Picture Writing Prompt: Write a Story About the Vehicles Scene

This 2nd grade picture writing prompt worksheet puts a busy scene of vehicles at the top of the page — a jet banking across the middle, two scooters, two boats, a ferry, a forklift, and a bus arranged so it reads as a place rather than a list. Under the picture a dashed word bank shows six of those vehicles with their names, jet, scooter, boat, ferry, forklift, bus. Then come five wide handwriting rows. The first begins with the faint starter One day, and the third with Then, so the child looks at the picture, borrows the words needed, and writes what happens next across the rows.

A picture gives a child something to say, and the word bank takes spelling off the table so the sentences can be about the story. The two narrative starters are the quiet engine of the page: One day sets a beginning and Then forces a next event, which is the shape of a story rather than a caption. That is the difference between writing about a picture and labeling it. The rows are tall enough for a second grader's letters and few enough to be finished. The teacher reads for whether the sentences follow each other — did the jet that took off in row one land, arrive, or get chased by row three.

Print the PDF free and let the child talk the story through before writing it, pointing at the scene as they go. The easier version has three rows and descriptive starters like I see a, so the child writes what is there; the harder version has six rows and keeps the narrative starters but with more to fill. Fix the sentence practices the capitals and end marks the child needs here, and the nouns, verbs, and adjectives sort gives them describing words for the vehicles in the picture.