Writing Prompts Using 'Who, What, When, Where, Why' Questions: Grade 1

🧠 Quick Study Guide: The 5 W's for Writing Prompts

• ❓ Who: This question helps us think about the people or characters in our story. Who is the story about? (e.g., a brave knight, a talking cat, a friendly robot).
• 🎯 What: This asks about the action or the main event. What happens in the story? What are they doing? (e.g., finding a treasure, building a tall tower, exploring a new planet).
• 🗓️ When: This tells us the time of the story. When does it happen? (e.g., yesterday, long ago, at night, in the morning, during summer).
• 📍 Where: This describes the place or setting. Where does the story take place? (e.g., in a magical forest, at the zoo, under the sea, inside a cozy house).
• 🤔 Why: This helps us understand the reason for things. Why did something happen? Why did a character do that? (e.g., because they were hungry, to help a friend, to find an answer).
• ✍️ Putting it Together: Using these questions helps us create a full and interesting idea for a story! Just pick one answer for each W, and you've got a great start!

📝 Practice Quiz: Story Starter Fun!

Choose the best answer for each question to help create a story idea!

1. Which question helps us decide who is in our story?

1. What happened?
2. Who is it about?
3. When did it start?

2. If you want to write about where a story happens, which question should you ask?

1. Why did it happen?
2. Where is the place?
3. What are they doing?

3. "A friendly bear wanted to fly to the moon." Which 'W' question does 'A friendly bear' answer?

1. Who?
2. What?
3. When?

4. "The magic show happened at night." Which 'W' question does 'at night' answer?

1. Where?
2. Why?
3. When?

5. If your story is about a superhero saving a cat from a tree, which 'W' question does 'saving a cat from a tree' answer?

1. What?
2. Who?
3. Why?

6. "The little bird flew away because it was scared." Which 'W' question does 'because it was scared' answer?

1. Who?
2. Why?
3. Where?

7. You are writing about a princess who found a sparkly crown in a hidden cave. Which part tells 'Where'?

1. A princess
2. Found a sparkly crown
3. In a hidden cave