Teaching Narrative Writing in 4th and 5th Grade

Narrative writing tends to get a bad rap. A lot of teachers feel like their students don’t have enough life experience or the imagination to really do narrative writing well.

But I’ve actually found the opposite to be true. When it’s done right, narrative writing—especially fictional narrative—can be one of the most fun and engaging genres to teach.

In this post, I’m breaking down exactly how I taught narrative writing in my classroom step-by-step.

Start with Personal Narrative Topic Generation

I always begin the year with personal narratives but not by jumping straight into writing. First, we spend time generating topics during the first week of school.

One of my favorite ways to do this is an activity called “I Bet You Didn’t Know.” Students share small moments or experiences they think others might not know about them.

I always model first with extremely relatable examples.The examples aren’t fancy, dramatic, or out of touch from students’ lived experiences. Here are a few:

• I got a black eye right before picture day.
  
• I threw up at Walmart one time after eating too much pizza.
  

It’s fun, it gets everyone talking, and it helps students realize that they do have stories to tell. It also doubles as a beginning of the year activity which allows you to make even the first week of school purposeful for your writing instruction.

Guided Personal Narrative Writing

From there, we write one personal narrative together, and I guide the whole thing.

We start with a mentor text that focuses on a small moment where the narrator had a specific  feeling. I like to anchor the writing around emotions rather than specific events, because most students have felt something big, even if they haven’t had a ton of “big life” experiences.

They get to choose the feeling, so if they say, “I’ve never really felt proud,” they can pick something else like scared, nervous, or excited.

While we work through the writing, I focus on a few core skills:

• Having a clear beginning, middle, and end. (I do a basic structure for this and then move to a more advanced plot structure when we move to fictional narratives.)
  
• Using show, don’t tell.
  
• Choosing strong verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
  

These are all things students should have learned before but often need a refresher on, and this first narrative is how I see where they are.

I also teach them three simple hook options and three simple ways to wrap up their story. Once they write their personal narrative, I have a solid picture of what they can do as writers.

Transitioning into Fictional Narrative

We usually spend no more than two weeks on personal narratives before moving into fictional narratives.

That original “I Bet You Didn’t Know” list stays in play. If students finish early or want to write more personal stories later, they can pull from that list at any time, even when we’re in the middle of another genre.

Some students love writing about their own lives, and I don’t want to shut that down just because it may be harder for others.

For the fictional narrative, I follow the same structure as the personal narrative. 

1. We read and analyze an engaging mentor narrative.
2. I present students with a fictional narrative prompt and introduce the more advanced planning structure (problem/solution and challenge/outcome is my preference), but you can definitely also utilize a more traditional plot structure.
3. From there, we brainstorm and plan the plot of the story. We participate in lots of partner talk and discussion to ensure students are excited and have a strong plan.
4. Next, I teach specific craft lessons before the students write. These lessons are based on how they performed with the personal narrative but usually consist of:
   • More engaging hooks
   • Using dialogue to move the reader through the story
   • Zooming in on small moments to expand the action 
5. The students are not ready to write. They have their plot plan and examples from craft lessons. (I have them write examples from the lessons that they can use in their writing). Basically during the lessons, they are trying out the strategy AND writing parts of their stories.
6. Students write their fictional narratives. Depending on the students, I usually break this into sections. If the students need more guidance and support (whether that is academic or motivational), I have them write their hooks and beginning, then we share and discuss. Next, they write their middle and we spend some time reading and sharing these. Finally, they write their endings.

What Comes Next After the First Fictional Narrative

After we’ve finished the guided fictional narrative, I go one of two ways with instruction depending on what my students need.

1. If they still need support with specific narrative elements…
We keep going with fictional narratives for another week using a new prompt. During that time, I zoom in on specific skills students need more practice with.

I teach the skill explicitly, show examples, and then let them try it out in both their current stories and in short, focused tasks.

Sidenote: If students are struggling with mechanics and conventions, now is the best time to remediate and reteach what they need before moving on to persuasive and informational writing.

2. If they’re showing strength in fictional narrative…
If they’re doing well after that initial fictional narrative or after one more week of practice, we shift into writing with a narrative stimulus.

That just means they’re writing from or about a given story. This might look like:

• Finishing the ending
  
• Rewriting the outcome
  
• Changing the point of view
  
• Continuing the story
  

This is also called text-dependent narrative writing because the story they write depends on the text they’re given. And yes, they need to be explicitly taught how to write in this manner.

The great thing is…this type of writing is usually a hit with students. It’s fun, it feels creative, and it naturally connects with reading.

For example, if you’re using a read-aloud to teach theme during reading, you can have your students take that same story and rewrite the ending or change the perspective during writing. It also works perfectly when you’re teaching point of view.

Tip: Try to line up your writing instruction with your reading instruction whenever you can.

• Teach story elements when you first introduce narrative writing.
  
• Then bring in theme and point of view when you move into fictional and text-based narrative writing.

We spend anywhere from 2-3 weeks working through writing text-dependent narratives before moving into persuasive essays.

Teaching narrative writing doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. When you have a clear plan—starting with personal stories, building up key skills with fictional narratives, and then shifting into text-based writing—it becomes so much more doable.

Have you heard the news?
Writing resources are coming to All-Access Reading—now All-Access Reading+ with Grammar and soon-to-be Writing! Jump in now to lock in the current rate and get ready to plan effective writing instruction with ready-to-go resources for 4th and 5th graders.

Writing Resources Coming Soon