5th Grade Writing Test Preparation Activities

How Can My 5th Grader Prepare for a Writing Test?

The best way to get better at writing is to do it frequently. Your child should be writing at least a little bit each day to continuously improve and gain practice with difficult vocabulary and spelling words. Whether it be a daily journal entry or sending e-mails to friends, ongoing practice is critical.

In addition to simple, everyday writing, your son or daughter will likely be provided preparation activities for his or her upcoming writing assessment in school. Typically, these practice test materials include sample writing prompts, worksheets for general skills practice and overall topics to study. Get started with the three activities below.

Three Writing Activities

Writing Prompts

Prompts are used at nearly every grade level to help students become interested in writing. Many students struggle to come up with something to talk about, and writing prompts provide a topic, general outline and key questions to help get them started. If your 5th grader has not been given practice prompts for his or her upcoming exam, it's easy to write your own or print them for free from the Internet. Common subjects include school uniforms, family vacations, childhood pets and moving to a new location.

Story Sequencing

Writing tests are commonly scored based on a few key elements, and one is organization. Children must be able to develop a story around a central theme and transition smoothly between events. For practice, give your child a central idea and ask him or her to write a short story about it on note cards. Each note card will feature a main point or transition statement.

Once your child's story is complete, shuffle the cards and have him or her place them in the correct order. If your son or daughter struggles to find the right order, there are likely areas of the story that need further development. Talk through the story out loud, and add additional details or information as needed to make the sequence more clear.

Spelling Word Search

Standard writing conventions, like spelling and grammar, are also assessed during state exams. A fun way to give your 5th grader spelling practice before the test is to create a spelling list word search. Select words from your child's classroom spelling quizzes or textbooks and input them into a word search generator online. Finding the correct spellings of the words will give your son or daughter a quick review before the big day.