Rain Writing Prompts, Story Maps, and Rubrics Free eMember

Rain Writing Prompts

Be ready on the first day that the weather is rainy or even stormy at school in grades one and two with this printable PDF. The children’s attention will turn to the weather and even possible worries. Observe raindrops on the windows or their raingear for a class discussion. Create a word bank on a poster paper or the whiteboard as they talk. They will see what you are doing and try to make their contributions included on the word bank.

Then, use the story maps to pre-plan writing either with illustrations or writing. Show the rubrics so the students will know how they will be assessing themselves, and how the teacher will be looking over their work.

Show the different writing papers and let children think about possible stories they might write. Children who have been through violent weather might like to write about those experiences. Some pages have text prompts, and all have some clip art to help inspire their thoughts. This PDF should fit with writing workshops or writing centers. If the work will be completed at a center, be sure the word bank will be visible from that table, as I am sure you will. Children can be so excited about the weather and rain can be the anticipatory set.

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Emergent writers will be at the drawing level to pre-plan a story. They might even just need to draw a picture that they can explain to the teacher to realize they are telling a story. This is a fun developmental stage to work with. Some children may need an adult to actually write the story they tell. If so, and in first or second grade, keep it short and have the child copy the story on a writing page. It will be easier than just copying text as it has their own ideas.

Emergent writers will be at the drawing level to pre-plan a story. They might even just need to draw a picture that they can explain to the teacher to realize they are telling a story. This is a fun developmental stage to work with. Some children may need an adult to actually write the story they tell. If so, and in first or second grade, keep it short and have the child copy the story on a writing page. It will be easier than just copying text as it has their own ideas.

The most basic writing page is a simple area for drawing and coloring, with lines for text. Many learners will be able to work with a page like this with some clip art for the writing theme. More independent writers may want to skip the drawing and just use the all-writing page.

This page offers students a text prompt instead of a blank page. Sometimes a prompt helps answer the question, “I don’t know what to write about.” We all have days like that. So a prompt may help inspire some children, as most of them love to use umbrellas.

Lightning! How exciting! If there should be lightning at school it would be another anticipatory set for writing, and a new word bank might be generated. Or, add to the rainy weather word bank. Another day this page could be placed in a writing center while some children might still be working on their first rain story.

Hurricanes offer another writing possibility. The school library might have some books to add to the writing center with this topic. Some children will have experienced such weather. In Minnesota, we have only heard about it, although we have had “land hurricanes.” My husband and I were living in Grand Marais, Minnesota when that happened.

Student evaluations could be shown before each rain or storm writing session, so they work towards learning to self-assess and develop an awareness of themselves as writers. Rubrics work if you use the term, “writerly life” in your school.

Will the teacher evaluation match the student self-assessment? Maybe not during much of the first semester of grade one. Hopefully, as students write and learn about rubrics, they will grow in understanding of them. It is sometimes eye-opening to show a student evaluation and a teacher one for a specific writing piece at conferences. A big difference will help parents understand why a child is considered an emergent writer. Often parents ask what they can do at home to help their children, and we say to read at home. Writing at home is very important, also. Children might write grocery lists or thank you letters, as these activities have authentic audiences.