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Home > Lang. Arts > Writing Prompts

WRITING PROMPTS

This section contains activities and resources related to fun and meaningful writing prompts.

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Lang. Arts Standards

Alexander Hamilton Writing Prompt: Settling the Score

Description: This prompt requires students to help Hamilton and Burr find a more productive way to settle their differences instead of staging a duel.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Charter Oak Writing Prompt

Description: This writing prompt describes Connecticut's legendary Charter Oak and then requires students to relate a great hiding spot of their own.

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Columbus Day, or, Not So Much

Description: This writing prompt requires students to determine whether or not Columbus should get his own holiday, and if not, what famous person should replace him and why?

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Demoralizing the Enemy - Sherman's March

Description: This writing prompt requires students to relate to Sherman's "scorched earth" warfare during his march through Georgia by writing about a time that their team crushed an opponent, or, when they were on a team that was crushed by an opponent.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

An Eye for an Eye - the John Brown Rebellion Writing Prompt

Description: This activity requires students to consider and write about the idea of "an eye for an eye."

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Forgiveness - A Civil War Writing Prompt

Description: Following the ill-fated infantry charge known as Pickett's Charge, on the last day of Gettysburg, Confederate Major General George Pickett was said to have harbored a life-long bitterness toward Robert E. Lee, who ordered the charge. This writing prompt requires students to think about the concept of forgiveness and describe the process he or she goes through when deciding whether or not to forgive someone.

Type: Reading comprehension

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Four Dollar Declaration of Independence

Description: This fun story-writing prompt tells the story of a Philadelphia man who found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence behind an old painting that he bought for $4.00. The prompt challenges students to tell a similar tale of how they find a valuable historical artifact in an improbable place.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

George Washington Carver Writing Prompt - Who would you name yourself after?

Description: Did you know that George Washington Carver was originally born as George Carver? He gave himself the middle name “Washington” following World War I, in honor of Booker T. Washington. His name was not meant to honor the former slaveholder and founding father, George Washington. Imagine if you could re-name yourself after a figure in history? Who would you name yourself after and why? Give specific details that support your answer. If you can’t think of a historical figure, think of a character in the movies or literature.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Glaring Weakness of the Articles of Confederation - Writing Prompt

Description: This prompt outlines the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and requires students to choose and explain the most "glaring" weakness.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

The Greatest Mythical Place Ever - Writing Prompt

Description: Based on the Iroquoian explanation of the Kingdom of Saguenay to Jacques Cartier, students must describe and draw the greatest mythical place they have ever experienced in a book, movie, or video game! Very fun and engaging.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels:

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Great Squander at the Battle of Antietam

Description: This historical prompt challenges students to consider the great opportunities squandered by Union General George McClellan prior to Antietam. Then, to think of and write about a time when they may have squandered a "golden" opportunity.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Interview with an Antagonist

Description: This fun activity requires students to conduct an interview with a chosen antagonist. Of course, the students must pen thoughtful answers on behalf of the antagonist. Some of the questions are pre-scripted while the student has the opportunity to think of questions too. Students must also draw and color a picture of themselves with their chosen antagonist.

Type: Character Study

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Henry Clay - The Peacemaker

Description: This prompt describes the role Henry Clay played in brokering the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 and then asks students to write about a time that they've played "peacemaker."

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

John Smith Meets 21st Century Symbols and Lingo

Description: This fun writing activity requires students to role play as John Smith, writing a summary of his experiences in Jamestown to an editor writing a book. The fun part for students, is that they are encouraged to use 21st century lingo such as "sus," "bro" and symbols and abbreviations such as LOL, SMH, and #.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Interview with the Statue of Liberty

Description: This fun activity requires students to pretend they are interviewing the Statue of Liberty! In the interview, there are four scripted questions that the student has to answer as the Statue. Two questions are fun and two are serious. The student comes up with the last question and answer. Students can use the Statue of Liberty of informational passage as a reference.

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Is Recess an Unalienable Right? - Declaration of Independence

Description: This writing prompt requires students to understand the concept of unalienable rights and then to form a persuasive essay on whether recess is a right or privilege that teachers should be able to take away.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Last Conversation Between Ben and William Franklin

Description: This activity requires students to pen dialogues between William (Ben's loyalist son and royal governor of New Jersey) and Benjamin (a Patriot). Students should demonstrate their knowledge of Loyalist and Patriot sentiments through the dialogue.

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Lost Journal Pages of Meriwether Lewis

Description: When Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast Louisiana Territory, he had visions that they’d find exotic creatures such as wholly mammoths and undiscovered landforms such as mountains made of salt. While Lewis and Clark discovered over three hundred species of animals and plants, and even sent a magpie and prairie dog as pets to Thomas Jefferson, they never found the kind of creatures that legends are made of (though they did find massive grizzly bears). What if Lewis and Clark actually did discover an unworldly plant, animal, and landform, but those pages were somehow lost from Lewis’ journal forever when their keelboat capsized? In the spaces provided below, use your imagination to name, draw, and describe these lost discoveries.

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Lee's Greatest Victory at Chancellorsville - Writing Prompt

Description: This activity requires students to relate to Lee's "Greatest Victory" at Chancellorsville, by describing their greatest moment at sports, music, dance, or even video games.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Nostradamus - Soothsayer

Description: This fun social studies prompt requires students to play the role of Nostradamus by writing a Nostradamus-style quatrain about a historical event they've learned.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Pet Peeve Constitution

Description: This fun activity requires students to write and draw about a unique pet peeve of theirs. Teachers can compile student pet peeve activities to make a Pet Peeve Constitution.

Type: Original Story

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Redemption

Description: This writing activity requires students to explore the concept of redemption and to describe an antagonist in movies or literature who is ultimately redeemed.

Type: Character Study

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Remaking Benedict Arnold

Description: This prompt requires students to examine the life of Benedict Arnold and to write a letter than attempts to redeem him in American history. The prompt ENCOURAGES students to use hyperbole, perspective, and to downplay facts not favorable to Arnold in this argument. Use the Benedict Arnold biography for background information on the steps that led Arnold to reason.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Re-Writing History: An alternative ending to the Amelia Earhart Story.

Description: This writing prompt require students to come up with an alternative ending to the Amelia Earhart story. Very fun!

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Roanoke Island - Supplies for Survival

Description: This fun critical thinking exercise requires students to role play as a Roanoke settler, who has the magical power to warp to the future to garner modern supplies. There are rules, however, that students must follow in selecting three supplies that they would bring to Roanoke that would help the colony survive.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7 +

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Roanoke Island - the Anatomy of a Mystery

Description: This fun writing prompt requires students to analyze the mystery of the Lost Colony before detailing a mystery in their own lives, or, another mystery they're familiar with in history, literature, movies, video games, or current events.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7 +

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Sacagawea - the Unsung Hero

Description: This activity explains the idea of Sacagawea as an unsung hero. Students must then write about an unsung hero they select from movies, literature, sports, or their own lives.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Scurvy - A Simple, But Elusive Explanation

Description: This activity requires students to write about a modern mystery that they think will be solved by humans in the future - in the same way that the cause of Scurvy was a mystery for hundreds of years.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Should Abner Doubleday Really be Credited with Inventing Baseball? - Persuasive Essay Printable

Description: This activity requires students to read the narrative about Abner Doubleday and Alexander Joy Cartwright and to determine who deserves more credited for creating the game of baseball.

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Slander of Ponce de Leon and the False Search for the Fountain of Youth

Description: This writing prompt explains that Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth was made up by those who wished to embarrass him. It then requires students to write about an instance in which they may have experienced slander, or, when a character in literature or movies experienced it.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The Storm that Saved Washington

Description: This activity describes the unbelievable tornado that hit Washington D.C. as the British were attempting to destroy the city at the end of the War of 1812. It challenges students to role play as a spectator who describes the scene to a newspaper reporter.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

The 82-year-long Grudge: The Siege at Vicksburg

Description: This writing prompt describes the “grudge” the citizens of Vicksburg, Mississippi held against the United States Government after the fall of their city in July of 1863. Independence Day was not celebrated in the Mississippi River town until after World War II. This writing prompt requires students to describe a grudge they have had, or, to describe one in literature, or sports, or if someone has had a grudge against them.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Taking a Stand for Rosa Parks

Description: This writing prompt requires students to role-play as an observer on the Montgomery bus in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and to intervene between the bus driver and Parks.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

"The Climb" - Lewis and Clark

Description: This printout requires students to consider a time when they thought they were at the cusp of finishing something great, only to learn there was MUCH more work to do - ALA Miley Cyrus.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

To Be or Not to Be... an Antagonist!

Description: This activity requires students to identify and write about a character in literature or the movies that is "sort of" an antagonist, but also has likable qualities (think Gru from Despicable Me) which ultimately blurs the line between antagonist and protagonist.

Type: Character Study

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

The Tolerable Acts - Having Fun With the Intolerable Acts

Description: Students play the role as a member of Parliament who has serious concerns about the Intolerable Act. Instead, he or she argues that England should make immediate peace with the colonies by issuing a set of acts designed to reward them called the “Tolerable Acts.” Students must think of five acts that reward the colonists (such as Parliament erecting a statue of George Washington in front of Buckingham Palace).

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Turning Point - The Battle of Saratoga

Description: This activity requires students to understand how the Battle of Saratoga was the turning point in the war and to think of explain turning points in their own lives, in sports, or in the lives of literary characters.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

The Underdog - Writing Prompt

Description: This prompt outlines describes the concept of the underdog and how the Americans were underdogs during the Revolutionary War. Students must write about a time when they were the underdog, or, about a character in literature, movies, or sports, that won as the underdog.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Valley Forge Writing Prompt - Role Play as a Continental Soldier

Description: This activity requires students to play the role of a soldier camped during the dreadful winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. Students must use their knowledge of the conditions and morale at Valley Forge to pen a letter to a friend or family member describing the misery.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

The Worst Rule Ever - Royal Proclamation of 1763

Description: This fun prompt requires students to relate to how the colonists must have felt after the passage of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, by writing about the worst rule they've ever had to follow.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Use as Assessment on Google Classroom.

Unfair Punishments - A Boston Tea Party Writing Prompt

Description: This writing prompts requires students to relate to the unfair punishments issued to the American colonists after the Boston Tea Party by detailing the most unfair punishment they've ever experienced, and the reasons why they were punished.

Type: Social Studies Prompt

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

Was Christopher Columbus Overrated in History?

Description: This writing prompt requires students to consider an argument that Christopher Columbus was overrated in history. It then asks students to write about something they consider overrated.

Type: Social Studies Fun

Format: Printable Activity

Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6

CC Standards:

Lang. Arts Standards:

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