Divide the students into small groups. Instruct each group to sit in a circle on the floor. Give each group a piece of paper and a pen. Have one member of each group begin a story by writing on the piece of paper. The starting group member will leave off in the middle of a sentence after setting the stage for the narrative, and pass the paper and pen to the student sitting on the left. Each student in the group will add a portion to the narrative. After each student has contributed to the story, or after a certain time period has passed, end the task and have each group read the collaborative narrative aloud to the class.
Mad Libs and other similar activities help students flex their muscles to find more descriptive nouns, adjectives and verbs to make for richer narrative writing. Do one fill-in-the-word activity as a class for a refresher on parts of speech. Break students into partners. One partner will ask the other for the parts of speech and will record them on the worksheet. Have the partner read the end product. Meet back as a class to read particularly funny or clever Mad Libs.
As a class, come up with a list of 10 random nouns. Write the list on the board. Then ask for a type of job. Using that job, write 10 verbs related to the position on the board next to the list of nouns. For example, the job "cook" could include verbs like "saute," "steam" and "chop." Give students 20 minutes to write a narrative that features all 10 nouns and all 10 verbs listed on the verb. After the time is up, ask for volunteers to read their narratives aloud.
On one of the first days of class, use this activity to help students get to know one another and jump start their narrative writing. Divide students into small groups. Give them 15 minutes to write two short narratives about themselves. One should be true and the other should be a lie, but students should keep which is which a secret. Once 15 minutes is up, have students in the groups begin to take turns reading each narrative aloud. Other members of the group can vote on which narrative is fact and which is fiction.