

Writing prompts also improves the writing skills of students. When they write prompts as part of their daily routine. Naturally, their writing skills improve.
Good writing skills will benefit students in their academic and professional lives.

4. Allows Students to get into the Habit of Writing

Writing prompts also helps students get into the habit of writing. This helps build up their muscles to write creatively for more extended periods. As they get into this habit, writing becomes easy to gain confidence.

5. Allows Students to Grow on Build on their Story

Prompts can help give students fresh new ideas to grow their story or inspiration for another piece they are working on. As they start, they will continue to get inspired and come up with new material. This is an excellent source of encouragement for students in the writing process.

Concluding Thoughts

Writing prompts are a great way to improve the writing skills of students. As they practice, their writing style will become more organized and polished.