Guided Writing Activities Teaching Resources
Get guided writing activities, prompts, and more to help your students develop their writing muscles in your classroom. This elementary school teaching resource collection was created by the expert ELA teachers on the Teach Starter team.
These curriculum-aligned resources will save you time on your ELA lesson plans with classroom-ready printable and digital worksheets and activities that you can edit to differentiate instruction for individual learners.
What Is Guided Writing?
Guided writing is a technique used to help individuals improve their writing skills by providing them with a structure or set of guidelines to follow while they write. This can include prompts, examples, or specific instructions to help the writer focus their thoughts and organize their ideas more effectively. The goal of guided writing is to help the writer improve their writing skills and develop their own unique style over time.
What Does Guided Writing Look Like in the Classroom?
In a classroom setting, guided writing typically involves you, the teacher, providing students with a specific topic or prompt to write about, along with a set of guidelines or instructions to follow. This could include a specific word count, a specific format (such as a persuasive essay or a descriptive paragraph), or a set of key points that the student should address in their writing.
You may also provide examples of well-written pieces that students can use as a model for their own writing as well as giving feedback on the students' writing so that they can improve their writing skills.
Guided writing can take place in a whole-class setting, where a teacher leads the class through the writing process, or in small groups or one-on-one sessions where a teacher can provide more personalized instruction and feedback.
How Does Guided Writing Help Students Improve Their Writing?
Not sure if you want to add guided writing to your instruction techniques? Our teacher team has dug through the educational research on the topic for a more in-depth view.
Research has found that guided writing can be effective in improving various aspects of students' writing skills. For example, studies have shown that guided writing can:
- Improve students' writing fluency, increasing their ability to generate written text quickly and easily
- Enhance students' writing accuracy, including improved grammar, spelling, and punctuation
- Increase students' writing complexity, helping students achieve a higher level of sophistication and maturity in their writing.
- Help students develop a greater sense of self-efficacy
- Encourage students' motivation to write
- Facilitate the provision of feedback and support from the teacher
Of course, the effectiveness of guided writing will depend on the specific approach and context in which it is implemented. For example, some research has suggested that guided writing may be more effective when it is used in conjunction with other writing instruction methods, such as independent writing, peer review, and self-reflection.
In general, when guided writing is well-designed, it can be an effective tool for improving students' writing skills, but we suggest using it as part of a comprehensive writing instruction program.
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Capitalize it! Task Cards - Primary
Reinforce capitalization for proper nouns, the pronoun ‘I,’ and the beginning of sentences in text with this set of task cards.
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Singular/Plural Subject Verb Agreement Board Game
Improve sentence structure and grammar skills with a board game focusing on singular and plural subject-verb agreement.
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Irregular Plural Noun Match-Up
Practice using irregular plural nouns with an Irregular Plural Noun Matching Activity.
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Positional Words-Interactive Prepositions Activity
Practice using position words (prepositions) with this Google Slides interactive activity.
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Writing Out Loud: Dialogue Punctuation Worksheet
Practice writing dialogue correctly with a Punctuating Dialogue worksheet.
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Google Slides Interactive - Alphabetizing to the 3rd Letter Activity
Practice alphabetizing to the third letter with this Google Slides interactive clip card activity.
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Positional Words Interactive Clip Cards
Practice using position words (prepositions) with this Google Slides interactive clip card activity.
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Writing Out Loud: Dialogue Punctuation Teaching Presentation
Teach your students how to write dialogue correctly with an interactive teaching presentation.
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Adjective Emoji Four in a Row
Match emoji picture cards with their corresponding descriptive adjectives with a fun game of Four-in-a-Row.
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Using Commas in Dates and Series Sorting Activity
Practice correct comma placement in dates and series with a sorting activity.
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Has/Have, Do/Does Subject Verb Agreement Interactive Activity
Practice building sentences using has, have, do, and does with this Google Slides Interactive subject-verb agreement activity.
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Using Commas in Dates and Series - SCOOT! Game
Practice using commas in dates and series with a whole-class SCOOT game!
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Abbreviations I Have Who Has
Encourage reading and spelling abbreviations skills with a lively classroom game of I Have, Who Has?
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Abbreviations Bingo
Build vocabulary and spelling skills and have fun with abbreviation word games.
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Abbreviations Board Game
Engage and excite your learners with a lively Abbreviations Board Game designed to teach the most common abbreviations in the English language.
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Alphabetical Order Task Cards (Grades 1-2)
Give your students some practice putting words in alphabetical order with a set of 20 task cards.
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Subject-Verb Stomp! Verb Agreement Board Game
Play a game of Subject-Verb Stomp! to engage your learners and build better sentence-writing skills.
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Contraction Action - Printable Board Game Writing Center
Encourage growth in spelling and writing conventions with a board game to practice making contractions using apostrophes.
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Contractions - I Have, Who Has? Card Game
Encourage correct spelling and usage of contractions in your Language Arts lessons with an engaging I Have, Who Has? Card game.
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Google Interactive Word Building-CVCe Words
Practice identifying consonant and vowel sounds while spelling CVCe (consonant-vowel-consonant-e) words.
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Google Interactive Sight Words - 1st Grade Dolch
Read, write, identify, and build all 41 Dolch first-grade sight words in an interactive Google Slides presentation.
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Capitalization Task Cards (Grades 4-5)
Practice capitalizing less frequently occurring words (historical periods, events, languages, races, nationalities, and more) with 28 text task cards.
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Brainstorming Task Cards
A set of 24 task cards to practice the brainstorming techniques of drawing a picture, creating a mind map, and making a list.
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Brainstorming for Essays Worksheet
A worksheet to practice using Venn diagrams, mind maps, and cause and effect maps to brainstorm for various essays.
- Guided Writing Activities Games
- Guided Writing Activities Templates
- Guided Writing Activities Writing Templates
- Guided Writing Activities Worksheets
- Guided Writing Activities Interactive Activities
- Guided Writing Activities Task Cards
- Guided Writing Activities Sorting Activities
- Guided Writing Activities Word Walls
- Guided Writing Activities Posters
- Guided Writing Activities Instructional Slide Decks
- Guided Writing Activities Graphic Organizers
- Guided Writing Activities Matchup Games
- Guided Writing Activities Board Games
- Guided Writing Activities Dominoes
- Guided Writing Activities Bingo
- Guided Writing Activities Checklists
- Guided Writing Activities Craft Activities
- Guided Writing Activities Mini Book
- Guided Writing Activities Writing Checklist
- Guided Writing Activities Card Games
- Guided Writing Activities Labels Signs Decorations
- Guided Writing Activities Bulletin Board Displays
- Guided Writing Activities Cut and Paste Worksheets
- Guided Writing Activities Color by Code
- Guided Writing Activities Active Games
- Guided Writing Activities Dice Games
- Guided Writing Activities Flashcards
- Guided Writing Activities Projects
- Guided Writing Activities for Pre-K
- Guided Writing Activities for Kindergarten
- Guided Writing Activities for 1st Grade
- Guided Writing Activities for 2nd Grade
- Guided Writing Activities for 3rd Grade
- Guided Writing Activities for 4th Grade
- Guided Writing Activities for 5th Grade
- Guided Writing Activities for 6th Grade