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FREE Book Bracket Template. For March and Beyond!

56 Free Printable Writing Paper Templates for Elementary School

Includes 56 free printable pages!

Grab our free massive writing template bundle!

Is there any bigger thrill than watching elementary students grow as writers? From their first words and sentences in kindergarten to full-fledged stories and essays by fifth grade, we love the transformation students make. That’s why we’ve put together this printable writing paper template bundle containing 56 FREE writing pages.

You’ll have everything you need to teach all kinds of writing—from informative to narrative to how-to! All you have to do is submit your email here to save and print your bundle now.

You’ll get basic printable writing paper (with scaffolded support for drawing and writing)

Writing template bundle including printable lined paper.

WeAreTeachers

Whether your students can write a little or a lot, we have basic writing templates you can print, copy, and share! These include basic lined writing paper as well as dotted kindergarten writing paper, which is perfect for helping them practice letters and sight words.

You’ll also get specific writing templates to support different types of writing

The bundle includes templates for narrative writing, informative writing, and how-to writing, as well as a friendly letter template.

Narrative Writing Graphic Organizer

Narrative Writing Graphic Organizer.

You’ll love these printable narrative graphic organizers whenever you need to encourage students to find key details as you guide them through the writing process.

Informational Writing Graphic Organizer

Informational Writing Graphic Organizer.

This printout will help students organize information when they work on nonfiction writing.

Hamburger Writing Graphic Organizer Template

Hamburger Writing Graphic Organizer Template.

What makes a good “hamburger”? This template provides a visual tool to help students create a juicy “paragraph hamburger” to help guide them in writing a topic sentence, detail sentences, and a closing sentence.

Opinion Writing Graphic Organizer

Opinion Writing Graphic Organizer.

This great teaching tool helps students better understand topical thoughts and opinions using justifications and thorough examples.

Letter Writing Paper

You’ll get basic writing pages (with scaffolded support for drawing and writing).

With all of the texting we do, we could probably all benefit from using this letter writing paper for sending actual handwritten messages!

You’ll also receive holiday and seasonal pages in our writing template bundle

Get holiday writing templates (with varied space for writing and drawing) for back-to-school, fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, winter, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, spring, and summer.

Free Printable Back-to-School Lined Paper

Free Printable Back-to-School lined paper.

This “Welcome Back!”–themed back-to-school set includes lined paper and multiple picture boxes. It’s great for the first week together in the classroom.

Free Printable Fall Lined Paper

Free Printable Fall Lined Paper.

Encourage students to share their love for fall with this “Hello Autumn!” set that includes lined paper with and without picture boxes.

Free Printable Halloween Lined Paper

Free Printable Halloween Lined Paper.

Use this “Happy Halloween!” set of lined paper for that fun, spooky time of year. Maybe your kids can use the picture boxes for a Halloween contest!

Free Printable Thanksgiving Lined Paper

Free Printable Thanksgiving Lined paper.

The “Happy Thanksgiving!” set is perfect for encouraging students to share all of the things they’re grateful for (bonus points for drawings in the picture boxes!).

Free Printable Winter Lined Paper

Free Printable Winter Lined Paper.

It might be chilly outside but this set of “Hello Winter!” lined paper (with and without picture boxes) will help students welcome the cold season with open arms!

Free Printable Valentine’s Day Lined Paper

Free Printable Valentine's Day Lined Paper.

We L.O.V.E. this “Happy Valentine’s!” printable set. Kids can choose styles with or without picture boxes.

Free Printable St. Patrick’s Day Lined Paper

Free Printable St. Patrick's Day Lined Paper.

You’ll feel lucky to have this “Happy St. Patrick’s!” lined paper in the classroom—it comes with a variety of options.

Free Printable Spring Lined Paper

Free Printable Spring Lined Paper.

How cute are the bees and flowers on this “Hello Spring!” printable lined paper? Choose from plain lined paper or paper with different-size picture boxes.

Free Printable Summer Lined Paper

Free Printable Summer Lined Paper.

The adorable sun on this “Hello Summer!” lined paper (which comes with or without picture boxes) looks as excited as we are about the break!

Ready to start using this printable writing paper bundle?

Download it for free, looking for more writing resources check out our favorite writing anchor charts., have more great resources share in our weareteachers helpline group on facebook..

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How to write a perfect essay

Need to write an essay? Does the assignment feel as big as climbing Mount Everest? Fear not. You’re up to the challenge! The following step-by step tips from the Nat Geo Kids Almanac will help you with this monumental task. 

Sometimes the subject matter of your essay is assigned to you, sometimes it’s not. Either way, you have to decide what you want to say. Start by brainstorming some ideas, writing down any thoughts you have about the subject. Then read over everything you’ve come up with and consider which idea you think is the strongest. Ask yourself what you want to write about the most. Keep in mind the goal of your essay. Can you achieve the goal of the assignment with this topic? If so, you’re good to go.

WRITE A TOPIC SENTENCE

This is the main idea of your essay, a statement of your thoughts on the subject. Again, consider the goal of your essay. Think of the topic sentence as an introduction that tells your reader what the rest of your essay will be about.

OUTLINE YOUR IDEAS

Once you have a good topic sentence, you then need to support that main idea with more detailed information, facts, thoughts, and examples. These supporting points answer one question about your topic sentence—“Why?” This is where research and perhaps more brainstorming come in. Then organize these points in the way you think makes the most sense, probably in order of importance. Now you have an outline for your essay.

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, WRITE!

Follow your outline, using each of your supporting points as the topic sentence of its own paragraph. Use descriptive words to get your ideas across to the reader. Go into detail, using specific information to tell your story or make your point. Stay on track, making sure that everything you include is somehow related to the main idea of your essay. Use transitions to make your writing flow.

Finish your essay with a conclusion that summarizes your entire essay and 5 restates your main idea.

PROOFREAD AND REVISE

Check for errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. Look for ways to make your writing clear, understandable, and interesting. Use descriptive verbs, adjectives, or adverbs when possible. It also helps to have someone else read your work to point out things you might have missed. Then make the necessary corrections and changes in a second draft. Repeat this revision process once more to make your final draft as good as you can.

Download the pdf .

Homework help

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Literacy Ideas

Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

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P LANNING, PARAGRAPHING AND POLISHING: FINE-TUNING THE PERFECT ESSAY

Essay writing is an essential skill for every student. Whether writing a particular academic essay (such as persuasive, narrative, descriptive, or expository) or a timed exam essay, the key to getting good at writing is to write. Creating opportunities for our students to engage in extended writing activities will go a long way to helping them improve their skills as scribes.

But, putting the hours in alone will not be enough to attain the highest levels in essay writing. Practice must be meaningful. Once students have a broad overview of how to structure the various types of essays, they are ready to narrow in on the minor details that will enable them to fine-tune their work as a lean vehicle of their thoughts and ideas.

Visual Writing Prompts

In this article, we will drill down to some aspects that will assist students in taking their essay writing skills up a notch. Many ideas and activities can be integrated into broader lesson plans based on essay writing. Often, though, they will work effectively in isolation – just as athletes isolate physical movements to drill that are relevant to their sport. When these movements become second nature, they can be repeated naturally in the context of the game or in our case, the writing of the essay.

THE ULTIMATE NONFICTION WRITING TEACHING RESOURCE

essay writing | nonfiction writing unit | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

  • 270  pages of the most effective teaching strategies
  • 50+   digital tools  ready right out of the box
  • 75   editable resources  for student   differentiation  
  • Loads of   tricks and tips  to add to your teaching tool bag
  • All explanations are reinforced with  concrete examples.
  • Links to  high-quality video  tutorials
  • Clear objectives  easy to match to the demands of your curriculum

Planning an essay

essay writing | how to prepare for an essay | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

The Boys Scouts’ motto is famously ‘Be Prepared’. It’s a solid motto that can be applied to most aspects of life; essay writing is no different. Given the purpose of an essay is generally to present a logical and reasoned argument, investing time in organising arguments, ideas, and structure would seem to be time well spent.

Given that essays can take a wide range of forms and that we all have our own individual approaches to writing, it stands to reason that there will be no single best approach to the planning stage of essay writing. That said, there are several helpful hints and techniques we can share with our students to help them wrestle their ideas into a writable form. Let’s take a look at a few of the best of these:

BREAK THE QUESTION DOWN: UNDERSTAND YOUR ESSAY TOPIC.

Whether students are tackling an assignment that you have set for them in class or responding to an essay prompt in an exam situation, they should get into the habit of analyzing the nature of the task. To do this, they should unravel the question’s meaning or prompt. Students can practice this in class by responding to various essay titles, questions, and prompts, thereby gaining valuable experience breaking these down.

Have students work in groups to underline and dissect the keywords and phrases and discuss what exactly is being asked of them in the task. Are they being asked to discuss, describe, persuade, or explain? Understanding the exact nature of the task is crucial before going any further in the planning process, never mind the writing process .

BRAINSTORM AND MIND MAP WHAT YOU KNOW:

Once students have understood what the essay task asks them, they should consider what they know about the topic and, often, how they feel about it. When teaching essay writing, we so often emphasize that it is about expressing our opinions on things, but for our younger students what they think about something isn’t always obvious, even to themselves.

Brainstorming and mind-mapping what they know about a topic offers them an opportunity to uncover not just what they already know about a topic, but also gives them a chance to reveal to themselves what they think about the topic. This will help guide them in structuring their research and, later, the essay they will write . When writing an essay in an exam context, this may be the only ‘research’ the student can undertake before the writing, so practicing this will be even more important.

RESEARCH YOUR ESSAY

The previous step above should reveal to students the general direction their research will take. With the ubiquitousness of the internet, gone are the days of students relying on a single well-thumbed encyclopaedia from the school library as their sole authoritative source in their essay. If anything, the real problem for our students today is narrowing down their sources to a manageable number. Students should use the information from the previous step to help here. At this stage, it is important that they:

●      Ensure the research material is directly relevant to the essay task

●      Record in detail the sources of the information that they will use in their essay

●      Engage with the material personally by asking questions and challenging their own biases

●      Identify the key points that will be made in their essay

●      Group ideas, counterarguments, and opinions together

●      Identify the overarching argument they will make in their own essay.

Once these stages have been completed the student is ready to organise their points into a logical order.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of ways for students to organize their points in preparation for writing. They can use graphic organizers , post-it notes, or any number of available writing apps. The important thing for them to consider here is that their points should follow a logical progression. This progression of their argument will be expressed in the form of body paragraphs that will inform the structure of their finished essay.

The number of paragraphs contained in an essay will depend on a number of factors such as word limits, time limits, the complexity of the question etc. Regardless of the essay’s length, students should ensure their essay follows the Rule of Three in that every essay they write contains an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Generally speaking, essay paragraphs will focus on one main idea that is usually expressed in a topic sentence that is followed by a series of supporting sentences that bolster that main idea. The first and final sentences are of the most significance here with the first sentence of a paragraph making the point to the reader and the final sentence of the paragraph making the overall relevance to the essay’s argument crystal clear. 

Though students will most likely be familiar with the broad generic structure of essays, it is worth investing time to ensure they have a clear conception of how each part of the essay works, that is, of the exact nature of the task it performs. Let’s review:

Common Essay Structure

Introduction: Provides the reader with context for the essay. It states the broad argument that the essay will make and informs the reader of the writer’s general perspective and approach to the question.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘meat’ of the essay and lay out the argument stated in the introduction point by point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually, the conclusion will restate the central argument while summarising the essay’s main supporting reasons before linking everything back to the original question.

ESSAY WRITING PARAGRAPH WRITING TIPS

essay writing | 1 How to write paragraphs | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

●      Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea

●      Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence; students should group similar ideas together to avoid incoherence

●      Paragraphs should be denoted consistently; students should choose either to indent or skip a line

●      Transition words and phrases such as alternatively , consequently , in contrast should be used to give flow and provide a bridge between paragraphs.

HOW TO EDIT AN ESSAY

essay writing | essay editing tips | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

Students shouldn’t expect their essays to emerge from the writing process perfectly formed. Except in exam situations and the like, thorough editing is an essential aspect in the writing process. 

Often, students struggle with this aspect of the process the most. After spending hours of effort on planning, research, and writing the first draft, students can be reluctant to go back over the same terrain they have so recently travelled. It is important at this point to give them some helpful guidelines to help them to know what to look out for. The following tips will provide just such help: 

One Piece at a Time: There is a lot to look out for in the editing process and often students overlook aspects as they try to juggle too many balls during the process. One effective strategy to combat this is for students to perform a number of rounds of editing with each focusing on a different aspect. For example, the first round could focus on content, the second round on looking out for word repetition (use a thesaurus to help here), with the third attending to spelling and grammar.

Sum It Up: When reviewing the paragraphs they have written, a good starting point is for students to read each paragraph and attempt to sum up its main point in a single line. If this is not possible, their readers will most likely have difficulty following their train of thought too and the paragraph needs to be overhauled.

Let It Breathe: When possible, encourage students to allow some time for their essay to ‘breathe’ before returning to it for editing purposes. This may require some skilful time management on the part of the student, for example, a student rush-writing the night before the deadline does not lend itself to effective editing. Fresh eyes are one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Read It Aloud: This time-tested editing method is a great way for students to identify mistakes and typos in their work. We tend to read things more slowly when reading aloud giving us the time to spot errors. Also, when we read silently our minds can often fill in the gaps or gloss over the mistakes that will become apparent when we read out loud.

Phone a Friend: Peer editing is another great way to identify errors that our brains may miss when reading our own work. Encourage students to partner up for a little ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’.

Use Tech Tools: We need to ensure our students have the mental tools to edit their own work and for this they will need a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. However, there are also a wealth of tech tools such as spellcheck and grammar checks that can offer a great once-over option to catch anything students may have missed in earlier editing rounds.

essay writing | Perfect essay writing for students | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

Putting the Jewels on Display: While some struggle to edit, others struggle to let go. There comes a point when it is time for students to release their work to the reader. They must learn to relinquish control after the creation is complete. This will be much easier to achieve if the student feels that they have done everything in their control to ensure their essay is representative of the best of their abilities and if they have followed the advice here, they should be confident they have done so.

WRITING CHECKLISTS FOR ALL TEXT TYPES

writing checklists

ESSAY WRITING video tutorials

essay writing | essay writing tutorial28129 | Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers | literacyideas.com

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How to Write an Essay Outline + Essay Outline Examples

Download for free, how to write an essay outline + essay outline examples .

Writing an essay can seem like a daunting task, but one of the best ways to tackle this challenge is to organize your ideas into a well-structured essay outline. This guide will walk you through the process of creating an essay outline, complete with essay outline examples, to ensure your next essay is a masterpiece.

We’ve compiled a variety of essay outline examples to help you understand how to structure your own essay. We'll cover persuasive essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, expository essays, and even provide a sample research paper outline. Each example will provide you with an idea of how to lay out the structure and details for each type of essay.

Looking for a printable list of essay outline examples? Our printable PDF features essay outline examples and templates that your students can use as examples when writing research papers, or as a supplement for an essay-writing unit

Why write an essay outline? 

An outline serves as the skeleton of your essay, giving you a clear and organized path to articulate your thoughts. Not only does it make writing an essay significantly easier, but it also allows you to present your arguments coherently and effectively.

An essay outline will help you organize your main ideas and determine the order in which you are going to write about them.

Student receives essay feedback A+ . Essay outline examples.

Types of essay outlines

Several types of essay outlines can be used when writing an essay. The two most common types are the alphanumeric outline and the decimal outline.

An alphanumeric outline typically uses Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters, in that order. Each level provides a different level of specificity. This structure is a very effective way to think through how you will organize and present the information in your essay. It also helps you develop a strong argumentative essay.

Alternatively, a decimal outline uses only numbers, and each subsection is a decimal subdivision of the main section. This type of outline is often used in scientific papers.

Persuasive essay outline example 

In the following section, we'll explore a persuasive essay outline example on competitive swimming. The purpose of a persuasive essay is to convince the reader of a particular point of view or idea, using compelling arguments and evidence.

In this case, the argument is that competitive swimming is an ideal sport for kids. The essay will present a series of arguments to support this view, demonstrating the various benefits of competitive swimming for children.

Competitive Swimming, an Ideal Sport for Kids

Introduction

Start your argumentative essay outline by stating your point of view and/or presenting your persuasive argument.

Thesis: Competitive swimming is a great alternative to other youth sports.

Body Paragraph 1

Introduce your primary persuasive argument and provide supporting details in your argumentative essay outline.

Topic Sentence:   Competitive swimming provides the same benefits as other sports.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   It is good exercise and builds muscular strength.
  • Detail Sentence 2:   It promotes cooperation among team members, especially in relays.

Body Paragraph 2

Introduce a secondary argument and provide supporting details.

Topic Sentence:   Competitive swimming provides some unique additional benefits.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   Swimming is an important skill that can be used forever.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  Swimming poses a reduced risk of injury.
  • Detail Sentence 3:   Each swimmer can easily chart his or her own progress.

Conclude your essay writing with a summary of the thesis and persuasive arguments. Brainstorming details that support your point-of-view is a great way to start before creating your outline and first draft.

Concluding Sentence:   There are many reasons why competitive swimming is a great alternative to other youth sports, including...

Narrative essay outline example

In the following section, we will examine a narrative essay outline example titled "How Losing a Swim Meet Made Me a Better Swimmer." Narrative essays aim to tell a story, often about a personal experience, to engage the reader and convey a particular point or lesson.

In this case, the narrative revolves around the author's personal journey of improvement and self-discovery through swimming. The essay will illustrate how an initial setback served as a catalyst for significant improvement and personal growth.

How Losing a Swim Meet Made Me a Better Swimmer

Introduce the subject of your narrative essay using a thesis statement and a plan of development (POD).

Thesis: The first time I participated in a competitive swim meet, I finished in last place. With more focused training and coaching, I was able to finish 2nd in the State Championship meet.

Plan of development:   I was very disappointed in my results from the first meet, so I improved my training and fitness. This helped me swim better and faster, which helped me to greatly improve my results.

Set the scene and provide supporting details. Again, start by brainstorming different ways to begin; then go ahead and craft an outline and a first draft.

Topic Sentence:   I was embarrassed at finishing last in my first competitive swim meet, so I began working on ways to improve my performance.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   I spent extra time with my coach and the team captains learning how to improve my technique.
  • Detail Sentence 2:   I started running and lifting weights to increase my overall fitness level.

Provide additional supporting details, descriptions, and experiences to develop your general idea in your essay writing.

Topic Sentence:   Over time, my results began to improve and I was able to qualify for the state championship meet.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   My technique and fitness level made me faster and able to swim longer distances.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  I steadily got better, and I began winning or placing in the top 3 at most of my meets.
  • Detail Sentence 3:  My results improved to the point that I was able to qualify for the state championship meet.

Body Paragraph 3

The next step in the writing process is to provide additional supporting details, descriptions, and experiences. You can then divide them up under different headings.

Topic Sentence:   With my new confidence, techniques, and fitness level, I was able to finish 2nd at the state championship meet.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   I was able to swim well against a higher level of competition due to my training and technique.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  I was no longer embarrassed about my last-place finish, and was able to use it as motivation!

Conclude the narrative essay with a recap of the events described or a reflection on the lesson learned in the story. Briefly summarize the details you included under each heading.

Concluding Sentence:   I used my last-place finish in my first competitive swim meet as motivation to improve my performance.

Descriptive essay outline example

We will now delve into a descriptive essay outline example. Descriptive essays aim to create a vivid and detailed description of a person, place, object, or event to paint a picture for the reader. The intention is to immerse the reader in the subject matter fully.

In this case, the essay provides an in-depth description of a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The essay will use sensory and descriptive details to create a vivid and memorable experience for the reader.

Visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame

Introduce the subject of your descriptive essay with a thesis statement covering the person, place, object, etc. you are writing about.

Thesis: The Hockey Hall of Fame is full of sights, sounds, and experiences that will delight hockey fans of all ages.

Set the scene and provide factual details.

Topic Sentence:   The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Canada and features exhibits from amateur and professional hockey.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   The Hall is located in downtown Toronto and is visited by 1 million people every year.
  • Detail Sentence 2:   You can see exhibits ranging from the early beginnings of the sport to the modern NHL and Olympics.

Provide additional sensory details, descriptions, and experiences.

Topic Sentence:   There are many types of exhibits and shows, including activities you can participate in.

  • Detail Sentence 1:  Player statues, plaques, and jerseys decorate the walls in every room of the Hall.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  Many of the exhibits have movies and multimedia activities that make you feel like you're part of the game.
  • Detail Sentence 3:  You can even practice shooting pucks on virtual versions of some of the game's greatest goalies!

Conclude the essay with a paragraph that restates the thesis and recaps the descriptive and sensory details.

Concluding Sentence:   The Hockey Hall of Fame is an experience that combines the best sights, sounds and history of the game in Toronto.

Expository essay outline example

In the following section, we will explore an example of an expository essay. An expository essay aims to explain or describe a topic using logic. It presents a balanced analysis of a topic based on facts—with no references to the writer’s opinions or emotions.

For this example, the topic is "Why The School Year Should be Shorter". This essay will use logic and reason to demonstrate that a shorter school year could provide various benefits for students, teachers, and school districts.

Why The School Year Should be Shorter

Introduce the primary argument or main point of an expository essay, or other types of academic writing, using a thesis statement and context.

Thesis: The school year is too long, and should be shortened to benefit students and teachers, save districts money, and improve test scores and academic results. Other countries have shorter school years, and achieve better results.

Describe the primary argument and provide supporting details and evidence.

Topic Sentence:   A shorter school year would benefit students and teachers by giving them more time off.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   Students and teachers would be able to spend more time with their families.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  Teachers would be refreshed and rejuvenated and able to teach more effectively.

Provide additional supporting details and evidence, as in this essay outline example.

Topic Sentence:  A shorter school year would save school districts millions of dollars per year.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   Districts could save money on energy costs by keeping schools closed longer.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  A shorter school year means much lower supply and transportation costs.
  • Detail Sentence 3:  Well-rested and happy students would help improve test scores.

Provide additional or supplemental supporting details, evidence, and analysis, as in the essay outline example.

Topic Sentence:   Shortening the school year would also provide many benefits for parents and caregivers.

  • Detail Sentence 1:   A shorter school year would mean less stress and running around for parents.
  • Detail Sentence 2:  Caregivers would have more balance in their lives with fewer days in the school year.

Conclude the essay with an overview of the main argument, and highlight the importance of your evidence and conclusion.

Concluding Sentence:   Shortening the school year would be a great way to improve the quality of life for students, teachers, and parents while saving money for districts and improving academic results.

Sample research paper outline

Now let’s dive into a research paper outline. Unlike a typical essay, a research paper presents a thorough and detailed study on a specific topic. However, it shares the same foundation with an essay in terms of structuring the ideas logically and coherently. The outline for a research paper includes an introduction, a series of topic points that cover various aspects of the main topic, and a conclusion.

This research paper will explore the background of Mt. Everest, the major explorers who attempted its summit, and the impact of these expeditions on Mt. Everest and the local community.

The Conquest of Mt. Everest

  • Location of Mt. Everest
  • Geography of the Surrounding Area
  • Height of the mountain
  • Jomolungma (Tibetan name)
  • Sagarmatha (Nepalese name)
  • The number of people who have climbed Everest to date
  • First to reach the summit (1953)
  • Led a team of experienced mountain climbers who worked together
  • Norgay was an experienced climber and guide who accompanied Hillary
  • Sherpas still used to guide expeditions
  • Leader of the failed 1996 expedition
  • Led group of (mainly) tourists with little mountain climbing experience
  • Loss of trees due to high demand for wood for cooking and heating for tourists.
  • Piles of trash left by climbing expeditions
  • Expedition fees provide income for the country
  • Expeditions provide work for the Sherpas, contributing to the local economy.
  • Introduction of motor vehicles
  • Introduction of electricity

The Everest essay outline template is based on a research paper submitted by Alexandra Ferber, 9th grade.

Happy writing!

Writing an essay outline is a crucial step in crafting a well-structured and coherent essay. Regardless of the type of essay - be it persuasive, narrative, descriptive, expository, or a research paper - an outline serves as a roadmap that organizes your thoughts and guides your writing process. The various essay outline examples provided above serve as a guide to help you structure your own essay. Remember, the key to a great essay lies not just in the content but in its organization and flow. Happy writing!

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Essay Map

About this Interactive

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Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. The finished map can be saved, e-mailed, or printed.

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Students develop their reading, writing, research, and technology skills using graphic novels. As a final activity, students create their own graphic novels using comic software.

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It's not easy surviving fourth grade (or third or fifth)! In this lesson, students brainstorm survival tips for future fourth graders and incorporate those tips into an essay.

Students explore the nature and structure of expository texts that focus on cause and effect and apply what they learned using graphic organizers and writing paragraphs to outline cause-and-effect relationships.

Students prepare an already published scholarly article for presentation, with an emphasis on identification of the author's thesis and argument structure.

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Student Writing Samples and Analysis for Elementary, Middle School, and High School: Complete Collection

essay writing template for elementary

How do you bring objectivity to teaching writing? Authentic student writing samples from state writing assessments are an excellent tool that helps teachers bring objectivity to teaching writing. Of course, it sure helps if the writing samples are accompanied by objective analysis, scoring, and commentary. You will find all of that and more on this page!

Many teachers evaluate their students’ writing progress by examining what they can get their students to produce as an end result. They look at what they can get their students to produce in a lesson, and they place great importance on what they can get their students to produce to place on a bulletin board. Certainly, I care about those things, too. But I primarily measure my students’ writing progress by examining and monitoring their independent writing. It’s not about what I can get them to do—it’s about what they do when left to their own devices.

We have three types of independent student writing:

1.   daily writing across the curriculum 2.   state and district writing assessments 3.   independent writing assignments

My purpose here is not to discuss independent student writing, but instead to explain why the following collection of objective, authentic student writing samples are so valuable and helpful. Usually, when we see samples of student writing (other than our own students’ writing), they are polished examples, and we have no idea of what went into creating them. How much time? How many drafts? Who guided the piece of writing? How much guiding? What forms of guidance?

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In contrast, we all know exactly how these state writing assessment samples were created; we all know the exact writing situation in which these pieces of writing were created; we all know that no teacher had any influence on any of these pieces of writing once the assignment was given. This writing is what students produced when given plenty of time and left to their own devices.

An Awesome Collection of Released Student-Writing Samples with Analysis and Commentary

I have always linked to valuable collections of resources that I have come across that can help teachers teach writing and achieve success on writing assessments. Here are two of the best:

1.  Released Writing Prompts for State Testing

2.  State Writing Assessment Tools and Resources : This page contains links to all of these valuable resources from many state writing assessments: 1) released writing prompts, 2) scoring rubrics, 3) anchor papers, scoring commentary, student writing samples, 4) teacher guides and/or test directions, 5) and more!

Below you will find another collection of valuable resources—a collection of released student writing samples. Since creating Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay , I’ve interacted with teachers from all over the country—and even the world. A kind teacher up in Oregon who is using Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay sent me these links. She is thrilled that the number of her students scoring high on the Oregon State Writing Assessment has doubled since she began using the program.

This collection of released student writing samples has five great qualities:

1.   It includes writing samples for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

2.   It includes scoring analysis for every single essay in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

3.   It includes writing samples for four important genres: 1) expository, 2) narrative: personal, 3) narrative: imaginative, and 4) persuasive (starts in grade 5).

4.   It includes writing samples for five scoring levels: 1) low, 2) medium-low, 3) medium, 4) medium-high, and 5) high.

5.   In total, the collection contains about 325 pages of released student writing samples and scoring analysis!

Here’s the Collection!

Please Note: I used to link to the scoring guide and rubrics, but the files seem to have been moved. Truthfully, they are not necessary at all. Furthermore, you will find links to many excellent Six-Trait rubrics here , including the original Six Traits rubric from Oregon (where it all began).

This collection scores papers using the Six Traits of Writing: 1) Ideas and Content, 2) Organization, 3) Voice, 4) Word Choice, 5) Sentence Fluency, and 6) Conventions. Since the rise of the Common Core, Oregon has used a couple of different scoring models that use different traits, including a few genre-specific traits. However, this collection of student writing samples remains one of the best available.

•  Grade 3 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 4 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 5 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 6 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 7 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 8 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 9 There aren’t any.

•  Grade 10 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

Common Core Update: 686 Pages of K-12 Common Core Student Writing Samples

Are you interested in 686 pages of K-12 Common Core student writing samples? If you are, be sure to download this awesome collection! To be honest, I was surprised when I clicked on the link and discovered this wonderful bounty.

•  In Common: Effective Writing for All Students Collection of All Student Work Samples, K-12

Are You Interested in Paragraphs?

Now that you have your student writing samples, I pose this question to you: Do you want to understand how the best writers and the lowest scoring writers created their paragraphs on those writing samples? If you do, be sure to read the following two resources. The above collection of student writing samples played a role in both of these:

1.  Paragraph Length: How the Best Student Writers Create Paragraphs on State Writing Assessments   2.  The Ten Stages of Paragraph and Multi-Paragraph Mastery eBook

How to Use These Student Writing Samples to Teach Writing

“Habit #2: Start with the end in mind.” Stephen R. Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Primary Purpose: The primary purpose of these student writing samples is to help teachers become experts in analyzing student writing. Furthermore, these student writing samples help teachers figure out how to begin with the end in mind. Teachers must begin with the end in mind if they want their students’ writing to end up where they want it to be.

Furthermore, teachers can use these student writing samples in the classroom to teach students about creating, analyzing, and evaluating writing. Here are ten ideas to get you started:

1.   Choose and print out a few essays and commentary that you want to focus on.

2.   Examine the essays and commentary. What are your students doing correctly? What are your students not doing correctly? What do your students need to learn? Read the commentary and make a list of skills that you want to teach your students. Plan out how you are going to teach those skills.

3.   Use a Six-Trait rubric go over a number of essays with your students. (You will find links to many different Six-Trait rubrics here .) Teach your students what scorers are looking for. What makes for a high scoring essay and what makes for a low scoring essay? What went right with the high-scoring essays? What went wrong with the low-scoring essays?

4.   Create or find a few student-friendly rubrics . Have students score at least a few essays using these rubrics. Make sure your students understand the rubrics, and if you have the time, you may want to have your students help create a simple rubric.

5.   Compare and contrast the genres. This activity is a great way to show students different types of writing and different styles. Play the game, “Name the Genre.” What are the qualities and characteristics of the writing genre that you see in the sample essays? How can you tell it is a particular type of writing? (Note: “Name the Genre” is also an effective strategy to use with writing prompts, and in particular, with released writing prompts .)

6.   Have students compare and contrast essays that have different scores. Have students compare and contrast essays with the same scores but from different grades levels.

7.   Use the low scores to show your students how good their writing is. Use the high scores to show your students where they need to improve.

8.   Have students edit or build upon one of the sample essays. Take one of the low scoring essays and have your students transform it into a high scoring essay. You can do this with each genre of writing. Help your students see the similarities and the differences across different types of writing.

9.   Demonstrate how neatness matters. Some of the sample essays are messy. Even a few high scoring ones are messy. Discuss how difficult it can be for scorers to fairly assess messy writing. Note: Students will often see messy writing on a decent paper and think that the paper is a low scoring paper. Explain that while rubrics do help prevent this rush to judgment, they do not eliminate it. This exercise also helps illustrate how important rubrics are, and how students must, in one sense, write for the rubric.

10.   Show your students how all of the important writing skills that you have been teaching them are found in the high-scoring papers and are missing from the low-scoring papers.

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5 Ways to Exercise Essay Writing for Elementary Students

Few skills are as critical to educational success as essay writing for elementary students, and kids can get a leg up on their craft by exercising their skills in a variety of ways. Learning the basics through simple practices ensures that children understand what makes an essay effective and successful, and prepares them for further development in high school, college and beyond.

Below are five ways that will foster growth and aptitude in essay writing for elementary school students.

The allure of choice

A great way to encourage enthusiastic essay writing is by allowing kids their individual choice of a book assignment for a literary-style piece, or letting them choose an inspiring idea, either from a list or from their imaginations, for a narrative assignment. Following format and structure is still important, but the freedom students have in covering a topic of their choice may result in excellent work.

A question and answer period

Critical thinking is essential for long-term success in any field, especially writing. Teachers can help students develop this skill by hosting a question-and-answer period after students have read a book or written an essay and read it aloud to the class. Promoting confidence in the writer is also crucial. The questions students ask advance critical thinking about point of view, comprehension and analysis, which strengthen the author’s abilities for every type of essay, including expository, narrative and comparative.

Independent proofreading

Learning how to revise work is a process that takes years to master. One excellent way of teaching proofreading and revision command is returning essays after a few days so students may rework them for a second grade. A fresh look, with or without suggestions for improvement, often reveals the flaws missed on the first draft.

Variety is the spice

Repeating format and structure exercise rules for writing multiple times may cause students to lose interest. To rouse interest, incorporate the full spectrum of essay styles, narrative, persuasive, comparative and expository in assignments. Writing in each format helps students solidify their understanding.

The value of outlines

Enforcing rules and standards is extremely helpful for unmotivated writers struggling to complete open-ended assignments. Providing examples and requiring outlines for every written project focuses efforts and clarifies expectations. It also streamlines the process of writing and breaks it down into manageable sections. Once kids realize that writing is as much about organization as it is inspiration, they swiftly begin honing their technique.

There are many many tips available that are helpful for teaching elementary students how to effectively write a standard essay. These five suggestions are a great start, with plenty of room to delve further into style, structure, inspiration and tone.

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helping students be successful writing a compare and contrast essay in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade

Scaffolding a Compare and Contrast Essay With Frames and Templates

helping students be successful writing a compare and contrast essay in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade

Writing can be hard and frustrating for upper elementary students; writing a compare and contrast essay can be even harder and more frustrating.

Often, this skill gets pushed to the back burner.  It is a lot easier to practice comparing and contrasting with things that take less time - like by using a Venn Diagram.  

However, teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to compare and contrast topics within their writing is an important skill. Scaffolding student writing through sentence or paragraph frames and essay templates can minimize the frustration of students, save valuable time, and help your students become better writers.  Providing structure helps focus yoru students.

Below, find ideas for scaffolding so that your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students can be successful with comparing and contrasting in their writing - and eventually writing a compare and contrast essay!

Start Small - With Compare and Contrast Sentence Starters or Frames

Students don't have to write an entire essay every time you want them to practice comparing and contrasting within their writing - they can practice this skill by simply writing a sentence that compares or contrasts two things.

Providing students with sentence starters is a great way to ease them into using compare and contrast language in their writing.  This is especially beneficial for your ELL and low language students, but ALL of your students will benefit from this strategy.

Example Sentence Starters

1. __________ and __________ are different because __________.

2. __________ and __________ are alike because __________.

3. The most important difference between __________ and __________ is __________.

4. An important similarity between __________ and __________ is __________.

5.  While __________ and __________ are alike because __________, they have different __________.

Using a Paragraph Template or Frame

After students have been successful at writing sentences that compare and contrast, expand to short paragraphs. Provide scaffolding similar to the sentence frames to help your 3rd grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade students be successful.

Using scaffolding like this will not only help them with comparing and contrasting language, but will improve their overall writing as well.

(You might find some of these other writing tips and ideas helpful.)

Example Paragraph Frames

1. __________ and __________ have many differences. The most important difference is _________________________. Another difference is _________________________. Finally, _________________________.

2. __________ and __________ are similar in many ways. For example, ____________________. Furthermore, they both ____________________. A final similarity is ____________________.

3.  __________ and __________ are similar in some ways, but different in others.  For example, they both ____________________.  Despite this similarity, they are different because ____________________.  This difference is important because ____________________.

comparing and contrasting scaffolded essay template / outline for upper elementary

Compare and Contrast Essay Template / Structure / Outline

Writing an essay can be overwhelming.  Teachers often try to support students by modeling good essay writing - which is an essential step.  But having students go straight from having a compare and contrast essay modeled for them to writing their own independently can be a huge jump for some.  They are going straight from "I do" to "You do."

A scaffolded essay outline makes a good "we do" for upper elementary students.  Provide students with a scaffolded template that clearly lays out the structure of a good compare and contrast essay.  This helps students stay on topic and reminds them what a good compare and contrast essay should look like.

Eventually, you will take this scaffolding away.  Or, you can use the scaffolding to differentiate.  Provide more scaffolding for students that needed, while students have a good grasp might only have topic students scaffolded for them - or maybe even no scaffolding at all.

no prep scaffolded compare and contrast essay to help your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students be successful writers

If you know your students would benefit from this type of scaffolding, but don’t have the time to create it yourself, check out my Compare and Contrast Writing Resource.

It walks students through the writing process with scaffolding each step of the way. This resource also provides a model essay so that you can model expectations for your students. Plus, it can be used over and over again with different topics.

You might also like these other ideas for scaffolding your instruction, or these compare and contrast activities and ideas.  

Want a Compare and Contrast Freebie?

Free reading comprehension practice for third, fourth, and fifth graders - paired passages about Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin

Download these reading passages with a compare and contrast activity for free and use it to today!

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How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates

Published on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.

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Table of contents

The basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure.

There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body.

Parts of an essay

The three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.

Order of information

You’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here.

The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.

For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it.

The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.

The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance.

The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach.

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The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.

A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure.

Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.

  • Thesis statement
  • Discussion of event/period
  • Consequences
  • Importance of topic
  • Strong closing statement
  • Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages
  • Background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press
  • Thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation
  • High levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe
  • Literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites
  • Consequence: this discouraged political and religious change
  • Invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg
  • Implications of the new technology for book production
  • Consequence: Rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible
  • Trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention
  • Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation
  • Consequence: The large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics
  • Summarize the history described
  • Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period

Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.

There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method.

Alternating

In the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph.

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

  • Synthesis of arguments
  • Topical relevance of distance learning in lockdown
  • Increasing prevalence of distance learning over the last decade
  • Thesis statement: While distance learning has certain advantages, it introduces multiple new accessibility issues that must be addressed for it to be as effective as classroom learning
  • Classroom learning: Ease of identifying difficulties and privately discussing them
  • Distance learning: Difficulty of noticing and unobtrusively helping
  • Classroom learning: Difficulties accessing the classroom (disability, distance travelled from home)
  • Distance learning: Difficulties with online work (lack of tech literacy, unreliable connection, distractions)
  • Classroom learning: Tends to encourage personal engagement among students and with teacher, more relaxed social environment
  • Distance learning: Greater ability to reach out to teacher privately
  • Sum up, emphasize that distance learning introduces more difficulties than it solves
  • Stress the importance of addressing issues with distance learning as it becomes increasingly common
  • Distance learning may prove to be the future, but it still has a long way to go

In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first.

The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.

  • Point 1 (compare)
  • Point 2 (compare)
  • Point 3 (compare)
  • Point 4 (compare)
  • Advantages: Flexibility, accessibility
  • Disadvantages: Discomfort, challenges for those with poor internet or tech literacy
  • Advantages: Potential for teacher to discuss issues with a student in a separate private call
  • Disadvantages: Difficulty of identifying struggling students and aiding them unobtrusively, lack of personal interaction among students
  • Advantages: More accessible to those with low tech literacy, equality of all sharing one learning environment
  • Disadvantages: Students must live close enough to attend, commutes may vary, classrooms not always accessible for disabled students
  • Advantages: Ease of picking up on signs a student is struggling, more personal interaction among students
  • Disadvantages: May be harder for students to approach teacher privately in person to raise issues

An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.

  • Introduce the problem
  • Provide background
  • Describe your approach to solving it
  • Define the problem precisely
  • Describe why it’s important
  • Indicate previous approaches to the problem
  • Present your new approach, and why it’s better
  • Apply the new method or theory to the problem
  • Indicate the solution you arrive at by doing so
  • Assess (potential or actual) effectiveness of solution
  • Describe the implications
  • Problem: The growth of “fake news” online
  • Prevalence of polarized/conspiracy-focused news sources online
  • Thesis statement: Rather than attempting to stamp out online fake news through social media moderation, an effective approach to combating it must work with educational institutions to improve media literacy
  • Definition: Deliberate disinformation designed to spread virally online
  • Popularization of the term, growth of the phenomenon
  • Previous approaches: Labeling and moderation on social media platforms
  • Critique: This approach feeds conspiracies; the real solution is to improve media literacy so users can better identify fake news
  • Greater emphasis should be placed on media literacy education in schools
  • This allows people to assess news sources independently, rather than just being told which ones to trust
  • This is a long-term solution but could be highly effective
  • It would require significant organization and investment, but would equip people to judge news sources more effectively
  • Rather than trying to contain the spread of fake news, we must teach the next generation not to fall for it

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Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows.  It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.

The essay overview

In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what  comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.

Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example.

Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich.

Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.

… Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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  • Post hoc fallacy
  • Appeal to authority fallacy
  • False cause fallacy
  • Sunk cost fallacy

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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

  • The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
  • The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

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Essay for Primary School: Simple Guide for Kids [with Samples]

The age of primary school students ranges from 5 to 11 years. At this stage of education, children start developing their writing skills. They make their first steps to analyzing and proving their points of view. Besides, they study how to write an essay for elementary school.

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Correctly preparing all types of homework, from creative to persuasive writing, is something they should learn how to do. Surely, they need assistance in completing the first tasks. Right now, we will present to you the essentials of a good essay for primary school:

  • A captivating topic;
  • A precise and clear thesis statement;
  • Several introductory sentences;
  • Several supporting sentences;
  • A strong concluding part.

If now you are looking for some hints for writing primary school essays, you have come to the right place. Especially considering the fact that children may approach the task in a variety of ways depending on how they prefer to study (which is easy to find out by taking a learning style quiz for kids). Below, our team has prepared tips and tricks for kids to nail their primary-level academic papers.

💡 How to Write an Essay for Primary School

An essay is one of the first written assignments you may get. So, we advise you to pay special attention to what your teacher says. Before assigning such a task, they give you explanations for preparing a primary school essay.

Usually, elementary school essays are meant to fire up kids’ imagination and expose their writing skills. No matter what the purpose is, you should approach the task with care.

What should an essay for primary school include?

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  • A captivating topic ; Selecting a topic is the first thing you will do after you get your assignment. Carefully examine the task’s details and think about something appropriate for your elementary level. Brainstorming your ideas is an excellent place to start.
  • A precise and clear thesis statement; Make sure your thesis statement is accurate and brief. Without a clear thesis, your essay will not have a central idea and will be hard to develop. A precise statement tells the reader what your writing is about. Besides, it exposes how good your grip on the central idea is.
  • Several introductory sentences; A great introductory paragraph can help you grab your readers’ attention. You can start by including a quote, telling an anecdote, or asking a question. In the introduction, the author also identifies the purpose of the essay and the topic. The paragraph ends with a thesis statement and prepares the reader for the supporting sentences.
  • Several supporting sentences; This part of your essay will include the position you presented in the thesis statement. It will either offer an idea or defend it. It can be done in several ways: you can include reasons, examples, and supporting points.
  • A strong concluding part. The conclusion wraps up the essay, but it emphasizes all the principal points you have argued throughout your essay. It is the last chance to sway your reader by explaining why the topic is relevant to them. Ending your essay with a strong concluding part shows that the thesis statement has been defended.

Essays for primary schools do not require research or analytical data. All you need is to present your ideas on the specified or chosen topic. Mind the proverb, “the written word remains” while writing your first elementary level essay.

The thing is:

The essay structure explained above will work for assignment kids will face in elementary school, middle school, high school, and up to college level. Teaching kids to write a traditional five-paragraph essay is essential for their academic success. It helps explain to them how to argue their ideas in a coherent and structured manner.

If you need more help with writing essays or with essay proofreading , you are welcome at our site.

✨ Topics for Primary School Essays

See the primary school essay topics that are manageable for an elementary level. It should be interesting for a kid but also informative and engaging for the readers.

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These topics will get an A+ for your next school assignment:

  • Our world in 50 years; 
  • My first day at school ; 
  • Future profession ; 
  • My summer holidays ; 
  • My family ; 
  • My journey through primary school ; 
  • When I grow up … etc.… 

You can find a good topic but have no idea how to write a good paper on it. These five essay prompts can be helpful if you need some inspiration.

  • What is your favorite day of the week, and why? Think about a day of the week you enjoy the most. Why do you like it? Most of us wait for weekends to rest and spend time outside and with our families and friends . If that’s your case, describe how your usual Sunday looks and explain why you enjoy it.
  • What do you like the most about winter ? This is another great topic to consider, especially for creative writing. Everyone can pick at least several things they enjoy about winter. Whether it’s the snow, the winter sports, the holidays, or the winter break, write about something you like. It’s a fun and engaging topic for everyone.
  • Who’s your hero ? All of us have a person they admire. It can be your father, your friend, or a celebrity. Think about the qualities or their actions that make them so special. You can try to tell a little bit about their biography and explain how they influenced you.
  • What’s a good friend ? You probably have a best friend. In this essay, you can try to explain what qualities do you personally appreciate in them. If you haven’t found a best friend yet, you can try to think about what kind of people you enjoy interacting with.
  • Your biggest dream . People are born with the ability to dream. What is your biggest dream? Is it to learn how to drive a boat or visit savanna and see the big five? This essay lets your imagination and your creativity run wild.
  • The car I dream about .
  • Explain what friendship means to you.
  • Describe your parents .
  • How do you understand happiness ?
  • Write how you help your classmates with autism to feel included.
  • The most important event of my childhood.
  • Discuss why physical activity is important for children and what types of activity you like best.
  • Do you like to take part in competitive sports ?
  • Explain why you like or don’t like figure skating .
  • A person who inspires me: my mother .
  • What dog would you like to have?
  • Describe your visit to Disneyland or any other theme park.
  • My travel to Dresden .
  • What challenges did you face in primary school ?
  • Do you believe in online- friendship ?
  • What do you do when you feel stressed ?
  • Tell about your puppy and how you take care of it.
  • The reasons my teacher is the brightest figure in my life.
  • Describe the kindergarten you went to and explain why you liked or didn’t like it.
  • How did you deal with bullies in the kindergarten .
  • How I won the fight by losing it .
  • Write about your favorite primary school teacher.
  • Why everyone should have a pet .
  • Explain how you interact with other kids at school.
  • Tell about the most exciting event in your life.
  • Explore how eating healthy food can help you to do better at school.
  • Describe your first visit to a museum .
  • The difference of being a child in the past and today .
  • Write about your trip to Yellowstone National Park and what you liked the most about it.
  • What makes a good parent ?
  • How does your dream home look like?
  • Do you remember what difficulties you faced while learning to write ?
  • Tell about your favorite holiday .
  • What do you like about Christmas ?
  • How I learned to ride a bicycle.
  • Describe the lessons you have in primary school and which of them is your favorite.
  • Write about your physical education teacher .
  • Discuss the pre-school education facility you’ve visited.

Sometimes such prompts can help you better than primary school essay writing samples. First of all, it gives you a direction by leaving you with the questions that only you can answer. Second, it shows you a variety of topics and themes available. Nevertheless, we still encourage you to look at some simple essays for primary school for better results.

All in all:

Essays are the most common academic paper that might seem easy to a writer. Our free tips will help you to get through any kind of paper. Still, if you are stuck on essay writing, you can always ask us for help!

Get an originally-written paper according to your instructions!

Thank you for reading the article! Share it with peers and leave a comment below to let us know your opinion.

Further reading:

  • Essay Topics for Grade 8, 9, 10, 12
  • What Does an Excellent Essay Look Like?
  • 1000-Word Essays: Quick Answers
  • Breaking Down the Types of Essays
  • A Complete Guide to Essay Writing
  • How to Write a Good 5 Paragraph Essay
  • The Basics of Effective Essay Writing: Becton Loveless, Education Corner
  • 50 Writing Prompts for Elementary School Children: Janelle Cox, ThoughtCo
  • Student Writing Models: Thoughtful Learning K-12
  • Elementary Archives: JournalBuddies.com
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Being a primary school teacher of English language, I have discovered that many students leave primary school without basic essay writing skills. This is because as teachers, we do less to help and guide the learners in this aspect. We do less because we lack the knowledge and ability to guide the learners perfect this writing skills yet it is considered the production stage of language learning. Kindly help me. Guide me further so that I can also guide my learners.

Custom Writing

Thanks for the feedback. Keep up your excellent work!

A great suggestion for primary teachers and parents!

Glad you liked the article, Mung 🙂

This is a very good method to preach the acknowledgments on report writing towards people.

Thanks, Tayyaba 🙂

Thank you for your great effort and help. Your blog has taught me many things! Thanks for this fantastic blog post on writing primary school essays.

Thanks for the post on writing essays for primary schools. It’s a real help for me and my son, who just starts to learn how to write essays.

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Short Essay for Elementary

4 Short Essay for Elementary Examples in PDF

Elementary students are already taught how to make essays in preparation for their high school lives. They are trained how to construct a good essay that might be good enough to be samples used for essay competitions and other related activities. If one of your assignments involve writing short essays , you might feel the ease. It seems like an easy task, right? The truth behind that is it can be harder than you think. Essays allow you to express you own thoughts and what you feel about a particular situation. It is best for a student to be trained as early as possible because knowing how to talk about something, may it be orally or written, is really essential. It helps you to become a good communicator.

4+ Short Essay for Elementary Examples

1. short elementary winner essay.

short elementary winner essay

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2. Student Short Elementary Essay

student short elementary essay

Size: 254 KB

3. Short Elementary Parent Essay

short elementary parent essay

Size: 66 KB

4. Short Elementary School Essay

short elementary school essay

Size: 109 KB

5. Formal Short Elementary Essay

formal short elementary essay1

Size: 36 KB

What is a Short Essay?

A short essay is just a typical type of essay that aims to give detailed descriptions of a particular object, even or phenomena, or issue. You can do this by making a comparison or presentation of anything that associates to the object that you opt to describe. Writing short essays could be challenging at times since it is hard to share your thoughts about an issue especially if you are no longer familiar with it.

There are no specific steps in writing short essays. Aside from it is considered as a literary genre, it also requires talent and artistic expertise. Its writing could be simplified as follows:

Choice of subject – this is an essay that could simply address a topic in a way that it can generate more interest to the readers. The topic should be narrow as possible.

Documentation – this means documenting ourselves reading and looking for different reliable sources that would give us a complete thought of the topic.

Preparation – before you start writing, know first the outline of your essay . This will serve as your essay skeleton that tells you what your next move is.

Writing – express your ideas clearly and logically. Make sure that you are stating what you really intend to say.

Short Essay Format

All of the short essay writings consist of the following:

Introduction – this includes the thesis statement and your strategy on how you are going to catch the attention of your target readers.

Body of Paragraph – this is where you are going to share your thoughts about your chosen subject, event and the like. Think of some ways where your readers can engage themselves. This can be in a form of providing an image into the texts.

Conclusion – your conclusion should be approximately fifty (50) words that summarizes all your main points or ideas. Do not present new ideas.

Short Essay Example

This is a Georgetown Short Essay about Favorite Class

“ At St. Albans, especially in our later years, we are given the freedom to choose from a vast array of classes. Using this freedom, I have selected classes which have personal significance to me, regardless of difficulty or appearance on my transcript. However, from these classes, one holds an extraordinary amount of value to me. This course is A.P. Omnibus History, a combination of American and European history. There are several reasons for my great interest in this class. First, I am fascinated by the cyclical nature of the past. I see these recurring political, economic, and social trends as a means of looking forward into the future, while allowing us to avoid the mistakes of the past. Second, history teaches many lessons about the nature of human behavior, both past and present, providing insight into the actions, desires, and aspirations of those around me. Finally, it lays a solid foundation for several disciplines, including political science, economics, and international relations, three fields of great interest to me. ”

infoplease.com

How long is a short essay.

A short essay would vary. It can have 250 words, 500 words or 800 words maximum depending on what is being required. Mostly, it will only consist of 500 words.

What are the three forms of structure in a short essay?

The three forms of structure are the deductive, inductive and framed. Deductive means exposing the thesis and then develops an argument. Inductive means exploring an argument and then recomposing the topic for conclusion. Framed means you start by presenting your thesis, discuss your argument and then elaborates your thesis again.

What qualifies as a short length essay?

A short length essay means that it is only written in short. The guidelines were all just the same except for the length.

When writing an essay, you have to put yourself in your readers’ shoes. It is still important to do research as it will still be useful to gather some facts. Always make you essay authentic as possible and don’t forget to cite your sources . This will add credibility to your work.

essay writing template for elementary

Short Essay Generator for Elementary

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Student Writing Models

How do I use student models in my classroom?

essay writing template for elementary

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.”

Jump to . . .

Explanatory writing.

  • How Much I Know About Space Explanatory Paragraph
  • My Favorite Pet Explanatory Paragraph
  • Sweet Spring Explanatory Paragraph

Narrative Writing

  • A Happy Day Narrative Paragraph
  • My Trip to Mexico Narrative Paragraph

Creative Writing

  • Happy Easter Story Paragraph
  • Leaf Person Story

Research Writing

  • Parrots Report
  • If I Were President Explanatory Paragraph
  • My Dad Personal Narrative
  • The Horrible Day Personal Narrative

Response to Literature

  • One Great Book Book Review
  • A Fable Story
  • Ant Poem Poem
  • The Missing Coin Story
  • Winter Words Poem
  • Horses Report
  • Ladybugs Report
  • How to Make Boiled Eggs How-To

Persuasive Writing

  • Plastic, Paper, or Cloth? Persuasive Paragraph
  • The Funny Dance Personal Narrative
  • The Sled Run Personal Narrative
  • Hello, Spring! Poem
  • Cheetahs Report

Business Writing

  • Dear Ms. Nathan Email
  • My Favorite Place to Go Description
  • My Mother Personal Essay
  • Rules Personal Essay
  • Shadow Fort Description
  • Adopting a Pet from the Pound Editorial
  • Letter to the Editor Letter to the Editor
  • Ann Personal Narrative
  • Grandpa, Chaz, and Me Personal Narrative
  • Indy’s Life Story Personal Narrative
  • Jet Bikes Personal Narrative
  • The Day I Took the Spotlight Personal Narrative
  • A Story of Survival Book Review
  • Chloe’s Day Story
  • Did You Ever Look At . . . Poem
  • Dreams Poem
  • I Am Attean Poem
  • Sloppy Joes Poem
  • The Civil War Poem
  • The Haunted House Story
  • The Terror of Kansas Story
  • When I Was Upside Down Poem
  • Deer Don’t Need to Flee to Stay Trouble-Free! Report
  • Height-Challenged German Shepherd Report
  • Friendship Definition
  • What Really Matters News Feature
  • Cheating in America Problem-Solution
  • Hang Up and Drive Editorial
  • Musical Arts Editorial
  • Summer: 15 Days or 2 1/2 Months? Editorial
  • A Cowboy's Journal Fictionalized Journal Entry
  • Giving Life Personal Narrative
  • The Great Paw Paw Personal Narrative
  • The Racist Warehouse Personal Narrative
  • Limadastrin Poem
  • The Best Little Girl in the World Book Review
  • How the Stars Came to Be Story
  • Linden’s Library Story
  • My Backyard Poem
  • The Call Poem
  • I Am Latvia Research Report
  • Mir Pushed the Frontier of Space Research Report
  • The Aloha State Research Report
  • The Incredible Egg Observation Report
  • Unique Wolves Research Report
  • Dear Dr. Larson Email

Personal Writing

  • A Lesson to Learn Journal
  • Caught in the Net Definition
  • From Bed Bound to Breaking Boards News Feature
  • If Only They Knew Comparison-Contrast
  • Save the Elephants Cause-Effect
  • Student Entrepreneur Reaches for Dreams of the Sky News Feature
  • Internet Plagiarism Problem-Solution
  • Mosquito Madness Pet Peeve
  • Anticipating the Dream Personal Narrative
  • Huddling Together Personal Narrative
  • H’s Hickory Chips Personal Narrative
  • It’s a Boy! Personal Narrative
  • My Greatest Instrument Personal Narrative
  • Snapshots Personal Narrative
  • Take Me to Casablanca Personal Narrative
  • The Boy with Chris Pine Blue Eyes Personal Narrative
  • The Climb Personal Narrative
  • The House on Medford Avenue Personal Narrative
  • Adam’s Train of Ghosts Music Review
  • Diary of Gaspard Fictionalized Journal Entry
  • My Interpretation of The Joy Luck Club Literary Analysis
  • Mama’s Stitches Poem
  • The KHS Press Play
  • Rosa Parks Research Report
  • The Killer Bean Research Report
  • Mid-Project Report on History Paper Email
  • Vegetarian Lunch Options at Bay High Email

12 Essential Paragraph and Essay Writing Skills Exercises and Worksheets

Elementary paragraph  and essay writing skills include brainstorming  and outlining, as well as the ability to write attention getters, topic and support sentences.

1 Elementary academic paragraph writing lesson

 This is a bare bones elementary paragraph writing lesson for English language learners that aims to help them understand paragraph types and the components of a paragraph. It is particularly aimed at students who have vocabulary skills but almost no writing skills.  

Elementary paragraph writing lesson for English language learners.

 Elementary paragraph writing lesson (PDF)

2 Brainstorm worksheet cluster diagram

    This is a  brainstorming and academic essay planning worksheet for students writing essays. The best way to get ideas for  a paragraph or essay is to brainstorm with the  aid of  a graphic organizer. Students can freely associate ideas to a topic. This  allows them to be more creative and explore any path their minds might take.

Brainstorming cluster template and worksheet for any topic in the classroom.

Brainstorming worksheet cluster diagram (PDF)

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3 Outlining a basic paragraph

This is a paragraph outline worksheet to help students learn how to write a basic paragraph.

Paragraph writing outline template and worksheet for academic writing students.

Paragraph outline worksheet (PDF)

4 Outlining an essay

This is an essay outline worksheet to help students focus on organization and planning when preparing to write essays.

Essay outline planning template or worksheet for writing students to help them organize their ideas before writing an essay.

Essay outline worksheet (PDF)

Related Resources:

6 exercises for writing topic sentences

10 opinion and argument writing worksheets

8 comparison/contrast templates and exercises

10 cause/effect writing activities

3 kinds of exercises for teaching transitions

6 memorable narrative essay writing practice exercises (PDF)

6 delightful descriptive paragraph and essay writing exercises  (PDF)

5 Writing main idea sentences for essays or paragraphs (with possible answers)

In this worksheet students practice writing main idea sentences by looking at the pictures, and writing an appropriate main idea sentence. They should try to express themselves freely.

Writing main ideas practice worksheet for elementary academic writing students.

Main idea writing practice worksheet (PDF)

6 Attention getters (with pictures) for essays

Attention getters are essential at the beginning of a paragraph or an essay when you want to attract the reader’s attention. There are many kinds of attention getters but a few of the most common are anecdotes, quotation, provocative questions and surprising facts or statistics. Students can practice attention getters by looking at the pictures and trying to write an attention getter for each one.

Attention getters academic writing exercise using pictures for elementary writing students.

Writing attention getters  (PDF)

7 Attention getters comprehension exercise

This worksheet is a good way to challenge students’ knowledge of different types of attention getters.

Challenging essay writing attention getter comprehension exercise for writing students.

8 Kinds of attention getters writing exercise

This is another worksheet that tries to impress upon students the importance of good openings or attention getters.

Attention getter writing exercise for essay writing students to help them understand the benefits of the attention getter.

9 Understanding support sentences

This support sentence writing worksheet can be used to test students’ understanding of both topic and support sentences.

Support sentence writing worksheet and exercise for academic writing beginners.

Writing support sentences (PDF)

essay writing template for elementary

12 Replies to “Basic Writing Templates, Exercises and Worksheets”

Great material. thanks.

Amazing!!! The exercises are completely helpful to me!!!! Thank a lot!

Amazing , i appreciate. exercises are unbelievably useful. especially that they are free of charge.

Thanks for the comments. Glad the exercises are useful.

Thank you! very useful material

This is a wonderful site. I was wondering if there was an answer sheet for the 6 Understanding Topic Sentences? Thank you for offering this information about writing paragraphs.

So helpful… many thanks.

Thank you so much. You are indeed a great help to many. Blessings

Good creative material

The materials are good and easy to use by my students. With the help of the pictures and graphic, my student can easily understand on how to write and essay. thank you for the creative ,materials,

Some really good material BUT the ADS are so annoying!

This is really useful information and activities for busy teachers. The beauty of it is you can use it at all levels, particularly if your classroom profile is spiky. Keep up the good work.

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COMMENTS

  1. 56 Free Printable Writing Paper Templates for Elementary School

    From their first words and sentences in kindergarten to full-fledged stories and essays by fifth grade, we love the transformation students make. That's why we've put together this printable writing paper template bundle containing 56 FREE writing pages. You'll have everything you need to teach all kinds of writing—from informative to ...

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    Essay writing is a crucial skill as students traverse the path from elementary school to college and eventually the professional world. Our essay writing worksheets will equip them with everything they need for the journey. Informational, opinion, persuasive, and narrative text types are presented in innovative ways.

  3. How to write a perfect essay

    Follow your outline, using each of your supporting points as the topic sentence of its own paragraph. Use descriptive words to get your ideas across to the reader. Go into detail, using specific information to tell your story or make your point. Stay on track, making sure that everything you include is somehow related to the main idea of your ...

  4. Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

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  5. Essay Writing: Lesson for Kids

    After You Write. This lesson gave you three essay writing steps: choosing a topic, brainstorming, and writing. There is one more step that you can take if you want your writing to be exceptional ...

  6. Fifth Grade Essay Writing Template (Teacher-Made)

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  7. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

    Students should be encouraged to learn words they frequently misspell, as well as words they wish to include in their writing. Teachers also should help students acquire the skills they need to generate and check plausible spellings for words. 3. Teach students to construct sentences for fluency , meaning and style.

  8. How to Write an Essay Outline

    Revised on July 23, 2023. An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph, giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold. You'll sometimes be asked to submit an essay outline as a separate ...

  9. How to Write an Essay Outline + Essay Outline Examples

    Body Paragraph 2. Provide additional supporting details and evidence, as in this essay outline example. Topic Sentence: A shorter school year would save school districts millions of dollars per year. Detail Sentence 1: Districts could save money on energy costs by keeping schools closed longer.

  10. Essay Map

    Overview. Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas.

  11. Student Writing Samples and Analysis for Elementary, Middle School, and

    Here's the Collection! Please Note: I used to link to the scoring guide and rubrics, but the files seem to have been moved. Truthfully, they are not necessary at all. Furthermore, you will find links to many excellent Six-Trait rubrics here, including the original Six Traits rubric from Oregon (where it all began).. This collection scores papers using the Six Traits of Writing: 1) Ideas and ...

  12. Essay Writing Tips for Elementary Students

    Critical thinking is essential for long-term success in any field, especially writing. Teachers can help students develop this skill by hosting a question-and-answer period after students have read a book or written an essay and read it aloud to the class. Promoting confidence in the writer is also crucial. The questions students ask advance ...

  13. Scaffolding an Opinion Writing Essay With Frames and Templates

    Using a Paragraph Template or Frame. Using paragraph frames is an even more useful scaffold when teaching opinion writing. Frames help your upper elementary students better understand not only how to share their opinions, but how to support their opinions with effective arguments. Paragraph frames also help students become more comfortable ...

  14. PDF The Basic Five Paragraph Essay: Format and Outline Worksheet

    There is an Outline worksheet on the back of this page to help you start planning the content, order and organization of your essay. Paragraph 1: Introduction -- If possible, open with an attention-getting device to interest the reader (perhaps a quote or question). Introduce the topic of your essay in general, and present some context for this ...

  15. Scaffolding a Compare and Contrast Essay With Frames and Templates

    Writing can be hard and frustrating for upper elementary students; writing a compare and contrast essay can be even harder and more frustrating. Often, this skill gets pushed to the back burner. It is a lot easier to practice comparing and contrasting with things that take less time - like by using a Venn Diagram.

  16. How to Structure an Essay

    The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...

  17. Essay for Primary School: Simple Guide for Kids [with Samples]

    An essay is one of the first written assignments you may get. So, we advise you to pay special attention to what your teacher says. Before assigning such a task, they give you explanations for preparing a primary school essay. Usually, elementary school essays are meant to fire up kids' imagination and expose their writing skills.

  18. Short Essay for Elementary

    Preparation - before you start writing, know first the outline of your essay. This will serve as your essay skeleton that tells you what your next move is. Writing - express your ideas clearly and logically. Make sure that you are stating what you really intend to say. Short Essay Format. All of the short essay writings consist of the ...

  19. Student Writing Models

    Student Models. 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.".

  20. Basic Writing Templates, Exercises and Worksheets

    12 Essential Paragraph and Essay Writing Skills Exercises and Worksheets Elementary paragraph and essay writing skills include brainstorming and outlining, as well as the ability to write attention getters, topic and support sentences. 1 Elementary academic paragraph writing lesson This is a bare bones elementary paragraph writing lesson for English language learners that aims to

  21. 37 Outstanding Essay Outline Templates (Argumentative, Narrative

    Essay outlines can be used for any college essay, research papers, a contrast essay, speech writing, or an expository essay. There are a range of essay outline templates to use, and they vary depending on the style of essay you are writing. These include: Argumentative essay outline. Narrative essay outline. Contrast essay outline.

  22. Free writing-essays printables

    Black History Month - Biography Research Project Informational Writing Template. Kiki's Classroom. $6.50. {FREE!} Persuasive Writing Prompts. Created by. Blair Turner. Here are 24 thought-provoking prompts to jump-start persuasive writing. The Common Core standards put a strong emphasis on persuasive writing skills.