It’s never easy to teach narrative writing to elementary-aged kids. And with the onset of the Common Core State Standards, which call for more fact-based writing, the need for more narratives is increasingly important.
With that in mind, today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox, herself a seasoned educator based in Upstate New York, takes a look at some teaching strategies along with a few quick tips to get your students writing narratives more effectively.
Janelle’s ideas include tips for each age group. Here are her tips applying for kids from kindergarten through 2nd grade: “During the early primary years students are just beginning to learn about writing and the writing process. This is the best time to prime students and give them the knowledge about the elements of narrative writing. Reading both fiction and nonfiction narrative stories will help prepare them for when they are a bit older, and when their writing skills are more developed. While reading a narrative, generate a class discussion about the characters, setting, plot, problem and solution. This pre-writing skill will help students build a timeline of the events that occur in the story, and it’s a skill that will develop as they get older.”
Janelle sums up her article thusly: “In order for students to effectively write a narrative, they should learn and memorize every key component of a narrative writing piece. The best way to do this is to memorize the nursery rhyme mentioned above. Once they master that, they will be able to better organize their thoughts onto paper and it will all be smooth sailing from there.”
How to do teach narrative writing to your elementary school students? Do you have any tips or tricks that you would like to share?
