Writing personal narratives is a key unit of study in primary classrooms. Most students manage this unit with ease. They’re not usually at a loss for ideas and often over-write. As a matter of fact, you’ve probably delivered a lot of lessons on how to rethink and revise for irrelevant, superfluous content. It feels like that never ends. Ever.
Do you have that lesson on repeat too?
But some kids, especially the youngest ones, can find themselves overwhelmed by the blank paper. Sometimes, it’s because they can’t think of an idea to write about. Sometimes, it’s a lack of confidence and they’re nervous about making mistakes. But sometimes, it’s the perceived length of the narrative that gets them.
When we, as primary teachers, started calling them “small moments,” that helped. But that’s really more about helping kids zero in on a single moment so they can focus, not necessarily the amount of writing they’re doing.
Try Diaries
One way we make writing personal narratives a little more manageable is by planning a mini-unit around diary examples. Depending on your pacing timeline, this could be a two-week warm up to the launch of your personal narrative unit.
Writing about life in a diary is a shorter version of the longer narrative and can help struggling writers feel successful. It’s a great way to build a foundation for the unit on writing personal narratives.
Ok, so you might already be thinking, “But what about the boys in my classroom? Will they resist the idea of writing diary entries?” Well, maybe. But probably not. I think we’ve come a long way regarding those kinds of stereotypes, but just in case, here are my favorite picture books to use when introducing diaries. Each example features an animal as the author with funny anecdotes that appeal to everyone. I haven’t had a student yet who didn’t like these.
My Fave Five:
- Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
- Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin
- Memoirs of a Hamster by Devin Scillian
- Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian
- Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
A Variety of Entry Types
I like that no two diaries have to be the same. In that way, kids have options as to how they want to format their entries. Doreen Cronin, for example, uses the date each time a new piece is added.👇 This is a pretty common way to begin diary or journal entries, and is a little more supportive for children who may need to spend a few days completing an entry.
In Devin Scillian’s book Memoirs of a Hamster, the author uses a different type of time stamp. Knowing the date isn’t always crucial. Instead, this little hamster just wants to share what is happening in his world on a nightly basis.👇
And in Jackie French’s Diary of a Wombat, time is expressed simply by listing the day and the time of day.👇 This book has short entries and simple sentences, so it’s a good choice for inspiring your most reluctant writers.
Whether kids are writing personal narratives, informational text, or poetry, I’m a fan of templates to help them get started. Some children may not need a template (and may actually feel limited by it). But for a lot of young writers, templates can help them visualize the piece, organize their thoughts, and write a manageable amount of text.
You can grab these writing templates in this post. The resource works well with the picture books listed above and includes a variety of covers and page designs for children to choose from.
When you’re ready to move into writing personal narratives, check out these related blog posts.👇 They include great mentor texts for K-2 lessons as well as strategies for helping children gather ideas and improve the overall quality of their writing.
Blog Posts: Writing Personal Narratives
- 8 GREAT MENTOR TEXTS FOR SMALL MOMENTS
- SMART WAYS TO USE TOYS IN YOUR WRITING WORKSHOP
- A MUST-HAVE TEXT FOR K-1 WRITING TEACHERS
- A BIG BAG OF WRITING IDEAS
Happy teaching!
Related Article: Supporting Young Writers with Nonfiction Templates
