Journal Writing Prompts for Students for April: Creative Writing Ideas for Home or School

Many schools take writing tests in March and April finds parents and teachers scrambling for new ideas to encourage both more time spent writing and more types of writing. A journal for home or school can be an excellent tool to get reluctant writers to pick up a pencil and start writing or to allow students that love to write an additional outlet to do so daily.

Generic writing prompts such as "describe your school lunch to someone from another planet" can be fun but using monthly writing prompts that are inspired by the seasons, holidays and likely observations and activities of students keeps journal writing prompts fresh and relative.

April offers many inspirations for journal writing prompts. Along with harboring the holidays April Fools' Day, Easter, Earth Day and Tax Day, April is also National Poetry Month, Mathematics Education Month and National Library Month. The first week of April celebrates Read a Road Map Week and the second week of April celebrates Garden Week.

These 12 journal-writing prompts for April are written with these April holidays and celebrations in mind.

1. Write a set of directions to get from your home to your school or any common path such as from home to the park or library.

2. Write an acrostic poem, with one or more words beginning with each letter, on the word Poetry.

Here's an example:

Pouring

Out

Every

Thought,

Rewinding the

Years

3. Describe the best April Fools' joke that you have played or that has been played on you.

4. Write an acrostic poem on April.

5. Write a letter telling a friend why math is so important and some of the ways you use it everyday.

6. Write a short story about an Easter bunny that runs out of paint for the Easter eggs. What could he use instead?

7. Write a letter to Mother Earth about ways you've been recycling, reusing or reducing and more things you can do to be kind to the earth.

8. Write a description of a garden you have created or would like to create. What would you grow? What would you need?

9. Write a letter of appreciation to a librarian. How do you use the library? What do you love most about libraries?

10. Write a rhyming poem about Easter.

11. Write a short story about flowers and butterflies. Are they talking to each other?

12. Write a short story about an animal that just woke up from hibernation.

You can find ideas for Evaluating Student Journals here.