Fall-themed Writing Prompts

10 Fall-themed Writing Prompts

Colorful leaves. Pumpkins. Football. Cooler weather. Raking. Apple pie. Candles. What are signs of autumn to you?

Students are more likely to write if the topics are related to something that is going on at the moment, so let’s cash in on the season by using these fall-themed writing prompts. Some of the prompts you’ll find below are simply fun prompts; others are tutorials complete with printables.

While they are enjoying these ten seasonal prompts, you are giving them practice in opinion writing, description, figurative language, poetry, and more. Shhh! It’s our secret!

These prompts {and tutorials} are appropriate for grades 5 – 12.

Ready? Fun awaits . . .

Poppies on Memorial Day

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

On Memorial Day in America, we remember and honor those in the armed services who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Poppies are often given out on Memorial Day as a symbol of those fallen men and women. This tradition comes from the first lines of the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, who wrote it during World War I and was remembering his fallen friends now buried in fields far from home.

Happy Mother’s Day!

SHARON’S BLOG

Happy Mother’s Day to you. You are so special and are doing such important work!

To honor you, I’m making available to you a free lesson from our grammar eBook Let’s Eat Fifi. There are 23 lessons in the eBook, and this is lesson 3; it’s on commas and compound sentences. The lesson includes a colorful infographic and ANSWERS. You can download it here. For free!

In addition to the free download, I’ve included four mother-related writing prompts for your students. These are appropriate for grades 5 – 12.

True story: The lily at the top of this page is from my daughter. She gave it to me for Mother’s Day about 11 years ago, and it blooms every August. In fact, it’s now an annual tradition to take my granddaughters’ pictures next to it.

*****

Writing Prompt: A Mother’s Heart

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What does your mother mean to you?

It might be difficult to put that into words, but this writing prompt will help you with that.

No sentences necessary and you even get to be creative with color!

You can write about another significant woman in your life as well.

Ready to bless your mom?

Celebrating L. Frank Baum: There’s no Place Like Home

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home,” says Dorothy Gale in the movie The Wizard of Oz.

L. Frank Baum, the author of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the other Oz books, was born in May in 1856. That’s more than 150 years ago, but his statement is still true. There’s no place like home, and there’s no place like your home.

3 Types of Poems for Poetry Month

SHARON’S BLOG

Would you like to give your students some practice in writing poetry?

With these guided prompts, your students do not have to “sit down and write a poem” but will surprise you by creating something fun and maybe even memorable. Here goes . . .

Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter

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Snow-softened landscape. Frozen lakes. Sledding. Hot chocolate.

Blizzards. Ice-slick streets. Cancellations.

Winter—it’s all in there. Here are a few prompts about winter that your students will enjoy, giving them a chance to write their opinions, a short story, a TV script, and more.

Just right for your 5th – 12th graders.

Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Let’s celebrate one of literature’s coldest motifs: ice queens.

What is a motif?

A motif (mow TEEF) is like a symbol on steroids. It not only appears in one story but in many stories through the ages and often in stories from many countries.

A deep, dark woods is a good example of a motif. The blackened forest can be symbolic of confusion or a time of testing. What stories can you think of that include a patch of dark woods? (I’ve listed a few at the end of this prompt, but try your hand at listing some before you read mine.)

A motif can be an item (like dark woods or a magic ring), a recurring event (like being sent on a quest or conducting a contest to find a spouse), or a

Christmas Prompts

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An edict. A carol. A strange decoration.

What do all these have in common? They are all part of our fun Christmas prompts.

Enjoy these prompts created especially for 5th – 12th graders.

Ho, ho, ho, and away we go . . .

Hobbit Day

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Happy Hobbit Day!

Did you know that September 22 is officially Hobbit Day and the beginning of Tolkien Week? You can read more about it here and here and here.

To celebrate, let’s explore the hero’s journey, an essential type of plot.

The call

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien is basically a hero’s journey plot. Is the lowly Bilbo a hero when we first meet him? Not really. But through testing and troubles, and by fights against giant spiders, a dragon, and miserable dwarves, he becomes a hero.

One important phase of the hero’s journey plot is