3rd Grade Writing Assignments and Exercises

Creating 3rd Grade Writing Assignments and Exercises

Your 3rd grader may practice writing by completing prompts, journal essays and book reports. These types of assignments provide important skills practice, but your child may be more motivated by unique and creative writing assignments as well. Read on to learn about traditional and nontraditional writing assignments and exercises that your child can complete at home for additional practice. Remember to find out what he or she is covering in the classroom so you can create appropriate examples.

Third Grade Writing Assignments and Exercises by Type

Writing Prompts

Prompts may be used to help your child write narrative, expository or persuasive essays. These typically focus on topics that appeal to 3rd graders' personal lives or subjects they've recently covered in class. If your child has trouble coming up with topics on his or her own, writing prompts may be a good choice.

Narrative Writing Prompt Example

School's out for the summer! When you're not in class, you have a lot of free time to play and come up with new activities to keep yourself busy. Think about some of your favorite things to do when you're not in school, and describe what a day in your life would be like if you could do anything you wanted. Be sure to include details about friends, family members and pets that you'd like to be with you, the foods you would eat, the games you would play and more.

Letter Writing

Although book reports are an effective method for helping students understand and remember a story, many children do not find them to be exciting. One way you can help your child become more involved with a book and learning about characters and story development is to have him or her write a letter to the author. Letter writing is a more exciting method for your child to interact with books while gaining practice with a different style of writing.

Letter Writing Example

To get started, you can either choose a book that your child has read in class or you may ask him or her to read a book by a favorite author or about a specific subject. Make sure to choose an author who is still living. Once your child finishes the book, take some time to explore different ideas he or she might want to discuss with the author.

For example, find out what your child liked most about the book and if it's his or her favorite book by that author. Additionally, your child may want to ask the author questions about the book and why it was written. The topics can be left up to your child, but you'll still want to assist them in formatting the letter. Since your child may get a response, this activity will motivate him or her to produce quality work.

Blog Posts

Many teachers have a class website with a blog that students contribute to on a regular basis. Every week, a different student is responsible for writing a summary about classroom events and assignments. This type of activity allows students to become more familiar with writing for technology, and it's something your child can do at home as well.

At-Home Blogging

Help your child become more familiar with technology, while also keeping up-to-date with his or her writing by creating a free blog on the Internet. You can choose from sites like WordPress or Blogger. Work with your child to come up with a weekly schedule for posting his or her feelings about events at school, books read or general thoughts. Being able to see his or her work online and share the site with others can help motivate your child to write more often.