types of essays for 5th grade

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How to Write A 5th Grade Level Essay

There are four basic types of prompts for fifth grade students: narrative, persuasive, expository, and creative writing. 

Narrative Essay

A narrative essay requires them to tell a story, real or imagined, using descriptive writing to reflect on their experiences, explain them logically, and draw conclusions from them. The writing prompt will be something like this: Think about a time you did something that made you feel guilty. Describe what happened.

To answer this, your child will have to tell the story of a time they did something wrong and what the consequences were. They will likely make use of the “five senses” and discuss how they felt moment-to-moment as they describe the events. Dialogue is an important part of this, too; they may describe the conversation they had with their teacher or with you, confessing what they did and apologizing.

Persuasive Essay

A persuasive essay is written to convince another person to agree with the writer or take action. The prompt will look something like this: What is your least-favorite food at the school cafeteria? Give three compelling reasons why your school should quit serving it. To answer this, your child needs to make sure to have three logical and persuasive reasons for why whatever food they choose is bad.

For example, they may hate the green beans they are given. The reasons they give don’t have to be particularly nuanced, but should still be realistic and logical. Their reasons may be that they are canned and therefore aren’t as nutritious as fresh, they are overcooked, and they make everyone’s breath smell bad. Their essay should also make a case for a replacement or better idea, such as serving fresh green beans or different vegetable options.

Expository Essay

An expository essay requires your child to explain something, like a how-to guide or providing facts about a topic. This essay prompt will look something like this: Your favorite book was made into a movie. Compare and contrast the film and book versions. To answer this, your child will need to point out the differences and similarities between the two works.

For example, the movie may have cut out a lot of scenes from the book or added new ones. Characters may dress differently or say different dialogue in the movie, or they may be perfect representations of how they look in the book. There shouldn’t be a list of similarities and differences; instead, your child should organize these comparisons in paragraphs that have a logical flow. For example, they may start by going through differences in the events of the two works and how the movie improves on certain plots, then discuss character differences and how they are better in the book, and finish with their ideas about which version tells the story better.

Creative Writing

Creative writing has your child use their story-telling skills while also practicing vital writing skills such as sequence and description. A creative writing prompt can look something like this: Write a story from your pet’s point of view. A creative writing prompt requires your child to consider things from a different perspective, and they may even write a poem or song instead of an essay, depending on their assignment.

To answer this prompt, they will need to consider what the world looks, sounds, and feels like from a very different view. It doesn’t have to be a perfect narrative, it can be the pet’s ideas and feelings about their life and how they feel about your child. Creative writing prompts are an opportunity for your child to stretch their imagination and try out different things in their writing.

If your child is having a hard time with these prompts, a way to help is to enroll them in Reading Genie. The program is designed to give your child practice writing while engaging them in fun topics and ideas. The teachers at Reading Genie give helpful and kind advice, and your child will have opportunities to get feedback from their peers to build their confidence.

You can also practice writing prompts with your child at home; they can be a lot of fun! Even if you don’t end up writing anything, discussing ideas with your child and how to approach certain prompts and questions can help get their minds active.

Genie Academy offers a range of after-school programs focused on enhancing skills in mathematics, literacy, composition, and coding. These educational services are available at various sites across New Jersey, such as Plainsboro , and are designed to cater to the learning needs of children from Pre-Kindergarten to 8th grade.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/fifth-grade-writing-prompts-4171627

Topics: Essay , Writing Skills , Fifth Grade , paragraph writing , Writing Prompt

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5th grade writing doesn’t have to be a struggle! This blog post will provide all of my best tips and ideas for teaching your fifth graders to succeed as writers.

I’ve had classes where writing was a struggle allll yearrrr longggg. I’ve also had classes where I’d swear my students were one step away from writing professionally.

Your groups will never be the same and that’s ok. Just roll with it!

Take heart in the fact that when students leave your class at the end of the year, they will be MUCH better writers than when they entered in the fall.

No matter how good (or bad) my students are at writing when 5th grade begins, we always start at the very beginning and work on writing strong sentences.

This post will give you a step-by-step breakdown of how I help my students move from dull to dazzling sentences: How to Help Your Students Write Better Sentences

Once they’ve got the hang of writing an excellent sentence, then we move on. Your class may move slowly or quickly but be sure to watch their writing closely for clues that you may need to slow down.

You need to know where you’re going to know how you should plan the journey. So, the next section lays out my end-of-the-year goals for my 5th grade writers. Everything I do all year leads to the completion of these goals.

My end-of-the-year goals for my 5th grade writers….

By the time my students walk out of my classroom for the last time…

1. I want them to be able to efficiently organize their ideas and plan/write a five paragraph essay.

2. I want my students to be able to construct narrative, informative, and opinion essays.

3. I want my students to be able to choose appropriate sources and write a simple research report. 

4. I want my students to be able to closely read two paired passages and write an essay in response to a prompt. 

If you’re looking for a hyperlinked pdf version of my pacing and sequence for 5th grade writing, click the link below to have it sent to your email address. As a bonus, you’ll become a member of my weekly VIP email club just for upper elementary teachers. 🙂

Obtain a Writing Sample!  

Give students a simple prompt and ask for a response in a paragraph or two. Emphasize to students that you are not grading writing samples for grammar, spelling, or structure. You are interested in the quality of their ideas. 

This writing sample will be valuable as the year goes on. Your students will improve so much that their first samples will (hopefully) be pathetic compared to their new, improved writing pieces.

I usually whip out their first samples after we’ve written a few five paragraph essays. Students feel inspired to keep growing their writing skills when they see how far they’ve come in just a few months. 

Example Writing Sample Prompts: 

• Describe a talent or characteristic that makes you unique and different.
• Tell about a time when you set a goal for yourself and reached that goal.
• Pretend you live in a society where children are required to choose their future career paths in the 5th grade. What path would you choose? Explain.

Create Writing Reference Notebooks with students! 

I’ll admit it – I’m a little obsessed with writing reference notebooks. We use composition notebooks to create these amazing sources of knowledge and we use them all year long. 

So, where do we start with creating writing reference notebooks?

The beginning section of students’ notebooks hold reference materials. I want students to have plenty of resources at their fingertips to improve their sentence writing, including alternatives for overused words and my specialty, sparkle words. Sparkle words are words that are just a little bit special and make my students’ writing shine, like scandalous, embrace, and intriguing.

Other ways that my students use their writing reference notebooks:

• Writing journal entries
• Creating a personal thesaurus
• Writing topics & ideas list
• Taking notes on writing skills lessons
• Writing first drafts of longer assignments

This resource will give you an idea of the printable pages that I use for students’ notebooks: Writing Interactive Notebook – Reference Pages

Do I take grades on students’ writing reference notebooks? Not really. I want these notebooks to be a safe space for students to jot ideas and take risks with their first drafts. I do sometimes take a participation grade on their notebooks. This encourages students to keep their notebooks organized and up to date.

Start with sentences!  

When teaching 5th grade, you can expect students to start the year writing complete sentences, right?! No, sorry. Whether it’s the long break or maybe your students’ 4th grade teachers never required a lick of writing, your 5th graders will often begin the year with less-than-stellar sentences. 

So, I just plan to start with sentences first every year. We work on building and expanding sentences for about two weeks. Yes, two weeks probably seems like a really long time, but spectacular sentences are the foundation for creating great writers.

To improve my students’ sentences, I take the basic, simple sentences that students write and we work on adding more specific details and interest. First, I give students a list of five nouns and ask them to write one sentence using each noun.

I usually get sentences similar to these:

• Pie is my favorite dessert.
• My dad’s car is red.
• I wear my jacket when it is cold.
• This school is a nice place to learn.
• The tree is tall.

This is where I want students to get in their sentence-writing before moving on:

• Pecan, cherry, apple, or pumpkin… any type of pie is delicious!
• My dad spends his Saturdays washing and shining up his candy apple red Jeep.
• A puffy, hooded jacket is the first thing I reach for on chilly mornings.
• My school, North Hills Elementary, has the best teachers and students.
• The tall Redwood tree in my front yard is a welcome sight to visitors and makes my house look spectacular.

My students write every single day!  

I vividly remember being in 5th grade myself and writing long papers on the most boring topics ever, like “The Science of Light” and “The History of Mapmaking.” Snooze fest! I vowed to never do that to my students. Instead, I took a different route.

Students absolutely need to learn to write full reports and five paragraph essays, but they don’t need to do this every week. They do, however, need to continually practice writing. I find that if I make writing assignments engaging, my students don’t complain and actually seem to enjoy writing.

I assign Weekly Writing Choice Boards . This writing has made all the difference in my classroom! Students are now excited about writing class. They see writing as a treat and a fun way to express their thoughts and opinions.

I hand out a new choice board every week and students must complete three assignments from the board. I don’t grade these on perfect grammar, spelling, or punctuation, instead I look for ideas and effort. Even imperfect writing practice will improve your students’ writing skills tremendously!

Enter your first name and email address below for a free set of 6 Weekly Writing Choice Boards! The pdf file will be sent directly to your inbox. As a bonus, you’ll become a member of my weekly VIP email club just for upper elementary teachers. 🙂

If you teach social studies in addition to writing, this blog post will give you a bunch of engaging social studies journal entries that will help you tie social studies into your writing instruction.

Train students in proofreading and editing!  

Student need to practice proofreading and editing their writing (and the writing of other students) near the beginning of the school year.

Repeatedly practicing the steps of the proofreading/editing process will help your students to internalize this procedure. You’ll find that they will start to catch their mistakes earlier and more independently.

I find it valuable to establish and consistently use a common “proofreading language” in my classroom. It takes a little time up front to teach students the markings and their meanings but having a common system for proofreading will save loads of time throughout the school year.

This resource will give you an idea of the proofreading marks and practice that I use in my classroom: Proofreading and Editing Activity Pack

Asking your students to proofread and edit their own writing is a must but it’s also a good thing to have students pair up and look over a partner’s writing also. Your students will receive valuable feedback on their writing, editing ideas, and they’ll get to see some writing styles that are a little different from their own.

Teach five paragraph essays one piece at a time! 

Simple Paragraphs

Once my students are stellar sentence writers, we move to simple paragraphs. The simple paragraphs that I use with students consist of a topic sentence, three detail sentences, and a closing sentence.

Starting with simple paragraphs is much less threatening than jumping straight into five paragraph essays, so I find that spending some time helping students write excellent simple paragraphs is the perfect bridge into essays.

Additionally, we color-code our simple paragraphs. This allows students to think critically about what sentence types they have written and provides a visual for students (and for me) to see that all required parts of the paragraph are included.

The color-code I use with students:

• Topic sentence – green
• 3 detail sentences – yellow
• Closing sentence – red

Planning and Writing Body Paragraphs

Once students are able to write great simple paragraphs, we dive into the planning and writing of body paragraphs.

This isn’t too much of a jump for students because the body paragraphs are structured similarly to the simple paragraphs that we have practiced over and over. The only difference is that they are using one prompt to write three body paragraphs.

Many teachers think they have to start with the first paragraph of the essay, the introduction paragraph. This isn’t what I recommend. Starting by teaching students to write the three body paragraphs helps to steer the rest of the essay.

Adding an Introduction Paragraph

Now that students are able to write their three body paragraphs, it’s time to add the introduction paragraph.

The introduction paragraph contains a hook, commentary, and a thesis sentence.

The hook is a sentence (or two) that “hooks” readers and builds interest in the upcoming essay. I teach my students several types of hooks, including quotes, questions, bold statements, or sharing a memory.

After the hook, I ask students to write a sentence or two of commentary on the hook or on the prompt in general. This helps to “bulk up” their introduction paragraph a bit and make it more interesting.

The final part of the introduction paragraph is the thesis sentence. Because students already learned to write the body paragraphs, crafting a thesis sentence is so much easier.

The formula for writing a thesis sentence: Restate the prompt briefly + detail 1 + detail 2 + detail 3.

Additionally, I teach transition teams at this point. Students need to use a transition word or phrase at the beginning of each body paragraph, so that’s where transition teams come in. Transition teams are sets of three transition words or phrases that work well together.

Examples of transition teams:

• First, Second, Finally
• To begin, To continue, To end
• One reason, Another reason, A final reason

Adding a Conclusion Paragraph

When conclusion paragraph day finally arrives, my students are so excited because they can finally write an entire five paragraph essay.

In my opinion, conclusion paragraphs are super easy to teach because they only have two parts. Here’s the conclusion paragraph formula: Write the thesis sentence in a different way + add a closing thought.

I allow students to be creative with their closing thoughts. I tell them that this is the final thought that your readers will take with them, so it needs to relate well to your entire essay while being engaging and thought-provoking for readers. Some examples of closing thoughts are calls to action, quotes, personal opinions, and brief personal experiences.

Teach, Discuss, & Practice with Rubrics

I inform my students that from this point on in their school journey, they will be graded with rubrics fairly often, so this is a good time to learn about rubrics and become familiar with them.

I create or find five paragraph essay samples that are good, bad, and in-between. We read and examine the samples as a class and circle the applicable parts of the rubric. If students are able to grade a few assignments using a rubric, it’s not this unknown, scary thing anymore. 

Are you grading every single word and making a million corrections on students’ essays? I give you permission to stop doing that! 🙂

You are going to burn yourself out and get to where you hate grading and teaching writing. To be honest, your students will not become better writers when their papers are marked all over with suggestions in the margins.

Help! I need more support…

Please visit the following blog post for in-depth explanations and examples of my five paragraph essay teaching and grading process: 

Tips for Teaching and Grading Five Paragraph Essays

This resource will provide you with a full, scaffolded unit that will help you to teach the five paragraph essay process to students! Five Paragraph Essay Instructional Unit

Narrative, Informative, and Opinion Essays

As much as we’d like to just have our students write simple, straightforward five paragraph essays all year, that’s just not feasible.

But I promise, once your students can crank out those five paragraph essays on simple topics, moving to other modes of writing is no sweat! 

In my classroom, we spend time learning to write opinion essays, narrative essays, and informative essays. 

I start with opinion writing because my students have a lot of opinions, haha! We channel those opinions into five paragraph essay format. 🙂

Research Reports

The skills involved in writing a research report are valuable for 5th graders. They need to be able to judge the reliability of a source and cite their sources properly. 

Research reports also teach students to organize their ideas, take notes, make an outline, write a draft, and create a final report. 

I’d like to point you to the following blog post where I detailed my entire process for teaching research reports.

The Step-By-Step Guide to Teaching Research Reports

Paired Passages

5th graders are too young to compare two passages and write a response. Right?! 

No, this is not true at all. I think that reading paired passages and using them to craft a written response is a valuable skill for 5th graders. 

Steps to analyzing paired passages and writing an essay to answer a prompt:

First, dissect the prompt.

Second, closely read the paired texts.

Third, organize thoughts using the prompt.

The following blog post explains my paired passage writing steps in detail. Take a moment to check it out. You’ll be glad you did! 

How to Teach Writing Using Paired Passages

My Sequence & Pacing for Teaching 5th Grade Writing

Don’t stress! This sequence and pacing guide is hyperlinked and ready to be sent to your email address. Go to the bottom of this blog post to request the guide.

1st Month of School

We start school in the middle of the month, so I only have two weeks to teach during the first month of school.

This is the rundown for the remainder of the month:

Month 1, Week 3

The first week of the school year is all about teaching and practicing procedures. Teach it right or teach it all year! 🙂

Classroom Procedures – I recommend you check out this blog post:  5 Tips for Establishing Procedures in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Welcome Activities –  Welcome to 5th Grade: First Week of School Activities

Blog Post – Back to School Writing Prompts for 5th Graders

Month 1, Week 4

During this week, I review and continue practicing procedures with students but we do go ahead and start working on writing.

I establish my expectations and procedures for my students’ Weekly Writing Choice Boards.

We set up writing notebooks together, including the table of contents, cover page, and an  About the Author  page. 

Obtain a writing sample

We start working on improving sentences.

2nd Month of School

Month 2, Week 1

We continue working on improving sentences.

Start proofreading/editing instruction and practice.

Month 2 , Week 2

Review the process for writing excellent sentences.

Finish proofreading/editing instruction and practice.

Month 2, Weeks 3-4

Writing simple paragraphs (include color-code)

3rd Month of School

Month 3, Weeks 1-2

Planning & writing body paragraphs (include color-code)

Month 3, Weeks 3-4

Teach introduction paragraphs

Writing introduction plus body paragraphs (include color code)

Transition teams

4th Month of School

Month 4, Weeks 1-2

Teach students how to write conclusion paragraphs.

Students will write their first full five paragraph essays this week.

Month 4, Weeks 3-4

Write 5 paragraph essays with a variety of basic prompts.

Have students proofread/edit other students’ essays.

Provide mini-lessons on grammar structure or other issues you are noticing in students’ writing.

5th Month of School

This is where our winter break falls, so I only have two weeks to teach this month.

This is a great time to review what we’ve been working on all year and assign some fun journal prompts.

Also, writing mini-lessons are good fillers for this time.

This Winter Writing Project is a student favorite right before winter break!

6th Month of School

Month 6, Week 1

When we come back from winter break, I like to teach the research report process. I spend a week teaching the process and giving students time to research while I’m there to help.

Month 6, Week 2

Student complete their research reports, including outlines, citing sources, and etc.

I ask my students to do super quick presentations on their research topics. It’s 1-2 minutes max. I don’t want them to read their reports aloud because that’s boring. Instead, I want them to quickly highlight what they learned about their topics and what was fascinating to them.

Month 6, Week 3

We review the five paragraph essay process and write/proofread/edit an essay with a simple prompt.

Month 6, Week 4

I start opinion writing this week. You’ll find that students will slide into opinion writing easily because they already know five paragraph essay structure.

7th Month of School

Month 7, Week 1

Continue working on opinion writing. By the end of this week, students should be able to write an opinion essay using a prompt.

Month 7, Weeks 2-3

We spend two weeks on narrative writing. By the end of the second week, students should be able to write a narrative essay using a prompt.

Month 7, Week 4

This week, I teach the process of writing an informative essay.

8th Month of School

Month 8, Week 1

Continue working on informative essays. Students should be able to write an informative essay using a prompt by the end of this week.

Month 8, Weeks 2-3

Teach students how to write an essay using paired passages.

For more information on how I teach the steps above, visit this blog post: How to Teach Writing Using Paired Passages

Month 8, Week 4

Now that students know the process of using paired passages, I provide a set of paired passages and ask students to answer prompts in a variety of genres, like opinion, narrative, informative, poetry, and etc.

This resource makes it easy:

Paired Passages with Writing Prompts and Activities Bundle

9th Month of School

Month 9, Week 1

Continue working on using paired passages to write in a variety of genres.

Talk about last minute standardized testing tips to help students with their writing tests.

The rest of the month is taken up with standardized testing, so I do a lot of review activities, free writing, and etc.

I do have a set of suspense stories that my students love to write during this month. Check them out here: Suspense Stories Bundle

10th Month of School

During this month, we are wrapping up the year. Students participate in multiple activities and field trips, so there’s not much teaching time.

If you are still feeling overwhelmed, don’t dismay. Instructing young, inexperienced writers is a challenge. Just work on one step at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself and your students. Once you’ve taught writing for a year or two, you’ll feel like an old pro. Promise! 

If you’d like to keep this blog post for later, simply save this pin to your teacher Pinterest board!

Are you that teacher saying, “oh my goodness, please just give me the print ‘n go pages so that i can start teaching writing tomorrow” it’s all here for you:.

I’m not a teacher, perhaps in my heart I am. I am an older Mom who adopted late in life as God gave us our newborn in our 50’s! By His grace, we are healthy, fit, youngish 50’s LOL! I love your stuff and have always supplemented Fi’s education., for I find the California standards quite low. Now that I have her in a college-prep school (5th Grade) I find she is much more prepared because of your wisdom! Thank you. Sophia Joy is someone who has always had to work hard at school, but it is paying off! Thank you and God bless you richly for being so generous with your wisdom,it will all come back to you 100-fold! Sincerely, Susan, Sophia Joy’s Mom

Thank you so much, Susan! You certainly have a heartwarming story with your precious girl 🙂

Hello When you do the back to school journal prompts, where do you have students complete these? On single paper, google classroom?

Hi Sarah! Usually, I have students complete the prompts in their social studies interactive notebooks. This year, however, we were virtual at the beginning of the year, so I had students type their entries onto Google Docs.

Hi! I am a new 5th grade teacher, and I’m wondering if your school uses a particular writing curriculum? Your website has been so helpful – thank you!!

Hi Jenny! We don’t use a particular writing curriculum at my school. I use my own resources to teach writing. Please reach out to me at [email protected] if I can help or answer any questions for you 🙂

Do you have any resources in Spanish?

Hi Danielle! The only resources I have in Spanish are my Parent’s Guide to Reading resources, grades K-5.

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Help your 5th Grader Write a Great Essay

Writing essays can be a daunting task for students. 5th-grade students have a strong foundation of writing skills to help them construct body paragraphs and express their ideas using complex sentences. Still, they may need an extra push to write confidently and expressively.

The most challenging task when writing an essay is starting the writing process and learning to be confident.

Helping students tackle the task and build their confidence in writing multiple types of essays such as a persuasive essay, an informational essay, or even a narrative essay such as short stories takes a lot of practice, focus, and support from instructors and parents.

Learning to Express Ideas

Pre-writing is a crucial step in the writing process. Fifth graders should be in a place in their writing journey where they can perfect all the pre-writing strategies before they even write a word of an essay.

This will set them up to successfully construct excellent five-paragraph essays consistently.

When your child sits down to write a five body paragraph essay, the very first thing they should do is read the prompt. Understanding what the prompt is asking for is the first step in being proactive about writing an excellent essay.

You want them to ponder these questions: am I writing a persuasive essay? Am I writing an essay on a topic requiring me to do my research? Will I need to list evidence? Am I writing a narrative story that requires figurative language?

How to Successfully Brainstorm An Essay

One excellent way to get the brainstorm rolling is to have your fifth-grade student utilize a graphic organizer such as a cluster map as a way to write down all the related words or small phrases they can think of about the prompt.

The organizer will help get their creative minds rolling until they write something they are interested in or perhaps even excited about exploring further.

Brainstorming is a crucial component of teaching writing. This first step should be the most relaxed, no-pressure section for the student.

As a fifth-grader, your child will have a good idea of how to brainstorm different ideas on paper, but an essential part will be to organize these ideas into something of an outline.

Through brainstorming, students learn to think creatively to answer the prompt. Sometimes logical thinking is also required. For example, with a persuasive essay, students must brainstorm their arguments and develop reasons or evidence to back up their claims.

Supporting this step will allow students to perfect the details of the content they’re writing about and give them the main idea for their entire essay.

How to Turn a Brainstorm into an Outline

Encouraging your fifth grader to write a quick outline in a way that’s organized according to the five-paragraph essay format will give them a solid foundation to write their first rough draft.

These pre-writing skills are crucial in turning students from simple sentence writers into detailed five-paragraph essay writers.

Five-paragraph essays are the standard way to construct an essay, including writing an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Using this format, your fifth grader should write a short and straightforward outline that showcases every paragraph’s main ideas and contents in logical order.

Instead of freewriting the essay off the top of their head, an outline in the five-paragraph essay format will help your fifth grader have a guide to help them construct the first draft of their essay and flesh out ideas when they write body paragraphs.

Constructing a 5 Paragraph Essay

Read below for a brief five-paragraph essay instructional unit to help you guide your child in writing an exceptional essay.

1) How To Write An Introduction

In the five-paragraph essay format, the introduction is vital in grabbing the reader’s attention and holding it throughout the essay.

When teaching writing, the introduction is explained as the initial place to set up the topic of the essay. It usually requires a direct address of the contents to follow in the form of a thesis.

A thesis statement is a sentence in the introduction that directly answers the prompt and has reasons and evidence for the writer’s claim. It’s like a short preview of what the students will write about in their body paragraphs.

Furthermore, students write the thesis at the end of the introduction paragraph and ensure it follows a specific sentence structure to make it stand out as the most critical part of the intro.

2) How To Write Body Paragraphs

An excellent way to help students be confident in their work is to help them build clear strategies or steps to tackle daunting parts of an essay, such as a body paragraph.

Acronyms are one good way to remember all the steps of constructing a remarkable body paragraph. For example, TEEA is a wonderful acronym to get your fifth grader started on the task.

TEEA stands for:

T: Topic Sentence

The topic sentence is the very first sentence of a body paragraph. It explains what your section is about and its main idea. Ideally, this should be one sentence long and directly explain the topic at hand.

For the second section, you will want your fifth grader to answer the following question: WHY are you talking about this topic or idea? Why is this important? This should be about 2 or 3 sentences long because you will want your child to use lots of details to support the idea in the topic sentence.

  E: Example

In the third section, the student should prove what they explained about their topic by giving a solid, real-life example. This can be 2-3 sentences. The key here is to make the example applicable to the topic and explanation.

A: Analysis

Lastly, the analysis explains how the example supports your topic. This will probably be 1 or 2 sentences.

The analysis is the most tricky part of a body paragraph. The best way to get your child to think about this is to emphasize the how question. How does your example prove you are right? How does the example relate to the topic?

Using TEEA, your child will be able to construct a clear and strong body paragraph for almost any prompt or topic.

3) How to Write A Conclusion

Lastly, to conclude an essay, students must think about what idea they want the reader to leave with after reading their essay.

To start, students can use their introductory paragraph as a guide. They should restate their essay topic or thesis differently.

Next, students should summarize the main points made in the body paragraphs.

After this step, students can play the “so what?” game. Have your fifth grader think about what they’ve written in the conclusion, then answer the question, “so what?” Why is this important? Why should anybody care?

The very last sentence of the conclusion is a fantastic place to answer the “so what” question and leave the readers with a good impression or the desire for more information.

Using this instructional guide, with practice, your 5th grader will be able to construct logically sound and impeccably organized essays in no time.

The Reading Ranch Method

Struggling writers can experience various difficulties in any step of the writing process. The Reading Ranch Intervention Program is a research-based program to help students strengthen their writing skills in an interactive and dynamic environment. Our curriculum prides itself on being an interactive writing curriculum proven through various studies to immensely help struggling writers. Contact us today if you’re looking for help with your child who struggles in school and at home because they are stuck when they write and unable to keep up with their peers. We offer either online or in-person programs we feel confident we have something just right for every family.

Kiran Gokal   is a freelance writer, teacher, and lover of the written word specializing in content articles, blog posts, and marketing copywriting. For the past three years, she’s been teaching bright young students all about reading and writing at The Reading Ranch®,  while also lending her writing skills to different businesses and non-profits in the education sector.

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The Best Paragraph Writing Worksheets for 5th Grade

When our students reach fifth grade, it’s a really pivotal time in their writing journey. At this stage of school, we introduce them to the four primary writing styles. Our goal is to help them grasp the differences and patterns within each form of writing.

These four common forms of writing taught in 5th grade are: expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive.

But what happens if you have 5th grade students still struggling to understand and write the parts of a paragraph?

That’s where we come in! We have some awesome 5th grade writing worksheets to share with you that literally have everything you need to help your students understand the parts of a paragraph. 

We even included a FREE writing checklist, graphic organizers, and writing paper for you!

5th Grade Writing Expectations

By 5th grade, students should be able to write a really descriptive paragraph. What we typically see is that this is the grade in which the strong writers emerge with tons of creative thinking and wonderful ideas for their writing and this is where the weaker writers will really struggle because of all the writing expectations of upper elementary as they prepare for middle school.

Sometimes we need to use some writing resources to help supplement the curriculum to meet the needs of our writers who need extra help.

Enter the perfect resource below…

5th Grade Writing Worksheets for Paragraph Writing

In order to help upper elementary students write an amazing paragraph, we created a special paragraph writing resource that has everything you need to help students in upper elementary understand how to write a great paragraph.

You can stop stressing over lessons for your struggling writers and help guide them in an effective way with the Paragraph Writing Differentiated Bundle!

Using the activities in this bundle will help keep students engaged and provide true clarity on the essentials of writing a paragraph. It’s full of differentiation and interactive activities for your 5th graders.

We are talking checklists, review sheets, leveled topics and activities, graphic organizers, high-interest texts, reference sheets, anchor charts, teaching posters, complete answer keys and more!

This resource is explicitly broken up into teaching the foundation parts of a paragraph:

• topic sentence
• supporting details
• concluding sentence
• transition words

After using this resource,   your students will be experts at identifying and understanding the parts of a paragraph with less support from you! 

How to Use the 5th Grade Writing Worksheets for Paragraphs

We recommend using the worksheets and teaching lessons in a variety of ways, depending on your student’s needs. These writing worksheets can be used for individual, small group, or whole group instruction.

They are differentiated to easily meet the needs of your students’ different writing abilities and are available to use digitally on the Smartboard through Google Slides or you can print if you want.

They are perfect for the general education classroom, special education classroom, speech and language and ESL learners. This Paragraph Writing Bundle is also perfect for students in 3rd-6th grade.

FREE 5th Grade Paragraph Writing Worksheets

Use this Paragraph Writing Freebie to have students check their writing for the important parts.

The FREE checklist has students make sure that their paragraph includes a topic sentence , 3 supporting details , and a concluding sentence .

We suggest you laminate these or throw them in a page protector and have 5th graders keep them at their desk for the year to re-use over and over again.

This FREEBIE for 5th grade writing also comes with differentiated options for a graphic organizer. We like to teach students that writing a paragraph is much like building a cheeseburger and our free graphic organizer is a great visual example of that:

Last but note least, this 5th grade writing freebie comes with writing paper for your students to use and write their rough draft on!

More Resources for Paragraph Writing in 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade:

Remember, patience and consistent encouragement can work wonders with fifth graders who struggle with paragraph writing. Keep providing examples, practice opportunities and supportive feedback to help them gain confidence and improve their skills over time.

Every step forward counts!

Check out some other paragraph writing resources you might like:

• Free Video for Kids on How to Write a Paragraph
• Teaching Supporting Details in 5 Easy Steps
• 3 Steps for Teaching Topic Sentence

Excuse our digital dust! We’re busy renovating this website to make it even more fabulous. Stay tuned!

• Read more about: Paragraph Writing , Writing

You might also like...

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How to Write a Fifth-Grade Essay

How to write a sixth-grade essay.

Essays in the fifth grade should be concise, clear and flow easily. Students need to be able to express their ideas with proper and effective word choice and use a variety of different sentence structures. Logical sequencing of main ideas should be evident throughout the essay. In the fifth grade, students learn to expand and elaborate on their ideas. They are describing and going more in-depth in their writing than in previous grades. Fifth-grade students are exposed to different styles and genres of writing, so their writing will begin to reflect the varied structures and purposes of writing.

Decide on an essay topic. Your teacher may provide an essay topic to explore or you may be able to come up with an idea of your own. Either way, you can decide from what angle you want to approach the topic. Keep the topic focused and narrow. The essay's information should fit easily within the length of the essay assigned by your teacher. Write down various ideas that occur to you as you prepare to write the essay. You can use a graphic organizer such as a cluster map of your thoughts or brainstorming to help you organize your ideas.

Write a thesis statement. The thesis statement is the main idea of the essay and it expresses what you want to tell the reader in one or two sentences.

Research the topic. Keep research within the bounds of the essay's topic so you don't waste time searching for and reading unnecessary material. Take notes of what is important and supports the thesis statement. Also keep track of where each piece of information is found so you can easily cite your sources if the teacher requires it.

Plan the essay. Write an outline that lists each section of the essay, including an introduction, middle and a conclusion. Paragraphs that support the thesis will be in the middle of the essay.

Write a first draft of the essay. The introduction should catch the readers' attention and contain the thesis statement. The middle will contain the information you found and your ideas about it. The conclusion should summarize your main points and tell readers why the topic is important. For example, if you're writing about the history of the Sputnik satellite launch in 1957, you could state in the conclusion that Sputnik helped to begin the space race between the former Soviet Union and the United States and it helped pave the way for the building of the International Space Station that is shared between the two countries today.

Look over your essay and make sure there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. Also pay close attention to how the essay is structured. Each paragraph should contain sentences that express the main idea of the paragraph. The paragraphs in the body should be arranged in a logical order, such as from least to most important or in a step-by-step order if you're writing a how-to essay. Make any changes you think are needed to make your essay clearer and then write out your final version when you are satisfied with it.

Related Articles

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How to Write a Thesis & Introduction for a Critical Reflection Essay

How to Write a 3,000 Word Essay

How to Write an Essay Explaining a Concept

How to write an essay with a thesis statement.

How to Do an In-Depth Analysis Essay

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• Great Schools: Your Fifth Grader and Writing

Leyla Norman has been a writer since 2008 and is a certified English as a second language teacher. She also has a master's degree in development studies and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology.

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Hello Fifth

A Teaching Blog

Writing in Fifth Grade

May 23, 2020 by Jill Shafer

I am so excited to share all things WRITING today! Because I’ve taught several different grades, I come to fifth grade knowing a bit more of the progression students have experienced as writers.  We have Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study available to us, and I also have been trained in Step Up to Writing, Nancy Fetzer, thinking maps, and I’m sure there are more that have occurred since I began my career in 2003. I frequently get asked what I use and what I use is a mix of resources that will hopefully give students exposure and practice with writing pieces that will grow and stretch them. We cover the three major genres: expository, narrative, and persuasive. We also practice constructed responses, produce response to literature essays, and learn from mentor texts and authors. You can check out THIS freebie to get a glimpse into our general scope and sequence but like with all things teaching, we also remain flexible. Our reading and vocabulary/word work block is in the morning but we do writing after recess (specifically before lunch).

I work really hard to tie in things like sentence structure and grammar into our writing mini-lessons.  The work we do in the morning is best when it is incorporated with the work we do later as writers. Okay, so let’s break down the different things we do and what it looks like.

Because I teach fifth, they come with a really solid foundation of what four parts go into a constructed response.  At our school, we do RACE: restate, answer, cite evidence, and explain. I explicitly teach each one, going over what the expectations are in fifth and then practicing all together.

We spend the first month of school really working on these.  We use picture books to begin.  I just type up the text and copy; Mr. Peabody’s Apples and Fly Away Home are two of my faves.  You can read more about them HERE .

When we begin our first novel study , we transition into text responses that match with our discussion and the story.

We start slow and scaffolded, but with each one, I release more and more to them.  It REALLY helps to have students color code their answers, underlining each component of RACE in a different marker or colored pencil.

 We LOVE using THESE mentor texts from Ralph Fletcher.  I have stories saved on my Instagram (@hello_fifth) that go through it in DETAIL.

This typically only takes 15-20 minutes and is a GREAT way to warm up writers!  I use these constantly when they’re in the publishing stage of the writing process, since I may not have a new mini-lesson to deliver.

November 18, 2020 at 3:23 am

Very helpful! Thank you!!

February 9, 2021 at 5:52 am

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EL Education Curriculum

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• ELA G5:M1:U2:L13

Writing a Literary Essay: Introduction

In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.

• Technology and Multimedia

Supporting English Language Learners

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

• RL.5.3: Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
• RF.5.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• W.5.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• W.5.2a: Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension
• W.5.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.5.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• W.5.9a: Apply grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]").
• L.5.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• I can plan and write an introductory paragraph for my essay. ( W.5.2a, W.5.4, W.5.9a )
• I can recognize and write a complete sentence. ( L.5.1 )
• Introduction to literary essay ( W.5.2a, W.5.4, W.5.9a )
• Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (see supporting materials).
• Parts of Speech anchor chart (see supporting materials).
• Parts of the Model Literary Essay Introductory Paragraph (one part per pair; see supporting materials). When possible, ensure the correct amount of parts to complete paragraphs. This may involve giving some students more than one part.
• Literary Essay anchor chart by writing the title on a blank piece of chart paper (see supporting materials).
• Thumb-O-Meter protocol. See Classroom Protocols.
• Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts.

Tech and Multimedia

• Work Time B: Students write their introductory paragraphs on a word processing document--for example, a Google Doc.

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.A.4, 5.I.B.6, 5.I.C.9, 5.I.C.10, and 5.II.A.1

Important points in the lesson itself

• The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to work closely with essay structure, building on their understanding one paragraph at a time. In this lesson, students focus exclusively on the introductions to their literary essays. Students continue to benefit from the color-coding system established in prior lessons for visual support.
• ELLs may find it challenging to immediately apply their new learning about essay structure and write their introductions within the time allotted. If students were grouped in Lesson 11 to write their two-voice poems about the same event, continue working with that group during Work Time B today. See "Levels of support" and Meeting Students' Needs column for details.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

• Before providing templates or additional modeling during Work Time B, observe student work and allow students to grapple. Provide supportive materials only after students have grappled with the task. Observe the areas in which they struggle to target appropriate support.
• For additional work with complete sentences, invite intermediate and advanced proficiency students to create sentences and to write them on sentence strips in the manner described below. Students who need heavier support can work to identify the subjects and predicates of these sentences.

For heavier support:

• During Work Time A, create color-coded sentence strips that students can manipulate as they discuss subject and predicate. Write the subject of each sentence in blue and the predicate of each sentence in red on separate strips. Invite students to scramble and unscramble them. Probe students' thinking about what makes each strip a subject or a predicate.
• During Work Time B, provide a near-complete version of the introduction template suggested in the Meeting Students' Needs column. Omit only a few words, such as the chapter title and the names of the characters. Students can complete the paragraph as a cloze exercise while focusing on comprehending the paragraph and its purpose within the essay structure.
• In preparation for performing their two-voice poem during the Closing and Assessment, provide time before the lesson for students to practice reading their two-voice poem. Support students by giving them feedback on their fluency and accuracy, and encouraging them on a job well done.
• Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In Work Time B, students write the introduction to their essay. This will require drawing on several tools, such as the Painted Essay(r) template, the model literary essay, and their Informative Writing Checklist. Whenever possible, use think-alouds and/or peer models to make this thought process explicit. For example, offer a think-aloud to show how to incorporate ideas from the model literary essay into an original paragraph. This way, students will not only see the model visually but will also be able to understand the thought processes behind it.
• Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): This lesson provides 25 minutes of writing time. Some students may need additional support to build their writing stamina over such a long time period. Support students in building their stamina and focus by providing scaffolds that build an environment that is conducive to writing (see Meeting Students' Needs column).
• Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Students who need additional support with writing may have negative associations with writing tasks based on previous experiences. Help them feel successful with writing by allowing them to create feasible goals and celebrate when these goals are met. For instance, place a sticker or a star at a specific point on the page (e.g., two pages) that provides a visual writing target for the day. Also, construct goals for sustained writing by chunking the 30-minute writing block into smaller pieces. Provide choice for a break activity at specific time points when students have demonstrated writing progress. Celebrate students who meet their writing goals, whether it is length of the text or sustained writing time.

Key:  Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

• introductory paragraph, effective learners, collaboration, subject, noun, predicate (L)
• Parts of the Model Literary Essay Introductory Paragraph (one part per pair)
• Painted Essay(r) template (from Lesson 12; one per student)
• Red, green, yellow, and blue colored pencils (one of each per student)
• Model literary essay (from Lesson 12; one per student and one for display)
• Literary Essay anchor chart (new; co-created with students during Opening A; see supporting materials)
• Literary Essay anchor chart (example, for teacher reference)
• Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (new; co-created with students during Opening B)
• Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (example, for teacher reference)
• Writing Complete Sentences handout (one per student and one to display)
• Parts of Speech anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting materials)
• Informative Writing Checklist (from Lesson 12; one per student and one to display)
• Informative Writing Checklist (example, for teacher reference)
• Character Reaction note-catchers:
• Character Reaction Note-catcher: "Las Cebollas" (from Lesson 1; one per student)
• Character Reaction Note-catcher: "Las Ciruelas" (from Lesson 3; one per student)
• Character Reaction Note-catcher: "Los Esparragos" (from Lesson 6; one per student)
• Character Reaction Note-catcher: "Los Duraznos" (from Lesson 7; one per student)
• Character reaction paragraphs:
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Esperanza (from Lesson 1; group writing)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Hortensia (from Lesson 3; group writing)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Mama or Esperanza (from Lesson 3 homework; one per student)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Marta (from Lesson 6; group writing)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Esperanza or Josefina (from Lesson 6 homework; one per student)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Miguel (from Lesson 7; one per student)
• Character Reaction Paragraph: Esperanza (from Lesson 8; one per student)
• Partner Two-Voice Poem (from Lesson 11; one per pair)
• Red markers (one per student)
• Paper (lined; one piece per student)
• Domain-Specific Word Wall (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 3)
• Two-Voice Poems handout (from Lesson 11; one per student and one to display)

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

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The Guide to 5th Grade: Reading and Writing

Review reading and writing curricula for 5th grade, including what to expect and the books and activities you can use to support learning..

Your child is about to enter what’s often considered the last year of elementary school — and will soon be exploring middle school curriculum! That’s why 5th grade is an extremely important time for students to cement the skills they have gained throughout the upper grades and lay a solid foundation for the years ahead.

In short, this year is all about helping students practice, refine, and grow their skills. Students build on what they learned in 4th grade by analyzing material in deeper ways, and write structured, clear, and detailed pieces about a variety of subjects. They are encouraged and expected to be more independent in their learning, and to require less guidance and support from teachers and other adults. For instance, when a student is asked to research a topic, they should know what to do to accomplish that (even if they need a little help from a teacher along the way).

Read on for what to expect this year, and shop all fifth grade resources at The Scholastic Store . 

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Fifth Grade Reading

Most of the 5th grade reading curriculum focuses on teaching students to understand and develop ideas about the texts they read. Fifth graders learn to support their ideas using specific details from books, and are expected to think carefully about (and ultimately use) quotes, facts, and events to develop opinions about a text and explain it. Students practice this as they read texts together as a class and independently, and their teachers often show them specific strategies they can use to do this. Fifth graders also expand these skills as they write extensively about what they read in every subject.

To build reading skills, your fifth grader :

• Begins to use direct quotes from texts to explain and prove ideas about the reading.
• Reads a variety of genres including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
• Uses details from the text to summarize it, identity the main idea or theme, compare characters or events, or compare different texts of the same genre.
• Interprets and understands metaphors and comparisons made in a text.
• Identifies an author or narrator’s point of view and explains how this affects the content of a text.
• Compares multiple perspectives on the same event, idea, or theme.
• Uses the context of a text to determine the meaning of unknown words.
• Uses technology and digital media to further their understanding of a topic and to find answers to their questions.
• Gathers information about a topic from multiple sources.

Fifth Grade Reading Activities

Start a Book Club : It can include family members, your child’s friends and their parents, or just the two of you. Select a book together and establish small reading assignments (perhaps one or two chapters per week). Talk about the book's themes, using concrete examples you find in the text. After you finish one book, pick another by the same author about a similar topic (or in the same genre) and compare the two.

Gain Perspective : Read two different texts about an event you and your child attended (or you can each write your own personal account of it). Ask your child to compare the differences in the perspectives they are written from.

Read and Research : Help your child come up with a question about a topic of interest, and work together to explore a variety of sources for the answer. Use technology, books (such as the Scholastic Children’s Dictionary !), magazines, newspapers, and, if relevant, poetry and fiction.

Fifth Grade Writing

Fifth graders build on the skills they learned in 4th grade to become clearer and more developed writers. They pursue many different kinds of pieces covering a variety of topics, and use details and organization to strengthen their writing. As they work on pieces in class, students are taught to use writing to share their own unique ideas and perspectives — not just those of others.   

To build writing skills, your fifth grader :

•  an introduction and conclusion
• a logical and clear structure
• evidence that supports the author’s opinion
• explain a topic using details such as definitions, quotations, and facts
• include an introduction and conclusion
• introduce and describe an event in a logical way
• use details such as dialogue, thoughts, and emotions
• provide a conclusion
• Plans, revises, and edits their writing.
• Thinks about the best way to approach their writing and tries different ways to do so — such as writing in a different tense, or from a different perspective.
• Uses technology (under adult supervision) to publish writing, research, and communicate with others.
• Types at least two pages of text in one sitting.
• Uses multiple sources to write and create a research project.
• Takes notes on information and cites the sources used.
• Writes pieces that take long periods of time (a few weeks) and short periods of time (one sitting or a couple of days).

Fifth Grade Writing Activities

Practice Typing : Experiment with the many different ways your child might do this — for instance, they can play typing games, type something they have written, or transcribe a conversation you have together.

Edit, Edit, Edit : You and your child can both write your own pieces, or your child can choose a short piece of writing from another source. Whatever they choose, ask your child to “revise” or “edit” the text, aiming to improve it by adding more detail and descriptions.

Pick a New Perspective : Use a piece you or your child wrote or pick a text written by someone else, like a short story or article. Ask your child to rewrite the piece from a different perspective, like that of another character in the story or a person who witnessed the event. Talk to your child about the differences in those perspectives.

Shop the best resources for fourth grade below! You can find all books and activities at  The Scholastic Store . 

Explore other grade guides: 

• Kindergarten
• First Grade
• Second Grade
• Third Grade
• Fourth Grade  
• Sixth Grade
• Seventh Grade
• Eighth Grade

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Writing Prompts for 5th Grade

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By fifth grade, students are developing basic fluency as writers. In order to hone their skills, fifth graders should practice supporting claims with factual information, conveying information clearly, and writing narratives in a logical order. The following fifth-grade writing prompts encourage students to develop their skills through topics that are meaningful to them.

Narrative Essay Writing Prompts

Narrative essays tell a story based on a student’s personal experience. They encourage students to use descriptive writing to reflect on their experiences, explain them in a logical manner, and draw conclusions from them.

• New Beginnings . This is your last year of elementary school. What are you most excited or most nervous about when you think of starting middle school ?
• Betwixt . Students in 5th grade are often referred to as “tweens,” meaning that they are between the young child and the teen years. What is the hardest thing about being a tween in today’s society?
• Besties . What is the best book you’ve ever read? What made it so special?
• Reflections . Do you remember your first-ever day of school ? Describe one vivid memory from that day.
• Bullies . Have you ever witnessed someone bullying another student? What happened and how did it make you feel?
• Man’s Best Friend . Do you share a bond with your dog or other pet? Describe your pet, and explain what makes your relationship unique.
• Families . A family isn’t always a mom, a dad, and their children. Write about the ways your family is the same as and different from other types of families and what makes your bonds so strong.
• Holiday Memories . Think about one of your favorite holiday-related memories. Write an essay describing it and tell why it is so unforgettable.
• Guilty . Think about a time you did something that made you feel guilty. Describe what happened.
• The Ultimate Field Trip . If you could choose anywhere in the world to go on a field trip , where would you choose and why?
• Family Game Night . Do you enjoy playing games with your family? Describe your favorite family game or activity.
• Tasty Treats . What is your favorite food? Describe it as if you were introducing it to someone who has never seen or tasted it.
• Someday . Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up? Write an essay explaining why you think you’d like that career.

Persuasive Essay Writing Prompts

Persuasive essays are those written to convince another person to agree with the writer or take action. These persuasive essay prompts inspire 5th graders to share their passions with an audience.

• Pets Day . You’ve just gone to work with your parent for “bring your child to work day.” Write an essay convincing your school to have a “bring your pet to school” day.
• Yuck . What is your least-favorite cafeteria food? Give three compelling reasons why your school should quit serving it.
• Let’s Trade . Your friend’s lunches from home always look better than yours. Write an essay convincing your buddy that you should start swapping meals every day. Be sure to highlight the benefits of the food you bring!
• Home Alone . Write an essay convincing your parents that you are old enough and responsible enough to stay at home alone.
• Sunny Day . The weather outside is beautiful for the first time in weeks. Persuade your teacher not to assign any homework so that you’ll have time to go out to play.
• The Sequel . The long-awaited sequel to your favorite book or video game is now available. Convince your brother or sister to do your chores this week so that you have plenty of time for reading or gaming.
• Seating Chart . Because of your teacher’s seating chart, you’re not going to be able to sit next to your friend all year! Persuade your teacher to let students choose their seats.
• Birth Order . Are you an only child, the oldest sibling, the youngest, or the middle? What makes your birth order the best?
• The Ultimate Game . What is the best video game on the planet? Explain why it’s better than similar games.
• Life Lessons . What are the three most important lessons parents should teach their children and why?
• Test Time . Do you think standardized tests  are helpful or harmful? Explain your answer.
• Tunes . Some studies have shown that listening to music can help students concentrate. Should students be allowed to listen to music using headphones during independent work times at school? Persuade the reader of your answer.
• Catch-22 . You’re not a big fan of writing. Write an essay  convincing your teacher that you shouldn’t have to write any more essays this year.

Expository Essay Writing Prompts

Expository essays are often called how-to essays. They usually teach the reader something or provide facts about a particular topic.

• Let’s Play . Your family frequently attends community theater productions, but your friend has never seen one. Write an essay describing what he or she can expect during the evening.
• Band . You're graduating elementary school, and a younger student is taking your spot in the school band. Explain to him or her how to clean and care for your  musical instrument .
• Lessons Learned . Write an essay to a younger sibling explaining two or three key strategies for having a positive 5th-grade experience.
• Class Pet . You’ve cared for your class pet this week, but now it’s another classmate’s turn. Explain how to feed and care for the pet properly.
• Upgrade Ahead . You have an idea to improve your school. Explain it.
• Safety Zone . Explain three of the best steps kids can take to be safe online.
• Family Traditions . Does your family have any customs or traditions that might be unfamiliar to a classmate? Describe them.
• Pen Pal . Describe for your pen pal who lives in another state an animal native to your area, including its physical characteristics, behaviors, and any sounds that it makes.
• Creepy Crawlies . Compare and contrast two insects or animals that are similar, but have different characteristics such as a bumblebee and a yellow jacket or a horse and a mule. How are they alike and how are they different?
• Clean Up . Your class is going to spend a day cleaning up at a local park. You’ve done this with another group before, but some of your classmates haven’t. Explain the process.
• Action . Your favorite book was made into a movie. Compare and contrast the film and book versions.
• Team Players . Explain how contributing responsibly helps or how it hurts a group when someone doesn’t do his part.
• Tell and Show . Your class is having a “tell and show” day. You have to describe your item in as much detail as possible without naming it. Only when the class guesses or gives up can you show your item. Write out the description of your item.

Creative Writing Essay Prompts

Creative writing allows students to engage their imaginations and story-telling skills while also practicing vital writing skills such as sequence and description.

• Magic Lamp . You’ve just found a magic lamp. What happens when you rub it?
• Say Cheese . You are given an exceptional camera. Everything you take a picture of becomes yours, but you can only take three pictures. Tell a story about the photos you take.
• Invisible Man . One morning, you glance in the mirror and realize that you don’t have a reflection. You’ve become invisible! Write a story about your day.
• Gone to the Dogs . Write a story from your pet’s point of view.
• All Hail the King . Imagine that you discover an uncharted land that you claim as a new country. And, you’re the ruler! Describe your country, its people, and your newfound position of power.
• Part of the Story . One night, you doze off after reading the latest book in your favorite series. When you wake, you discover that you’re in the story! Write about your adventures.
• Before or After . Imagine that you live either 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future. What is your life like?
• Dr. Doolittle . You’re walking through a pet store when you discover that you can talk to the animals. What happens next?
• Meet and Greet . Imagine that you can meet anyone you’re studying in school right now from famous scientists to historical figures to the characters in the class read-aloud . Write a story about your meeting with that person.
• Switcheroo . If you could switch lives with anyone in your school, who would it be? Write about your day in the life of that person.
• Holiday Loop . Imagine you get to relive your favorite holiday every day. What’s that like?
• Tall Tales . Tall tales are possibly true stories that contain highly exaggerated actions or events. Create a tall tale about something that happened in your family.
• Teacher's Pet . Imagine that your teacher is actually your parent. Describe a day in class.
• Writing Prompts for 7th Grade
• Second Grade Writing Prompts
• Engaging Writing Prompts for 3rd Graders
• First Grade Writing Prompts
• 49 Opinion Writing Prompts for Students
• 4th Grade Writing Prompts
• Fun March Writing Prompts for Journaling
• Writing Prompts for Elementary School Students
• Journal Writing Prompts for Easter
• 40 "Back From Christmas Break" Writing Prompts
• 24 Journal Prompts for Creative Writing in the Elementary Classroom
• Christmas Journal Writing Prompts
• Writing Prompt (Composition)
• Creative Journal Topics Involving Different Perspectives
• September Writing Prompts
• February Writing Prompts

Reading Worksheets, Spelling, Grammar, Comprehension, Lesson Plans

Types of Essays

Learn about different types of essays here. We have examples of different kinds of essays, definitions of different kinds of essays. With this resource you’ll have no problem distinguishing between different kinds of essays.

Putting your ideas into writing can be challenging, but the structure of an essay can help you organize and express your thoughts more clearly. An essay can vary in length, but it is typically a nonfiction piece of writing organized into paragraphs that includes a clear introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Different types of essays are useful for communicating information, persuading an audience, sharing a personal story, or analyzing the various aspects of a piece of literature or art or a moment in history or politics. The ability to write a clear, structured essay is a skill students typically begin to build during their grade school and high school years. College courses will continue to build this skill so that students can write longer and more complicated types of essays and be better prepared to transfer these skills into professional settings or the pursuit of graduate degrees.

When writing an essay, it’s important to understand which type of essay format will work best for your topic. Read on for a brief description of some of the most common types of essays.

Expository Essays

One of the most common types of essays are at your disposal, the expository essay is used when the writer wants to clearly communicate information. An expository essay can be strictly informative, such as a research report, but expository types of essays can also include examples and analysis to support a larger point. When writing expository types of essays, you can tailor your essays in several different ways. Two of the most common approaches are the “compare and contrast” essay and the “cause and effect” essay. The compare and contrast types of essays are structured to allow the writer to present information and examples and then point out the similarities and differences. This is a good way to provide information without inserting any opinion or argument. The cause and effect essay also relies on the presentation of information, but the information is typically structured to explain the root cause of a later effect. This type of essay is useful when providing background information on a historical topic and can even be appropriate for constructing lab reports in some science courses.

Descriptive Essays

While less common in high school and college, descriptive types of essays are frequently used as a way to begin thinking creatively in elementary and middle school classrooms. A descriptive essay uses creative language to bring the subject of the essay to life. These types of essays can focus on a person, a place, an animal, a moment in time — there are nearly limitless possibilities for a descriptive essay. Descriptive essays typically rely on figurative language to capture the reader’s interest and can be a great opportunity for students to apply some of the more interesting tools in their writing tool kits, including simile , metaphor and personification .

Narrative Essays

A narrative essay can focus on the writer’s personal experience or take a close look at someone else’s experience. These essays typically sound similar to a fictional story in that they have a clear beginning, middle and end and usually include some sort of main event that prompts new understanding or a change in the subject of the essay. A narrative style offers more room to bring in emotion and unique descriptive details than an expository essay, but it usually includes more of a “story” than a descriptive essay. Prompts for narrative types of essays often ask students to consider an important moment in their lives and then create an essay that walks the reader through that moment.

Argumentative (Persuasive) Essays

Argumentative types of essays are all about presenting an opinion to readers and backing it up with evidence to persuade them to agree with your position. Argumentative types of essays, also known as persuasive essays, can be used to discuss an opinion on a work of literature, art or film or to discuss a current event or moment in history. The main feature of this type of essay is a clearly articulated argument in the first paragraph of the essay. This is often called the “thesis statement” of the essay. The goal of an argumentative essay is to include enough evidence and explanation to prove that the argument in the opening paragraph is sound. Writers do this by providing evidence, explaining the source and credibility of the evidence, and even explaining why the counter-argument is not believable. These essays should have a clear conclusion that summarizes the argument and makes a final appeal to the reader to consider and accept the writer’s opinion.

Which type of writing?

Common Core Standards: Grade 5 Reading: Informational Text , Grade 5 Reading: Literature , Grade 5 Reading: Foundational Skills , Grade 5 Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.10, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.10, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.3

This worksheet originally published in English Made Easy Key Stage 2 for ages 10 to 11 by © Dorling Kindersley Limited .

Related worksheets

Comparing two stories, poems: comparing, finding key points, reading comprehension: dialects.

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