When Teaching Fictional Narrative Writing in Fifth Grade Feels Impossible — And How to Make It Work

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Struggling with blank pages and weak endings? Reverse-engineer narrative writing by genre, conflict, and pacing so students finish stronger stories.

Free Harry Potter Picture Writing Prompts for Students

Use students’ love of Harry Potter to get them writing, with a free collection of setting and character picture prompts ready to print.

Animal Picture Writing Prompts for Upper Elementary Students

A free collection of dog, cat, squirrel, and other animal picture prompts to give reluctant writers a visual starting point.

Successfully Teaching Grammar in Fifth Grade (& How It Improves Reading Comprehension)

Teaching grammar in fifth grade can help students become better communicators and improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language skills.

Flashback and Foreshadowing: Flashback Should Be Taught Before Foreshadowing

Flashback and foreshadowing are often taught together, but flashback deserves the majority of your teaching time. Here’s why — and the signal phrases to teach.

Teaching Elements of Plot

Explicitly teaching elements of plot helps students build a mental map for understanding fictional stories, from exposition to resolution.

Teaching Point of View and Narrator in the Reading Classroom

Teaching point of view made simple, with the four narrator types, reliable vs. unreliable narrators, and movie clip examples for the classroom.

Teaching Internal and External Conflict in Reading

Giving students the skills to identify internal and external conflict increases their skills as independent readers and writers of any story.