Narrative Writing

Hi Friends,

Today, in Second Grade we are working on writing!

We do this by learning the constructs of a good narrative! We use my Narrative Writing Pack!

I like to teach each component of a narrative separately and work on the part for some time before introducing the next one. Each time we write a class story we discuss all components but focus mainly on the one we are learning. I put the posters on the focus wall AS we learn the new skills.

1. Hook Sentence

I like to teach students to write interesting first sentences. We want to HOOK the reader! We talk about it and brainstorm together and then the kiddies go off on their own and practice.

2. Character Description

Character Description is an important part of narrative writing. I teach my students to develop their characters. I don't want them to simply state the names of their characters and move on, but rather share some details about what they may look like and what they are doing. I teach them to spread this information out throughout the text as to not write a full paragraph on each character and move on.

3. Setting

Next, we talk about the setting of our stories. Just like character description, I want them to be able to describe the setting throughout the story. Sometimes we even use PiCollage to practice setting description.

4. Problem and Solution

This is the fun part! We like to brainstorm all kind of impossible situations for our characters and then we find great solutions to solve these problems! It's the best part of any story!

5. Closing Sentence

The closing sentence is important. It wraps everything up and makes sure that the story isn't left unfinished. Just like with the hook sentence, it's important to have a great closing sentence.

Once we've covered all these components, we can start using our story maps to help us write great stories!

Once the focus wall is complete I leave it up ALL YEAR, even during exam periods. Students can refer to it anytime and we often use it when we are writing class stories.