This document provides writing prompts and guidelines for students to practice different writing genres including sentences, stories, expository paragraphs, personal narratives, and letters. For each writing assignment, the document gives clear instructions on the key elements and structure required for that genre. It also includes labeled examples to demonstrate proper formatting and composition. The writing prompts are designed to help students learn and develop their skills in a variety of writing styles over the course of the school year.

1. Writing Journal Prompts
Sentence Practice and Narrative Writing
Have example of a sentence, story, and expository with parts labeled.
8/31 Write 5 sentences about what you want to learn this year. Use
capitals and correct punctuation. Work on your handwriting.
9/13 1. Create and describe a character. (2-3 sentences)
2. Create and describe the setting where this character
would live or spend time. (2-3 sentences)
9/27 Write a story using the characters and setting from your last
writing entry. Remember- A story has a beginning, middle, and
end. The beginning describes the characters and setting. The
middle has a problem. The end has the solution.
10/11 Write a descriptive/expository paragraph about your mom or
dad. Topic sentence: I love my _______ for many reasons.
10/25 Write a descriptive/expository paragraph about your favorite
movie. Topic sentence: ______________ is my favorite movie
for many reasons.
Letter Writing:
At beginning of section have a model with all the parts of the letter labeled.
11/8 Write a letter to a family member about our Halloween Party.
Look back at the example to make sure you have all the parts,
the parts are in the right place, and you have all the capitals and
punctuation.
11/29 Write a letter to Mrs. Schmitt telling her all about you. Look
back at the example to make sure you have all the parts, the
parts are in the right place, and you have all the capitals and
punctuation.
12/13 Write a letter to a friend about your school year. Look back at
the example to make sure you have all the parts, the parts are in
the right place, and you have all the capitals and punctuation.
1/10 Write a letter to someone thanking them for something. Look
back at the example to make sure you have all the parts, the
parts are in the right place, and you have all the capitals and
punctuation.
1/24 Write a letter to a friend about something exciting that has
happened to you. Look back at the example to make sure you
have all the parts, the parts are in the right place, and you have
all the capitals and punctuation.

2. 2/7 Write a letter to someone (a family member) you love telling
why they are special. Look back at the example to make sure
you have all the parts, the parts are in the right place, and you
have all the capitals and punctuation.
Personal Narrative:
Have an example of expository, story, and personal narrative with parts labeled so
parents see how both expository and narrative are in the personal narrative.
2/22 Write a 5 sentence or more paragraph about your favorite food.
Make sure to have a topic sentence, two to three reasons why
you like the food, details, and a closing sentence.
3/7 Write a 5 sentence or more paragraph about your favorite
vacation. Make sure to have a topic sentence, two to three
activities you did on the vacation, details, and a closing
sentence.
3/28 Write a 5 sentence or more paragraph about your three favorite
activities. Make sure to have a topic sentence, three activities,
details for each, and a closing sentence.
4/4 Write a story.
Remember- A story has a beginning, middle, and end. The
beginning describes the characters and setting. The middle has
a problem. The end has the solution.
4/26 Use personal narrative practice #4 (Getting Along) to write a
personal narrative. Remember a personal narrative is a
combination of an expository paragraph and a story. The
beginning has a topic sentence (use the practice starter), the
middle is the story, and the end has a closing sentence (use the
practice closing).
5/9 Use personal narrative practice #5 (A Great Surprise) to write a
personal narrative. Remember a personal narrative is a
combination of an expository paragraph and a story. The
beginning has a topic sentence (use the practice starter), the
middle is the story, and the end has a closing sentence (use the
practice closing).
5/23 Use personal narrative practice #6 (Playing Tricks) to write a
personal narrative. Remember a personal narrative is a
combination of an expository paragraph and a story. The
beginning has a topic sentence (use the practice starter), the
middle is the story, and the end has a closing sentence (use the
practice closing).

3. Sentences:
Sentences have a noun and a verb. The noun tells who
and the verb tells what the noun does. The sentence
should start with a capital and have a period, question
mark or exclamation mark at the end.
Example: The bird flies.
A sentence is more interesting when detail is added.
Example: The big brown eagle flies high above the trees.
Story:
A story has a beginning, middle and an end.
In the beginning, the author describes the characters
and setting. Characters can be animals, made up creatures,
people, or things. The setting can be anywhere- a park, space,
the desert, an ocean, or a house.
In the middle, there is a problem. Problems can be about
friendship, being lost, something is missing/stolen, or
feelings.
In the end, the problem is solved. You get to decide how
the characters solve the problem.
Stories can be short or long.

4. Expository:
An expository paragraph has at least a topic sentence, a main point,
detail, and a closing. Most paragraphs have more than one main point.
Two popular topic sentence models are:
Number- I like skiing for three reasons.
Action- On my vacation to Hawaii, I swam in the ocean, ate fish,
and played on the beach.
Your main points will be the three reasons or three actions
mentioned above and should start with a transition (first, second, last).
Example: First, I get to be outside all day.
Example: First, I swam in the ocean.
Your details need to talk all about the reasons or actions.
Make them juicy!
Example: I see tons of old, tall trees, beautiful birds, and lots of people.
Example: I loved floating with the blue waves and feeling the cool breeze
on my face.
The closing sentence restates the opening topic sentence.
Number- Skiing is definitely my favorite sport.
Action- Truly, Hawaii is a trip I’ll never forget.

5. The following is an example of a 7-sentence paragraph
composition:
Pandas
My favorite animal is the Giant Panda for two reasons. First of
all, I like the panda because it looks so cute and cuddly. The panda's
black and white body colors are simple, make it stand out, and look
soft. Its sad looking face makes me want to hug it and make it
happy. In addition, I am fond of the giant panda because it is
endangered. We all should try to preserve the animals, like the
panda, that are in danger of extinction. Clearly, the Giant Panda is
the animal I like best.

6. Letter Writing:
A letter has four main parts: heading, greeting, body, & closing.
The heading is where the date is posted. When writing a friendly
letter, the date goes in the top right corner and is written
out, not abbreviated. Ex: November 30, 2010.
The greeting is where we say who the letter is to. The greeting
is written on the left side of the paper after the heading.
The greeting must be capitalized, the name is capitalized
and a comma is placed after the name. Ex: Dear Jennifer,
The body is where we write what we want to say. The body starts
on a new line under the greeting and is indented. When writing
a letter part of the intent is to receive something back. There
needs to be a question or two to prompt a response. See the
sample letter for an example.
The closing says goodbye and tells who the writer is. The closing
needs to be written in the under the body and starts in about the
middle of the page. The closing is capitalized and is followed by a
comma. The signature is written directly under the closing and is
capitalized also.
Ex: Sincerely,
Jennifer

7. Sample Letter
January 15, 2003
Dear Monica,
Thank you for taking care of my dog last weekend. Our family had a
great trip to Grandmother’s house. I didn’t worry about Scruffy at all while
we were away because I knew that she was in good hands. You are a good
friend. Is there anything I can do for you? Please let me know if I can ever
return the kind favor for you.
Your friend,
Angelica
Letter Sample #2
June 21, 2010
Dear John,
I am having a wonderful time visiting with my grandfather. We have
done so many exciting things. My favorite so far is going fishing at Star
Lake. I caught 3 fish! They weren’t big, but had beautiful rainbow colors
down the side. Have you ever caught a fish?
Mom will be bringing me home on Friday. I’ll miss grandpa. I’ll see you
at our ball game on Saturday. Are you ready to play the Tigers? We can
beat them!
Your friend,
Kevin

8. Personal Narrative:
A personal narrative is a mixture of expository writing and story writing. A
personal narrative has three parts: a topic sentence with a
message/purpose, a story (beginning, middle, end), and a closing sentence
describing something learned or your feelings.
Please refer to the sample personal narrative attached in your notebook
and the one below.
The Sled Run
One day it snowed like crazy! So school was cancelled. I had
Amy over to play. We decided to go sledding. So we started to slide
down the hill. We sledded for a long time.
One time we decided to go down together. Amy sat in the front
seat and I sat in the back. We started to go down the hill. Then
CRASH! We ran into a bush!
Amy went flying and I got my feet caught in the bush! Amy
looked like a spider caught in its own spider web. I had a lot of fun
that day, and I will never forget it!
The Funny Dance
I remember when my dog Murphy was really little. She was only
two or three years old. It was on Christmas. My dad put on some
Christmas music and Murphy put her paws up in the air and started
swirling around in circles. Then she put her paws on my dad’s
hands and they started dancing together. It was very funny, and my
dad thought that Murphy was a good dancer!