500 Writing Prompts for Kids: First Grade through Fifth Grade [Paperback]

Bryan Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2011

500 Writing Prompts for Kids is a book full of story-starters catered to the elementary school age group that is perfect for your language arts curriculum! Writing on a variety of topics (50 topics in total) can help to improve your students' imagination, creativity, reading skills, vocabulary and comprehension. These 500 prompts are open-ended questions that stimulate the imagination even in the youngest learner, and they can help students to become independently literate. Teachers (and parents) all experience levels will find that there are more than enough prompts for the entire school year that can be used over and over again each year. It can be used by teachers, homeschool parents, babysitters, tutors and even overachieving third-graders!

The book contains prompts on birthdays, cartoons, time and space, family, the arts, religion, health, the four seasons and over 40 more! They work for blogs, scripts, stories, poems, essays and anything else your child might be interested in writing. Even prospective writers younger than first grade that are learning to read and up-and-coming authors older than fifth grade can use the prompts to stimulate their imaginations. Using these prompts any educator can find a story or book in his or her students!

Here are just a few of the applications the book can be used for:
* Writing tests
* Journal prompts
* Story, poem and essay exercises
* "Get to know your classmates" activities
* Spelling and grammar assignments
* Extra credit projects
* Writing songs, creating art and adding to bulletin boards

Author Bryan Cohen has spent several years creating prompts to stimulate the minds and pencils of adults and kids alike. His 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More has sold over 5,000 copies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The questions are open ended and give enough detail to spark a thought in a child who otherwise would have no idea where to begin. I certainly would recommend this book for any family - struggling or not in the writing department."
Kristal D., The Homeschool Post

"Bryan Cohen did an amazing job, not only did he come up with 500 interesting, thought provoking questions, he also managed to word them in a way that leaves room for so many different answers. I know we will be using this book for many years to come."
Miriam Abigail, Here We Are Together

"I would recommend this book especially if you are struggling to figure out some creative ways to get your children to write. The format will allow for young students as well as the older student in promoting the creative juices needed not only to write but to start thinking towards blogging."
Debbie Ingold, Children Grow, Explore, Learn

"Whether you are a home educator like myself, a school teacher, or a parent, this is very useful. It can also provide just plain fun conversation between you & your child (to) get to know your child better, encourage them to use their imagination, and have fun; the possibilities are endless!"
Erika Bragdon, Musings from a SAHM

From the Author

For the last three years, I've maintained a motivational writing website called Build Creative Writing Ideas. One of my favorite types of articles to write was a page fully dedicated to writing prompts. These were story starters that anybody could use to get themselves past their pesky writer's block.

On a whim, I created three separate pages for first, second and third grade writing prompts. Prompts pages that kids could use if they were surfing around the Web or if their parents and teachers happened to find the site. The pages quickly became the most popular on my site and thus their popularity was the inspiration for this book.

The 500 writing prompts were incredibly fun for me to write (since I'm a big kid at heart) and I really hope that some fantastic teachers and parents try this out on their own big kids at heart. Of all the books I've written, this is the one that I think can truly make a positive impact on the world. Kids need to write and they need to be encouraged to build up that skill. Hopefully books like mine can make that more of a possibility.

To those parents, teachers and students out there, I wish you a hearty, "happy writing!"

Sincerely,
Bryan Cohen
Author of 500 Writing Prompts for Kids

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 86 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1461126142
• ISBN-13: 978-1461126140
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bryan Cohen writes about writing, comedy, self-help and embarrassing anecdotes from his life. He is also an actor, director and producer who enjoys dabbling in both theatre and film in Chicago, Illinois. Bryan graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art with a minor in Creative Writing. His books have sold over 10,000 copies. His website, Build Creative Writing Ideas, helps over 25,000 people a month to get over writers block and to come up with new creative projects.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy for school projects August 17, 2012

By Jessica Mitchell

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

last year i was pulled out of my classroom to represent my state in writing. afterwards, my teacher challenged me to write a novel And i am. its a collection of stories by me. sso i decided to choose some prompts from this book and add some jazz to them. awesome book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Help kids love to write November 23, 2011

By Pamela S.

Format:Paperback

Written specifically for kids in the first through fifth grade age range, 500 Writing Prompts for Kids by Brian Cohen replaces the dread and drama of getting kids to write with fun and imaginative prompts to get those pencils moving. The prompts are open-ended and designed for kids to use as a journal entry or even perhaps as a research project.

Here are a few examples:

73. What is your favorite time of the day and why? Is it right when you get up in the morning? It is lunchtime? What do you do during that time that makes you enjoy it so much?

178. Some of the best writers in the world are song writers. They come up with the lyrics that your favorite singers turn into #1 hits or that they use in popular musicals. Write a short song on whatever subject you choose. Don't worry about the music behind it, just write the song and see how it turns out.

266. What are five things that you like about the Internet? What are five things that you dislike about the Internet? If you had the choice, what would you change to make the five things you dislike about the Internet much better?

I liked 500 Writing Prompts for Kids for the wide variety of topics. The book is broken down into 10 different sections with varying titles such as Imagination, Activities and The Outside World.

As a homeschooling mom, one big drawback I did find was that this book is heavily rooted in questions that pertain to kids that attend school and that would not be applicable to homeschoolers.

For example:

3. Do you remember your first day of school ever? What was the school like and what did you feel like when you walked in? Were you scared? Were you confident? Talk about your whole first day from beginning to end.

41. What is the most memorable assembly you've ever had at school and why? What did you and your friends say about it after it was over?

The book also contains questions that might make parents uncomfortable such as:

96. You have a big crush on someone but they don't like you back. While searching around on the Internet you find a recipe for a love potion. You make it for your crush and he or she drinks it. Does it work? How do things change between the two of you after using the potion?

Overall though, for the low e-book price of $2.99, this book is really a helpful resource. And with 500 writing prompts, no family would use all of the prompts anyway, so editing out prompts for your family would still leave you with plenty of writing prompts for your kids.

I received this item complimentary in exchange for an honest review. The opinion in this review is all mine.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Prompts! June 15, 2011

By fourlittlepenguins

Format:Kindle Edition

I am a homeschooling mom and I really enjoyed this book! My kids are seven and eight and they had fun choosing and writing from the prompts. I loved that there was a variety of topics and that there are more prompts than we will use in years! :) I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs to motivate their kids to write.