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Grades level iconsGrade 4
Genre information iconNarrative
Resource type iconSparks

What Happens Next?

by Rae Baum, 826 Digital Educator Leader
This quick writing prompt invites students to jump into the fantasy genre, imagining what happens when faced with the unexplainable!
What You Will Do

Writing Prompt: You’re walking through the woods and you find a magical rock. Write a story about what happens next.

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See More Resources from Educator Leaders

Grades 4–7
Sparks
Character-O-Matic Protagonist & Antagonist

by the Team at 826CHI

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

In this activity, students create original monsters in archetypal protagonist and antagonistic roles by focusing on internal and external characteristics.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
Diary of a Tasty Food

by 826 National, inspired by student authors of 826 New Orleans

Poetry

In this Spark, students will pretend to be their favorite food and write about what that food would do on an average day.

Grades 4–8
Sparks
Details Detective

by Naomi Soloman, 826NYC

Narrative

In this Spark, students put on their detective hats and sleuth out places to add more details into their writing.

Grades 1–12
Sparks
A Good Time to Write: Remote Learning Kit

by 826 National

Informational
Media
Memoir
Narrative
Persuasive
Poetry

Engage young writers of any age at home with this collection of 826 Digital writing prompts and activities.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
My Name Is

by 826 National

Poetry

In this Spark, students will write an acrostic poem that can be used as a tool to introduce themselves to their classmates.

Grades 1–6
Sparks
Creative Recipes

by Jillian Wasick, 826 Valencia

Narrative
Poetry

What are students made of? This activity prompts students to reimagine recipes and write about their life experiences.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Me, Myself, and I
by Cartoon Network

by 826 National and Cartoon Network

Memoir
Narrative

After writing about their personal and social identities, students discover that sometimes what makes us unique is what brings us together.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Nature Writing

by 826 National

Poetry

Students will write a poem about nature using sensory details to capture the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feeling of the subject.

Grades 2–5
Sparks
An Ode to Pieces

by Lauren Rudewicz and David Hutcheson, 826michigan

Poetry

Students will define the word “ode” for themselves and identify the people and moments in their lives they’d like to celebrate in a poem.

Grades 4–7
Sparks
Character-O-Matic

by the Team at 826CHI, with inspiration from Ryan Harty, 826michigan

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

In this activity, students practice analyzing a character’s internal motivations and fears and develop their own original characters.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
Include Someone BINGO
by Cartoon Network

by 826 National and Cartoon Network

Narrative

In this twist on a classic game, students will practice intentional inclusivity with their classmates, as well as brainstorm other ways to continue building community throughout the school year.

Grades 4–7
Sparks
The Dialogue Alphabet Game

by 826 National

Media
Narrative

This activity reinforces the role of dialogue in a story, with students creating realistic conversation in A-Z fashion.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Feelings to Action
by Cartoon Network

by 826 National and Cartoon Network

Narrative

Students write similes to express what their emotions feel like and build plans to treat others with kindness and empathy.

Grades 4–8
Sparks
Interviewing Inanimate Objects with Daniel Handler

by author Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket

Narrative

Students will anthropomorphize an inanimate object to produce interview questions and answers.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
Writing Alternate Worlds

by Andrea Nelson, 826DC

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative
STEM

In this Spark, students will develop a setting that captures the environment of an alternate world.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
On the Inside
by Cartoon Network

by 826 National and Cartoon Network

Narrative

Students are inspired to write about a time that they felt accepted and appreciated for who they are.

Grades 4–12
Sparks
Tell Me a Story

by 826 National

Narrative

This Spark provides students with the opportunity to get to know their classmates by sharing personal stories about a specific topic.

Grades 4–12
Sparks
Character-O-Matic: Who I Am

by 826 National

Narrative

The Character-O-Matic is a writing tool that helps students to create new characters. In this lesson, students will use it to create a character profile that reflects their own identies.

Grades 4–5
Sparks
Alternative Universe Nursery Rhymes

by Liz Levine, 826NYC

Fantasy/SciFi
Poetry

Challenge students to rewrite a classic nursery rhyme with a twist.

Grades 4–8
Sparks
Setting the Tone

by Aarti Monteiro, 826NYC

Narrative

This activity explores the way emotions change how we perceive settings. Students work in groups to create descriptions of apartments based on an emotion they draw from a hat.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
Mystery Food Poems

by 826 National, inspired by student authors of 826 New Orleans

Poetry

In this Spark, students will write a poem that engages the reader in answering the question: Can you guess this food?

Grades 3–9
Sparks
The Dialogue Shuffle

by Klariza Alvaran, 826CHI

Media
Narrative

This spark activity is designed to get your students on their feet while reinforcing the need for strong dialogue in narratives.

Grades 3–8
Sparks
Recipe Zines

by 826 National

Informational
Media
Narrative

With a little folding and loads of creativity, students make their own zines that feature abstract recipes.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
The Writer’s Notebook

by Kathy Seipp, 826 Digital Educator

Narrative

Invite students to write freely with this lesson that includes directions for students to set up a writer's journal and favorite journal prompts.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Say Something
by Cartoon Network

by 826 National and Cartoon Network

Students reflect on what it feels like to stand up to bullying and write about a time when they used their voice to make a difference.

Grades 4–7
Sparks
Setting-O-Matic

by the Team at 826CHI

Narrative

Students learn to incorporate setting as a key element of a story, starting with inspiration from collages.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Friends Help Friends, Always
by Cartoon Network

by Sarah Kokernot, 826CHI

Media
Narrative

Students use illustrations as entry points to write stories about friendship from a new perspective.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
If Poems

by 826 New Orleans

Poetry

Students will imagine what they would do if they were someone or something else.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Summer Writing Bingo

by 826 National

Fantasy/SciFi
Informational
Narrative
Poetry

A BINGO board full of fun, engaging writing prompts to keep skills sharp over the summer break!

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Backward Storytelling

by 826 National

Narrative
STEM

In this Spark, students will use backward thinking to create a four-panel comic strip story using the backward problem-solving skills of software developers.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Writing to Process (Elementary)

by Asia Calcagno, 826CHI

Memoir
Narrative
Poetry

Writing can be a powerful tool when working through feelings of grief, sadness, or anger. This Spark creates an intentional opportunity for youth to write and speak about what is on their minds.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Sensory Heart Mapping

by 826 National

Narrative
Poetry

Students will identify their favorite sensory memories and transfer them to a visual heart map.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Super Sentences: Verbs

by Naomi Solomon, 826NYC

Narrative

Nouns, adjectives, adverbs—and in this case—verbs are the building blocks of super sentences. In this Spark, students share action words that bring them joy and incorporate those verbs into a story.

Grades 2–12
Sparks
Author Bios

by Cristeta Boarini, 826 MSP

Narrative

Author bios offer students another opportunity to express themselves through writing and to feel like a real author. This Spark walks students through the process of writing one.

Grades 4–6
Sparks
The Human Comic Strip

by Bryan Wilson, Educator Leader, Bureau of Fearless Ideas

Narrative

In this lesson students will work together to revise a scene from a first draft by adding descriptive details.

Grades 2–6
Sparks
Poetry Hunters: Finding Poems Where You Never Thought to Look

by Kiley McLaughlin & Dana Belott, 826 Valencia

Students experiment with alternative ways of writing poetry by reordering and rearranging pre-existing text.

Grades 2–4
Sparks
Representation, Self-Advocacy, & Marley Dias

by Ashley Houston-King, 826 Digital Educator Leader

Informational

Students will learn about representation, self-advocacy, and the work of Marley Dias before writing about this young advocate.

Grades 3–5
Sparks
If I Were a Pizza

by 826 National, inspired by student authors of 826 New Orleans

Poetry

We are all parts of a whole, just like a pizza! In this Spark, students will think about all the things that make them who they are and then write a poem in the shape of a pizza.

Grades 1–5
Sparks
Super Sentences: Adverbs

by Naomi Solomon, 826NYC

Narrative

Nouns, adjectives, verbs—and in this case—adverbs are the building blocks of super sentences. In this Spark, students will practice identifying and using adverbs in their writing.