Narratives

Levels–2nd, 3rd

Narrative Writing Ideas

A time you were hurt --

YEOW! OH, NO! IT HURTS SO BAD!

I CAN’T MOVE! I CAN’T STAND IT! HELP!

1) I was stung by a ______.

2) I was bitten by a ______.

3) I was hit by a ______.

4) I fell off ______.

5) I fell out of ______.

6) I fell over ______.

7) I fell in between ______.

8) I was scratched by a ______.

9) I broke my ______.

10) I sprained my ______.

11) I twisted my ______.

12) I got stuck in ______.

Narrative Writing Ideas

13) I was in a wreck and hurt my ______.

14) A ______fell on me.

15) I was burned by ______.

16) I mashed my ______.

17) I dropped a ______.

18) I was cut ______.

19) I hit a ______.

20) I punctured my ______.

21) I tried to eat ______.

22) I stuck a ______in my ______.

23) ______

24) ______

25) ______
Narrative Writing Ideas

a time I was scared –

HELP! I’M STUCK! I’M SO SCARED!

I WANT TO GET OFF! MOM! DAD!

SOMEBODY HELP ME! OH, NO! I BROKE IT!

1) I was lost ______.

2) I was stuck on ______.

3) The ride was so scary ______.

4) I didn’t know how to help my ______.

5) I couldn’t get out of the ______.

6) I was stuck in ______.

7) I heard a noise and didn’t know what it was

______.

8) I couldn’t find my ______.

9) I missed my ______.

10) I dropped ______.

11) I wrecked the______.

Narrative Writing Ideas

12) I messed up ______.

13) I couldn’t get out of______.

14) I got caught ______.

15) I had ruined ______.

16) I had broken the ______.

17) We had to call 911 ______.

18) I couldn’t catch my ______.

19) I found a ______.

20) I got choked on ______.

21) I saw a ______.

22) I was not supposed to ______.

23) The ______was on fire.

24) I threw the ______.

25) I lit a ______.
Narrative Writing Ideas

I wish it hadn’t happened – I shouldn’t have done it.

OOOOOPS! I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT!

I JUST WANTED TO SEE WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN!

OH, NO! I’M SORRY! I WON’T TRY THIS AGAIN!

1) I cut ______.

2) I painted ______.

3) I threw ______.

4) I dropped ______.

5) I broke ______.

6) I ruined ______.

7) I spilled ______.

8) I drove ______.

9) I pulled ______.

10) I tore ______.

11) I lost ______.

12) I tore up ______.

Narrative Writing Ideas

Narrative Writing Ideas

13) I rode ______.

14) I scraped ______.

15) ______

16) ______

17) ______

18) ______

3) Share your story. If you haven't illustrated it, some of your students may volunteer to do it for you. One suggestion-- You might pair students, give them paper, and ask them to draw at least a scene from your narrative.
Your students will benefit if you model more than one narrative. Feel free to “create” a story if you don’t have an experience you want to share.
Drafting

Personal Narrative _____

This page will describe the most exciting moment in your story.

1) What happened?

2) What went wrong?

3) What did you say?

4) What did you feel?

5) What did you hear?

6) Was anyone else with you? What did that person say?

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Personal Narrative ______

The first part of your narrative will answer these questions. Try to answer more than one question in a sentence.

1) Where were you?

2) Describe where you were.

3) Who was there besides you?

4) When did your story take place?

5) What were you doing or trying to do?

6) Why did you want to do this?

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(optional) Personal Narrative _____

Now think back. What happened before something went wrong?

What did you do?

What did you think would happen if everything went well?

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(optional) Personal Narrative _____

What happened after your most exciting moment?

What were you doing?

What were you saying?

Was anyone else with you?

What was that person saying or doing?

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Personal Narrative _____

Now let’s conclude your narrative. Try starting your conclusion with one of these starter sentences. You might be able to use other starters in your last paragraph.

1) The next time I want to . . .

2) The next time I try to . . .

3) The next time somebody . . .

4) After the day was over, I realized that . . .

5) When I look back, I don’t know why I . . .

6) I am reminded of that experience every time I . . .

7) This experience taught me a lesson.

8) I had to learn the hard way that . . .

9) I will never . . .

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Wonderful Words
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Not a Good Idea

One day I tried to climb the tree in my grandma’s back yard. A branch on the tree broke, and I fell and hit my head. My grandma carried me into the house and put an icepack on my head. After two hours, I felt better.

My Toast

One day in the winter I told my mom I would fix some toast. I pushed the bread all the way down in the toaster. After a while it didn’t pop up, and I started to smell something. The bread had got stuck in the toaster.

I told my mom, and she took a knife to make it pop up. The toast was black as coal and smelly as rotten eggs. My mom laughed, and I did too.

The next time I fix toast I won’t push the bread down so far.

The Cuckoo Clock

My granny had a clock that had a little bird that jumped out every once in a while and chirped. I liked that bird, and I wanted to play with it. The clock was up on the wall, and Nanna told me I couldn’t have it because she couldn’t reach it.

One day I figured out I could reach the bird if I stood on the kitchen table. I waited until Nanna went out, and I climbed up and waited. Finally, the little door burst open, and the bird came out. I grabbed it, and it came off the wire in my hand. Yeah! I had the bird!

I jumped down and threw the bird up in the air because I wanted to see it fly. It just fell down, and it hit me that the bird wasn’t real. I had gone to all that trouble for a dead bird!

When Nanna came in and I was crying because the bird wasn’t real, she hugged me and told me not to worry. She said that maybe someday I could have a real bird.

I had to learn the hard way that every bird that makes a noise might not be real.

My Accident

Last July my cousin and I were playing in my grandma's back yard. Sara is bigger than I am and picks on me sometimes. She said I was too big a baby to climb the maple tree. I said I wasn't.

I started to climb the tree and made it up to the second branch. Suddenly I heard a cracking sound, and then I felt my body start falling through the air. My head hit the trunk right before I crashed to the ground.

Sara was laughing at me. I was trying not to cry. My grandma came running out in the yard. She said the skin on my head wasn't broken, but I would probably have a humongous knot tomorrow.

I felt like someone had hit me over the head with a big book like a dictionary. I screamed when Grandma touched my head where the bump was.

Grandma carried me into the house and put an icepack on my head. She gave me some lemonade and made me lie down on the couch in front of the fan.

I finally went to sleep, and I felt a thousand times better when I woke up.

Maybe next time I won't listen when Sara dares me to do something.
The Big Nail

One day last year I was playing with my friend Candace outside her new house. We were pretending we were cheerleaders. As I came down after a really big jump, I felt a sharp, awful pain go through my foot.

I screamed and fell down flat. When I sat up, I could see a rusty, ugly nail sticking straight out of my foot. I screamed some more.

I had to go the hospital and get the nail pulled out. The doctors put stuff that stung on my foot and gave me a shot so I wouldn’t get sick. It hurt worse than the nail.

I learned a hard lesson that day. The next time I play outside I’ll wear shoes.
The Dare

One day last summer my cousin Josh and I were out in the yard at my house. We had played ball, climbed some trees, and knocked each other around a few times. It was hot, and we were running out of anything to do.

My cousin said, “I bet you can’t ride your brother’s bike down the hill.”

“Can too,” I yelled.

“Let’s see you do it! I dare you.” he hollered.

“Watch me!”

The bike was over in the grass, and it was so big and heavy I had a hard time getting it to stand up. Finally, Josh helped me hold it straight, and I climbed on. Josh, to be helpful, gave the bike a big push to get me started rolling.

The bike started going faster and faster, and I started screaming. I could barely keep my feet on the pedals, and I couldn’t reach the brakes. I was headed for the tree at the bottom of the hill, but I couldn’t twist the handlebars enough to change directions.

CRASH! The bike hit the tree, and I flew over the handlebars. For a minute I just lay still. I heard the thudding of Josh’s feet as he came running.

“Just get away from me!” I wanted to yell at him, but my voice was a whisper.

“Can you get up?” Josh helped me up on my feet.

I got up and we both walked over where the bike was. The front tire rim would never look the same, but the rest of the bike looked ok. Josh helped me stand the bike up on two wheels. We rested a little while. Then we started pushing the bike up the hill. I had to stop a bunch of times to get my breath because my ribs were hurting bad.

My brother was furious with me and made me promise to pay for a new rim, but he was lucky he could still ride the bike. It was better off than I was. My ribs hurt for days and still hurt sometimes when I stretch my arms.

When I look back now, I don’t know why I ever got on that bike. I knew I couldn’t make it down the hill. I learned an important lesson that day. The next time somebody dares me to do something I probably can’t do, I’m going to say, “Let me see you do it first!”

Granny, The Copperhead, and Me

I was down at my granny’s house one day in July. Granny was in the house by the fans trying to cool off, and I thought I would help her out by picking some tomatoes.

I got the old blue bucket and went down to the garden. I picked about three or four tomatoes. For some strange reason the tomatoes smelled like cucumbers. Everything was going fine when I saw something move under one of the plants. I froze. As I watched, a big ugly striped snake crawled out from under the plant and halfway curled around my feet. I was so scared I could have died right there in the tomato patch.

I couldn’t breathe right. The snake stopped crawling, but I knew if I moved my feet he might move too. I could feel some tears crawling down my cheeks. Suddenly I looked up and here came Granny with her hoe. She always brought her hoe because she was always cutting weeds.

“Bless you, little lady, for helping an old woman out!”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even turn my head. I didn’t know what to do.

“Land sakes! What’s wrong with you, child? Have you got the sunstroke??

I still didn’t move, but by this time Granny could see that big old snake. She switched to a different row and tiptoed down to where she could swing her hoe. SLASH! Down came the hoe, and away went the head! That old snake’s body jerked and curled up right around my feet. I did scream then, for real!

Granny hooked him over her hoe and laughed.

“Come on,” she said, “you’re gonna live!”

Granny hung all five feet of that copperhead up in the tree in front of her house. It stayed there until it dried up.

That experience taught me a lesson. The next time I try to pick tomatoes for somebody, I need to take Granny or somebody who always carries a hoe. You never know when you might find something in the garden besides vegetables.

The Monster

One night last July I went to bed after watching a scary movie. I couldn’t sleep, and I kept thinking about monsters. I lay there in my room by myself. It was cloudy and so dark I couldn’t see the moon.

Suddenly I heard a scratching noise under my bed. I must be dreaming, I thought. Then I heard it again. Scritch . . . scritch, . . scritch. It sounded like it was right under me.

Then I heard a moan. I sat straight up in bed as fast as a bolt of lightning. “OHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh,” the groan started out loud and trailed off. I was so scared. My heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. I could feel cold sweat rolling down my face. I took a really deep breath so I could scream for my dad.

As I sucked air into my lungs, I looked down and saw something sticking out from under my bed. What was that? I leaned over and looked closer just as I heard, “I’m coming to get you . . . .”

I started to smile. I knew what was sticking out from under my bed. It was my brother’s shoe. I scooted over to the edge of my bed and began to whimper, “Dad, dad, I’m so scared. You have to help me.”

My brother kept moaning and growling, “I’m gonna get you, little boy. I’m gonna get . . .”

Before he could finish his sentence, I leaned carefully over the edge of the bed and grabbed his ankle.

“AHHHHHHHHohhhhhhhhhh!” My brother screamed louder than a coal truck coasting down a mountain.

I heard my dad’s feet hit the floor, and he came running down the hall. “Who’s there? Who’s hurt?” my dad hollered.

By this time I was laughing so hard I fell right off the bed. My brother crawled out and just looked at me. “You little twerp,” he snapped, “how did you know it was me?”

My dad figured out what had happened, and he started to hoot. Both of us were laughing so hard that our sides hurt. My brother stomped out the door and went to his room.

My dad gave me a hug, and I got back in bed. Before I went to sleep, I thought about the “monster.” I learned an important lesson that night. The next time I hear noises I won’t panic. I’ll check it out first. My “monster” might not be anything more scary than my big brother.

The Power of a Paw

I watched Baby, my precious little gray cat, as she strolled across the yard. Bad Boy, my brother’s old ugly German Police dog, watched her with one eye as she came up to the porch. Baby knew and I knew he wouldn’t bother her; in fact, he wouldn’t come near her, but it hadn’t always been that way.

When Grandpa had given Baby to me about six months ago, my brother told me that she wouldn’t last a week. “My big ole Bad Boy’s gonna eat that Baby for breakfast,” he laughed hysterically. “I can’t wait to see it.”

I went crying to Grandpa, and he explained that I shouldn’t worry about Baby and Bad Boy. “It’s not the size of the cat in the fight,” he said, “but the size of the fight in the cat.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded good.

The first time Bad Boy saw Baby he yelped and grinned from ear to ear. There he stood, 150 pounds heavier and 3 feet taller than my Baby. He pawed the ground and snorted like a bull. Then he lunged across the yard just in time to watch Baby fly up a tree. I cried and slapped Bad Boy, but he just bared his big ugly yellow teeth and growled at me. I thought the world would be a better place if I could just kill that dog.

I did my best to keep Baby away from Bad Boy, but sometimes I couldn’t. Baby’s only advantage that I could see was that she was flat out fast. Bad Boy would catch sight of her, and Baby was gone in a heartbeat. . . up in the barn, under the porch, up a tree, up on the fence.

Bad Boy stirred up all kinds of dirt trying to catch my Baby, and you could almost see him thinking, “Some day I’m gonna catch that cat!” He never stopped trying, and Baby never stopped running.

One day I was up in my room when I saw Baby come into the yard. Suddenly I heard a fierce, piercing growl, and as I watched helplessly from my bedroom window, I saw Bad Boy come barreling into the yard. Before Baby realized what had happened, Bad Boy had backed her into the corner against the fence. Baby had nowhere to run. She was doomed, and I was about to die. I climbed up in the window and got ready to jump. I thought maybe I could land on Bad Boy’s back and keep him from eating my little cat.

Baby hunched her tiny back, bared her almost invisible fangs, and hissed at Bad Boy. He thought he had her trapped for good this time and started prancing, lowering his head and showing his ugly alligator teeth. Slobbers dripped out of each side of his mouth.

Baby hissed again and lifted her little paw. I didn’t see what happened next, but I did see and hear the results of it. Before my eyes, blood came gushing out of Bad Boy’s nose. He let out a screech that made my ears ring. OOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE!

My dad and my brother came racing out of the barn. Bad Boy was in excruciating pain. He took a deep breath and cried like a human. Tears poured from his beady brown eyes. OOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEE! he howled. He began to shake his head, claw his nose, and stagger toward the house. As soon as he stumbled and fell over, I saw Baby light out for the maple tree. Up she scampered, but not as far as she usually went. I guess she knew that Bad Boy wouldn’t be following her this time.