A short story is only as strong as its characters, development, and conflicts. Encourage the young authors in your class to plan their stories based on the elements of narrative writing, all provided in brainstorming graphic organizers.

"Tell me a story!" Young storytellers use this planning sheet to block out their narrative, identifying the main idea, characters, setting, events, and ending they will incorporate into their tale.

Invite your pupils to create original Greek characters and myths for their characters to star in. Similar to a traditional Greek myth, the story must explain a natural phenomenon, depict a struggle between good and evil characters, and...

Sixth graders learn to plan a story by using a story map. They analyze a detailed sample story map and answer 5 questions about it. Then, plan their own story using a story map template.

How do you catch a leprechaun? Let your writers decide with a resource that has them thinking about story elements and writing creatively. Learners plan their writing in two graphic organizers—one with setting, characters, problem, and...

Ask your learners to dream up a myth set in modern day. These mythology writing prompts require individuals take on the role of an ancient Greek citizen who just woke up to a totally different world. Through this lens, class members...

Just because kids today are well-versed in texting and emails doesn't mean they shouldn't learn how to write a friendly letter! Reinforce their letter-writing skills with a lesson focused on the elements of a friendly letter, as...

Give your writers the chance to organize their thoughts before writing a story with this graphic organizer. Simple and easy to understand, the lines provided prompt elementary learners to write the main characters, main events, and...

Welcome scholars back from spring break with a prewriting activity that challenges them to draft a narrative account of one event that took place over the long holiday.

Ask learners to keep a basic journal of any number of things with this graphic organizer. Kids write in a topic and write down four events, responding to the prompts in above each box.

In this story detail worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer, filling in details about a story read and what characters see, hear, smell, taste, touch and where they go. 

For this story writing guidelines worksheet, students examine the 4 sets of considerations for writing stories. Students use the guidelines to write their own stories.

What just happened in that story? Kids can track the plot of any story using this worksheet. They fill in the title, author, and illustrator as well as the setting, characters, major plot points, and their own conclusion about the story.

Celebrate and honor Native American culture with this set of graphic organizers that showcases literature like The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and A Boy Called Slow as well as three other Native American literature books....

Esther Forbes' award-winning Revolutionary War novel, Johnny Tremain and excerpts from Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine are used to model how imagery brings alive the setting of a story. The young writers then craft their...

Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment worksheet to edit and...

Pupils can write down all of the major plot elements of My Antonia by Willa Cather on this straightforward worksheet. Learners note down themes, characters, the chain of events, and more.

It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...

A creative way bring autobiographical writing to your poetry unit or back-to-school curriculum, this lesson plan guides you through a bio poem activity. Kids use the graphic organizer to describe themselves using adjectives, things...

In this writing worksheet, students read a short description of a play script. Then, students read a fable and write a play script of the fable.

Here is a well-designed graphic organizer which should help your readers organize the sequence of events from any story they read. The organizer should help any pupil who is trying to piece together events from a story for a book report.

Whodunnit? Find out who killed Mr. Brooks through a logical examination of evidence. Class members fill out a couple of data tables to help them pin down the suspect. After they've figured out just who the culprit is, pupils compose...

In this story planner graphic organizer worksheet, students fill in the genre, characters, setting, plot, complication and resolution before they use the information to write a story. They also list useful words that will be used.

In this story writing skills worksheet, students consider 6 guidelines for authoring their own stories. Students use the guidelines as they write their own stories.