Writing workshop… the time teachers either love or dread. When teaching narrative writing, we want students to tell a story, much like in picture books. I have the perfect set of picture books you need to grab from your school library to use for your first or second-grade students. Keep reading to get the BEST suggestion for picture books for narrative writing.
So what picture books do you need? George and Martha stories by James Marshall!
Picture Books for Teaching Narrative Writing
George and Martha stories are my favorite mentor texts to use when teaching narrative writing. They’re very short, maybe 3-5 pages, with a small amount of text. Plus, each picture book has multiple stories in it!
It is very easy to identify the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end in George and Martha stories. When you read them to your students, they will catch on very quickly. Plus, because these stories are so short, you can read multiple stories during one writing mini-lesson!
Once students are familiar with George and Martha stories, we write one as a class! Then, students get a chance to write their own! First, they plan their story with a graphic organizer like the one shown below.
After they’ve planned their story, they can create their own book using the pages below. I love copying these writing pages and folding them in half so students can create their own books.
After writing George and Martha stories, I add these blank pages to the writing center so students can continue writing stories! It’s always a hit, and my students’ creativity never ceases to amaze me!
You can download all of these George and Martha freebies at the end of this post!
Guess what?! You can download the graphic organizers and writing booklets for George and Martha narratives to use with your students for FREE!
Just leave your details below!
Get more teaching tips, ideas, and freebies by joining the Simply Creative Teachers Facebook group here!
Need more writing tips? Check out this post on writing complete sentences here.
