Fourth Grade Writing Activities

How to Create Daily Writing Activities for Fourth Graders

Writing frequently is one of the most effective ways for kids to improve their writing skills. Although you and your child may not have a lot of time to spend on writing every day, try to create quick practice activities for your child to complete before or after school. You may want to find out what is being covered in your child's classroom - in writing as well as other subjects - so that you're able to connect your activities to what he or she is already learning.

Three Writing Exercises

Daily Journal Prompts

Writing prompts provide structured questions for kids to respond to, making it easier to stimulate their imaginations and creativity. Create journal prompts for each day of the week that your child can respond to in his or her free time before class or in the evening. The prompts should be relevant and interesting for your child and can be narrative, expository or persuasive in nature. For example, you may ask your child to tell a story about his or her favorite family holiday, or you could have your child provide reasoning for why something is important, such as exercise or studying.

Reading Summaries

Another exercise you can incorporate into your child's at-home practice regimen is writing summaries. You may choose to use required reading from class or pleasure reading from home; either way, have your child write a short summary of each chapter that he or she reads. Not only does this activity help improve writing skills, but your child will also be improving his or her reading comprehension.

Extended Response Math Problems

Your child may or may not have extended response math problems from school, but you can easily create some on your own if necessary. An extended response question is a regular math problem, but students have to explain their process in writing after solving it. First, you must find out what skills your child currently has and what he or she is learning in class. Typically, fourth graders learn about fractions, geometry and more advanced multiplication. Then, write a brief paragraph explaining the problem and ask your child to show all of the work he or she did, why those steps were taken and how it resulted in the answer provided. This exercise will help to improve your child's writing skills and will also help him or her better understand the steps taken in mathematical problem solving.