back to school writing assignments

44 Back to School Writing Prompts

When the first bell of the school year rings, there is always going to be a mix of emotions from students.

Some will miss Summer, while others are excited to learn and see their friends.

Many will just want to get through the day.

No matter what, though, using writing prompts can help them for the year.

How to Use These Prompts:

Using a few of these back-to-school writing prompts will help to have students think about the school year and what’s important during the school year, while getting them back into the swing of things as a student.

After writing out their answers, it’s a good idea to move into groups to discuss answers, as this will open students to new ideas and ways of thinking.

The Back to School Prompts:

• Are you looking forward to the school year? Why or why not?
• What is your favorite subject in school? Why?
• Do you like going to school? Why or why not?
• How do you expect this year to be different from last year?
• If you could have one meal at the cafeteria every day for the entire year, which would it be? Why?
• Describe your perfect teacher.
• What do you want to learn this year?
• How could you make a new friend this year?
• What did you do over the summer?
• How many of your friends did you see over the summer?
• What is the first thing you want to do with your friends this year?
• Write down your goals for this school year, and why they’re important to you.
• What was your favorite thing about school last year? Why?
• How can you be the best student possible this year?
• What is your favorite time of the year, in terms of the school calendar? Why?
• How important is what you’re going to learn this year to your future in school? Why?
• How do you prepare for tests? Has this worked for you before?
• Do you like assemblies at school? Why or why not?
• What should you do to be prepared for the school year?
• What advice would you have given yourself at the start of last year? Why?
• What do you remember from last year? Do you think you should be able to remember more?
• How do you get to school? Do you like this method, or would you like another one?
• What after school activities do you do? Why do you like them?
• Is there anything else you want to do after school that you don’t normally?
• What is your approach to homework?
• Do you like taking art classes, like music and painting, or do you prefer classes like math and science? Why?
• People learn in different ways. Some are able to learn something by seeing it, others by doing it, while others can just read or hear something and learn it. Which are you? How do you know?
• Why is school important for children to go to?
• What do you think it would be like to start the year at a new school, where you don’t know anyone?
• Some people think that homework doesn’t help students actually learn anything new. Others think it’s important to help students excel in school. Which do you believe, and why?
• Do you think that schools should have set uniforms? Why or why not?
• Do you think the school year should be longer or shorter? Why?
• Do you think that teachers feel the same way students do on the first day of school? Why?
• Why would someone want to be a teacher?
• Are there ever things that you’re taught that you feel don’t matter? Why?
• Are you a better test taker or paper writer?
• Do you like doing group work? Why or why not?
• What do you want to be as an adult? How might you need what you’re learning in school help you then?
• Did you take a vacation this past summer?
• Why might you have a classroom party?
• Do you like watching movies in school? Why or why not?
• Why do you think that your classroom is decorated the way it is?
• Why is gym class important?
• How long should recess be? Why?

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Why not take some time to be thoughtful and write about what reading means to you , or about how siblings get along (or otherwise!) – or for that matter you could write a story about the rain , or any of the thousands of other topics we’ve got here for you all. 🙂

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• Writing Prompts

56 Back To School Writing Prompts (+ Free Printable)

I bet the last thing your child wants to do when going back to school is writing (or more homework as they’ll say)! Not to worry we have come up with 56 back-to-school writing prompts that will help your child settle in and take away those first-day fears. We all know how the first day of school is daunting for most kids, that’s why it is important to slowly prepare your kids for the back-to-school routine. One way to support your child is to encourage them to write down their feelings in a journal or notebook. Getting your child to think about school before actually going will help to prepare for any challenges or fears they might have. We have specially created these writing prompts to not only prepare your child for going back to school but also to help them with their writing skills.

56 back-to-school writing prompts

Get ready to go back to school with these back-to-school writing prompts:

• How do you feel about going back to school? What are your top 5 fears and what 5 things are you excited about?
• Write about the best thing that happened to you during the summer holidays. You can talk about this with your friends when you go back to school.
• What was the worst part of your summer holidays?
• What one thing did you learn during the summer holidays and how did you learn it?
• What school subject are you most looking forward to? What do you like about this subject?
• What subject are your least excited about and why?
• Do you want to make new friends in the new school term? How would you go about making friends? List a few points to help you or someone else.
• What is your goal for the new school year? What would you like to achieve by the next summer holidays? Write down at least 3 goals.
• How would you better organise your time this school year, so you can complete all your assignments on time and have time to do things you enjoy?
• Do you want to join any after-school or lunchtime clubs this year? Which clubs would you like to join or would you create your own?
• What 3 things would you improve or change about yourself this year?
• What 3 things would you keep the same about yourself and will carry on doing this year?
• Which part of the school year are you most looking forward to?
• Imagine your dream teacher. What would they look like? How would they speak? What personality traits would they have?
• What was the best thing that happened to year last school year? Describe this moment in detail.
• What was the biggest thing you struggled with last school year? And how do you plan on improving on this issue this year?
• Which subject did you find the hardest last year, and why? How can you get better at this subject this school year?
• Make a list of your favourite teachers from the last school year. Next to their names, write down at least one reason why they are your favourite. 
• Make a top ten list of your favourite school subjects. One is your favourite and ten is your least favourite.
• Write a day in the life story of a typical day for your head teacher at your school.
• Make a top ten list of your favourite school meals to eat at lunchtime.
• Create a packing list of everything you need to pack in your backpack for the first day of school.
• Create a how-to guide on how to walk or travel to school safely.
• Create a character profile for the perfect friend. What personality traits would this person have? What about their interest and appearance?
• If you were the head teacher of your school. What new rules would you put in place for the new school year? Try to think of at least three rules.
• Complete the following sentence in three different ways: I can’t wait to start school because…
• Write a letter to a classmate that you have never spoken to before. You can ask about their interests and what they did over the summer holidays.
• Would you rather be the most popular kid in your school year or get straight A’s this school year?
• Write a how-to guide on dealing with bullies at school.
• Write down 10 tips on how to study for a pop quiz or test.
• Write down a journal entry for your first day back in school. What were the highs of the day? What were the lows of the day?
• Continue the following story starter: On my way to school, I heard a strange noise. I turned around and saw…
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about going back to school? One being really scared or worried and 10 being very excited. Explain your answer. 
• What is your dream school trip? Where would you really want to go this year? 
• Write down at least 5 reasons why school is important.
• If you could create a new school club what would it be and why?
• If you could get rid of one subject at school, which subject would it be and why?
• Write a day in the life story of a typical day as a student at your school.
• Write a haiku poem about your first day at school.
• Write a limerick poem about a boy or girl who hates school. You can start the poem using this sentence: There once was a boy/girl who hated school
• Would you rather be home-schooled or go to a public school? Explain your choice.
• Imagine you are back in school for the first time in a few years. How would you feel? What would you say to your friends and teachers?
• Write a letter to your younger self from about 5 years ago telling them about school. What advice with you give your younger self and why?
• What is the worst thing you have done in school? Why did you do it? What will you do to make sure this does not happen again?
• Write a letter to your favourite teacher. Tell them what you are looking forward to this year and how you would like to improve.
• What would your dream school uniform look like? What would you want to wear? Try drawing a picture and writing a detailed description. 
• Imagine that your head teacher asks you for some new school subject ideas. What new subject do you wish was taught in school, and why?
• What is one way that you can make your school feel more like a home to you?
• How would you feel if you received a failing grade in a subject at school? What steps would you take to improve your grade?
• Imagine you are a teacher and you have to choose 5 students from your class to be on a TV talent show. What five students would you choose, and what would their talent be?
• Imagine that your school head teacher is looking for a new school mascot. What would this mascot look like? Can you describe them in detail?
• Write a poem dedicated to your favourite teacher.
• Imagine you are a teacher and you want to write a letter to a child about a problem they have had. What do you say in the letter?
• Write a song about the best school lesson you have ever had.
• Imagine you are in charge of the school budget this year. What would you spend most of your money on and why?
• Create a snappy slogan or motto for your school. A motto is a short sentence that summarises the beliefs of your school in a powerful and engaging way.

Download your free printable back-to-school writing prompts pack!

Any tips for helping your child with going back to school?

What back-to-school routines do you have for helping your child when comes to their first day back? Let us know your ideas and thoughts in the comments below. If your child is particularly anxious about going back to school, take a look at these 12 hilarious back to school picture books .

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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29 Back-to-School Writing Prompts for Middle and High School

The first day of school is approaching, and as a teacher, your schedule is likely already filling up with organizational and instructional prep work. However, despite all of your efforts, you may find that some students may emerge slowly from their summer hazes.

Before your middle school or high school students start their assigned reading, get them engaged with these back-to-school writing prompts. Fill up some class time with a few warm-up writing prompts below, or send students home with a larger assignment to get them back into the swing of things!

First Day of School Writing Prompts: Middle School Students

Classroom Prompt Assignments

• Stream of consciousness is when a character lets their thoughts continuously flow. Write a stream of consciousness story of your own and see where your thoughts take you.
• For the new school year, what new skill would you choose to learn if you had the time, money, and ability? Why?
• Write a critique of a book, movie, or show you recently read or watched. What were its strong points? What were its weak ones?
• Describe the reigning emotions you felt this summer. Why did you feel that way, and how do you think these emotions might change as the school year progresses?
• Choose a place you traveled to this summer, either locally or far away, and write a blog post about that location. Should other people visit as well? It could be a restaurant, a town, a shop, or a favorite spot to hang out.
• If there is a club, sport, class, or event you are excited about this year, write what you already know about it. Follow up with some expectations that you have for the experience and yourself.
• A flashbulb memory is a very detailed memory that you have from when you were young. Do you have any memories like that, and if so, what are they about? Are there any events that have happened recently that you think you will remember for a long time?
• Do you have any traditions? If not, which one would you want to start this year?
• Describe the most memorable school project that you’ve ever done. Would you like to do a similar project this year, and if so, how can it be adapted to what you’re learning now?
• If you could create a themed book display for your school library, what would it be? Which titles would it include, and why?

Take-Home Writing Assignments

• Write a letter to your younger self, and then another to your older self.
• One important rule of creative writing is to “Show Don’t Tell.” Write a 1,500-word short story in your favorite genre, following this rule.
• Write a local wildlife guide to your backyard, neighborhood, local park, or even the school itself. What flora and fauna exist there?
• Write a 1,000-word essay about an aspect of your summer that focuses on the five basic senses—Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Touch.

First Day of School Writing Prompts: High School Students

• Set three resolutions for yourself to accomplish this year and describe why those are the ones you chose.
• Write a list of How-To instructions for something that you know how to do. It could be making a meal, cleaning something, playing a game, babysitting, drawing a picture, etc.
• Create a dream college for you to attend once you graduate. Which academic programs does it offer? What sports, art classes, and clubs are offered? Where is it located?
• Write a short story using only dialogue. Work on creating different voices for each character. If it helps, take notes on each character before the dialogue starts. Does one character use slang? Is the other excitable? Is one character older than the other?
• Write a song on a subject that isn’t usually heard in other songs.
• Create a new class for your school to offer. Why do you think that class is necessary? What are the learning goals for that class, and what are the assignments?
• Which app do you spend the most time on? What are the positive aspects of using the app? What are the negatives?
• Is there a cause that you want to be a part of? What is it, and why is it important to you?
• Create a new club for your community or school. What is the club about? What are your goals, and who do you hope will join?
• Describe three things that you are looking forward to this year.
• What is your ultimate dream job? Research the industry, company, or role you’re interested in and report on what it is and how to get there. Conclude with your expectations before and after your research. Is the job what you thought it was?
• Choose a position with the local government to run for and outline a platform to run on. Then, write a speech to voters about your platform. Make sure to research your current representatives to learn what their platforms are.
• What is going on in the town or city that you live in? Research local events, places, volunteer opportunities, parks, clubs, etc. Visit a new place or attend a new event, then write a review of your experiences using descriptive language. Would you go back again? Why or why not?
• An executive summary is an intro to a business plan that is designed to grab the reader’s attention by summarizing what the new business will accomplish. Write an executive summary between 500 and 1,000 words for a product, venture, or business that you wish existed.
• Research a historical figure that looks a little like you do (bonus points if you’ve never heard of them before now). What did they accomplish?

No matter how much or how little your students read this summer, get their creativity flowing with these thought-provoking journal prompts to kick off the year. By focusing on descriptive language, persuasive arguments, and ideas for the future, your middle school or high school class will find their writer's stride in no time.

Try Writable to support your ELA curriculum, district benchmarks, and state standards with more than 600 fully customizable writing assignments and rubrics for students in Grades 3–12 .

Try out a free trial of Writable today by following these steps:

• Go to hmh.writable.com
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36 Back to School Writing Prompts (free printable list)

Like What You See? Tell Your Friends!

Have fun with the kids on the first day of school with these fun back to school writing prompts .

Get ready for an exciting writing adventure with these incredible first day of school worksheets ! They’re the perfect catalyst to ignite your students’ creativity and help them express themselves through writing.

Spark your students’ love for writing from day one with these engaging back to school free printable writing prompts .

**There may be affiliate links in this post. You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.**

Table of Contents

Back to school journal prompts

Get ready to kick off the new school year with an exciting journaling adventure using these back to school journal prompts!

With 36 unique writing prompts, you’ll have plenty of options to engage your students during the first week of school.

To make the most of these prompts, here are a few ideas on how to use them:

• The lucky draw: Cut out the prompts and place them in a hat or container. Have each child pick a prompt at random. This element of surprise adds an extra layer of excitement to their journaling experience.
• Personalized prompts: Assign specific prompts to individual students and encourage them to glue their chosen prompt on the top of their composition book. This personal touch gives them a sense of ownership and allows them to express their unique perspectives.
• Student’s choice: Hand out the worksheets to the children and let them select the prompt that resonates with them the most. This empowers students to choose a topic that sparks their interest and encourages them to take ownership of their writing journey.
• Writing centers: Set up writing centers in your classroom with different prompts at each station. Students can rotate through the centers, choosing a prompt from each station and working on their journal entries independently.

Personal reflection and goal setting writing prompts

We all know that reflecting on our experiences and setting goals is important for our students’ growth. These journal prompts will encourage students to look back on their past school year, explore fascinating topics, and share how they tackled challenges.

They’ll even get to dream up creative projects and imagine new school holidays!

These writing activities will help our students develop self-awareness and get excited about setting goals for the upcoming year.

• Write a letter to your future self. What advice would you give yourself for this school year?
• Describe the most interesting thing you learned last school year. Why did you find it so fascinating?
• Write about a challenging assignment or project you completed in school. How did you overcome the challenge?
• Describe an activity or project you would like to do in school that involves creativity and imagination.
• If you could invent a new school holiday, what would it be called, and how would you celebrate it?
• Imagine you could interview any historical figure or famous person about their school experience. Who would it be, and what questions would you ask?

Imagination journal prompts

Get ready to unleash your students’ imaginations with these prompts!

They can dive into a world where friendly monsters attend school for the first time or where superheroes lend a helping hand with homework.

These prompts will have our students honing their storytelling writing skills and falling in love with creative writing.

• Write a story about a friendly monster who goes to school for the first time.
• Write a story about a superhero who helps kids with their homework.
• Write a story about a magical backpack that helps students with their schoolwork.
• Write a story about a time when you worked on a group project in school. What did you learn from working with others?

Relationships and school experiences

Building connections and navigating school experiences are crucial for our elementary students. These prompts explore friendships, transitions, and the qualities that make a great teacher.

Let your students write welcoming letters to new classmates, share memories with friends who’ve moved away, and reflect on their first day of school.

These writing activities will help foster empathy, communication skills, and a strong sense of belonging in our classroom community.

• Write a letter to your best friend, telling them about your summer break and asking about theirs.
• Write a letter to a new student joining your class. Give them advice and make them feel welcome.
• Write a letter to a friend who moved away. Share your favorite memories from school and ask about their new school.
• Describe the qualities you think make a great teacher and explain why those qualities are important.
• Imagine you are the principal of your school for one day. What changes would you make, and why?
• Describe your first day of school. How did you feel, and what activities did you do?

WANT ALL OUR BACK TO SCHOOL ACTIVITIES IN ONE PLACE?

School environment writing activities.

Ready to get creative with your students? These prompts are all about dreaming up the perfect school environment!

The kids can design their dream classrooms, suggest new school rules and exciting supplies, and bring their innovative ideas to the table.

These writing activities will empower our students to be creative problem solvers and take ownership of their educational journey.

• Imagine you could make a new subject in school. What would it be called, and what would you learn in that class?
• If you could design your own school uniform, what would it look like? Draw a picture and explain it.
• Describe your dream classroom. What would it look like, and what activities would you do there?
• Imagine you could create a new school rule. What would it be, and why do you think it’s important?
• Imagine you could invent a new school supply. What would it be, and how would it be helpful?
• Write a letter to the principal suggesting a new after-school club or activity. Explain why it would be a great addition.

Favorites and preferences

Let’s dive into what makes our students unique and celebrate their preferences!

From recess activities to must read books and favorite subjects, your students will have a blast expressing their personal choices.

They can recommend their top picks to their peers, share their appreciation for a favorite teacher, or even describe the ultimate school lunch.

These writing activities will help you better understand your students’ individuality, foster a positive classroom culture, and embrace the diverse interests within your class.

• Write about your favorite thing to do during recess and why you like it.
• Describe your favorite book and why other kids should read it.
• Write a poem about your teacher. What are some things you like about them?
• Describe your favorite subject in school and why you enjoy it.
• Describe the best school lunch you can imagine. What foods would be on the menu, and why do you like them?
• Describe an exciting field trip you would like to go on with your class. Where would you go, and what would you do?

Other back to school activities

Don’t let the fun stop there, download even more of our first week of school printables:

• My favorite book worksheet
• My favorite color worksheet
• My favorite things worksheet
• All about me free printable
• First day of school crowns printable
• Back to school color by number

Tips for downloading the free files

Below you will see a large sign-up box where you need to add your name and email address, and press I NEED THIS NOW!

Within minutes you will be sent the free PDF directly to your email address, so you can print it out and start using it immediately.

Sometimes emails get a little wonky, so if you can’t see it, please check your spam folder where I am sure it is hiding.

Download the free back to school writing prompts

Make sure you choose the correct paper size and click on the shrink to fit button. All of our free printables for kids work better when printed on  cardstock  (this is the one we use and love.)

Last Updated on 27 March 2024 by homeschoolof1

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17 Fun First Day Of School Writing Activities

The smell of freshly painted halls, the excited chatter of returning students bursting with two months’ worth of gossip to share—it must be the first day at school again.

Rusty pens and dusty pencils are hastily pulled from the bottom of school bags where, for many, they’ve lain all summer, ready for back to school.

You’ll need engaging writing activities to get those atrophied writing muscles back in shape. The standard ‘What I Did This Summer’ essay won’t cut it.

Luckily, we have 17 Great Back-to-School Writing Activities for you to help shake off the cobwebs and get your students’ writing skills back on par. Let’s get started.

Ice Breaker

Writing activities.

At the start of each school year, there’s likely to be a new face or two in the class, and while two months isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, our students can do a lot of growing and changing in that time.

Ice-breaker writing activities allow students to connect with others in the class. They give students some insight into the lives of their classmates.

Here are some fun ice-breaker writing activities to get the new school year off to a strong start writing-wise.

The A to Z of Me! Poem

Students write an acrostic poem about themselves in the A to Z of Me. The poem’s first line starts with the letter A, and each new line begins with the following letter of the alphabet, which should reveal something about the poet.

This may be too long for younger students – it’d be a 26-line poem after all. In this case, you can quickly adapt the activity to employ the letters of the student’s first name.

This activity aims for students to capture the essence of who they are in their poems. They can write a phrase or line based on their interests, appearance, things they have done, hobbies, desires, ideas, where they’re from, etc.

You can make this more challenging for older and stronger students by insisting they employ a rhyme scheme throughout their poems.

For example, they could write their poem in couplets (AA, BB, CC, etc.) or with an alternate line rhyming scheme (AB, AB, AB, etc).

When students have finished writing their acrostic poems about themselves, they can perform it to the whole class as a class poetry slam.

Guess Who? Writing Task

This fun activity challenges students to recall what they know about their classmates or, in the case of a newly formed group of students, to explore their initial impressions of each other.

In Guess Who?, the teacher divides the students into two groups. Each group writes down a unique fact about themselves on a piece of paper, folds it , and gives it to the teacher.

If everyone already knows each other very well, you might want to limit the facts to something they did over the summer that the others in the class are unaware of.

Students could write about a hobby or talent, a language they speak, a place they visited, or anything that makes them unique or special.

Students then take turns reading a fact written by someone from the other group, and they then guess who wrote it.

A point is awarded for each correct guess, the winning team being the team with the most points.

Interview A Classmate Writing Activity :

This activity allows students to get to know each other better while developing their interviewing, note-taking, and writing skills.

 Begin this activity by asking the students to compile a list of questions that they would use to get to know someone they’d met for the first time.

 The first questions the students generally tend to be surface-level small-talk-type questions such as:

•  Where are you from?
• How many brothers and sisters do you have?
• What’s your favourite subject at school?
• What are your hobbies?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• What’s the best thing about you?

Write these on the whiteboard, of course. They’ll be helpful to as warm-up openers at the beginning of the interviews, but we want to encourage a deeper dive.

For the interviewer to better understand the interviewee, they’ll need to probe further.

Encourage students to come up with more challenging questions to ask in the interview and write these on the board. These questions should be geared toward gaining insight beyond the superficial.

Explain to the students that when they are the interviewee, if they’d prefer not to answer a specific question, they can just say “next” and the interviewer will move immediately onto the next question.

Some examples of deeper, more probing-type questions might include questions like:

•  Can you tell me about an event or a story that significantly impacted your life?
• Who has had the most significant influence on who you are?
• What is the most challenging thing you’ve ever had to do?
• What is your best memory? Worst?

At the end of this brainstorming session, a considerable list of questions should be on the whiteboard.

Students are then partnered up. They will then take turns interviewing each other, with each interviewer taking comprehensive notes as they interview.

Students should not use voice recording equipment during this activity. This activity aims to improve note-taking abilities.

When the interviews are over, students write them up as best they can, using their notes and memories to recreate them.

For the more advanced students, this will involve recreating the interview’s dialogue and weaving a narrative around it to convey the interviewee’s character, expressions, and mannerisms.

First Day of School Persuasive Wish List Task

The start of a new school year is a time of hope and possibility captured in the form of a wish list.

But this isn’t an old wish list but a persuasive one.

The students will write a wish list of things they hope for from the new school year.

The twist is that they must make their case for why they should receive the concessions they seek.

Some items that might make the wish list could be the desire to see more time for their favourite activities, less homework, or creating a class council. It doesn’t matter what is on the list but that the student makes as strong a case as possible for them.

Students should be encouraged to use the full range of persuasive writing techniques  available, from emotional language to social proof, from repetition to evidence and statistics.

Collaborative Writing Activities

Collaborative writing activities offer students opportunities to work with a partner, a small group, or the whole class to produce a shared piece of writing.

As with the previous activities, these activities can break the ice. More than that, they help students establish a level of comfort working together to achieve a shared goal – a key dynamic to encourage at the start of any school year.

Snowball Story-Writing

In this simple but fun activity, each student starts by writing the beginning of a story. There should be an allotted amount of time to complete this, the length of which will depend on the age and abilities of the students.

When the allotted time is up, students should stop writing, roll their paper into a ball, and throw it towards the top of the classroom!

Students should then each retrieve one of the ‘snowballs’ from the front of the classroom and, when the timer is started, read the beginning of the story and then write the story middle until the time is up.

Again, the students throw their snowballs to the front of the classroom, before selecting a new snowball to write the ending.

When the stories are completed, they should be returned to the students who wrote the story beginning. This student should write a final draft of the story to ensure it reads well 

Students can then share their stories by reading them out to the class.

Sometimes, students struggle to start their writing. To help them get going, it can be helpful to provide them with a sheet of paper with a writing prompt. This prompt can be a sentence or even a picture.

These prompts can be easily differentiated to suit the age and abilities of your students. For example, more prescriptive prompts are helpful for younger students, while more open-ended prompts will suit older and/or stronger students.

Tapestry Poems

Tapestry poems are a collaboration between two students. So, as a first step, you need to assign each student a partner to work with.

The next step requires you to assign a topic for each pair of students in the class. Each partner then independently writes a 9-line poem on the assigned topic.

When each student has finished their 9-line poem, they share them with their partner.

The task is for the students to work together now to produce an 18-line poem from the two 9-line poems they have created.

To do this, the students must collaborate to make the composite poem work. The idea here is to weave the different threads of the two topic interpretations into a single ‘tapestry’.

Students must include the nine lines of both poems, but they have room to edit for verb tense and make minor grammatical changes to make things work.

The partners must also compromise to agree on a single title for their shared piece.

The Peer Editing Exercise

This is a great way to introduce peer assessment into your classroom, especially with a group of students who are not familiar with the concept.

You will need to explain the editing and proofreading process to the students at the start. The specific criteria will, of course, depend on the age and abilities of your students.

To begin, organize the class into pairs of editing partners. Students should then swap their written work to be edited by their partners.

Any of the previous  writing activities  in this article would serve this purpose well.

Students can edit their partner’s work by annotating with a different colour pen, or, for more detailed commentary, they could use a separate sheet of paper.

Students then share their feedback.

This is an opportunity for students to see each other as resources to help them on their learning journey throughout the year.

It also helps students to develop resilience and an ability to absorb constructive criticism.

Students then rewrite their text in light of the feedback given.

Time for a plenary session should be made at the end to discuss their experiences of the process as a class.

The Summer Yearbook Writing Task

This writing project is based on the idea of school yearbooks.

School yearbooks are compilations of memories, photographs, and quotes. In this version, students compile a compendium based on their collective experiences during the school break.

The format can inspire many writing activities.

Students can gather quotes on the various events of vacation time together. These can be sourced from family, friends, classmates, etc.

They can also collect photographs and write suitable captions for inclusion in the yearbook. The book could include a page for the students’ autographs and a page for summer memories and hopes for the coming year.

Technology can be easily incorporated into this lesson by producing a digital version. Collaborative applications such as Google Drive are perfect for this type of work.

Year Long Inference Based Writing Activities

Tap into the power of imagery in your classroom to master INFERENCE as AUTHORS and CRITICAL THINKERS .

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This YEAR-LONG 500+ PAGE unit is packed with robust opportunities for your students to develop the critical skill of inference through fun imagery, powerful thinking tools, and graphic organizers.

Memory Writing Activities

While we want to avoid the cliched ‘ What I Did This Summer ’ essay, it doesn’t mean that memories of the long holidays can’t serve as an ‘ in’ to some worthwhile writing activities.

In the following writing activities, students will be asked to access their memories of summer to serve as a jumping-off point. Let’s get started!

Paint a Picture With Words

Essentially, this writing activity challenges students to write by employing their senses to evoke a memory.

First, ask the students to choose from a memory of a place they visited during the summer vacation. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a beach trip or a visit to a shopping mall; they’ll both serve equally well for this activity.

Students must then endeavour to recreate the scene as they recall it through careful selection of vocabulary and description.

The main focus of this type of writing will be the use of sensory language. Students should meditate on what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt while in their chosen place.

Students should work to paint a vivid, multi-dimensional picture in the reader’s minds-eye. For this reason, they should choose a static memory, such as a scene they recall. This activity has more in common with landscape painting than with film-making. A plot is not required.

This activity allows students to hone their descriptive writing skills, which will help them improve their writing in many genres.

Haiku Writing Activity

As with the last activity, this type of poetry is typically focused on evoking a scene. In the case of the haiku, this is usually a natural scene.

Before putting pen to paper, be sure students are suitably familiar with the features of the haiku:

• It consists of 3 lines
• It contains 17 syllables
• The 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables and the 2nd line has 7 syllables
• It does not need to rhyme
• It’s usually about nature or a natural phenomenon
• Often has two contrasting or juxtaposed subjects woven into it.

This activity is best introduced by reading and examining a couple of well-written haikus, such as those by Basho in translation, to ensure student familiarity with the form.

This is a very meditative writing form. It is essential to set a suitable mood and atmosphere in the classroom to encourage the necessary concentration and reflection the writing process will require. Playing gentle instrumental music is one way to help achieve this ambience.

Fun Back To School Writing Activities

While the first of our Back to School Writing Activities focuses clearly on breaking the ice and drawing on memories, the primary focus of the following writing activities is on having fun.

These activities will also offer students opportunities to develop some technical aspects of their writing skills; the main emphasis here is on students seeing writing as a fun, creative activity where they have the space and time for self-expression.

Don’t forget to read our complete guide to Fun Writing activities here.

Creative Excuses Writing Task

To start this activity, students must devise a list of 10 chores or tasks they absolutely hate doing.

Next, students should choose four from this list of their most detested tasks and write a letter explaining why they cannot complete them.

Encourage students to get creative with their excuses. The crazier and more imaginative the excuses are, the better. This activity is an opportunity for students to let their imaginations loose.

‘What If?’ Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are an excellent way for students to break through writer’s block. In this activity, students generate their own writing prompts by creating ‘ what if? ’ scenarios for other students in the class to use as writing prompts.

Many of the best and most creative stories start with an inquiry into what would happen if x happened. These scenarios can be silly, serious, fantastical, or humorous if they provide a jumping-off point for the student writer.

When students have completed their prompts, the teacher should gather them to distribute randomly among the class.

Students can share their work with the class When they have finished writing their responses to their assigned prompts. This will be especially interesting for the writer of the original prompt.

The Book Of Summer

This writing activity is an upgrade from the “My Summer Vacation” type essays.

In this activity, each student will compile their Book of Summer,  describing and depicting their holidays using as many different writing genres as possible.

For example, the student might include the following in their Book of Summer:

• A non-chronological report on a day trip
• A comic strip based on a family celebration
• A review of a movie they saw or book they read
• A fictionalized account of their summer
• A recipe of a meal they made
• A playscript for a sleepover they went on
• A haiku on the end of summer

The scope for creative interpretations here is almost endless.

For  younger students , it may be best to be more prescriptive about the various genres to include and the titles for each piece.

But for students with the ability, the open-endedness of this task allows their creativity to run loose while affording you a valuable opportunity to see just what they are capable of.

Be sure to read our complete collection of  back-to-school writing activities.

Fictional Interviews Writing Task

This activity involves a little bit of writing and a lot of role-playing.

In this activity, students should be paired up with a partner. Each partner chooses a fictional character they will role-play. The character can be from any fiction, for example, movies, comic books, or literature.

Partners must prepare and write up a series of interview questions for their partner’s fictional character.

Partners take turns interviewing each other while the interviewee is in character.

This is a great way to bring a bit of drama into the classroom, but if you want to emphasize the writing aspect of the activity, you can set the students up for the interview in the style of a magazine feature article. This will require the student to weave some narrative writing around the back and forth of the questions and answers of the interview.

Write A Story From A Different Point Of View

Narrative writing requires competency in a broad range of complex skills . We can roughly divide those skills into structural ones (such as text organization) and language-related skills (such as sentence construction and creativity).

Getting your  students to write a story  is a great way to assess their abilities in these areas.

In this activity, however, you provide most of the structure for the student, giving them the space to exercise their imagination and a chance to focus on their grammatical control – among other things.

In this exercise, ask your students to select a favourite fairy tale or other traditional story they know well. The student’s task is to rewrite their favourite fairy tale from the point of view of another important character in the story.

For example, they might want to retell the  Jack and the Beanstalk  story from the point of view of the Giant or Jack’s mother.

Retelling  The Ugly Duckling , the student might want to write from Mother Duck’s perspective to explore her feelings about the runt of her litter suddenly transforming into a beautiful (if alien!) swan

Summer Headlines Writing Activity

Headlines are  fun to write .

They should be short and pithy, seizing the reader’s attention by telling them just enough about the story to pique their interest but still leave them wanting to read more.

There are several things that students can do to ensure their headlines have the desired effect, including:

• Choose powerful words designed to make an impact
• Use alliteration to create catchy, snappy headlines
• Employ humour to entertain and intrigue the reader
• Create suspense by posing the headline as a question

For this activity, students should list the main events of their summer break and create a headline for each event.

In this way, the students will have produced an account of their summer written entirely in headlines.

As an extension to this exercise, when they’ve finished producing their headlines, have them present them to the class or in smaller groups.

The best headline is selected from each list, which the student has to turn into a complete newspaper-style article on that event.

Rap and Verse Writing Task

Few genres of writing can be as divisive.

Some are dismayed by the mere mention of the word ‘poetry’ – The “ Why can’t poets just say what they mean? ” camp.

Then, some can barely write a shopping list without a bit of unnecessary versifying.

Love it or loathe it, poetry is on the curriculum and our students need to get to grips with it.

For this activity, students write a series of poems inspired by the events of their summer holidays. Essentially, they are writing a poetic account of their vacation.

To challenge the students, they must use a different type of poetry for each event they wish to retell.

For example, they might write a series of haikus on the weather during the summer break.

Perhaps they’ll produce a calligram or shape poem describing the treehouse they made.

Maybe they’ll write an elegy to a pet that died or a limerick on that disastrous camping trip.

They might like to use the headlines from the previous activity  A Summer in Headlines  as starting points for their poems.

By the end of this activity, your students will have a collection of self-authored poetry they can share with the class in the form of a poetry slam.

You may wish to provide your students with checklists of the various features of the different types of poetry to help them during this activity.

So, there we have seventeen engaging activities to kick start the writing process at the start of the school year.

There is quite a variety from here, with some activities honing technical aspects of the writing process while others are more centred on the fun of creativity.

Remember, at the start of the school year, what the students write isn’t so important, but what they write!

With the selection of activities above, you’re sure to find one to suit even the most pen-shy students!

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

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33 August Writing Prompts for the Transition Back to School

Transition back to school and into daily writing with these 33 prompts designed to make students curious..

Are you wondering how best to introduce writing every day in your classroom during this year’s transition back to school? I have 33 August back-to-school writing prompts that will take your students seamlessly from summer into fall months.

Table of Contents

It’s no secret that writing every day builds stronger, more capable writers. But sometimes it can be a mountain to climb if you’re trying to get students excited about writing. Especially those who have anxiety around the practice.

Have you seen the blog post about the 7 Best Scaffolds for Writing Assignments You Can Use Every Day?  These writing scaffolds are perfect to use at the beginning of the year as your students transition back to school and into the habit of writing every day. Check them out and choose one or two or a few to use in your classroom.

I teamed up with some amazing ELA teachers who teach writing in high school, middle school, and elementary school, just to have a brainstorming session. We all chatted about the best and worst things you can do in your writing instruction. Don’t Start Teaching Writing Until You Read These 5 Articles will give you the 4-1-1 on everything you need to know to get your back-to-school writing from 0 to 60 in no time.

Now I’d love to share the August Writing Prompts with you to help you find even more ways to engage your students in writing.

What’s Included in the August Writing Prompts Journal?

Thank you for asking! The August back-to-school writing prompts use the national days to create writing prompts about unusual topics that are intriguing to young students. For example:

• How are ice cream sandwiches made? On National Ice Cream Sandwich Day you can have a class discussion about the process. How could students make one at home? Then let them write a how-to-do-it page in their digital writing notebooks.
• The Perseid Meteor Shower happens every year in August. Spend the Night Under the Stars is a perfect time to integrate science into your writing curriculum. Head over to Nasa’s Space Place for information about meteor showers; what they are and why they occur. After that, the students will be ready to plan their own Night Under the Stars and write about what they learned.
• Speaking of science, have you ever had the pleasure of teaching your students how roller coasters work? On National Roller Coaster Day , you and your students learn about momentum and gravity. You might want to share a virtual roller coaster ride video with them. Have the students write a description of what it feels like to ride a roller coaster, or what they think it would feel like.

Biography and Geography Writing Prompts

As always, there are several national days devoted to specific states. In August, we have five states to celebrate! we celebrate Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina . Students love learning about the state symbols, animals, history, and fun facts for each state. My flashback Instagram post from July 27 gives five fun facts about New Jersey.  Do you know what cheerleading and New Jersey have in common? I didn’t either, but it’s a fun piece of trivia. Go check it out if you want to know.

Biographies are always included in the daily writing prompts journals. This month is Barack Obama’s birthday, so the students can read about the 44th president of the United States and write some things they learned, such as why he doesn’t eat ice cream. The Navajo Code Talkers are also featured. The Smithsonian National Museum of the Native American has some online resources to learn more about their contributions during WW I and WW II. 

There’s truly something for everyone in each daily writing prompts journal.

Build Classroom Community with Writing Topics 

It’s a fact that students love to talk. Why not let them talk about the topics in the writing journals? Each day has an interesting prompt based on the National Days calendars. (It’s plural, because there are several different calendars you can find online.)

Some teachers like to use this as morning work and have the students watch the videos or read the websites independently before writing. I’ve curated a page of websites you can use to build background knowledge or explore deeper on some of these topics.

Other teachers like to watch the videos and view the websites together. (Just preview them first.) That’s what I did. I found that the discussions that followed were rich and insightful.

After a class discussion, everyone should have plenty of writing fodder. This is especially helpful for the English learners in your classes. Hearing the discussion about the topics, helps them frame the writing they’ll do. Students can even collaborate on their writing.

There’s no wrong way to use these writing prompts. They’re intended to kindle a love for knowledge and the enjoyment of telling others about it through writing.

The Writing Journals Become Student Portfolios

Whereas a paper journal gets reviewed and/or graded and then sent home, these digital writing journals stay in your digital learning platform as long as you want to keep them. 

I love comparing end of the year writing with beginning of the year writing in these journals. The students feel so proud when they see the difference, too. I always felt so happy to see a child take pride in the evidence of their own progress.

The journals are an ongoing project, both for the students and for me. I curate the links for you, so you don’t have to waste time searching the internet for appropriate material. These videos and websites are good for students in grades 3, 4, and 5. However, you always have full control over the links. If you don’t want to share a link with your students, you can easily delete it from their pages. 

I review the links and update the journals on a regular basis. Every three months, I update the dates and prompts. If you purchase the bundle of daily writing prompts, check back often to download the latest updates to the journals. You’ll be able to use them year after year, with the most current links and topics included.

Transition Back to School with Fun Writing Prompts

Many students may feel apprehension about going back to school. Others may be excited. One way to build classroom community is with these fun and interactive prompts to discuss and write about. What’s more, they’ll help build confidence in those students who dislike writing, because these are designed as practice and not as assessments.

I also have plenty of Back-to-School activities that include picture writing prompts, interviewing another students, code cracking, and more. You can check out both free and paid resources in my 2022-2o23 Back-to-School catalog. Click on the image to download your copy and start your wish list today!

Whenever you happen to go back to school, be ready to share with your students a love of the written word.

P.S. Would you like to try five days of the September Daily Writing Journal for free? Click the image to get your copy! It’s a full week of stand-alone plans from the full product!

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2 responses.

How do I download the transition back to school, 33 august writing prompts to use in my class?

Hi Silvana! Thank you for asking! This is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. August Daily Writing Prompts : History, Social Studies, Science You can also try out some of the writing prompts for free. Here’s a link to five days of writing prompts so you can see what they’re like in PDF format. The full product comes in digital format in addition to PDF. Cheers!

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Back to School Writing Prompt Ideas

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The back to school season can be full of tons of back to school writing prompts that allow students to get creative, but also allows you to see where their writing abilities are. All back to school writing topics in third grade and above should be combined with a great read-aloud! This allows your writers to have great conversations, but also see how a good writer writes. 

Learn the Characteristics of a Writer

Each day in the back to school season we learn a new characteristic of writing. Then, when we do our quick writing prompt for the day, we focus on that characteristic. These writing characteristics will carry us through the entire year.

Want this poster for free?! Add your email below! You will find them within the first week plans for school! 

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Back to School Writing Prompt #1: The First Day of School

Read The Exceptionally, Extraordinary Ordinary First Day Of School by Albert Lorenz and then have the kiddos write about their first day of school. I suggest having them write a letter to their parents that tells them about their first day of school! 

Back to School Writing Prompt #2: Let them Get Silly

Read Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terry Border and have them write a paragraph about what food they are most like and why. Then, have them compare with other students!

Back to School Writing Prompt #3: Talk About Their Unique Qualities

Read Spaghetti and a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy and then have them write a paragraph about why they are unique and special. Hang these around the room to remind them of their unique qualities! 

Back to School Writing Prompt #4: Write About Reading

Read Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler and then have the kids write a paragraph about how they feel about reading. What books they like, what they don’t like, and how they like to read. Then, keep this paragraph in a safe place and reintroduce it to them at the end of the year. This is a great way to see how their love for reading has changed and how their writing has grown! 

If you want a whole class activity to go with each book and writing prompt then head to the link above to grab the whole pack!

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August 12, 2022 CG Writing Lessons 9-12 , CG Writing Lessons K-5 , CG Writing Lessons 6-8 , ELA K-5 , ELA Seasonal Back to School , ELA 6-8 , ELA Resources - Activities , ELA Focus - Writing , ELA 9-12 , Core Grammar

Back-to-school writing prompts [includes printable worksheets], by: tiffany rehbein.

Use simple back-to-school writing prompts to assess writing skills and learn important information about each student in your room!

Individual Back-To-School Writing Prompts

Writing assessment comes in many forms, and here are 10 prompts to get your students writing.

Write about going back to school after summer vacation.

Five years from now I will be …

Write a list of 10 things that make you feel good.

Describe your favorite day.

Tell about your favorite weather.

Describe an outdoor game you like to play.

Imagine that you are an animal in the zoo.  What type of animal are you?  How do you feel about your home in the zoo?  How do you feel about people that visit and watch you?

If you could visit any place, where would it be and why?

Draw yourself as a superhero. Write about the personality traits you would have.

As I approached the school on the first day, I saw …

If you would like to extend these writing prompts, download my Letter Writing Prompt Activity . With this activity students will pick a prompt and then write a letter about that topic. Have students practice writing a draft and revising, for a nice, clean final copy. Then instruct students to use the letter template in the Letter Writing Prompt Activity to write their final draft. These final letters can be posted in the classroom or hallway to celebrate your student's writing.

Collaborative Back-to-School Writing Prompts

Using small groups or the whole class, here’s a fun way to write collaboratively!

Each student needs a pencil and a piece of paper that is out of their notebook

Post As I approached the school on the first day, I saw … on the overhead projector or white board

Have each student write the opener and add to it. You can put a time limit on the writing or a quantitative number (e.g., write 3-5 sentences)

After they have written, have the students pass their paper to the person in front of them

Students will read the new paper and add to it (again with a time or sentence limit)

Repeat steps 4 and 5 based on your time frame

Write a conclusion! At this point, you will have an introduction and some body paragraphs. To reinforce writing conclusions, verbally tell the students to write a solid conclusion, wrapping up the story.

Have one student read the story to the entire class to share the creative event!

These back-to-school writing prompts build classroom community, gives students an opportunity to write in an engaging, collaborative manner, and gives you valuable feedback to you about each student’s writing.

Additional Back-to-School Writing Ideas

Don't forget to check out my Who Are You? Writing Prompt . This is a great worksheet to use occasionally throughout the year to show your students you are always interested in their interests... not just during the first few weeks of class.

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Looking for additional writing prompts you can use throughout the year? Below are three downloads that will be great additions to your teaching tool kit.

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Back-to-School Writing Prompts and Activities

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

Writing assignments for the beginning of a new school year often focus on these four areas:.

1. “All About Me” Writing Activities and Assignments: This is a time-honored beginning-of-the-school-year writing tradition. It starts the school year off right when teachers get to know their students. Teachers want to know their students, and students like to be known and understood as real people.

2. Students’ Expectations, Goals, Hopes, and Dreams for the New School Year: Let’s see if the teacher and the students agree on what school is supposed to be like. These assignments allow teachers to learn about their students’ beliefs about to school, learning, and education. These assignments provide valuable insights that will help teachers properly motivate their students.

3. Reflections on Summer Vacation: This is kind of similar to “all about me” writing. It gives students a chance to let go of summer, and allows teachers to have up-to-date knowledge of what their students are interested in.

4. Classroom Routines and Policies: The most effective way to make sure that students understand what is expected of them is to have them write about it. Another important benefit of this kind of writing is that students convince themselves of the benefits of having an excellent classroom-learning environment. When students explain to themselves why routines, rules, and policies are necessary, they become convinced – without feeling convinced against their will .

Most of the writing prompts that follow fall into one of these four categories. See if you can determine which category each writing prompt falls into. The four categories all have a strong purpose behind them, and assigning a writing prompt with purpose leads to better writing.

Also, I want to congratulate you for thinking about student writing so early in the school year! If you are looking for better writing results faster than ever before, be sure to click here . If you are looking for guaranteed writing success when state testing rolls around, be sure to click here . If you want your students to be able to easily organize and compose an essay about any of the essay topics below, then be sure to click here . Wishing you a school year full of writing success!

Back-to-School Cause and Effect Essay

•  An important event in my life (or several) and how it affected me – getting to know me.

•  What did I do over my summer vacation that has prepared me (or failed to prepare me) for the new school year? Does the way I spend my time outside of school affect my success in school?

•  What is necessary for creating an effective and positive learning environment? Certain systems and behaviors create a successful learning environment, and other systems and behaviors lead to wasting time and poor learning. What are the cause and effect relationships for successful learning? What are the cause and effect relationships for poor learning?

•  What is the purpose of school? We work hard – but why? Is there a cause and effect relationship between getting a good education and living a happy, successful, and fulfilled life after school?

•  What are some habits, behaviors, routines, and systems that will help me have a successful school year?

•  Why do I hope I learn more this year than I ever have before – what’s in it for me? Will learning a lot this year really have an effect on my life?

Back-to-School Persuasive Essay

•  All work and no play is no way to spend a life. Let’s have fun this school year!

•  With high expectations placed upon us, and with so little time spent in the classroom, we can’t afford to waste even a single second of class time.

•  I am a responsible, enthusiastic, and disciplined student who can be trusted to do what is expected of me.

•  I need and deserve two more weeks of summer vacation.

•  Homework does not improve student learning.

•  My fellow students, school is important. Don’t waste your time, and please don’t waste the class’s time. It benefits none of us.

•  Striving to be the best you can be through learning is exciting, fun, and a very important part of life.

Back-to-School Compare and Contrast Essay

•  How I spent my summer vs. how I plan to spend the school year.

•  Summer vacation back when I was young vs. summer vacation now that I am old.

•  My last day of summer vacation vs. the first day of the new school year.

•  The kind of student I used to be vs. the kind of student I plan to be.

•  Looking like I’m working hard and doing my best job vs. actually working hard and truly doing my best job.

•  The fun and interesting things about school vs. the boring and tedious things about school.

•  An ideal classroom learning environment vs. a time-wasting, non-learning classroom environment.

•  Education in the modern information age vs. education in olden times.

•  Learning through books vs. learning through experience.

Back-to-School Process Essay or How-To Essay

•  How to make this the best school year ever.

•  How to transition from relaxed-summer-mind-mode to superstar-student-achievement-status.

•  How to be a successful student.

•  How to improve your work habits, study skills, learning attitude, and grades.

•  How to be an excellent school citizen and positive classroom leader.

•  After school and morning routines that guarantee I will arrive at school, on time, rested and ready to learn, homework finished, and with a happy, smiling, cheerful face.

•  Classroom routines – how to – how to – how to!

Back-to-School Informational Essay

•  The history of education.

•  All about me – what you need to know to truly understand this strangely wonderful, yet predictably perplexing human being that I simply call “me.”

•  The history of my educational career – a work in progress.

•  The rules of our classroom made simple and clear.

•  What does it mean to learn? And how do you do it?

•  What I like about school and learning.

Back-to-School Narrative/ Personal Narrative Essay

•  Happy school-time memories.

•  How I spent my summer vacation – the real truth.

•  My life story – a personal narrative.

•  A school year (or teacher) that changed my life.

•  An important real-world learning experience for which there was no manual.

•  Me and school – a conflict of interests.

•  Butterflies in my stomach – the day before the first day of school.

Back-to-School Descriptive Essay

•  Describe the feelings, sounds, and sights of a new school year.

•  Describe what you see in the classroom right now.

•  Describe the qualities of a good teacher and of a good student.

•  Describe the attitude, beliefs, and body language of a student who is determined to be successful in school.

Back-to-School Five-Paragraph Essay

•  How I spend my time before school, during school, and after school.

•  When I struggled in school, what I changed, and the results of that change.

•  Three things I love about school.

•  Three strategies for getting good grades.

•  Three fun things I did over my summer vacation.

•  Three things I must do to be successful in school this year.

•  Three things about me – that hardly anyone knows.

Back-to-School Story Ideas

•  The class with no rules.

•  The strangely bizarre case of the kids who loved school and the teacher who taught them.

•  One hour recess – twice a day!

•  Straight A’s for everyone!

•  The class that worked together – and achieved success.

•  News Flash: Listening to your Teacher Leads to Better Learning.

•  The quiet kids.

•  Work hard, play hard, and bake cookies ?

•  The science project that changed history.

Welcome back to school and have a great year!

Over 15 years of creating writing success for beginning and struggling writers of all ages, the fastest, most effective way to teach students clear and organized multi-paragraph writing… guaranteed, create academic and professional success today by improving your critical thinking, logical arguments, and effective communication.

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“Tell me about your summer.” I can see my students’ eyes glaze over when I assign this as a first day of school writing prompt!

Last year, I tried out some new writing prompts and the kids loved them.

I enjoyed watching their brand new pencils scratch furiously over the paper as they completed these writing assignments.

Kids love to tell us about themselves! Use these writing prompts to help you get to know your new students!

• List and describe three things you want me to know about you.
• If you could start the summer over again, what three things would you change?
• You were a 4th grader last year and had many experiences. What do you hope will be different in 5th grade?
• Describe one of your strengths and one of your weaknesses.
• Which one of these words best describes you?   busy   thoughtful   kind    Explain why this word describes you.
• If you were given $100,000 to write a book, what would you write the book about? The topic should be something that interests you. Explain why you chose this topic.
• All people learn differently. Tell me what helps you to learn best.
• Fifth grade is fun but can be challenging at times. What do you think will be the two most difficult things about being a fifth grader? Explain why you chose those two things.
• If you were given the choice of these three things, which one would you choose? 1. getting along with everyone for the rest of your life   2. unlimited money for the rest of your life   3. ability to see the future   Why did you make this choice?
• With which member of your family are you especially close? Why?
• List three qualities that make a teacher the very best teacher ever. Describe those three qualities.
• Describe something that has happened in your life that has made you a better person.

What else do I use to start the school year? Check out these back-to-school activities!

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you for the Fifth Grade tips.. They were very helpful and informative, especially the one about leave it at school. That has been me, staying late and taking it home. I have heard it before, but it is time for me to listen and follow the advice. Thank you so much for your help and expertise. Respectfully, Jacqueline

You are so welcome, Jacqueline! Thank you for sharing!

You are very welcome, Clara!

I have had a tutoring practice for 25 years. I have primarily worked with math. I now have a 5th grade student who needs help with math and writing. I am interested in learning all l can to help my student with writing. Please let me know if you have written any books that have examples of 5th grade essays or any instructional tips.

Hi Chris! Have you seen this blog post? This is my best advice for teaching 5 paragraph essays! https://thriveingradefive.com/tips-for-teaching-and-grading-five-paragraph-essays/

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Dear First-Time 5th Grade Teacher:

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Reading and writing activities for back to school in middle school ela.

Back to school is always a strange time of year. Getting to know brand new students. Adapting to changes in the new school year. Deciding on when and how to jump into your curriculum. It always feels like a weird balance! During the first week of school, I like to keep my lessons light but still content-focused. This allows everyone to shift back into school mode, and a lot of the activities also allow me to get to know my students. I wanted to share some reading and writing back-to-school activities that you can use to ease into the school year.

Back to School Reading Activities

Activity #1: reading survey.

A reading survey is probably one of my top five favorite back-to-school reading activities. This gives me great insight into my students as readers and helps me adapt my curriculum to my students. For instance, for some years I had mostly avid readers, and this changes how I lead discussions (well, mostly because they do a lot of the leading themselves!). In other years, my students find reading a struggle. I know I need to bring the energy and hype to a new story or novel we are reading.

I suggest having two parts to this survey: A) reading attitudes and B) reading interests. In the reading attitudes, you are getting a feel for their beliefs about reading. For instance, do they think reading is fun or useful? In the reading interest, you are trying to understand the types of books they like and where they typically talk about books.

Activity #2: Book Scavenger Hunt

This activity serves two purposes: getting students familiar with the library and with various books. For a book scavenger hunt, I give my students a worksheet with prompts to find a cookbook, comic book, fairytale, etc. By doing this, they get to explore the library, and hopefully find a few interesting titles.

Activity #3: Show and Tell (Reading Edition)

I always enjoy doing this activity each year, and my students get a kick out of it, too. Have students bring a children’s book they read growing up or a copy of their favorite book to class. They can get a copy from the library if they need to.

Then, have students read the children’s book or the first page! You can do this as a whole class or in small groups. If you want to do this as a whole class, don’t feel pressured to do every student in one day. You can spread students out over the first week of school. This activity is a sneaky way to get students reading out loud and sharing in front of the class.

You can get all of these activities, plus more (for a total of 30 activities) in my Back to School Reading Activities resource. It comes with descriptions of each activity, along with any worksheets or activity pages you would need.

Back to School Writing Activities

Activity #1: pass the story.

I swear nothing gets my middle schoolers laughing harder during the first week of school than these stories. In this activity, you’ll have each student start with a piece of paper. They will write one sentence that starts off the story. For example, “Once upon a time, there was a magical dragon that lived in a forest.” It can be as ridiculous as they want it to be.

Then, after a set amount of time, students will pass the paper to someone sitting next to them (it’s best if you have everyone sitting in a circle). Students will read the sentence on the paper, and add another sentence. This keeps going until the paper returns back to the original writer.

And you know middle school students…these stories are going to get crazy. 

Activity #2: All About Me

In this all about me activity, give students a piece of paper and have them draw a picture of themselves. Tell them to include details that relate to them, such as a game controller or glasses. (Even if it’s just a stick figure, they can still add details.)

Then, students will label parts of their drawing and give details about themselves. For example, they may draw an arrow to the game controller and write, “I love playing video games after school with my friends.” I usually ask my students to give at least five details about themselves.

Activity #3: Guess Who

In this back-to-school writing activity, each student will write their name on a slip of paper, fold it, and place it in a basket. Then, you will give each student a slip of paper with a name. The students will not reveal the person they got.

Set a timer for 5-15 minutes, and have students describe the person they got without saying their name. For example, they might write, “This person has blonde hair and blue eyes. She plays on the softball team. She wears black Nike tennis shoes every day to school.” Of course, middle schoolers love a roast, so set the expectation before on the type of language allowed.

These back-to-school writing activities can all be found in my Back-to-School Writing Activities resource . The resource has thirty activities with descriptions of each activity, along with any worksheets or activity pages you would need.

I’m all about saving money and making life easier, so I have bundled the Back to School Reading and Writing Activity resources together! That means you actually get 60 activities to start your year strong with fun, engaging content-related activities.

Seriously, your students will be engaged and learning from day one.

>>CLICK HERE<< for the Back to School Reading and Writing Activities Bundle.

If you want some more back-to-school ideas then head to the blog post all about my middle school ELA back-to-school stations.

• Read more about: Back to School , Middle School Reading , Middle School Writing , Upper Elementary Reading

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• The Best Back to School Writing Activity

• inspirational to students as writers
• and creates a one of a kind back to school bulletin board

Step 1: The Read-Aloud

Step 2: Brainstorm

Step 3: Complete the Class Anchor Chart

Step 4: I am an Author!

• What tools do they need as authors? 
• Where are they as they write? 
• What are they writing about? 
• Which writing genre are they writing? 
• How do they feel as they write? 

Step 5: Get Writing

Need more specific writing tips and lesson ideas? Read these blog posts:

• Persuasive Writing Tips
• Procedural Writing Tips
• Going Beyond the Writing Prompt
• How to Use a Writing Carousel
• Writing Poetry

Grab this lesson for free below!

Love this writing lesson idea , then you will love this back to school poetry writing activity .

LOVE these ideas? Pin to save for later!

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Back to School Writing Prompts

Colleen beck otr/l.

• by Colleen Beck OTR/L
• August 18, 2023

Looking for first day of school writing prompts? The free back to school writing prompts in this blog post is a great addition to your back-to-school occupational therapy ideas . Grab the printables below and let’s head into the new school year with tools to support students!

First Day of School Writing Prompts

It’s that time of year! Getting back into the classroom means switching from summer fun mode to handwriting, reading, writing, and learning. These Back to School Writing Prompts are a fun way to get to know new students and get those pencils moving.

Handwriting can be an overwhelming topic to dive into at the start of the school year, so let’s make it easy and low-stress. Print off these free back to school writing ideas and start the school year off right (or write)!

Sometimes you need some back to school activities and specifically, ideas for back to school writing that are “no brainer” for the student. In other words, kids can struggle with getting back into routines of the classroom. They might not have picked up a pencil all summer long, in some cases! That’s where these back to school writing activities come into play.

There are several ways you can use these free writing prompts with kids this school year:

First day of school writing Prompts

The first day of school is all about learning the classroom, setting up expectations, getting to know the building, the schedule, and getting to know the teacher and peers. But what about easing into handwriting and writing tasks?

Setting up a first day of school writing activity that is low-key, fun, and all about the student is the way to go. Use these first day of school writing prompts to get kids back into the routine of a daily writing prompt.

First day of school writing prompts may include:

• Favorite things
• All about me info (Use these All About Me PDFs )
• Things done over the summer months
• Favorite vacation
• Goals for the new school year

Another resource for first day of school writing are these middle school journal prompts for older kids.

Writing prompt of the day

Continuing with the thought that returning to school after a summer break means a few days of getting used to classroom rules and schedules, you can use these writing cards for the first week or more.

Print off the cards and randomly select a card each day of the first week of school. This is a great way to get to know students and incorporate handwriting into each day of the first week of school.

Give the student a choice

Handwriting can be like pulling teeth for some kids. It’s just hard. Whether their hand hurts when they hold the pencil, or handwriting is hard to read, it can be a real challenge for some kids. Offering a choice can give the student some say in the matter. Allow them to select a card randomly and then they can write out their response to the writing prompt. Or, give them a choice between two writing prompts.

Play a writing game

Use these printable writing prompts in a game! Print off the writing prompt cards and then allow the students to pick one card. They can use that card as their back to school writing topic. It’s a great way to get to know the students in the classroom or on your therapy caseload while getting an idea of their current handwriting levels and abilities.

So, how will you use these back to school writing prompts?

To grab your copy of this free resource, just enter your email address into the form below. Print them off and get ready to start the school year off on the right foot!

FREE Back-to-School Writing Prompts

More back to school writing ideas.

Add these writing prompt cards to your back-to-school line up of activities:

First, be sure to check out our back to school sensory activities for meeting self-regulation needs in the classroom.

• Free Meet the Therapist Templates
• Back to School Memory Game
• Back to School Activities
• Back to School Visual Perception Slide Deck
• Back to School Toolkit

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to [email protected].

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Back to School Writing Prompts for the Secondary Classroom

With the new school year on the horizon, here are some helpful back to school writing prompts to use with your new students!

Assigning a personal narrative at the beginning of the school year doesn’t have to mean assigning a full, five-paragraph essay. These personal narratives can be anywhere between a sentence long to several paragraphs. Here are some of my go-to back-to-school writing prompts for secondary students.

Back to school writing prompts about summer break.

• What did you do over summer break?
• What was your favorite thing about summer break?
• What was your least favorite part of summer break?
• What song best represents your summer break and why?
• What movie best represents your summer break and why?
• What life lessons did you learn over summer break?
• What accomplishments did you achieve over summer break?
• What hardships did you experience over summer break?

Back to school writing prompts about last school year.

• What was your favorite thing about school last year?
• What was your least favorite part about school last year?
• What class was your favorite and why?
• Which class did you struggle with the most and why?
• What life lessons did you learn last school year?
• What accomplishments did you achieve last school year?
• What hardships did you experience last school year?
• What obstacles did you face last school year and how did you overcome them?

Back to school writing prompts about this school year.

• What are your goals for this school year?
• What is the most frightening thing about a new school year?
• What is the most exciting thing about a new school year?
• What are you most excited about this year?
• What are you dreading about this school year?
• What current obstacles or hardships are you facing this school year?
• As your teacher, how can I best help you succeed in my classroom?
• What do you want me to know about you?

Back to school writing prompts about life in general.

• What is your most cherished childhood memory? Describe the event/memory in detail.
• What is the biggest challenge you have ever faced? How did you overcome this obstacle?
• What is your life dream and how do you plan to achieve it?
• Describe the most frightening moment of your life.
• What are you most proud of and why?
• What is a typical day in your life like? Explain in detail.

Back to School Resources for the Secondary Classroom:

• Digital Back to School Stations
• Back to School Activities
• Growth Mindset Activities

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Thank you so much for this list of writing prompts! It will help me tremendously!

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3 Simple Writing Activities for the First Weeks of School 2-3

Looking for some easy back to school writing activities this blog post includes ideas and lessons teachers can use during the first weeks of school to get started with writer’s notebooks and generating ideas for writing. perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade students.

During the first days and weeks of the school year, it’s super important to focus on establishing writing norms and immerse students in activities that help them generate ideas for writing.

If students have practiced, practiced, practiced your expectations for writing and have already come up with a number of ideas for things to write about, your life will be so much easier once it’s time to start centers, or any sort of independent writing work!

Here are three ideas for writing activities you can use as writing lessons with your 2nd and 3rd grade students during those first weeks of school:

Back to School Writing Activity #1: Introduce Writer’s Notebooks

However you feel about a “workshop” model, having a special place for students to do their own writing is a MUST. Whether that be a composition notebook with a special cover, a 3-ring binder with lined paper, or a spiral notebook, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you set norms for what does and does not go in the writer’s notebook and that you give students a chance to write in these on a consistent basis.

5-10 minutes a day is enough, but students should be given at least a few minutes to write in their writer’s notebook (hereafter known as WNB) every day. If you train them well at the beginning of the year, you can set yourself up for success and happiness once you introduce independent work (a.k.a. “centers”).

First week activities you can do with WNB:

* Decorate covers (Yes, I know this might seem like coloring/fluff to some, but if you’re going to spend hours with your writer’s notebook don’t you want it to look like YOU?) If WNBs are going to be special to our students we need to give them time to make them personal.

Pull out the craft paper/cardstock/colored pencils (Sharpies if you dare!) for this. Once the covers are complete, it will be well worth your time and moolah to buy the heavy duty packing tape at Costco to adhere these to notebooks.  Then the covers will last all year (and beyond).

*Discuss WNB norms:

Simple and to the point work great!

Here are the ones I use: {with some teacher asides just for you}

1. Skip Lines! {It’s WAY easier to read student work and for them to make revisions if there are empty lines. I make an exception to the line skipping rule for lists since there’s plenty of empty space on the sides for additions or changes.}

2. Use it for writing (not games or marker testing) {Yes, it is important to make the “no marker testing” rule explicit :)}

3.Write on the right {That way you can use the left side of the pages for teacher notes, partner conferencing, or student revisions}

Copy your WNB norms on bright cardstock and tape them inside the cover of every WNB. Gold star for you if you can tape them down with the same packing tape you used for the cover. These are now a reference for students ALL YEAR.

*Start 5-10 minute quick writes using simple writing prompts During the first weeks you really want students to start feeling comfortable writing in the WNB, and not dreading WNB time, so simple “What’s happening in this picture?”, “My top 10 favorite foods”, or “Make a list of as many red items as you can think of.” are good types of prompts to use.

Back to School Writing Activity #2: Make Rivers to Generate Ideas for Writing

“Stones in the River” is an activity you can use anytime during the school year, but it’s especially useful during the first week (and even the first day!).  Students can come back to the “Rivers” they create during this activity over and over again as they think of new people, places, things, or events to add or to help them when they feel stuck for writing ideas.

If you’ve ever had a student say they have nothing to write about, and you would like a “go to” response – make rivers! Want more details? You can find step by step instructions for the Stones in the River activity HERE .

Back to School Writing Activity #3: Read a Mentor Text that Inspires Writing Ideas

An excellent mentor text for writing at the beginning of the year is Mem Fox’s Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (affiliate link). It’s all about memories! This book is a perfect mentor text to start generating writing ideas because as we start writing personal narratives we are really just talking about translating our memories from our head to the page.

In this book Wilfrid Gordon goes searching for memories for sweet Miss Nancy who has none of her own and learns that memories can come in many forms: something you remember, something warm, something from long ago, something that makes you cry, something that makes you laugh, and something more precious than gold.

Here are a few ideas of what you can do with this book:

*Spend one day on each type of memory from the book.  Have students brainstorm a list of ideas they have that would fit with that type of memory (1 day on “warm” memories, 1 day on “long ago” memories, 1 day on “something that makes you cry” memories, etc.).

Just be prepared to hear the phrase “When I was a baby . . .” 700 times on “long ago” memory day.

*Have students fold a paper into 6 parts and label each part of the page with a different type of memory as defined in the book. Then they can draw a picture or make a list of memories they have that fit with each type of memory in the book.

*Listen to the book on tape (you can find an online recording here ) and pause as the characters in the book define what a memory means to them. Brainstorm lists in WNBs of each type of memory.

*Ask students to bring an item from home that symbolizes a memory they have.  Have them write the story this object represents.

Do you have any favorite first week(s) writing activities or lessons?  I would LOVE to hear all about them!  Tell me about them in the comments below!

Have a fab day Super Teacher!

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I love the ideals for student writing journals. Thanks for sharing.

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Back to School Writing Activities

By: Author Kelli Miller

Posted on Published: September 4, 2019  - Last updated: July 12, 2021

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Back to school is happening very quickly! With this in mind, make sure you’re helping your kids prepare with these back to school writing activities . Writing activities help kids relearn what they may have forgotten over the summer.

Do you have a kiddo that needs to work on their writing skills? Whether they’re in fourth grade or elementary school, there is always something that needs worked on.

Table of Contents

Paperless Writing Activity Ideas:

While pencil grip is super important, using worksheets isn’t the only way to teach and reinforce writing. The following activities are super fun and will help work on the same fine motor skills that re necessary for good penmanship.

Practice writing with fingers , in the air. You’d be surprised how quickly kids pick up writing from this activity.

Writing in the sand . If your child needs extra writing practice, let them do this.

Spell out words with M&Ms . When your child is tired of writing, this is one way to get them excited.

Use playdough for a paperless writing activity. When you need something fun to do that can help encourage writing, try play dough.

What the set includes:

On the first day of school, your kids can walk into their classroom proud. They will have these writing activities to help them in their journey. There are sorts of fun activities such as word scramble, decoding the message, and even a word search.

Fun ways to use this printable:

When it comes to these back-to-school writing activities, there are no right or wrong ways to use them. When a student writes, their whole world is opened up to them. After a whole summer of not writing much, it’s time to get kind of serious.

Writing Prompt

Whether you do this writing prompt with your kids or you’re using it as a home school lesson, it’s the perfect activity for being a writing prompt. You can whip this out as a writing prompt and the kids will love it. Summer break was fun, but now it’s time to get back to work!

Break the Ice

Need to break the ice in your classroom? Back to school activities like this one are the perfect way to break the ice. The kids get to have something simple and fun to do and it doesn’t take much planning on your part.

Bulletin Board Display

Do you need something easy and fun to do? This activity is perfect for students and teachers. The kids get to have fun doing the activity and teachers can have fun using it as a bulletin board display.

More Printable Writing Activities:

• Printable Letter M Worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog
• Preschool Name Practice from Crystal & Co.
• Ocean Themed Handwriting Worksheets from Crystal and Co.
• 5 Fun Ways to Practice Spelling from 3 Boys and a Dog

wwwwebrootcomsafe

Friday 6th of September 2019

These tips and way of explanation will surely help those newbies. Keep posting such kind of kinds of stuff, Thanks a lot mate!

Back to School Writing Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten

The kindergarten connection.

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Save time and start the year right with your writing centers all planned out for you! These Back to School Writing Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten are a hands-on and engaging way to get kids labeling, writing, and creating. Your kids will have tons of fun showing off their independent writing skills with these easy-to-follow writing center activities!

*Purchase these centers over in our  TKC shop ! OR, get this pack and HUNDREDS more activities by joining us in the  Print and Play Club “Print Only” Membership !

Back to School Writing Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten

In my classroom, we build our center routines early in the year, and then as I change out themes and activities, my students know exactly what to do and I am not spending valuable writing time reteaching routines or giving instructions – that’s a win!

These back to school writing activities can be used in a writing station or add them to your literacy centers. Plus, they’re low-prep and perfect for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st grade!

Let’s check out some of the fun activities included!

Vocabulary Picture Cards

The vocabulary cards showcase common back to school themes: lunchbox, crayons, backpack, book, friends, scissors, glue, and pencil .

The cards come 4 to a page (8 words total). They  are intended to be used with many of the activities included in this resource pack . Simply cut them out and laminate them for durability before adding them to your writing centers.

Back to School “Write the Room”

This is one of our favorite activities to use with the vocabulary cards! It is like a traditional “Write the Room” activity, but  you can choose how you use it with your students because it’s so versatile .

Set out the recording sheets at a table with the cards in a pocket chart for kids to see and simply record the words, hide them in a sensory bin, or post them all around the room on the walls and let kids walk around with clipboards as they label the pictures.

However you decide to use this activity, it’s sure to be a hit!

Trace and Paste Printable

Work on writing and cutting too with the Back to School Trace and Paste printable. This activity is especially helpful at the beginning of the year when we are working hard on our scissor skills. Plus, it gives students lots of practice with a glue stick too!

Kids trace the words and then cut and paste their matching pictures next to them (using the word cards to help them if needed).

We like to use fun writing tools like skinny markers and colored pencils to trace!

Back to School Story Book

The possibilities are endless for our Back to School story book!  You could even send it home as a fun themed writing book for kids to work on writing with their families.

Each page has a vocabulary word for the back to school theme and space for the kids to  use their creativity to write a sentence or story around that word . Younger students or very early writers may just write the word several times, and that is okay!

Print the pages double-sided and use the cover page to create a journal. Or you can just use single pages as writing prompts in your literacy centers.

There are even more fun writing activities in this pack including a Mini “Write It!” book and “Write It!” vocabulary strips!

Plus, at the end of the file,  all of the color items also come in black and white  for an ink-saving option!

Looking for even MORE activities and centers for the entire year?

Don’t miss out! Join us in the Print and Play Club with our  “Print Only” membership now to gain access to a jam-packed library of activities for the current season and any time of the year!

With hundreds of  year-round math and literacy centers  to use all year long and a  rotating library of seasonal centers , you’ll always have timely, themed content at your fingertips.

Sign up NOW!

Are you ready to dive into the Print and Play Club “Print Only” Membership? Join us TODAY by clicking the button below!

Purchase Individually

You can also get these incredible Back to School Writing Activities and Centers for Pre-K & Kindergarten  in our TKC Shop!

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