5th grade nonfiction writing samples

by: Jessica Kelmon | Updated: July 23, 2016

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5th grade writing samples

When it comes to writing, fifth grade is a red-letter year. To prepare for the demands of middle school and high school writing, fifth graders should be mastering skills required for strong nonfiction writing . Learn more about your fifth grader’s writing under Common Core . All students should be learning three styles of writing:

Informative/explanatory writing

Reports that convey information accurately with facts, details, and supporting information.

Narrative writing

Stories, poems, plays, and other types of fiction that convey a plot, character development, and/or personal stories.

Opinion writing

Writing in which students try to convince readers to accept their opinion about something using reasons and examples.

Fifth grade writing sample #1

Bipolar Children

This student’s report starts with a decorative cover and a table of contents. The report has eight sections, each clearly labeled with a bold subhead, and includes a bibliography. At the end, this student adds three visuals, two images from the internet with handwritten captions and a related, hand-drawn cartoon.

Type of writing: Informative/explanatory writing

Fifth grade writing sample #2

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team

Dylan’s report is thorough and well organized. There’s a cover page, an opening statement, and four clear sections with subheads, including a conclusion. You’ll see from the teacher’s note at the end that the assignment is for an opinion piece, but Dylan clearly writes a strong informational/explanatory piece, which is why it’s included here.

Fifth grade writing sample #3

The Harmful Ways of By-Catch and Overfishing

This student includes facts and examples to inform the reader about by-catch and overfishing. Then, at the end, the student tries to convince the reader to take a personal interest in these topics and gives example of how the reader can take action, too.

Type of writing: Opinion writing

See more examples of real kids’ writing in different grades: Kindergarten , first grade , second grade , third grade , fourth grade .

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Help your 5th Grader Write a Great Essay

5th grade essays examples

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.

5th grade essays examples

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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5th grade essays examples

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.

End of the year goals for 5th grade writers

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. 🙂

5th grade writing samples

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.

5th grade writing reference notebooks

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.

5th grade sentence writing

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.

Students should write every single day!

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.

Teach your 5th grade students to proofread and edit!

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 5 paragraph essays one piece at a time!

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

Teaching students to write narrative, opinion, and informative essays

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. 🙂

Teaching research reports to 5th grade students

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

Teaching paired passages to 5th grade students

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

Sequence & Pacing for Teach 5th Grade Writing

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! 

How I Teach 5th Grade Writing

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:.

writing lessons for 5th grade

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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5th grade essays examples

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 worksheets for teaching paragraphs

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.

5th grade worksheets differentiated for paragraph writing

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.

5th grade writing worksheets differentiated

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:

free 5th grade writing paragraph graphic organizer

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

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Writing Prompts for 5th Grade

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5th grade essays examples

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.
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Learn How to Support Stressed and Anxious Students.

75 Creative Fifth Grade Writing Prompts (Free Slides!)

Get them excited to write every day!

What three qualities do you think are most important in a friend? Why?

Fifth grade is such an exciting time! For many kids, it’s the last year of elementary school, and so many exciting things lie ahead. Fifth graders have accumulated some interesting stories to tell by now, and they’re building stronger writing skills. These fifth grade writing prompts encourage kids to imagine, explain, persuade, and reveal—improving their writing abilities day by day.

If you’d like even more upper elementary writing prompts, check out the Would You Rather questions we post regularly on the Daily Classroom Hub . Kids will get a kick out of these, for writing or discussion!

(Want this entire set of fifth grade writing prompts in one easy document? Get your free PDF or Google Slide bundle by submitting your email here .)

1. How important is it to finish what you start?

1. How important is it to finish what you start?

2. What does it mean to be honest? Give one solid example of what honesty looks like.

What does it mean to be honest? Give one solid example of what honesty looks like.

3. What three qualities do you think are most important in a friend? Why?

What three qualities do you think are most important in a friend? Why?

4. Since fifth grade is the top grade in elementary school, should fifth graders get special privileges? If so, write in detail about one privilege you think they should get. If not, why not?

Since fifth grade is the top grade in elementary school, should fifth graders get special privileges? If so, write in detail about one privilege you think they should get. If not, why not?

5. Vincent van Gogh said, “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” Describe one of your favorite places in nature in detail.

Vincent van Gogh said,

6. Are fifth graders old enough to babysit little kids? Why or why not?

Are fifth graders old enough to babysit little kids? Why or why not?

7. Write about three qualities that make a good leader.

Write about three qualities that make a good leader.

8. Should teachers assign homework? Why or why not?

Should teachers assign homework? Why or why not?

Get My Fifth Grade Writing Prompts!

What are your favorite fifth grade writing prompts? Come share your ideas on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook !

Plus, check out 50 fifth grade math word problems of the day ., you might also like.

5th grade essays examples

101 Exciting 4th Grade Writing Prompts for 2023 (Free Printable!)

Use them for journal writing, essay topics, and more! Continue Reading

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Persuasive essays

Grammar and Writing Workbook for Grade 5

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Consider your audience!

These writing worksheets focus students on actively considering their audience before writing. Each worksheet prompts the student to write a persuasive essay for a particular audience.

5th grade essays examples

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Student Writing Samples

Annotated student writing samples illustrating the integration of content understanding and writing in the three types of writing expected by college- and career-ready standards, including the CCSS. The resources presented are from  In Common: Effective Writing for All Students , authored by the Vermont Writing Collaborative with Student Achievement Partners and CCSSO. There are two types of resources available:

  • On-Demand Writing   provides a progression of writing  across grades  (K–5 and 6–12); students have written independently to the same text-based prompt across grades.
  • Range of Writing   provides multiple examples of student writing  within a grade  across a wide variety of content areas, curriculum units, conditions for writing, and purposes.

Learn more about In Common.

Resources specifically designed to support understanding and development of CCR-aligned writing

Filter by category

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Narrative: Range of Writing

These pieces represent a wide variety of content areas, curriculum units, conditions for writing, and purposes.  They reflect Comm…

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Informative/explanatory: range of writing.

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The pieces in this On-Demand section represent one of the three types of writing named in the Common Core State Standards for Writing: …

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Narrative Writing: On-Demand

Argument/opinion writing: on-demand, narrative writing: on-demand ©.

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Essay for Class 5 in English | List of Essay Topics for Grade 5 Students

Essay Writing is a great piece of work to teach or Improve your Child’s Writing Skills. We are with you in this and compiled Essay for Class 5 in English covering frequently asked essay topics from different categories. Increase your vocabulary and develop a strong command over English by reading and practicing various Essay Writing Topics. The Content in the Sample Essays for 5th Std Students is written in a simple and easy to understand language. You can access both Short and Long Essays on the Most Common Topics and use them as a part of your competitions or speeches.

Essay Topics List for Class 5 Children

All the Essay Topics for Grade 5 Students are written in a simple language keeping in mind the student’s level of understanding. Access the Essay Writing Topics & Ideas for 5th Standard Children available through the quick links and tap on the respective topic you wish to see. By reading and writing using the Class 5 Essays you can improve your vocabulary as well as get uniqueness to write an essay on your own. By doing so you can learn how to put your thoughts into words.

  • My School Essay for Class 5
  • Essay on Earth for Class 5
  • Rainy Season Essay in English for Class 5
  • Essay on Holi for Class 5
  • Essay on Christmas for Class 5
  • Essay on My Mother for Class 5
  • Essay on My Country for Class 5
  • Essay on Television for Class 5
  • Short Essay on Pollution for Class 5
  • Essay on Discipline for Class 5
  • Essay on New Year Resolution for Class 5
  • Essay on Mahatma Gandhi for Class 5
  • Essay on Republic Day for Class 5
  • Happiest Day of My Life Essay for Class 5
  • My Birthday Party Essay for Class 5
  • Honesty is the Best Policy Essay for Class 5
  • Essay on Earthquake for Class 5
  • Essay on Flood for Class 5
  • Essay on Water Pollution for Class 5
  • Essay on Environment for Class 5

FAQs on Essay for Class 5

1. What is the best and simple way to write an essay?

The best way to write an essay is to jot down what you are going to write beforehand. Not just the Essay make sure you have a structure too in mind. This really helps and is the simplest thing to write an essay.

2. Where do I find Some Good Descriptive Essay Topics for Grade 5 Students?

You can find some Good Descriptive Essay Topics for Grade 5 Students on our page.

3. What Should a Good Essay Have?

A good essay should have a bang-on opening statement that draw’s the attention of the users followed by a thesis statement and then a conclusion or a closing statement supporting your ideas. The Idea of each paragraph should be well explained and try considering examples too in between.

Final Words

We believe the knowledge shared regarding the Essay Writing Topics for Class 5 has shed some light on you. If you have any other queries or want us to add more such topics do leave us your suggestions and we will look into them. Stay in touch with our site to avail latest updates on Essays for the Most Common Topics of Students belonging to Different Grades.

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5th grade essays examples

When you need an example written by a student, check out our vast collection of free student models. Scroll through the list, or search for a mode of writing such as “explanatory” or “persuasive.”

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100 Best Fun Writing Prompts for 5th Grade: Journal Prompts

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  • Prompts for Narrative Essays
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  • Funny Fifth Grade Writing Prompts
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  • 5th Grade Descriptive Writing Prompts

As parents and teachers, we recognize the significance of writing as a fundamental skill that enables children to express their thoughts, emotions, and ideas. However, generating ideas and inspiration for writing can be challenging for many 5th-grade students. To aid students in this process, 5th grade writing prompts prove to be a valuable resource. Furthermore, Science Daily published an article that highlights the crucial connection between handwriting and brain activity. Writing can increase brain activity, leading to better memory retention and cognitive development. This is particularly important for students as it can positively impact their academic performance.

“Writing is the painting of the voice.” – Voltaire

By using writing prompts, children can explore various topics, develop their imagination, and hone their writing skills. In this collection, we have compiled various writing prompts that are engaging, entertaining, and sure to inspire creativity in 5th grade students. This collection has something for everyone: Persuasive writing, descriptive essays, narrative stories, and imaginative writing. Fifth grade journal prompts can help inspire creativity and reflection in their writing. So, let’s get started and explore these exciting 5th Grade writing prompts.

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10 Prompts for Narrative Essays

Writing Narrative Essays? Here Are Ten 5th grade narrative writing prompts:

“A great story can lead us to new worlds, new ideas, and new ways of thinking.” – Neil Gaiman
  • Write about a time when you faced a difficult decision.
  • Imagine you are stranded on a deserted island. Describe what you would do?
  • Create a narrative about a magical adventure.
  • Write about a time when you learned something important.
  • Think about the prospect of time travel. How would you react, and where would you go?
  • Develop a narrative about a superhero you create.
  • Describe a time when you overcame a fear.
  • Imagine you can do whatever you want. Tell me what it would be and how you’d use it.
  • Create a narrative about a day in the life of your pet.
  • Write about a time when you had to stand up for what you believe in.

10 Prompts for Informative Essay Writing

A list of ten 5th grade writing prompts to get you started on an informative essay:

  • Write an essay about a famous person who inspires you.
  • Research and write an essay about a historical event that interests you.
  • Write about the benefits of physical activity and exercise.
  • Write an essay about the effects of technology on society.
  • Research and write an essay about a country you would like to visit.
  • Write about the importance of reading books .
  • Write an essay about the positive and negative effects of social media.
  • Research and write an essay about an animal species that is endangered.
  • Write about the importance of recycling and conserving natural resources.
  • Please write an essay about the role of education in shaping our future.

10 Prompts for Research Writing

Here are ten Research writing prompts for 5th grade:

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” -Zora Neale Hurston, author and anthropologist.
  • Research and write about your favorite historical figure.
  • Choose a famous landmark and research its history and significance.
  • Investigate and write about an important event in history.
  • Research and write about a unique and interesting animal species.
  • Study and write about famous inventors and their inventions.
  • Research and write about the culture and traditions of a country you are interested in.
  • Explore and write about a current scientific discovery or innovation.
  • Investigate and write about the effects of climate change on a particular region or ecosystem.
  • Research and write about a famous artist and their artwork.
  • Study and write about a significant moment in space exploration history.

10 Funny Fifth Grade Writing Prompts

Kids laughing in a classroom

Here are ten prompts for Fun Writing Prompts for 5th Grade:

  • Write a funny story about a talking animal.
  • Imagine speaking to your pet and writing about what you would say.
  • Write a comic dialog between two unlikely characters.
  • Write a humorous story about a mischievous character getting into trouble.
  • Create a funny story using three random objects.
  • Write a funny kids’ poem . This can be about your favorite food.
  • Imagine a world where everything is opposite, and develop a narrative about it.
  • Develop a narrative about a silly superhero with extraordinary power.
  • Create a funny dialog between a parent and a child.
  • Develop a narrative about a funny and unexpected event that happened to you.

10 5th Grade Poetry Writing Prompts

The following are ten writing topics for 5th graders seeking poetry writing prompts:

  • Write a poem about your favorite season.
  • Imagine you are a raindrop falling from the sky. Write a poem describing your journey.
  • Write a poem about a place that makes you happy.
  • Choose an object in the room and write a poem about it.
  • Write a poem about a dream you had.
  • Create a poem that includes the words “whisper,” “twist,” and “moon.”
  • Write a poem about a memorable moment with a friend.
  • Describe a beautiful sunset in a poem.
  • Write a poem about the ocean and all its wonders.
  • Create a poem about your favorite animal.

10 Prompts for 5th Grade Fiction Writing

Opinion writing prompts 5th grade to help encourage critical thinking and self-expression in young students. Here are ten 5th grade writing prompt ideas to get them started:

  • Create a story about a mysterious package that arrives in the mail.
  • Develop a narrative about a person who can time travel.
  • Create a story about a magic tree that grants wishes.
  • Imagine being lost in the forest and creating a story about your adventure.
  • Develop a narrative about a group of friends who discover a hidden treasure.
  • Create a story about a person who can talk to animals.
  • Create a narrative about a family vacation gone wrong.
  • Imagine you could shrink to the size of an ant. Develop a narrative about your adventures.
  • Create a story about a person who wakes up one day with superpowers.
  • Develop a narrative about a group of people stranded on a deserted island.

10 5th Grade Animal Writing Prompts

Here are ten writing ideas for 5th grade for animal-themed assignments:

  • If you could be any animal for a day, which animal would you choose and why?
  • Create a narrative told from the point of view of a bear family as they emerge from their hibernation period.
  • Describe the life of a whale in the deep sea.
  • Write a persuasive essay on why zoos are important for conserving endangered animals.
  • Describe the life of a squirrel gathering nuts for winter.
  • Write a fictional story about a fox trying to outsmart a group of chickens.
  • Describe the life of a butterfly from caterpillar to butterfly.
  • Write a research paper on the migration patterns of birds.
  • Describe the life of a lion in the savannah.
  • Write a poem about the beauty of nature and the animals that live in it.

10 5th Grade Emotion Writing Prompts

Here are ten prompts for 5th grade writing prompts About Emotion:

  • Describe a moment when you experienced a strong sense of self-satisfaction and accomplishment.
  • Describe a moment when you felt scared and how you overcame your fear.
  • Create a narrative about a character who overcomes a difficult challenge.
  • Describe a time when you felt happy for someone else.
  • Write a letter to your future self about your dreams and aspirations.
  • Describe a time when you felt angry and how you managed your anger.
  • Develop a narrative about a character who learns the importance of forgiveness.
  • Describe a moment when you felt grateful for something or someone.
  • Write a poem about the different emotions that people feel.
  • Describe when you felt sad and how you coped with your sadness.

10 Journal Writing Prompts for Fifth Graders

The following are ten suggestions for 5th grade journal prompts to use:

  • Describe an instance where you successfully conquered a challenging obstacle.
  • Describe a moment when you felt proud of yourself and why.
  • Write about a place that is special to you and why it is important.
  • Describe a time when you helped someone else and how it made you feel.
  • Write about your favorite book and what you learned from it.
  • Describe an instance where you made a mistake and what you learned from it.
  • Write about a person who inspires you and why.
  • Describe a time when you felt grateful for something or someone.
  • Write about your favorite hobby and why you enjoy it.
  • Describe when you tried something new and what you learned from the experience.

When choosing 5th grade journal topics, consider selecting prompts that encourage students to explore their interests, emotions, and experiences in a safe and supportive environment.

10 5th Grade Descriptive Writing Prompts

Here are ten topics to consider when looking for descriptive writing prompts for 5th grade:

  • Describe your favorite outdoor place and explain why it is special to you.
  • Write a descriptive paragraph about a delicious meal you recently enjoyed.
  • Imagine you’re walking through a spooky forest. Describe what you see, hear, and feel.
  • Describe the view from your bedroom window. What can you see in the distance?
  • Write a paragraph describing a character from your favorite book. What do they look like, and what makes them interesting?
  • Describe your dream bedroom. What colors would you use, and what kind of furniture would you have?
  • Imagine you’re on a deserted island. Describe the island and the environment around you.
  • Write a paragraph describing a memorable moment from a family vacation.
  • Describe a special item you keep in your room. Why is it important to you?
  • Imagine you’re in a bustling city. Describe the sights, sounds, and smells you experience.

Encourage Fifth Graders in Becoming Writers

Writing is a significant skill that is essential for communication, expression, and personal growth. As highlighted in an article published by UCONN , writing prompts play a crucial role in engaging students’ interest in a particular topic and encouraging them to write thoughtfully and creatively. While effective prompts should introduce and limit the writing topic, they should also provide clear instructions about the writing task. It is imperative to equip 5th graders with resources and guidance to help them develop their writing skills. 

Educators and parents can provide 5th grade journal prompts and creative exercises to assist students in exploring various forms of writing and finding their unique voice. Additionally, feedback and constructive criticism can help students improve their strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, teaching 5th graders to write improves their academic and personal lives by promoting self-expression, creativity, and critical thinking.

Fifth Grade Writing Prompts for Developing Young Writers

Teacher Teaching in Classroom

5th-grade writing prompts can be a powerful tool for parents and teachers to help students develop their writing skills and creativity. By providing a starting point for writing, prompts can help students overcome writer’s block and find inspiration for their ideas. The prompts in this collection cover a wide range of topics and genres, encouraging students to explore their interests and experiences through writing.

“A well-crafted writing prompt can spark creativity and lead to a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around us.” – Laura Robb

Parents and teachers can inspire students to develop regular writing habits and enhance their skills by utilizing 5th grade journal prompts. According to an article published by the Journal of Instructional Research , both approaches of writing i.e. direct and indirect, have positive effects on students’ writing abilities. This article dived into exploring these approaches for promoting writing. The direct approach focuses on teaching writing skills explicitly and providing feedback on children writing. The indirect approach, on the other hand, emphasizes creating a supportive environment that encourages writing.

We can motivate students to write on a variety of topics, experiment with different writing styles, and share their work with others. By nurturing a passion for writing, we can help our students become confident, creative, and effective communicators. Why not give these prompts a try and see where they take you? Let’s encourage our young writers to unleash their creativity and express themselves through the power of writing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are these prompts suitable for all 5th class students.

These 5th grade writing prompts are designed to be accessible to most students, but they may need to be modified or adapted for students with special needs or English language learners.

How can I implement these ideas into my lesson plans?

Creative writing prompts 5th grade to use it for anything from journal entries to class discussions. Teachers can also have their students use these as a springboard for creative thinking and topic development.

Can these prompts be used for other grade levels?

Yes, many of these prompts can be adapted for other grade levels depending on the level of complexity and difficulty. Teachers can also modify the prompts better to fit the interests and abilities of their students.

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    Fifth grade writing sample #1. Bipolar Children. This student's report starts with a decorative cover and a table of contents. The report has eight sections, each clearly labeled with a bold subhead, and includes a bibliography. At the end, this student adds three visuals, two images from the internet with handwritten captions and a related ...

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    Help students build a rich vocabulary, explore introductory research, practice poetic writing and more with these fifth grade writing worksheets. Fifth grade writing worksheets open up a world of words to your student. For help with all aspects of fifth grade writing, check out our large selection below.

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    K5 Learning offers free worksheets, flashcards and inexpensive workbooks for kids in kindergarten to grade 5. Become a member to access additional content and skip ads. These writing worksheets focus students on actively considering their audience before writing. Each worksheet prompts the student to write a persuasive essay for a particular ...

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    Here are ten Research writing prompts for 5th grade: "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." -Zora Neale Hurston, author and anthropologist. Research and write about your favorite historical figure. Choose a famous landmark and research its history and significance.

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