Personal narrative writing is one of the best topics to cover at the beginning of the year. It lends itself to a lot of beginning of the year activities!
Why Teach Personal Narrative Writing at the Beginning of the Year
This writing topic gives students a comfortable way to ease into learning writing skills because with a personal narrative, students are writing about themselves!
TIP———-> If you allow your students to share their personal narratives with each other, this can be a way you can help your students get to know each other and build classroom community.
Writing Prompts for Personal Narratives
Oftentimes, students have memorable experiences from the summer so these can be easy things to have your students write about.
However, not all students enjoy their summer vacations the same way so it’s important to have alternate ideas to help students with their personal narratives. There are many different topics that you can brainstorm with your students.
Here are some personal narrative writing prompts for alternatives to “what I did this summer”:
- The best day I ever had
- A fun day in nature
- My favorite day at school
- My favorite time with my family
- My best birthday
- My favorite holiday
- The funniest thing that ever happened to you
- The best field trip you ever took
- A time something embarrassing or silly happened
- A time you got hurt or broke a bone
- The biggest storm you ever experienced
- A special memory with a sibling or other relative
- A time you did something special for someone else
- The best surprise you ever had
- The time you had to make a difficult decision
- The time you made a new friendship
- The time you got your first pet
- The time you moved or changed schools
- A time when you get lost
- A time when you played a sport
- A time when you were a leader
- A time when you were grateful for someone
- A time where you cooked something
- A time when someone needed your help
- A time when the power was out
The Purpose of Personal Narratives
The main point of a personal narrative is that students are writing about something they experienced themselves. Throughout the unit, you can have your students narrow down to a small moment so they can write specific details about their memory.
Grab this graphic organizer for free by clicking here.
Personal narratives are a great opportunity to work on crafting introductions and conclusions, since the story the students are telling have natural beginnings and ends. (This is a more abstract concept for students when they are writing informational pieces.)
Get more help for teaching personal narratives with these writing units:
