Frog Writing Paper

A blank page can stop a young writer cold, and a themed page almost never does. This Frog Writing Paper hands second graders a subject they already have opinions about, a picture to look at while they think, and nine wide ruled lines waiting underneath. The prompt at the top asks them to write a story about a frog that hops away from its quiet pond and to tell what happens next and how it ends, which is enough structure to start a narrative and loose enough that two children in the same room will write two different stories.

Print one copy per student and use it however your writing block runs. It works as a first draft on a Monday and as the clean final copy on a Friday, because the lines are generous enough for real second-grade handwriting and the page is tidy enough to put on the wall. The pond scene at the bottom of the page gives a reluctant writer something concrete to describe when they get stuck: the frog, the lily pads, the water lily, the cattails. There is no answer key, because every answer here belongs to the child who wrote it, which is exactly what a Frog Writing Paper is for.

What’s Included

• A one page printable PDF, ready to print with no preparation
• A narrative writing prompt in plain second-grade language at the top of the page
• Nine full-width solid writing rules at an even thirty-four point pitch
• A Name and Date line so finished work comes back identified
• A cut-paper collage pond scene along the bottom of the page

Three Reasons This Helps Kids

• A theme and a prompt remove the two things that stall a young writer, the blank page and the question of what to write about
• Wide even lines let a second grader write at their real letter size instead of cramping to fit
• Open-ended answers mean every child can succeed at their own level, which makes the page worth using more than once

Ideas for Teachers and Parents

Before anyone picks up a pencil, look at the picture together and list five words the story might need: hop, pond, lily pad, splash, home. Leave that list on the board. Ask two or three children to say their first sentence out loud, so the ones still thinking hear how a story can start. Afterwards, pair students up and have them read their endings to each other, since a frog themed lined paper page like this one is short enough to share in a minute. The same sheet can be used again later in the year for a description instead of a story, or for a letter written from the frog to a friend back at the pond.

Related Resources

• Space Writing Paper
• Butterfly Writing Paper
• Crayfish Writing Paper
• Story Elements Song