While not all kids are sports fanatics, many of your students participate in organized sports. Whether it’s gymnastics, dance, T-ball, soccer or swim lessons, most of your students probably have a favorite activity and these second grade writing prompts will definitely be something they will be excited about.
Capitalize on their interest in sports to inspire them with some fun writing prompts. Even if students aren’t interested in sports, they might still enjoy either researching the history of a famous athlete or game or even the creativity surrounding coming up with a new sport.
These Second Grade Writing Prompts About Sports will be Fan Favorites
Writing Prompt #1: Write about a famous sports player past or present. Tell some interesting facts about that player and why they are famous.
Like doing a biography on a president or another prominent person in history, it’s helpful to give your students a list of what they need to include in their paragraphs.
Here’s a list of ideas:
- Birthdate
- Alive or dead
- What sport the person played
- Why they are famous
- Two other interesting facts
PROJECT IDEA
Give your students this printable worksheet to help them organize their information before they start writing their first draft.
This is also a chance to allow your students to experience peer editing—give each student the checklist and pair them off to read their drafts to each other. That way, it’s easy for the student to see what they need fix for the final draft.
Using photos from their research, have your students draw a picture of their famous athlete and sign it as if it was an autographed picture. The result will be the creation of a fun photo album-like classbook of famous athletes as described by your class of second grade students.
Writing Prompt #2: You are a sports announcer. Write about a historically significant sports event as if it is happening in real time.
Since your students are in second grade, it’s best to come with a list of significant sports events that they can pick from (this is a good one to use). If there are any students that want the same event, have them flip a coin or some other method to break the tie.
Provide some context for how much research you expect your second graders to include. The most important takeaway is that your students need to supply interesting facts in their writing.
It would give students inspiration if you played a few examples of sportscasters announcing a game. Check out YouTube or just Google “sports announcers, and there’s sure to be a few good ones to have your students listen and/or watch before they set out to write their piece.
PROJECT IDEA
Have your students use their research and the sportscasting examples you showed them to write about their sporting event. Show your students—in case they need a reminder or haven’t seen it enough—what the sportscaster boxes or sideline reporters look like, so they can create an illustration showing how they would look announcing. Create a classbook out of the finished pieces. Once you receive your classbook, throw a sports-themed party! Have your students dress up as if they are reporters or announcers and have them read their classbook pages aloud as if they are announcing the event!
Writing Prompt #3: Make up a new sport. How do you play the sport? What are three rules in your new sport?
Let your students have fun with this writing prompt. Their imaginations can run wild with how the sport might be played. You might even tell them about the make-believe sport of quidditch from the world of Harry Potter, and how the author made up rules and how to play.
It would be a good idea to review what types of rules are normally found in sports, especially for those students who may not have played as many sports. As you would guess, it’s important to stick to simple rules that most second grade students would have been exposed to in their sports, like how you have to dribble in basketball or not use hands in soccer.
PROJECT IDEA
Have your students come up with a name and write about their new sport. The second half of this project will be creating an illustration of what this new sport would look like. Because of the creativity involved in this project, you’ll definitely want to give your students a permanent way to remember this one, so make sure you create a classbook. They’ll treasure it forever - and who knows? They may even invent the next big sport!
Writing Prompt #4: What’s your favorite athletic moment? Did you score a basket or block a goal? Describe how it happened and how it made you feel. If sports aren’t your thing, tell about a moment like this that you experienced while playing your favorite game.
You’ll want to make sure your students know their favorite athletic moment doesn’t need to be the game-winning hit or some other photo finish moment. It just needs to be a moment that they are proud of. If they aren’t involved in sports, then have them talk about a moment they experienced while playing their favorite game that they felt proud of.
Tell your students you want to feel like you were there, so it’ll be important to use words that describe the moment. Help your students by giving them examples of this type of writing. You can also add a few descriptive sports-related words to your spelling list while you are working on this particular project.
It should be exciting to read about all their proud moments!
PROJECT IDEA
After your students put together a short list of descriptive words that help paint a picture of their favorite athletic or gaming moment. Have them incorporate that list as they write about their moment of glory. Your students can then illustrate a picture of that moment to finish off the assignment. These projects are something that your students are sure to cherish when you create a classbook out of them.
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Find more ideas and inspiration at our online teacher’s lounge. And while you’re visiting our site, don’t forget to sign up to receive your free classbook publishing kit. Giving your students the gift of a classbook will be something they will cherish for years to come!