One of the things I wanted most when I wrote Invisible Backpack was for the story to continue beyond the last page.

As a teacher, I know that some of the best conversations happen after we close a book. A story can become a starting point for students to think, talk, reflect, and of course write!

That is why I created a collection of writing resources to accompany Invisible Backpack. These activities are designed to help teachers take the themes from the book and turn them into meaningful literacy and social-emotional learning opportunities for students at different grade levels.

Primary–Grade 1: Building Confidence in Young Writers

For our youngest writers, the focus is on drawing, sharing ideas, making connections, and beginning to see themselves as writers.

The activities give students opportunities to think about what might be inside an invisible backpack, explore ways they can show kindness to others, and discover that everyone has something worth writing about.

Students can draw their ideas and use age-appropriate writing prompts to begin putting their thoughts into words.

The goal isn’t perfect writing.

The goal is helping children discover:

I have ideas. I have stories. I am a writer.

You can purchase the writing on my TeacherPayTeacher account here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Invisible-Backpack-Writing-17107415

Grades 2–4: Making Meaningful Connections

As students become more independent writers, the activities encourage them to dig a little deeper.

Students explore three big ideas:

🎒 What’s in My Invisible Backpack?
Students reflect on the feelings, worries, hopes, memories, and experiences that people may carry without others knowing.

💛 How Can I Lighten Someone’s Backpack?
Students think about how kindness, empathy, words, and actions can make a difference in someone’s day.

✏️ We Are All Writers
Inspired by Alexis’s journey in Invisible Backpack, students explore the idea that everyone has knowledge, experiences, and stories worth sharing.

Each writing activity also includes a student-friendly checklist to encourage students to reread, edit, and take ownership of their writing.

You can purchase the writing on my TeacherPayTeacher account here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Invisible-Backpack-Writing-For-Grade-2-4-17107577

Grades 5 & Up: Looking Beyond What We See

For older students, the writing activities move into deeper reflection and critical thinking.

Students are invited to explore the symbolism of the invisible backpack and consider how experiences that we cannot see may influence a person’s behaviour, confidence, choices, and interactions with others.

The three writing activities focus on:

🎒 Beyond What We See — Why is it important to remember that we never truly know everything another person may be carrying?

💬 The Weight of Our Words — How can our words and actions add weight to someone’s invisible backpack—or help make it lighter?

📖 Everyone Has a Story — How can the words we tell ourselves and the words others tell us shape the way we see ourselves?

These activities encourage students to develop their ideas, support their thinking with examples, make meaningful connections, and reflect on the impact they can have on the people around them.

You can purchase the purchase the wrirint activity on my Teacher Pay Teacher: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Inivisble-Backpack-For-Grade-5-and-higher-17107712

More Than a Writing Activity

While these resources focus on writing, the conversations behind them are just as important.

They can be used for:

• Literacy and writing instruction
• Social-emotional learning
• Kindness and empathy lessons
• Classroom community building
• Beginning-of-the-year activities
• Read-aloud follow-up lessons
• Morning meetings and class discussions

Each resource also includes a teacher lesson plan to help guide the read-aloud, class discussion, writing activity, and reflection.

My hope is that these resources make it easy for teachers to bring Invisible Backpack into their classrooms while helping students understand one of the biggest messages behind the story:

We may not always know what someone is carrying, but we can always choose to be kind.

Find the Invisible Backpack Teacher Resources

The writing resources for different grade levels are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Ms. Wilson Creative Teaching Corner.

Visit my store to explore the resources and find the version that works best for your students:

Ms. Wilson Creative Teaching Corner on Teachers Pay Teachers

Thank you for supporting my little book and the resources that have grown from it. Seeing Invisible Backpack find its way into classrooms and hearing about the conversations it is creating with students means more to me than I can put into words.

Happy teaching, happy writing, and remember we’re all carrying something. 🎒💛

— Chelsey