Third Grade Writing Ideas for Parents and Teachers

How to Create Fun Writing Activities for Third Graders

Writing book summaries and essays may seem monotonous to kids, but writing can be an activity that they enjoy. By changing up writing practice and incorporating fun, new exercises, your students will stay energized and excited about writing. Plenty of websites offer free writing activities and worksheets if you start to run low, but here are three simple ideas your students or children can use to practice writing in class or after school.

Three Ideas for Writing Practice

Point of View Narrative

In third grade, students begin writing more descriptive narratives than in previous years. One project that third graders may like is to write their own narrative story about a day in the classroom or a day in their home from the perspective of an inanimate object, like a pencil sharpener or an alarm clock. Not only will this exercise require the children to be more creative but it will also give them practice with narration, dialogue and sequence of events.

Vocabulary Word Narrative

Children sometimes struggle with writing; they may also find spelling to be difficult. As an alternative to administering weekly vocabulary quizzes or creating practice worksheets for your third graders, use this activity to incorporate spelling practice into a fun writing exercise. Take the vocabulary list for the week and have your students or children write a narrative using all of the words on the list. Again, this exercise will give your students and children practice with their weekly spelling words, as well as creating a story with an introduction, body and conclusion.

Interview Summaries

Another assignment that gives your third graders the opportunity to gain hands-on communication experience is conducting interviews and creating summaries or stories based on the answers to the questions they ask.

You can choose to do this activity in several ways. For example, as a teacher, you may set aside time for your students to interview each other or school employees, or as a parent, you can have your child interview family members or coaches. Before sending your third graders off to complete this activity, you may need to help them come up with questions appropriate for the interviewee. Once the interview is complete, have your students or children write a short summary or essay about the person they interviewed and what was learned.