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32 good story starters for KS2 and free writing

Young girl story writing

We’ve put together some good story starters for KS2 to help your pupils with writer’s block. We’ve also got KS1 story starters covered too, if you have some younger pupils.

Read past the story starters and you’ll also find a guide to free writing that you can use alongside the story starters. Jump start your story writing lessons in KS2 today!

What are story starters?

A word or words that begins a story. Intentionally opened ended, they point children towards a particular theme or situation and can remove the tricky initial phase of story writing.

Ideal story starters for KS2

  • The three of them peered into the dark cave.
  • Suddenly, it turned around and faced her.
  • Time stopped. People stopped. Cars stopped. Everything around me paused, frozen in time.
  • The creature screamed and ran towards them.
  • Her stomach dropped.
  • I had never seen an alien. But I guess there’s a first time for everything.
  • Am I in hell?
  • As he walked along the cold, dark night, a rustling began from the trees…
  • Then, a flash.
  • Ben is 8, but in his world, that means something very different.
  • This time she woke up early to try and catch it out. The clock struck 7. It was time…
  • A hot, tingling sensation worked it’s way up my spine. It couldn’t be, could it?
  • It was exactly as I feared.
  • “We’ve been waiting a long time” Mum said. “Where on earth has he got to?”
  • I sat on the grass and watched as it flailed in the wind.
  • It was the smell that hit her first. She knew, long before she could see it, exactly what was next.
  • He dashed down the stairs, as fast as his legs could carry him. The post had arrived, but was it what he’d hoped for?
  • “Help!” A frightened shriek came from inside. I crept towards the door…
  • “Can you see that?” He asked. I could barely believe it, but…
  • It was a cold and miserable morning. The clouds were low and chill and setting in. But still, we couldn’t stop due to the weather.
  • “Welcome.” We all looked round in awe. “This is the future.”
  • That familiar feeling returned, as if I was being watched. What was out there?
  • The rumours were true. The warnings were real and the time has come. Were we ready for what was about to happen?
  • The three friends set out on their journey, with nothing but each other to help them for what lied ahead.
  • The car lurched down the road when suddenly a thud came from below.
  • The tap on my shoulder woke me. “Shhh” she said with a finger pressed to her lips. “Follow me”.
  • Outside, the sun was shining, with children and adults alike basking in its warm glow. For Caroline, she could only watch on with her nose pressed against the window.
  • Sally looked around the spaceship, eyes widening with each step. She had never seen anything like it.
  • “Will you keep it down!” Grandpa thudded from downstairs with his walking stick. But of course, it wasn’t me making all the noise.
  • It was the first time I’d been on holiday. I stood for a moment and took it all in. The first thing I noticed was…
  • Outside, the leaves were falling and the grass was turning into a murky brown. Out went summer barbecues and in came Autumn dew.
  • I felt an odd sensation in my shoe.

All children need is a tiny prod in the right direction and they will come back with the most amazing tales for you to laugh, cringe, wince or cry at! Feel free to expand upon and adapt our examples; we are only prodding you to get the creative juices flowing.

Free writing to help with story writing

If after you have given children story starters, they are still struggling, it could be a confidence issue. Free writing is a fantastic way of freeing children of their own worries over their own writing.

Principles of free writing

Free writing is pretty much what it says on the tin. But there are some principles to stand by to ensure free writing has the desired effect of kick-starting creative juices. Children are given a writing implement (whatever they feel most comfortable with) and something to write on and told to write. Just write. Here’s a few pointers to make clear to children before they begin.

  • Don’t stop writing during the allotted time.
  • You’re going to time the free write and encourage those who stop to think to keep going.
  • If that means writing the same word or letters over and over until a new thought comes into the writer’s head, then so be it.
  • The work won’t be marked, or even looked at if the writer doesn’t want it to.
  • Spelling, punctuation and grammar doesn’t matter.

Last tip: if your class are adhering to the rules okay, have a go yourself! It’s really good practice to have a go at the activity you expect your pupils to have a go at, plus it’s really enjoyable!

It’s good to start off with short one-minute bursts of free writing in the beginning. Demonstrate you mean what you say with marking, SPaG and reading out: it’s an unusual experience for pupils for their work not to be scrutinised. This activity will help pupils empty their head of worries, ruminating thoughts and distractions from their writing. It might also provide them with inspiration for story writing. Have a go at free writing before beginning any creative writing session, or even use it to begin a story. Provide them with the story starter and then get them to continue the story writing during the free write. It’s only a minute or two and could make all the difference to their writing.

<a href="https://blog.hope-education.co.uk/author/amber-vaccianna/" target="_self">Amber Vaccianna</a>

Amber Vaccianna

Hope Education writer

Ideas for Teaching & Learning | Primary

23 september 2020.

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7 Techniques for Generating Story Writing Ideas in KS2

Key stage 2 is a great time for children..

Typically, they will have settled into the flow of learning new subjects, and as KS2 teachers you get to help them flourish by practising, repeating and refining their learnt skills. When it comes to teaching literacy this also means encouraging your class’s creativity. 

However, on occasion creativity can be hard to come by and story writing lessons might not produce the outcomes you were hoping for. To help you combat this, here are some techniques and ideas to help you inspire your class with creative writing tasks.  

1. Create a Classroom Story Generator 

Building-the-right-foundations-3

Write the ideas on paper and cut them out, then fold them up so you can’t see what’s written on them.

Find three bags (or any kind of container). Place all the folded character ideas in the first bag, the scenes in the second and the situations/tasks in the third. Ask each pupil to come up and draw a folded piece of paper from each bag. This will be the start of their story. Alternatively, you could build up five story-starting sentences from the bags and write them on the board. Your class could then choose which story they want to write.

Here are some examples to get you started:

You can tailor the ideas to suit your pupils’ abilities, age and preferences, which should really help to spark their imaginations.

2.  Watch or Listen

It doesn’t have to be long or have any dialogue, but showing a short film to your class may help to trigger inspiration. Luckily there are literally millions of free videos available for this kind of thing. Vet them first to make sure they are completely suitable for your class, then turn down the lights and press play. You can show the video more than once, maybe asking the children to write notes on the second viewing which will help to inspire their stories. 

Alternatively try playing a piece of instrumental music and ask your class to imagine what might be happening. Write their ideas and thoughts on the board and ask them to use this as the inspiration for a story.

3.  Folklore and Fairy Tales 

Dragon1

4.  Storyboards

You’re not asking your class to be artists; they can use simple stick figures and words to get their ideas down on paper. But asking your class to draw out their ideas will help them generate some interesting story twists. By getting the structure of their stories down on paper in a sequence, they will know the beginning, middle and end of their stories so when they come to start writing it out there’s not an ounce of KS2 writers block in sight!

5.  A Newspaper Clipping

Newspapers can be a huge source of inspiration. Interesting or unusual stories can be cut out and stuck into a scrap book to bring out and show your class in times of creative need! Alternatively, you could show your whole class a newspaper clipping and ask them all to write a story about the same extract.

6.  Rewrite A Known Story 

Rewriting a known story with a different ending or a different character is a great way to generate inspiration. This technique for generating story ideas can’t fail to produce results since the possibilities are endless!

For example:

Picture books

  • What if Little Red Riding Hood lived in a jungle instead of a forest?
  • What if the three little pigs were the three little wolves instead, and the big bad pig wanted to eat them for his dinner?
  • What if Hansel and Gretel were actually the bad ones and wanted to eat the old lady?
  • What if you asked your class to swap the characters in one story with the characters in another – Snow White and the Magic Beans, Jack and the Seven Dwarves. Let your class’s imaginations run free and look forward to reading the end results!

7.  Let the Children Choose

Set some homework for the children to go away and think of something they care about, something they are interested in, something which makes them happy, sad or angry and why that is. You could ask them to find a picture or a news story themselves which sparks their interest or emotion.

From the ideas generated at home, ask them to write a story in class. Passion is a wonderful muse after all, so if the children choose a topic that they really care about you should end up with some very good results!

Excited to teach imaginative writing in a new way? Mighty Writer can help!

Founder Emma Ralph discusses how mighty writer allows children to plan and write their own stories using just pictures. 30sec

help with story writing ks2

help with story writing ks2

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help with story writing ks2

Creative writing prompts – Best activities and resources for KS1 and KS2 English

Schoolboy and teacher in creative writing lesson

Fed up of reading 'and then…', 'and then…' in your children's writing? Try these story starters, structures, worksheets and other fun writing prompt resources for primary pupils…

Laura Dobson

What is creative writing?

How to develop opportunities for writing with choice and freedom, jump to section:.

  • Writing with choice and freedom

Creative writing resources for the classroom

Creative writing prompts.

  • Improving creative writing
  • Overcoming the fear of creative writing

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, ‘creative’ is ‘producing or using original and unusual ideas’, yet I would argue that in writing there’s no such thing as an original idea – all stories are reincarnations of ones that have gone before.

As writers we learn to be expert magpies – selecting the shiny words, phrases and ideas from other stories and taking them for our own.  

Interestingly, the primary national curriculum does not mention creative writing or writing for pleasure at all and is focused on the skill of writing.

Therefore, if writing creatively and for pleasure is important in your school, it must be woven into your vision for English.

“Interestingly, the Primary National Curriculum does not mention creative writing or writing for pleasure at all”

Creative writing in primary schools can be broken into two parts:

  • writing with choice and freedom
  • developing story writing

Writing with choice and freedom allows children to write about what interests and inspires them.  

Developing story writing provides children with the skills they need to write creatively. In primary schools this is often taught in a very structured way and, particularly in the formative years, can lack opportunities for children to be creative.

Children are often told to retell a story in their own words or tweak a detail such as the setting or the main character.  

Below you’ll find plenty of creative writing prompts, suggestions and resources to help develop both writing for choice and freedom and developing story writing in your classroom. 

Here’s an interesting question to consider: if the curriculum disappeared but children still had the skills to write, would they?

I believe so – they’d still have ideas they wanted to convey and stories they wanted to share.

One of my children enjoys writing and the other is more reluctant to mark make when asked to, but both choose to write. They write notes for friends, song lyrics, stories and even business plans.

So how can we develop opportunities to write with choice and freedom in our classrooms?

Early Years classrooms are full of opportunities for children to write about what interests them, but it’s a rarer sight in KS1 and 2.  

Ask children what they want to write about

Reading for pleasure has quite rightly been prioritised in schools and the impact is clear. Many of the wonderful ideas from The Open University’s Reading For Pleasure site can be used and adapted for writing too.

For example, ask children to create a ‘writing river’ where they record the writing they choose to do across a week.

If pupils like writing about a specific thing, consider creating a short burst writing activity linked to this. The below Harry Potter creative writing activity , where children create a new character and write a paragraph about them, is an example of this approach.

help with story writing ks2

If you have a spare 20 minutes, listen to the below conversation with Lucy and Jonathan from HeadteacherChat and Alex from LinkyThinks . They discuss the importance of knowing about children’s interests but also about being a writer yourself.

'The confidence Crisis in Creative Writing.' Lucy and Jonathan chat with Alex from @LinkyThinks https://t.co/VClYxiQhcf — HeadteacherChat (@Headteacherchat) August 9, 2022

Plan in time to pursue personal writing projects 

There are lots of fantastic ideas for developing writing for pleasure in your classrooms on The Writing For Pleasure Centre’s website .

One suggestion is assigning time to pursue personal writing projects. The Meadows Primary School in Madeley Heath, Staffordshire, does this termly and provides scaffolds for children who may find the choice daunting.

Give children a choice about writing implements and paper 

Sometimes the fun is in the novelty. Are there opportunities within your week to give pupils some choices about the materials they use? Ideas could include:

  • little notebooks
  • a roll of paper
  • felt tip pens
  • gel pens  

Write for real audiences 

This is a great way to develop children’s motivation to write and is easy to do.

It could be a blog, a class newsletter or pen pals. Look around in your community for opportunities to write – the local supermarket, a nearby nursing home or the library are often all good starting points.

Have a go yourself

The most successful teachers of story writing write fiction themselves.

Many adults do not write creatively and trying to teach something you have not done yourself in a long time can be difficult. By having a go you can identify the areas of difficulty alongside the thought processes required.  

Treat every child as an author

Time is always a premium in the classroom but equally, we’re all fully aware of the impact of verbal feedback.

One-to-one writing conferences have gained in popularity in primary classrooms and it’s well-worth giving these a go if you haven’t already.

Set aside time to speak to each child about the writing they’re currently constructing. Discuss what’s going well and what they could develop.

If possible, timetable these one-to-one discussions with the whole class throughout the year (ideally more often, if possible).  

Free KS2 virtual visit and resources

Children's authors on Author in your Classroom podcast

Bring best-selling children’s authors directly into your classroom with Author In Your Classroom. It’s a brilliant free podcast series made especially for schools, and there’s loads of free resources to download too.

More than 20 authors have recorded episodes so far, including:

  • Sir Michael Morpurgo
  • Dame Jacqueline Wilson
  • Michael Rosen
  • Joseph Coelho
  • Lauren Child
  • Frank Cottrell-Boyce
  • Benjamin Zephaniah
  • Cressida Cowell
  • Robin Stevens

Creative writing exercises

Rachel Clarke writing templates for primary English

Use these inspiring writing templates from Rachel Clarke to inspire pupils who find it difficult to get their thoughts down on the page. The structured creative writing prompts and activities, which range from writing a ‘ through the portal story ‘ to a character creation activity that involves making your own Top Trumps style cards, will help inexperienced writers to get started.

Storyboard templates and story structures

School pupil drawing a storyboard

Whether it’s short stories, comic strips or filmmaking, every tale needs the right structure to be told well. This storyboard template resource will help your children develop the skills required to add that foundation to their creative writing.

Ten-minute activities 

The idea of fitting another thing into the school day can feel overwhelming, so start with small creative writing activities once a fortnight. Below are a few ideas that have endless possibilities.

Character capers

help with story writing ks2

You need a 1-6 dice for this activity. Roll it three to find out who your character is, what their personality is and what job they do, then think about the following:

  • Can you draw them?
  • What questions would you ask them if you met them?
  • What might their answers be?
  • If they were the main character in a story, what might happen?

Download our character capers worksheet .

Setting soup

help with story writing ks2

In this activity pupils Look at the four photos and fill in a mind map for one of the settings, focusing on what they’d see, hear, feel, smell and feel in that location. They then write an ingredients list for their setting, such as:

  • A dollop of calmness 
  • A drizzle of a beautiful sunset 
  • A generous helping of a still ocean 
  • Copious amounts of smooth sand 
  • A spattering of lush, green palm trees 

Download our setting soup worksheet .

Use consequences to generate story ideas

help with story writing ks2

Start with a game of drawing consequences – this is a great way of building a new character.

help with story writing ks2

Next, play a similar game but write a story. Here’s an example . Download our free writing consequences template to get started.

help with story writing ks2

Roll and write a story

help with story writing ks2

For this quick activity, children roll a dice three times to choose a setting and two characters – for example, a theme park, an explorer and a mythical creature. They then use the results to create an outline for a story.

Got more than ten minutes? Use the outline to write a complete story. Alternatively, use the results to create a book cover and blurb or, with a younger group of children, do the activity as a class then draw or write about the outcome.

Download our roll and write a story worksheet .

Scavenger hunt

Give children something to hide and tell them they have to write five clues in pairs, taking another pair from one clue to the next until the 5th clue leads them to the hidden item.

For a challenge, the clues could be riddles.  

Set up pen pals. This might be with children in another country or school, or it could simply be with another class.

What do pupils want to say or share? It might be a letter, but it could be a comic strip, poem or pop-up book.  

You need a log-in to access Authorfy’s content but it’s free. The website is crammed with every children’s author imaginable, talking about their books and inspirations and setting writing challenges. It’s a great tool to inspire and enthuse.  

There are lots of great resources and videos on Oxford Owl which are free to access and will provide children with quick bursts of creativity.  

Creative writing ideas for KS2

Pie Corbett Ultimate KS2 Fiction Collection

This free Pie Corbett Ultimate KS2 fiction collection is packed with original short stories from the man himself, and a selection of teaching resources he’s created to accompany each one.

Each creative writing activity will help every young writer get their creative juices flowing and overcome writer’s block.

WAGOLL text types

help with story writing ks2

​Support pupils when writing across a whole range of text types and genres with these engaging writing packs from Plazoom , differentiated for KS1, LKS2 and UKS2.

They feature:

  • model texts (demonstrating WAGOLL for learners)
  • planning guides
  • writing templates
  • themed paper

Each one focuses on a particular kind of text, encouraging children to make appropriate vocabulary, register and layout choices, and produce the very best writing of which they are capable, which can be used for evidence of progress.

help with story writing ks2

If you teach KS2, start off by exploring fairy tales with a twist , or choose from 50+ other options .

Scaffolds and plot types

Creative writing scaffolds and plot types resource pack

A great way to support children with planning stories with structures, this creative writing scaffolds and plot types resource pack contains five story summaries, each covering a different plot type, which they can use as a story idea.

It has often been suggested that there are only seven basic plots a story can use, and here you’ll find text summaries for five of these:

  • Overcoming the monster
  • Rags to riches
  • Voyage and return

After familiarising themselves with these texts, children can adapt and change these stories to create tales of their own.

Use story starters

If some children still need a bit of a push in the right direction, check out our 6 superb story starters to develop creative writing skills . This list features a range of free story starter resources, including animations (like the one above) and even the odd iguana…

Use word mats to inspire

help with story writing ks2

Help pupils to write independently by providing them with helpful vocabulary sheets that they can pick and choose from when doing their own creative writing.

Download our free creative writing word mats here , including:

  • Create a spooky atmosphere
  • Write an adventure story
  • Describe a character’s appearance
  • Describe a character’s personality
  • Describe how a character moves
  • Describe how a character speaks
  • Describe a mythical beast

Creative writing pictures

help with story writing ks2

Using images as writing prompts is nothing new, but it’s fun and effective.

Pobble 365 has an inspiring photo for every day of the year. These are great inspiration for ten-minute free writing activities. You need to log in to Pobble but access to Pobble 365 (the pictures) is free.  

Choose two pictures as prompts (you can access every picture for the year in the calendar) or provide children with a range of starter prompts.

For example, with the photo above you might ask children to complete one of the following activities: 

  • Continue the story using the story starters on Pobble. 
  • Write down what your dream day would include. 
  • Create a superhero called Dolphin Dude.  
  • If you didn’t need to breath when swimming underwater, what would you do? Write about your dream day. It might include rivers, lakes, swimming pools, the seas or oceans.  
  • If you had a super power, what would it be and why?  

The Literacy Shed

Creative writing prompt of children walking down leafy tunnel

Website The Literacy Shed has a page dedicated to interesting pictures for creative writing . There are winter scenes, abandoned places, landscapes, woodlands, pathways, statues and even flying houses.

The Literacy Shed also hosts video clips for inspiring writing and is choc-full of ways to use them. The Night Zookeeper Shed is well worth a visit. There are short videos, activities and resources to inspire creative writing.

Once Upon a Picture

Creative writing picture prompt featuring flying whale

Once Upon a Picture is another site packed with creative writing picture prompts , but its focus is more on illustrations than photography, so its offering is great for letting little imaginations soar.

Each one comes with questions for kids to consider, or activities to carry out.

How to improve creative writing

Developing story writing .

If you decided to climb a mountain, in order to be successful you’d need to be well-equipped and you’d need to have practised with smaller climbs first.

The same is true of creative writing: to be successful you need to be well-equipped with the skills of writing and have had plenty of opportunities to practise.  

As a teachers you need to plan with this in mind – develop a writing journey which allows children to learn the art of story writing by studying stories of a similar style, focusing on how effects are created and scaffolding children’s writing activities so they achieve success.  

  • Choose a focus When planning, consider what skill you want to embed for children and have that as your focus throughout the sequence of learning. For example, if you teach Y4 you might decide to focus on integrating speech into stories. When your class looks at a similar story, draw their attention to how the author uses speech and discuss how it advances the action and shows you more about the characters. During the sequence, your class can practise the technical side of writing speech (new line/new speaker, end punctuation, etc). When they come to write their own story, your success criteria will be focused on using speech effectively. By doing this, the skill of using speech is embedded. If you chose to focus on ALL the elements of story writing that a Y4 child should be using (fronted adverbials, conjunctions, expanded noun phrases, etc), this might lead to cognitive overload.
  • Plan in chances to be creative Often teachers plan three writing opportunities: one where children retell the story, one with a slight difference (eg a different main character) and a final one where children invent their own story. However, in my experience, the third piece of writing often never happens because children have lost interest or time has run out. If we equip children with the skills, we must allow them time to use them.
  • Utilise paired writing Children love to collaborate and by working in pairs it actually helps develop independence. Give it a go!  
  • Find opportunities for real audiences Nothing is more motivating than knowing you will get to share your story with another class, a parent or the local nursing home.
  • Use high-quality stimuli If your focus is speech, find a great novel for kids that uses speech effectively. There are so many excellent children’s stories available that there’s no need to write your own.
  • Use magpie books This is somewhere where children can note down any great words or phrases they find from their reading. It will get them reading as a writer. 

Below is a rough outline of a planning format that leads to successful writing opportunities.

This sequence of learning takes around three weeks but may be longer or shorter, depending on the writing type.  

Before planning out the learning, decide on up to three key focuses for the sequence. Think about the potential learning opportunities that the stimuli supports (eg don’t focus on direct speech if you’re writing non-chronological reports ).  

Ways to overcome fear of creative writing

Many children are inhibited in their writing for a variety of reasons. These include the all-too-familiar ‘fear of the blank page’ (“I can’t think of anything to write about!” is a common lament), trying to get all the technical aspects right as they compose their work (a sense of being ‘overwhelmed’), and the fact that much of children’s success in school is underpinned by an ethos of competitiveness and comparison, which can lead to a fear of failure and a lack of desire to try.

Any steps we can take to diminish these anxieties means that children will feel increasingly motivated to write, and so enjoy their writing more. This in turn will lead to the development of skills in all areas of writing, with the broader benefits this brings more generally in children’s education.

Here are some easily applied and simple ideas from author and school workshop provider Steve Bowkett for boosting self-confidence in writing.

  • Keep it creative Make creative writing a regular activity. High priority is given to spelling, punctuation and grammar, but these need a context to be properly understood. Teaching the technicalities of language without giving children meaningful opportunities to apply them is like telling people the names of a car engine’s parts without helping them learn to drive.
  • Model the behaviour In other words, when you want your class to write a story or poem, have a go yourself and be upfront about the difficulties you encounter in trying to translate your thoughts into words.
  • Go easy on the grammar Encourage children to write without them necessarily trying to remember and apply a raft of grammatical rules. An old saying has it that we should ‘learn the rules well and then forget them’. Learning how to use punctuation, for instance, is necessary and valuable, but when children try and apply the rules consciously and laboriously as they go along, the creative flow can be stifled. Consideration of rules should, however, be an important element of the editing process.
  • Keep assessment focused Where you do require children to focus on rules during composition, pick just one or two they can bear in mind as they write. Explain that you will mark for these without necessarily correcting other areas of GaPS. Not only will this save you time, but also children will be spared the demotivating sight of their writing covered in corrections (which many are unlikely to read).
  • Value effort If a child tries hard but produces work that is technically poor, celebrate his achievement in making an effort and apply the old ‘three stars and a wish’ technique to the work by finding three points you can praise followed by noting one area where improvements can be made.
  • Leave room for improvement Make clear that it’s fine for children to change their minds, and that there is no expectation for them to ‘get it all right’ first time. Show the class before and after drafts from the work of well-known poets and extracts from stories. Where these have been hand written, they are often untidy and peppered with crossings out and other annotations as the writers tried to clarify their thoughts. If you have the facilities, invite children to word process their stories using the ‘track changes’ facility. Encourage children to show their workings out, as you would do in maths.
  • Don’t strive for perfection Slay the ‘practice makes perfect’ dragon. It’s a glib phrase and also an inaccurate one. Telling children that practice makes better is a sound piece of advice. But how could we ever say that a story or poem is perfect? Even highly experienced authors strive to improve.
  • Come back later Leave some time – a couple of days will do – between children writing a piece and editing or redrafting it. This is often known as the ‘cooling off’ period. Many children will find that they come back to their work with fresh eyes that enable them to pick out more errors, and with new ideas for improving the piece structurally.
  • Try diamond 9 Use the diamond ranking tool to help children assess their own work. Give each child some scraps of paper or card and have them write on each an aspect of their writing, such as creating strong characters, controlling pace and tension, describing places and things, using ‘punchy’ verbs etc. Supply these elements as necessary, but allow children some leeway to think of examples of their own. Now ask each child to physically arrange these scraps according to how effectively they were used in the latest piece of work. So two writing elements that a child thinks are equally strong will be placed side by side, while an aspect of the work a child is pleased with will be placed above one that he / she is not so happy with.
  • Keep it varied Vary the writing tasks. By this I mean it’s not necessary to ask children always to write a complete story. Get them to create just an opening scene for example, or a vivid character description, or an exciting story climax. If more-reluctant writers think they haven’t got to write much they might be more motivated to have a go. Varying the tasks also helps to keep the process of writing fresh, while the results can form resource banks (of characters, scenes, etc) for future use.
  • Help each other Highlight the idea that everyone in the class, including yourself, forms a community of writers. Here, difficulties can be aired, advice can be shared and successes can be celebrated as we all strive to ‘dare to do it and do our best’.

Browse more ideas for National Writing Day .

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Creative Writing Prompts Story Starters

Creative Writing Prompts Story Starters

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

FullShelf Resources

Last updated

28 October 2023

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help with story writing ks2

20 more Key Stage 2 (KS2) or early KS3 imaginative / creative writing story starters cards, featuring high quality photo prompts, vocabulary banks, prompt questions and more. These full-page story generators can be used across a range of abilities and ages, especially in Year 4, 5, 6 and 7, to spark ideas for fiction. They’re great for reluctant writers and they have a dyslexia friendly format too. PDF format (not editable for licensing reasons).

You can purchase this as part of this Creative Writing Story Prompts BIG BUNDLE 100 Prompts! https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/creative-writing-story-prompts-photo-starters-bundle-12530022 .

  • Use as warm ups , early finishers activities and as a framework for free writing sessions
  • Each of the 20 A4 cards features a visual element ( photo / picture stimulus ), a starter sentence or part-sentence to help launch children into their fiction / narrative writing
  • Prompt questions to get ideas going
  • A word bank and suggested openers to add variety to their writing
  • A box at the bottom reminds students to read their work aloud, check for full stops and capital letters and common spellings
  • Range of subjects and genres including sport, mystery, humour and fantasy. Plenty of variety so children can choose ones that appeal to them.
  • UK and US English versions included, with spellings and references to ‘full stops’ and ‘periods’ etc amended as appropriate
  • Designed to offer maximum support for dyslexic learners and those with similar barriers to learning. Verdana font and spacing used are both dyslexia-friendly and the background colours are designed to reduce glare. Both the UK and US cards are also included with the background colours removed and could be used if printing on dyslexia friendly paper or card.
  • Could be used to support the writing of a full story
  • Could also work well as a regular tool to support struggling writers in one-to-one or small group sessions, where students write a few sentences inspired by the prompts, without worrying about completing a story.

  MORE LITERACY RESOURCES… KS2 Writing Writing and Grammar Activities Complex Sentences Cards Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards Improving Sentences Worksheets

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 31%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

100 Creative Writing Picture Prompts BUNDLE

A big bundle of 100 Key Stage 2 or early KS3 imaginative / descriptive writing story starters cards, featuring high quality photo prompts, vocabulary banks, prompt questions and more. These full-page story generators can be used across a range of abilities and ages, especially in Year 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Y4 / Y5 / Y6 / Y7) to spark ideas for stories. In Scotland, they're great for Primary 5, 6, 7 and S1. They're great for reluctant writers and they have a dyslexia friendly format too. *This BUNDLE includes 5 packs of 20 prompts: 2 packs of general prompts (featuring a range of subjects and genres), a pack of scary / mystery story prompts, a pack of winter story prompts and a pack of summer story writing prompts. All can be purchased separately if you prefer.* **[Creative Writing Story Prompts](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/creative-writing-story-prompts-11648009) (MY MOST POPULAR RESOURCE ON TES) [Creative Writing Story Prompts 2 ](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12530007) [Scary Story Creative Writing Story Prompts](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12745015) [Winter Stories Creative Writing Story Prompts](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/winter-story-prompts-creative-writing-12745880) [Summer Story Creative Writing Prompts](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/summer-story-prompts-creative-writing-12746959)** * Use as **warm ups**, **early finishers** activities and as a **framework for free writing sessions** * Each of the **100** A4 cards features a visual element (**photo / picture stimulus**), a **starter sentence** or part-sentence to help launch children into their fiction / narrative writing * **Prompt questions** to get ideas going * A **word bank** and some **suggested openers** to add variety to their writing * A box at the bottom **reminds students to read their work aloud, check for full stops and capital letters and common spellings** * **Range of subjects and genres** including mystery, sport, humour, fantasy, family and historical. Lots of settings too. Plenty of variety so children can choose ones that appeal to them. * **UK and US English versions** included, with spellings and references to 'full stops' and 'periods' etc amended as appropriate * **Designed to offer maximum support for dyslexic learners** and those with similar barriers to learning. Verdana font and spacing used are both dyslexia-friendly and the background colours are designed to reduce glare. Both the UK and US cards are **also included with the background colours removed** and could be used if printing on dyslexia friendly paper or card. * Could be used to support the writing of a full story * Could also work well as a regular tool to support struggling writers in one-to-one or small group sessions, where students write a few sentences inspired by the prompts, without worrying about completing a story. &nbsp; ***YOU MIGHT LIKE...*** **[Complex Sentences Activity Cards](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complex-sentences-writing-super-sentences-11534472)** **[Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/editing-proofreading-spag-year-5-6-11880677)** **[Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/full-stops-and-capital-letters-11692728)** **[Improving Sentences Writing Worksheets](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/improving-sentence-structure-11651717)**

Creative Writing Story Prompts BUNDLE

A bundle of KS2 or early KS3 imaginative / descriptive writing story starters cards, featuring high quality photo prompts, vocabulary banks, prompt questions and more. These 40 full-page story generators can be used across a range of abilities and ages, especially in Year 4, 5, 6 and 7, to spark ideas for stories. They're great for reluctant writers and they have a dyslexia friendly format too. *This BUNDLE includes these 2 packs:* **[Creative Writing Story Prompts](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/creative-writing-story-prompts-11648009)** (MY MOST POPULAR RESOURCE ON TES) **[Creative Writing Story Prompts 2 ](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12530007)** These 2 packs are also included in this larger **[Creative Writing Story Prompts BIG BUNDLE 100 Prompts!](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/creative-writing-story-prompts-big-bundle-12747432)** * Use as **warm ups**, **early finishers** activities and as a **framework for free writing sessions** * Each of the **40** A4 cards features a visual element (**photo / picture stimulus**), a **starter sentence** or part-sentence to help launch children into their fiction / narrative writing * **Prompt questions** to get ideas going * A **word bank** and some **suggested openers** to add variety to their writing * A box at the bottom **reminds students to read their work aloud, check for full stops and capital letters and common spellings** * **Range of subjects and genres** including sport, mystery, humour, fantasy and historical. Plenty of variety so children can choose ones that appeal to them. * **UK and US English versions** included, with spellings and references to 'full stops' and 'periods' etc amended as appropriate * **Designed to offer maximum support for dyslexic learners** and those with similar barriers to learning. Verdana font and spacing used are both dyslexia-friendly and the background colours are designed to reduce glare. Both the UK and US cards are **also included with the background colours removed** and could be used if printing on dyslexia friendly paper or card. * Could be used to support the writing of a full story * Could also work well as a regular tool to support struggling writers in one-to-one or small group sessions, where students write a few sentences inspired by the prompts, without worrying about completing a story. &nbsp; ***YOU MIGHT LIKE...*** **[Complex Sentences Activity Cards](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complex-sentences-writing-super-sentences-11534472)** **[Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/editing-proofreading-spag-year-5-6-11880677)** **[Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/full-stops-and-capital-letters-11692728)** **[Improving Sentences Writing Worksheets](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/improving-sentence-structure-11651717)**

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Home > Resources > WRITING PROMPT : Jacqueline Wilson #5 Finishing the Story

help with story writing ks2

WRITING PROMPT : Jacqueline Wilson #5 Finishing the Story

Key stage and subjects, what’s the story.

Best-loved author Jacqueline Wilson has written over 100 books – and now she’s sharing her wisdom with you and your pupils in a series of Creative Writing Top Tips! Jacqueline Wilson’s Top Tip Number FIVE is about how to finish a story . . . 

“That’s the best bit. You’ve written and written, and now you’ve nearly finished the story. You can’t wait to write THE END after the last line. It’s a terrible temptation to hurry things along, because if you’re anything like me you just want to be finished with the whole thing. I used to find I wrote the last few pages of my stories too quickly, in a hasty scrappy sort of way, and then an editor (they’re a bit like your teacher, and even more picky) would suggest I rewrite part and expand it and think it all through carefully. 5 How to end your story Now I try to give the last chapter even more time and attention than the first. I try to round everything off in a satisfying way. That doesn’t mean I always spell everything out. Sometimes I deliberately leave my readers to work out what’s going to happen next, though I always give a heavy hint. (Lots of you want to know if Lily gets reunited with her family in Lily Alone – or does Destiny make it as a famous singer in Little Darlings – or will Hetty ever get together with Jem?) I wanted to keep all the options open – but if you find my endings disconcerting you’re always free to write your own versions. I always try to write reasonably happy endings – but occasionally characters play tricks on me and won’t do as I tell them. I think my saddest book is My Sister Jodie. I had no intention of making it end like that – but somehow my hand wrote the story in a very unexpected dramatic way. So, let’s say you’ve taken your time over your ending and are pleased with your story. I’m afraid you’ve still got a little work to do, especially if it’s a story for school, for a special project, for a competition. Read it through. See if there are parts that don’t seem very important, or they’re maybe simply a bit boring. How can you improve them? Could you pop something new in that will make your story seem more interesting? Have you checked all your spellings and remembered all your punctuation? I know, these are the boring parts. I hate fussing over everything too – but it’s truly worth it. It’s often only when I’ve got to this stage that a sudden really good idea occurs to me. I don’t like rewriting – but it’s generally vitally necessary. You want your story to be as good as possible, don’t you? The best part of ending my book for me is sending it to my friend the illustrator Nick Sharratt. He’ll read my story very carefully, often several times, and then send me a few illustrations of the characters. He always gets them exactly how I imagined them – it’s uncanny.” Jacqueline Wilson 

What’s the resource?

Activities include:

  • Small Group Warm-Up: Film Trailers
  • Completing a Plot Graph
  • The Final Touches

Why use this resource?

You’ve done all the hard work… but ending a story is often the most difficult bit! Help children to organise their ideas by sharing plot graphs, understanding cliffhangers, and exploring the idea of resolution in a story.

Get the WRITING PROMPT : Jacqueline Wilson #5 Finishing the Story

Related books, four children and it, my mum tracy beaker.

Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt

The Get Creative Journal

Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt (Illustrator)

Who makes Puffin Schools?

Tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> puffin schools has been created by the children’s publisher puffin to help bring together all the inspiring content we create for schools into one place. fa-angle-down--> what ages are the books on puffin schools for, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> the books on this website will range from those for eyfs through to primary and up to lower secondary school. you can discover our full range of books at puffin.co.uk fa-angle-down--> what is puffin, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> puffin is an imprint of penguin random house, the world’s number-one publisher representing a vibrant community of publishing houses marked by unparalleled success. through our world of stories, puffin aims to open up the world to every child. our mission is to inspire children to feel they can be and do anything, and to create readers for life. puffin started out as a non-fiction publisher, with its first title appearing in 1940. as the most iconic and well-known children’s book brand in the uk today, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to tell the world’s favourite stories and for brilliant new debut talent and brands that connect with today’s young readers, from newborn up to twelve years old. we publish a diverse and wide range of fiction, non-fiction, picture books and children’s classics. our list includes some of the world’s favourite authors, illustrators and licensed brands, such as eric carle, helen oxenbury, nadia shireen, the snowman, doctor who, roald dahl, tom fletcher, jeff kinney, rick riordan, robin stevens, and jacqueline wilson to name but a few. fa-angle-down--> what’s the connection between ladybird, puffin and penguin, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> ladybird, puffin and penguin are imprints of penguin random house uk. across their extensive list, we believe there is a story for every child, everywhere. you can find information about books for all ages at penguin.co.uk fa-angle-down--> where can i buy puffin books from, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> all the books featured on this website can be purchased in the usual way: as well as being available on the high street and online, you can find lots of brilliant offers via school-specific suppliers and wholesale retailers. fa-angle-down--> how do i get in contact with a member of the puffin schools team, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> whether you’ve got a brilliant idea for a lesson, a photograph of something incredible you’ve done at your school or just have a question, please email  [email protected] and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible . fa-angle-down--> what’s happened to puffin virtually live, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> the story-makers show  was known as puffin virtually live  up until march 2019. the content and ambition of the show remains the same: to give every pupil the opportunity to engage with authors and illustrators in their own classroom using the power of the internet. we’ve re-named puffin virtually live  so that it’s easier for new teachers to discover it as part of puffin schools and to acknowledge that the show now premieres on show day, rather than being streamed live. fa-angle-down--> what’s happened to my puffin virtually live account, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> your account for puffin virtually live has been deactivated as it is no longer a feature of the puffin schools website. if you were registered for the newsletter, you will now receive the puffin schools newsletter, which is filled with all the latest information about accompanying resources and upcoming shows. if you do not wish to receive it any longer then please unsubscribe. fa-angle-down--> which video platform is the story-makers show hosted on.

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Portal Stories - KS2 Text Types: Writing Planners and Model Texts

Resource Collection WAGOLL: text types writing packs

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This pack contains a number of resources to support pupils when writing their own portal story, with characters entering a new world! The resources are based on two model texts, with planning sheets to support pupils to write their own portal stories. These could be a continuation of the model texts, with characters going through the portals again to the same place or visiting new worlds. Alternatively, pupils could use the model texts to help structure their own portal stories.

Pupils’ final portal stories could be linked to your current geography or history topic, with characters visiting the time period or the place currently being studied.

What does this KS2 resource include?

  • Model text: A Shift in Time - This model text is an example of a portal story, with three children going through a forbidden door that leads to a Roman market. Pupils can explore the features of this story type using the model and write their own versions, with the characters visiting the Roman market again, or perhaps the door will lead them to another historical period.
  • Model text: The Mirror - This model text is an example of a portal story, with two girls discovering that a new mirror in their gran’s house could transport them to a new room. Pupils can explore the features of this story type using the model and write their own versions, with characters going through the portal again.
  • Portal story writing sheet - Two versions are included for LKS2 and UKS2. Both contain a success criteria list as well as examples of grammar skills suitable for LKS2 (punctuating direct speech and the use of speech verbs) and UKS2 (writing dialogue that conveys character and the use of ellipsis) from the English curriculum.
  • Portal story planning sheet - This worksheet allows pupils to plan their own portal stories, organising their ideas before writing.
  • New Worlds image cards - A set of images to inspire pupils writing with examples of new worlds that could be visited through a portal.
  • Writing paper - The themed writing paper can be used for pupils to present their work.

What is a portal story?

This type of story involves characters visiting another world via a ‘portal’, which is often a doorway or window. The new world will usually be completely different from the surroundings that characters are familiar with and the story can involve time travel, science fiction or fantasy elements.

National Curriculum English programme of study links:

  • Pupils should plan their writing by discussing writing that is similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar.
  • Pupils will use use and punctuate direct speech.
  • Pupils should be taught to plan their writing by identifying the audience for and purpose for writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own.
  • Pupils should be taught to draft and write, in narratives, ... integrating dialogue to convey character and advance action
  • Pupils should be taught to draft and write using a wide range of cohesive devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs (ellipsis)

This resource is part of the WAGOLL: text types writing packs collection. View more from this collection

  • Model text: A Shift in Time
  • Model text: The Mirror
  • Portal story writing sheet
  • Portal story planning sheet
  • New Worlds image cards
  • Themed writing paper

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  • Artificial Intelligence

Google Chrome’s new AI can finish your sentences for you

The experimental ai feature is available in english for us-based chrome users, providing suggestions for completing online reviews, forms, messages, and more..

By Jess Weatherbed , a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

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Illustrations depicting aspects of Google’s “Help me write” tool for Chrome.

Google has started rolling out “Help me write” — an experimental Gemini-powered generative AI feature for its Chrome browser that aims to help users write or refine text based on webpage content. Following the stable release of Chrome M122 on Tuesday, the new writing assistant is now available to try out on Mac and Windows PCs for English-speaking Chrome users in the US.

“Help me write” focuses on providing writing suggestions for shortform content, such as filling in digital surveys and reviews, enquiring about product information, or drafting descriptions for items being sold online. Google says the tool can “understand the context of the webpage you’re on” to pull relevant information into its suggestions — for example, highlighting key features mentioned on the product page for items you’re leaving a review on.

An example screenshot of Google Chrome’s “help me write” feature showing a message requesting to return a faulty bike helmet.

The “Help me write” feature has undergone some visual changes since it was first announced for Gmail during Google’s I/O event last May , now appearing as a floating application window beside the webpage text fields that are being filled with separate options to adjust length and tone. The Chrome release offers similar functionality to what Microsoft released for Edge and Bing search last year .

Users in the US will need to enable Chrome’s Experimental AI to use the feature, which can be found by clicking on Settings within the three-dot drop-down menu on Chrome desktop and then navigating to the Experimental AI page. From there, click on “Try out experimental AI features” and select “Help me write” and then “relaunch.” Users can then navigate to a webpage on Chrome and right-click on an open text field to use the writing assistant feature.

The Google support page includes a disclaimer that tells users not to provide personal information like their name, phone, address, social security number, or credit card information to the feature and that the tool shouldn’t be used on websites that contain personal or sensitive information. But if you do input such information, Google says that “Chrome will not use it for model training purposes.”

An example screenshot of Google Chrome’s “help me write” feature showing an ad for a used air fryer.

I’m not convinced the “Help me write” tool will prove very useful for most people — it’s not exactly a must-have feature driving the adoption of Edge and Copilot over the last year. The use cases provided by Google seem reasonable if the feature spits out the exact copy you need, but any time spent writing the prompts and adjusting the resulting text to suit your needs diminishes any time-saving benefits it may have provided. I can see some benefits for disabled users or people who aren’t completely fluent in English, but there’s also plenty to be concerned about — the ease with which this tool could be used to leave fake or disingenuous product reviews being one of them.

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February 21, 2024

Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

Engaging the fine motor system to produce letters by hand has positive effects on learning and memory

By Charlotte Hu

Student handwriting notes in class

FG Trade/Getty Images

Handwriting notes in class might seem like an anachronism as smartphones and other digital technology subsume every aspect of learning across schools and universities. But a steady stream of research continues to suggest that taking notes the traditional way—with pen and paper or even stylus and tablet—is still the best way to learn, especially for young children. And now scientists are finally zeroing in on why.

A recent study in Frontiers in Psychology monitored brain activity in students taking notes and found that those writing by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across a wide range of interconnected brain regions responsible for movement, vision, sensory processing and memory. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that has many experts speaking up about the importance of teaching children to handwrite words and draw pictures.

Differences in Brain Activity

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The new research, by Audrey van der Meer and Ruud van der Weel at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), builds on a foundational 2014 study . That work suggested that people taking notes by computer were typing without thinking, says van der Meer , a professor of neuropsychology at NTNU. “It’s very tempting to type down everything that the lecturer is saying,” she says. “It kind of goes in through your ears and comes out through your fingertips, but you don’t process the incoming information.” But when taking notes by hand, it’s often impossible to write everything down; students have to actively pay attention to the incoming information and process it—prioritize it, consolidate it and try to relate it to things they’ve learned before. This conscious action of building onto existing knowledge can make it easier to stay engaged and grasp new concepts .

To understand specific brain activity differences during the two note-taking approaches, the NTNU researchers tweaked the 2014 study’s basic setup. They sewed electrodes into a hairnet with 256 sensors that recorded the brain activity of 36 students as they wrote or typed 15 words from the game Pictionary that were displayed on a screen.

When students wrote the words by hand, the sensors picked up widespread connectivity across many brain regions. Typing, however, led to minimal activity, if any, in the same areas. Handwriting activated connection patterns spanning visual regions, regions that receive and process sensory information and the motor cortex. The latter handles body movement and sensorimotor integration, which helps the brain use environmental inputs to inform a person’s next action.

“When you are typing, the same simple movement of your fingers is involved in producing every letter, whereas when you’re writing by hand, you immediately feel that the bodily feeling of producing A is entirely different from producing a B,” van der Meer says. She notes that children who have learned to read and write by tapping on a digital tablet “often have difficulty distinguishing letters that look a lot like each other or that are mirror images of each other, like the b and the d.”

Reinforcing Memory and Learning Pathways

Sophia Vinci-Booher , an assistant professor of educational neuroscience at Vanderbilt University who was not involved in the new study, says its findings are exciting and consistent with past research. “You can see that in tasks that really lock the motor and sensory systems together, such as in handwriting, there’s this really clear tie between this motor action being accomplished and the visual and conceptual recognition being created,” she says. “As you’re drawing a letter or writing a word, you’re taking this perceptual understanding of something and using your motor system to create it.” That creation is then fed back into the visual system, where it’s processed again—strengthening the connection between an action and the images or words associated with it. It’s similar to imagining something and then creating it: when you materialize something from your imagination (by writing it, drawing it or building it), this reinforces the imagined concept and helps it stick in your memory.

The phenomenon of boosting memory by producing something tangible has been well studied. Previous research has found that when people are asked to write, draw or act out a word that they’re reading, they have to focus more on what they’re doing with the received information. Transferring verbal information to a different form, such as a written format, also involves activating motor programs in the brain to create a specific sequence of hand motions, explains Yadurshana Sivashankar , a cognitive neuroscience graduate student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who studies movement and memory. But handwriting requires more of the brain’s motor programs than typing. “When you’re writing the word ‘the,’ the actual movements of the hand relate to the structures of the word to some extent,” says Sivashankar, who was not involved in the new study.

For example, participants in a 2021 study by Sivashankar memorized a list of action verbs more accurately if they performed the corresponding action than if they performed an unrelated action or none at all. “Drawing information and enacting information is helpful because you have to think about information and you have to produce something that’s meaningful,” she says. And by transforming the information, you pave and deepen these interconnections across the brain’s vast neural networks, making it “much easier to access that information.”

The Importance of Handwriting Lessons for Kids

Across many contexts, studies have shown that kids appear to learn better when they’re asked to produce letters or other visual items using their fingers and hands in a coordinated way—one that can’t be replicated by clicking a mouse or tapping buttons on a screen or keyboard. Vinci-Booher’s research has also found that the action of handwriting appears to engage different brain regions at different levels than other standard learning experiences, such as reading or observing. Her work has also shown that handwriting improves letter recognition in preschool children, and the effects of learning through writing “last longer than other learning experiences that might engage attention at a similar level,” Vinci-Booher says. Additionally, she thinks it’s possible that engaging the motor system is how children learn how to break “ mirror invariance ” (registering mirror images as identical) and begin to decipher things such as the difference between the lowercase b and p.

Vinci-Booher says the new study opens up bigger questions about the way we learn, such as how brain region connections change over time and when these connections are most important in learning. She and other experts say, however, that the new findings don’t mean technology is a disadvantage in the classroom. Laptops, smartphones and other such devices can be more efficient for writing essays or conducting research and can offer more equitable access to educational resources. Problems occur when people rely on technology too much , Sivashankar says. People are increasingly delegating thought processes to digital devices, an act called “ cognitive offloading ”—using smartphones to remember tasks, taking a photo instead of memorizing information or depending on a GPS to navigate. “It’s helpful, but we think the constant offloading means it’s less work for the brain,” Sivashankar says. “If we’re not actively using these areas, then they are going to deteriorate over time, whether it’s memory or motor skills.”

Van der Meer says some officials in Norway are inching toward implementing completely digital schools . She claims first grade teachers there have told her their incoming students barely know how to hold a pencil now—which suggests they weren’t coloring pictures or assembling puzzles in nursery school. Van der Meer says they’re missing out on opportunities that can help stimulate their growing brains.

“I think there’s a very strong case for engaging children in drawing and handwriting activities, especially in preschool and kindergarten when they’re first learning about letters,” Vinci-Booher says. “There’s something about engaging the fine motor system and production activities that really impacts learning.”

Chrome gets a built-in AI writing tool powered by Gemini

help with story writing ks2

Google Chrome is getting a new AI writing generator today. At its core, this Gemini-powered tool is essentially the existing “ Help me write ” feature from Gmail, but extended to the entire web and powered by one of Google’s latest Gemini AI models. The company first announced this new tool in January and it remains in its “experimental” phase, meaning you must explicitly enable it.

To get started, head to the Chrome settings menu and look for the “Experimental AI” page. From there, you can easily enable the new writing feature, as well as Google’s new automatic tab organizer (which I haven’t found particularly useful or smart so far) and the new Chrome theme manager). For now, the AI writer is only available in English on Windows, Mac and Linux. After that, right-click on any text field and select “Help me write.” You can use this to write something completely new and Gemini can also rewrite existing text.

help with story writing ks2

Image Credits: Google

If you’re subscribed to Gemini Advanced, this new tool will not give you access to an enhanced writing model, a Google spokesperson told us. It’s very much meant for short-form content like emails or support requests and a bigger model may not even be of much help there anyway.

One nifty feature here is that the tool will take into account the site you are on when it makes its recommendations. “The tool will understand the context of the webpage you’re on to suggest relevant content,” Google engineering director Adriana Porter Felt writes in today’s announcement . “For example, if you’re writing a review for a pair of running shoes, Chrome will pull out key features from the product page that support your recommendation so it’s more valuable to potential shoppers.”

As with the “Help me write” feature in Gmail, it’s easy enough to change the length and tone of the results, too.

It’s important to note that the text, content and the URL of the page you are using the service on will be sent to Google under its existing privacy policy. Google explicitly notes that this information “is used to improve this feature, which includes generative model research and machine learning technologies,” which includes a review process with humans in the loop. Caveat scriptor.

help with story writing ks2

Google’s Duet AI can now write your emails for you

Explanation for Amanda's presence in Name Change Story

From a new Soap Opera Digest on-line article:

Daytime Emmy-winner Mishael Morgan, who returned to Y&R this week as Amanda Sinclair after an on-screen absence of nearly a year, describes her comeback as a spur-of-the-moment development. “It was a very last-minute call,” she begins. “Somebody wasn’t able to come in, and I was asked to fill in for them [to] help kind of push that story forward, so [the storyline] didn’t have to be at a standstill. I think that’s the great thing about still being on the canvas, and still being attached to the show as recurring — I can show up and I can do those things and when it works out for my schedule, especially when it’s last-minute, it’s almost better. [Then] I can come in and have some fun and play in Genoa City.”

The key line being: “Somebody wasn’t able to come in, and I was asked to fill in for them [to] help kind of push that story forward, so [the storyline] didn’t have to be at a standstill."

Seems that Jess Walton became unavailable and writing was tweaked to have Mishael’s Amanda carry the plot forward.

No wonder the writing is clunky and the story feels off. You do what you have to do, but, for me, the story would be much better with Jill’s presence.

I thought of Jill at first too, although it also occurred to me that they may have expected Lily back sooner. Just guessing. I’ve enjoyed Amanda’s scenes so far.

:joy:

I think even without the lovley Christel Khalil’s prengancy , I am pretty sure it was never in the cards for Lilly to be in favor of the name change. So this I why leaning towards it being Jill.

I agree Jill bein there would have made thing juicer, but I trust that Jess walton had very vaild reason why she could not make it to set.

I think Jill is more likely - especially after Amanda began her explanation for her presence by saying she was there representing Jill.

IF Amanda were a bona fide Chief Legal Counsel, I would expect a more balanced, moderate approach. Instead she immediately came in waving Jill’s banner - and showing more personal attitude to both Devon and Abby than was professional. Don’t get me wrong! I think Abby and Devon got off too easily with their sexcapade. But …

Amanda’s focus on Mamie suggests also that Jill’s lines had been reworked for Amanda to say them, Looking back, those lines were Jill’s resentment of Mamie coming out.

In general, I think Billy was right at the end to question Amanda’s tactics - not as measured as Lawyer Amanda might be - and more like Jill might be.

I really like having Mishael back as Amanda. And I enjoy seeing her give Devon and Abby a deserved hard time. BUT, her presence isn’t working as well as I had hoped in this story.

I’m really feeling Jill’s absence in this story. It’ really needs her!

No thanks! I don’t know about the powers that be, but based on Google searches she hasn’t let it go.

:cry:

Especially since she’s the one requesting the change. The surrogates aren’t working in this story.

I think Amanda being back, even if it wasn’t planned, was perfect if only for the snarky comments she gave to Devon and Abby.

:popcorn:

I agree,it was odd to have Amanda doing her bidding because Jill would normally be outspoken herself.

IMAGES

  1. How To Write A Good Story

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  2. KS2 Story Writing Structure

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  3. KS2 Story Settings: Writing Features

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  4. Short story writing

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  5. Free Writing Worksheets, Story Writing, KS2, Literacy, Story Ideas- TMKed

    help with story writing ks2

  6. FREE!

    help with story writing ks2

VIDEO

  1. Write a story!

  2. Help story for kids👑👑👑 #shorts #kidsstories #katyaanddima

  3. Story writing

  4. Story Writing

  5. Developing Characters in English

  6. sad story wolf only one select and help 🥺🥺 #shortsfeed #minecraft #sadstory #trending

COMMENTS

  1. Creative writing

    Find out some useful tips to help you plan your story. How is a story structured? Find out why most stories consist of a beginning, a middle and an end. What is a setting? Find out what a...

  2. 32 good story starters for KS2 and free writing

    32 good story starters for KS2 and free writing Is there anything more intimidating than a blank page and the request to write a story? Okay, lots of things. But have you ever actually tried it? Cue a blank mind and a stationary pencil.

  3. How to plan a story

    Video Transcript The plot is what will happen in your story. The story mountain Opening - Start your story with an interesting main character and decide where the story is going to take...

  4. Story Writing Lesson Plans KS2

    There are even examples of great creative writing like this Y3 Story Writing: Traditional Model/ Example Text to help KS2 pupils understand the different genres of creative writing, and what the different types of text should look like - including structure, tone, style, and more. What are the 5 parts of a story structure?

  5. How to Write a Story in KS2

    In this video, Twinkl Teacher James shares some brilliant resources that can help your KS2 children to create their own stories.Narrative Writing PowerPoint:...

  6. Creative Writing KS2 Worksheets

    These resources might give your learners the start of a story and encourage them to continue it, or maybe some images to inspire their story setting. By using these creative writing KS2 worksheets and other activities, you'll be letting your pupils be creative while also encouraging them to practise their writing skills.

  7. 7 Techniques for Generating Story Writing Ideas in KS2

    7 Techniques for Generating Story Writing Ideas in KS2 Key Stage 2 is a great time for children. Typically, they will have settled into the flow of learning new subjects, and as KS2 teachers you get to help them flourish by practising, repeating and refining their learnt skills.

  8. Short story writing

    pdf, 399.68 KB. Easy short story plan split up into small, manageable chunks for children to complete independently. Great for online, distance and home learning and a simple way to encourage children to write. As well as a plan with prompt questions to help produce ideas, there is also an example of a short story. Great for KS2 children.

  9. Creative Writing PowerPoint KS2

    Creative writing is a great exercise for KS2 pupils to do because it lets their creativity run wild while also helping them to consolidate spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary. And with this KS2 Writing PowerPoint, you can encourage your pupils to write engaging stories. hollie9373 - Verified member since 2022 Reviewed on 12 March 2023

  10. Story Writing Lesson Plan, Planning Sheet for KS2

    Story Writing Lesson Plan, Planning Sheet for KS2 Subject: English Age range: 7-11 Resource type: Lesson (complete) File previews pdf, 2.88 MB pdf, 290.6 KB pptx, 5.19 MB Lesson plan, planning sheet and Powerpoint presentation for short story writing. Includes examples.

  11. Teaching this story structure in KS2 creative writing

    Even so, a story needs a beginning, a middle and an end. To expand this a little further, many stories follow the 'story mountain' approach, whereby the dramatic tension of the plot starts low, then climbs steadily to its apex before returning, more or less to normality - sea level, if you like.

  12. FREE!

    This story writing KS2 checklist is a great way of getting your class to think about how language affects the quality of a story. The list already has some important storytelling elements filled in, such as 'similes to describe someone's reaction' and 'metaphors to describe someone's feelings.' As a starter task, it might be a good idea to get children thinking about examples ...

  13. Creative writing prompts for KS1 and KS2 English

    Try these story starters, structures, worksheets and other fun writing prompt resources for primary pupils…. by Laura Dobson. DOWNLOAD A FREE RESOURCE! Creative writing prompts - 5 worksheets plus word mats for KS1 and KS2 pupils. Download Now.

  14. KS2 English: Create a story

    Karim: Editing will really help to improve your story. ... This short film is designed to support the teaching of creative writing for KS2 in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and for 2nd level in ...

  15. Creative Writing Prompts Story Starters

    PNG, 5.9 MB. 20 more Key Stage 2 (KS2) or early KS3 imaginative / creative writing story starters cards, featuring high quality photo prompts, vocabulary banks, prompt questions and more. These full-page story generators can be used across a range of abilities and ages, especially in Year 4, 5, 6 and 7, to spark ideas for fiction.

  16. How To Write A Good Story

    For examples of creative writing stories that will help pupils understand what they need to do to create strong pieces, head to our Story Writing Primary Resources section. Resources like this Narrative Writing KS2 Checklist. This resource is great for getting children to think about all the different features of narrative writing.

  17. Narrative writing KS2

    The five plot types we cover in this narrative writing KS2 resource are: Overcoming the monster - the hero defeats a monster or villain. Rags to riches - a poor or unsuccessful character rises to success. The quest - a hero/group goes on an important journey. Voyage and return - the main character travels on a journey which changes ...

  18. Features of Story Writing Checklist KS2 Pack (Teacher-Made)

    This fantastic pack includes six different story writing checklists for KS2 students. The checklists work really well as reference resources for children beginning to write independently. These KS2 story writing checklists include the following features of story writing: characters. plot events.

  19. WRITING PROMPT : Jacqueline Wilson #5 Finishing the Story

    Jacqueline Wilson's Top Tip Number FIVE is about how to finish a story . . . "That's the best bit. You've written and written, and now you've nearly finished the story. You can't wait to write THE END after the last line. It's a terrible temptation to hurry things along, because if you're anything like me you just want to be ...

  20. Portal Stories

    The resources are based on two model texts, with planning sheets to support pupils to write their own portal stories. These could be a continuation of the model texts, with characters going through the portals again to the same place or visiting new worlds. Alternatively, pupils could use the model texts to help structure their own portal stories.

  21. Google's 'Help me write' tool can now finish your sentences in Chrome

    Google has started rolling out "Help me write" in the US — an experimental Gemini-powered feature for Chrome that helps users write or refine text based on webpage content.

  22. Story Writing Tips

    What is this Story Writing Tips for KS2 resource? This resource is perfect for guiding your students through writing their very own story. Show more Related Searches how to write a story how to write a good story story writing story mountain writing a story narrative writing Ratings & Reviews Curriculum Links Make a Request Resource Updates

  23. Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

    Charlotte Hu is a science and technology journalist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. She's interested in stories at the intersection of science and society. Her work has appeared in Popular Science ...

  24. Chrome gets a built-in AI writing tool powered by Gemini

    Google Chrome is getting a new AI writing generator today. At its core, this Gemini-powered tool is essentially the existing "Help me write" feature from Gmail, but extended to the entire web ...

  25. Story Writing Word Mat KS2

    Wondering how you can get your KS2 learners into story writing? Then you'll find the answer with our fantastic Story Openers Word Mat. This fantastic word mat style resource will provide your children with exciting prompts to help them get started with their own fiction writing. Show more Related Searches

  26. Explanation for Amanda's presence in Name Change Story

    From a new Soap Opera Digest on-line article: Daytime Emmy-winner Mishael Morgan, who returned to Y&R this week as Amanda Sinclair after an on-screen absence of nearly a year, describes her comeback as a spur-of-the-moment development. "It was a very last-minute call," she begins. "Somebody wasn't able to come in, and I was asked to fill in for them [to] help kind of push that story ...