Resources for Writing Prompts:
Other TeachersFirst Special Topics Collections
This collection of reviewed resources includes many types of writing prompts, both visual and verbal, to inspire writing. Whether you want students to try their hand at poetry or informational writing, there are ideas here to help. Make this collection available for students to find their own inspiration for open-ended, creative writing assignments. Teachers can also use this list to find 2-3 possible choices for a targeted writing assignment. Student choice is key in helping student voice come through in their writing.
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Free Resources Julius Caesar - The Practical English Teacher
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): julius caesar (9), readers theater (12), shakespeare (99), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Have students assume the roles of key characters and participate in a mock Senate debate. Students can research contemporary political figures or events that mirror themes in Julius Caesar and present their findings. Assign students to write an alternate ending for the play or a letter from one character to another, encouraging creativity and engagement with the text. Have students create their writings using a digital tool like Sway, reviewed here. Students can create visual artwork that depicts key themes or character relationships, combining literature with visual arts to enhance understanding. Students could use the Canva Infographic Creator, < a href="/single.cfm?id=17570">reviewed hereYou must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Once Upon a Picture - Sam Daunt
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (118), thinking skills (15), visual literacy (2), visual thinking (7), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Incorporating Once Upon A Picture into classroom activities can amplify any lesson! Utilize Quizlet, reviewed here for vocabulary-building exercises. Teachers can create vocabulary sets based on themes or elements in the Once Upon A Picture images. Try Book Creator, reviewed here for digital storybook creation. Students can draw inspiration from Once Upon A Picture's visuals to craft engaging narratives combining text, images, audio, and video to share with the broader classroom community!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Twin Pics - Chris Sev
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (149), descriptive writing (40), images (261), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Understanding how to write effective prompts using generative AI is an important skill, and Twin Pics is an engaging way to learn how to create a short prompt to create images. Use this site as a five-minute time filler to engage students in descriptive writing activities. If students don't have individual access to the site, ask them to write a 100-character prompt, then select a random prompt to view together as a class. Use this site as a model for demonstrating how to write a prompt to create an image, then use Image Creator by Designer, reviewed here to extend learning by creating images and asking students to try to replicate your design. Use images for creative writing projects or include them with multimedia projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kids Think Wide - Lucy Spruce
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (149), creative writing (123), descriptive writing (40), images (261), persuasive writing (58), poetry (194), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many engaging writing activities and images to inspire student writers and offer flexible options that pique student interest. Incorporate the warmup questions in the pictures and the choices in the Choose Your Adventure activities to encourage students to show creativity while teaching necessary skills such as using adjectives, describing emotions, and exploring relationships between characters. Use student interactives available at Read Write Think, reviewed here to help students plan story maps, diagram plots, and edit writing projects. Extend learning by asking students to bring their stories to life by creating animated videos with Animoto, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Resources for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Productivity - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (149), differentiation (90), personalized learning (10), Teacher Utilities (159), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Use this collection to save time doing many tasks, from creating assessments to writing prompts, rewriting your emails in a new tone, and much more. Bookmark this site to use to find new ways to increase your productivity and lower your time required using the power of AI!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Twinkl
Grades
K to 5This site includes advertising.
tag(s): comics and cartoons (53), creative writing (123), game based learning (182), interactive stories (21), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Engage students by introducing your Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen tasks with the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse official trailer at the bottom of the page. Discover activities for learners aged 5-16 years. Fuel your student's interest with these entertaining, curriculum-aligned, Spider-Man activities! Use one of the writing prompts for a creative warm-up activity. Play interactive games on computers as a part of daily station rotations. Free downloadable activities include occupational therapy, fine motor skills, writing prompts, reading comprehension passages, interactive games, and math activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Creative Writing Exercises for Children - J G Web Publishing
Grades
K to 2This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (123), digital storytelling (152), short stories (18), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
There are many ways elementary school teachers could use this resource in the classroom. The Story Title Ideas page creates a title using "the" and chooses an adjective and noun for you. Teachers could also use this feature to teach parts of speech by creating simple sentences where students can label the parts of speech. A second Story Title 2 page generates a story title. Students can press the orange "press here" button until they find a topic that sparks their interest. A fun way to practice writing sentences can be found on the 'Make Up a Sentence' page. Three words are generated, challenging students to write a sentence using all three words. 'Make Up a Sentence' would be an engaging way to begin a writing lesson. Replace paper and pen writing journals, and enhance learning by asking students to write their prompts and ideas in an online blog making it a writing journal. Use a tool like Seesaw, reviewed here. Using an online writing journal, students can finish up at home, and parents can view their writing. Seesaw offers tools for creating portfolios.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Imagine Forest - Imagine Forest
Grades
K to 6tag(s): creative writing (123), digital storytelling (152), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Imagine Forest is a must-have resource for elementary teachers of writing. Even your most reluctant writers will enjoy the ideas included on the site. Share how to use the site on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector then allow students to explore on their own. Challenge students to set daily goals using activities found in challenges. Publish and share student work to create your own classroom library of student-created books. Ask students to create books for any content area studied during class, be sure to upload and include images taken during activities for students to use in their books. Create a classroom chart for students to share accomplishments like badges and points earned while using the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fake Text Message - iFakeTextMessage.com
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (123), digital storytelling (152), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Use Fake Text Message to bring lessons to students through their digital world. Ask students to create made-up text messages between book characters or world leaders during a crisis. In math, have students create a conversation discussing methods for solving a difficult problem. Take advantage of the editing tools such as battery life and signal strength indicator to demonstrate urgency in different situations. Have students include images of text messages created into a Google document as part of a written report. Use a text sequence as a prompt for creative writing. Take your text messages to a different level and have students create podcasts incorporating text messages using a tool like Podcast Generator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Interactive Journaling e-Books - Bill Zimmerman
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (53), ebooks (41), journals (16), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Share the e-Books from this site as an alternative to traditional writing prompts. Share with your school's guidance counselors as a resource for allowing students to express their feelings on a variety of topics. Have students create blogs to reflect on their learning using Telegra.ph, here. Telegra.ph will create a "quick and easy" blog to be used one time only. A unique URL is provided, and with Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. It's as easy as using a basic Word program! Challenge students to create an online comic sharing their perspective on one of the books. It's a good idea to require students to create a rough draft of their comic using Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here. You might want to have students in grades 1-3 use ToonyTool, reviewed here, while older students can just use Zimmerman's favorite Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here, to create their final copy.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Year of Picture Prompts - New York Times
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): creative writing (123), descriptive writing (40), journals (16), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Save this website to your favorites or link from your class web page. These inspirational ideas are perfect for journals, quick writes, or to develop into a full story or essay. There are plenty of unusual ideas to give even your most reluctant writer or artist an inspirational nudge. ENL/ELL students can be motivated easily with picture prompts. Share these prompts with your gifted students for some "out of the box" writing ideas. Keep these creative ideas in your "emergency" lesson plan folder for substitutes, or for your own spontaneous writing needs. Extend student learning and challenge them to share writing aloud in a podcast format using a site such as Buzzsprout, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Write the World - David Weinstein
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): creative writing (123), descriptive writing (40), editing (92), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (58), process writing (38), proofreading (21), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Create an innovative, exciting revision experience for students to edit each other's writing and engage in the peer review process by using Write the World. Use this tool to encourage students to do their best writing, proofread, and learn how to tactfully and meaningfully comment on others' writing. Use ideas, prompts, and competitions from this site as a starting point for any writing project. Share this site with other teachers as a professional development activity. Check essays online, monitor progress, and even make suggestions for revisions to provide feedback along the way to drive strong proofreading and editing skills. Students need writing practice across the curriculum. Some ideas for your students to write about are: current events, biographies, or explanations about curriculum topics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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550 Narrative Prompts - NY Times - New York Times
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (123), writers workshop (31), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
These prompts are not just for language arts teachers. Science and Social Studies teachers will find many prompts to use in Beliefs, Politics and Current Events, and other categories. Digital storytelling incorporates many Common Core Standards and is a possibility in any classroom. To incorporate digital storytelling into your class use a tool like Visme, reviewed here, or challenge students to create a Found Poem from the news article using Word Mover, reviewed here.Take advantage of the many ideas on this site for a class blog and student bloggers. Create a link to the list on classroom computers for student use when looking for blog suggestions. After writing about several different prompts, challenge students to choose one and create a short story or poem. Want to learn more about blogs? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics.
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Blog About - Impact
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): blogs (65), creative writing (123), persuasive writing (58), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Use Blog About to come up with a list of topics for your class blog or student blogs. Try the generator to come up with ideas for creative writing assignments, student research projects, or student reading responses. This is an excellent tool for students who say they don't know what to write about. Math and science students can use Blog About to help them narrow their focus on curriculum concepts by doing some research for the prompts that come up. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Promptuarium - Joanne Shepherd
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): creative writing (123), descriptive writing (40), writers workshop (31), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
English/writing, social studies, and current events teachers are sure to find something here for their students to write about. Introduce a few of the prompts using an interactive whiteboard or projector to get students interested. You could also use one prompt a day as an opener or closer quick write. Another idea would be to have students respond on a class blog to the prompts and then make comments on each other's opinions. Haven't started blogging yet? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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401 Prompts for Argumentative/Persuasive writing - New York Times
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): news (228), persuasive writing (58), writing (324), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
English/writing, social studies, and current events teachers are sure to find something here for their students to write about. Introduce a few of the prompts and the winning student editorials using an interactive whiteboard or projector to get students interested. Have students define what concise means and what it should mean in their writing. Point out the good writing habits of the student winners. Students should read the NYT's article(s) that give information about the topic of the prompt(s). At this time, you could have students choose a topic, or you could select several from which students could choose. You could also use one prompt a day as an opener or closer quick write. Another idea would be to have students respond on a class blog to the prompts and then make comments on each other's opinions. Haven't started blogging yet? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Nautilus - Nautilus
Grades
9 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): careers (141), expository writing (31), scientists (63), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Share these articles as part of a broad discussion of the role of science in our world, such as during a unit on scientists or careers. Share Nautilus with your gifted or science-focused students to spark interests in scientific fields that are new to them. Assign gifted students to select an article and research it further when they have tested out of regular curriculum. They can share their discoveries as a multimedia presentation or write a blog post about them. Use articles from the magazine as fodder for class debates in English class or pull excerpts to use as writing prompts for informational or expository writing. The reading levels are high school and up, so be sure to partner weaker readers with a more capable reader if using this for class assignments. Check specific reading levels of an article by pasting its url into the Juicy Studio Readability Test, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Life on Earth - BBC
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): climate change (93), earth (185), earth day (60), earthquakes (44), planets (112), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Look at the various metrics based on your age to gain perspective on many science and history topics. Look at the impact of human behavior on the environment or at the "big picture" of what one human can do in a lifetime. Consider comparing the changes on Earth based on a student's age versus a teacher's age (if you're brave enough to tell!). You can also dial back the clock 100 years, but choose times in modern history for the comparison. Don't forget to use the dropdown menus on each chart for more information. For example, pick any planet to see how old you'd be there. Small groups of students could discuss and analyze different components of the site and present their findings to the larger class. Include this in math class as a way to apply multiplication formulas or conversions. Use observations on this site to spark blog posts of evidence-based writing. Have students make visual representations of their life on Earth as an infographic. To learn more about infographics in the classroom, see TeachersFirst's Now I See!.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Q&A Wiki - wiki.answers.com
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): questioning (34), wikis (14), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Share the Q&A Wiki with students on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and explore answers to classroom questions. Post a question, and challenge students to share their response. Use choices of questions from this site as writing prompts for informational writing. Have students find good (and not-so-good) examples of how-to responses as they learn to write their own step by step directions. Challenge students to explore the site to find incorrect or incomplete answers to questions and use this as part of a lesson on evaluating Internet sources. How can you decide whether the information is accurate? Provide this link on your class website for students (and families) to use together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Highlighting Our History: American Revolution Read-alouds PLUS for the Common Core - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): american revolution (82), book lists (164), commoncore (75), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
Mark this article in your Favorites and take the book suggestions with you to the school library (or search for interlibrary loans). Consider using this as part of a "Then and Now" or "Past and Present" focus in kindergarten or first grade, or with middle elementary students as part of a unit related to the Revolutionary War. Take a look at the suggestions for connecting the read-alouds to CCSS-aligned writing prompts or for short, focused research projects to include as follow-up.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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