31 Back to School Prompts

August Writing Ideas: Great Back to School Writing Prompts for Kids—

As students get ready to start a new school year, these themed daily prompts get them in the mood to begin researching, reflecting and working together.

The beginning of a new school year is a good opportunity to think about the experiences they enjoyed over the summer and their goals for the upcoming school year.

With a new school year beginning soon, now is the perfect time to get kids back in the habit of regular reflection and writing. These special prompts for August are the perfect way to help students think about the places they’ve been—and more importantly, the places they’re going.

How to Use These Back to School Daily Thematic Prompts

With a different thematic prompt for each day of the week, students will enjoy a bit of structure that can help them develop creatively.

Help students start their weeks the right way with Monday Matters prompts—questions and thoughts designed to help students understand how their intentions and goals determine their experiences.

On Teamwork Tuesday, students will work together with partners to take on a creative or community project.

Wikipedia Wednesday gives students practice at researching topics online and encourages students to distill what they’ve learned into a few key ideas.

On Thursdays, students will write about topics like their favorite memories, future goals, and thoughts on journaling. Then, they’ll have the chance to share and discuss their writing with a friend.

The Friday Finish gives students a chance to reflect on the past, looking at their successes over the week or their happiest memories.

Over the weekends, Saturday Sharing asks students to write about hard truths like secrets, unique qualities, and proud moments—and during Sunday’s Small Moments, kids have the chance to slow down and appreciate some of life’s most meaningful experiences.

31 Back to School Prompts: Preparing for a New School Year

1. Thursday Trades: Write about some of your best experiences this summer and trade your work with a friend. Ask one another questions about your summer experiences and explain more details about your own.

2. Friday Finish: Reflect on the past week. What were some of the most exciting things you did? What are some of your favorite memories?

3. Saturday Sharing: Write about a secret that you’ve kept for someone else. Is it hard to keep secrets? Have you ever told a secret that you were supposed to keep?

4. Sunday’s Small Moments: Spend a few minutes thinking about the past week and write about some of the small things that made you smile. How do you feel when you write about these things?

5. Monday Matters: Write about three things that you would like to see happen by the end of the year. What can you do to start making these goals into reality?

6. Teamwork Tuesday: Partner with a friend and work together to solve a puzzle. When you’re done, write about the experience. Did you come up with a system to split up the work or did you both tackle the project at the same time? Do you feel like you worked well together as a team?

7. Wikipedia Wednesday: Research the history of elementary schools on Wikipedia. How has schooling changed over the past century? Did you learn anything you didn’t know?

8. Thursday Trades: Write about how you feel when you write journal entries and trade your work with a friend. Discuss the similarities and differences in the way you both feel about journaling.

9. Friday Finish: Think about the past few months of summer vacation. As you get ready to start school, what parts of summer will you miss the most? How you can enjoy your last few days of summer?

10. Saturday Sharing: Write about one of your own secrets. Have you ever told anyone your secret? How would you feel if someone found out about your secret?

11. Sunday’s Small Moments: Reflect on some of the day’s small moments that made you feel loved. Did your parents, siblings, or friends do anything to show you how they care? How did you show other people that you love them?

12. Monday Matters: Write about a time when you set a goal and managed to complete it. How did you accomplish your goal? How did you feel when it was completed? Do you think this strategy would work with a new goal?

13. Teamwork Tuesday: Partner with a friend and write a short story together, taking turns writing alternating sentences. How did the story turn out? Was it silly or did it make sense? Was it harder or easier to write with someone else?

14. Wikipedia Wednesday: Read about summer vacation experiences in other countries on Wikipedia. How do other cultures view summer vacation? Is it similar or different from your experience in America?

15. Thursday Trades: Write about the beginning of the new school year and trade your work with a friend. Are you both excited to start school again or do you both wish summer could last a little longer? What types of things did each of you write about?

16. Friday Finish: How do you feel when you finish a major project or task? Are you good at finishing things you’ve started or do you get easily distracted and move on to something else?

17. Saturday Sharing: Share something about yourself that is unique. How does this aspect of your identity or personality make you different from others? How does it feel to have a unique quality?

18. Sunday’s Small Moments: Think back on the summer and try to envision some of your favorite memories as a series of photographs. Which moments did you think about first? How do these memories make you feel? How can you best remember them?

19. Monday Matters: Set three goals for the upcoming week. Create a plan that will help you achieve each one of them. When the week is over, write about whether or not you managed to complete your goals and how you feel about your progress.

20. Teamwork Tuesday: Partner with a friend and make a plan to help out someone in your community. What types of projects can you take on when you work with a friend instead of by yourself?

21. Wikipedia Wednesday: Research homeschooling on Wikipedia. How is it different from traditional schools? Would you ever want to be homeschooled?

22. Thursday Trades: Write about one of your happiest memories and share your work with a friend. Discuss the way your memory makes you feel. How clearly do you remember the event? Do you think you will always remember the way you felt?

23. Friday Finish: Write about the nice things that you did for other people this week. Did you help someone or compliment someone? How did you feel while helping others? How do you think they felt?

24. Saturday Sharing: Share something you’re afraid of. Where do you think your fear comes from? Do you think others share the same fear?

25. Sunday’s Small Moments: Think about some of the small things that you did this week to help out other people. Did you have to make much effort to help others? Do you think the help you gave mattered to the recipients? Why?

26. Monday Matters: On Mondays, do you feel ready to take on the next week or are you sad to see the weekend go? How do your feelings correspond to the type of work you get done? Do you think you can influence your behavior by changing your mood?

27. Teamwork Tuesday: Partner with a friend to work on an art project or to prepare a meal. How did you complete your project? Did you enjoy working together? How did you feel when you were finished?

28. Wikipedia Wednesday: Use Wikipedia to research holidays that take place in August. Are there any holidays you didn’t know about? What do you think these holidays celebrate?

29. Thursday Trades: Write about one of your hopes for the upcoming school year and share your work with a friend. What are both of your goals? Are there any ways you can help one another achieve them?

30. Friday Finish: As August comes to a close, look back on the last month. How has journaling each day helped you? Do you feel more aware of your ideas and feelings? Do you feel like you’re a better writer? Why or why not?

31. Saturday Sharing: Share something you’re proud of doing. How did you feel when you accomplished it? Do you feel good when you reflect on the experience?