Hi friends! A while back, after I did a post of story ideas for kids, I got requests for essay topics for kids. I thought it was a little out of my wheelhouse, though, since I’ve never taught children. But then I thought, wait a minute…I’m married to someone who used to teach middle school English! So I invited Mr. Donovan to guest post today. Take it away, honey…
For these, I tried to think about 5th and 6th grade writing topics, but the truth is, most of these writing prompts would also work for kids much younger, and some of them would work for older kids. If you’re a busy teacher or homeschooling parent, I hope you find good ideas you can use.
While this list focuses especially on persuasive writing, it offers a wide range of subjects. I think many students will feel strongly about them since they know about them firsthand, and they may have fun writing about them. Some prompts may encourage students to try to persuade through the use of humor and personal stories, while others may lead them to compare and contrast two things or use logic and/or ethical arguments to support their points of view. Hopefully, their strong feelings will lead student writers to experience persuasive writing as an essential tool for their success.[spacer height=”20px”]
Personal Narrative Essay Ideas
- The three things I can’t live without are…
- In the past year, I’ve changed in the following ways…
- A close call I once had occurred when…
- My favorite hour of the day is…
- I once got lost for a long period of time at…
- One thing I love to shop for is…
- The best sporting event I ever attended was…
- Here’s a time that I was scared but took a chance.
- Here’s what happened when I tried something for the first time.
- The thing I’m most looking forward to this summer is…
- A decision that was very hard to make for me was…
- The last time I laughed really really hard was…
- A time I was really proud of one of my parents/siblings was…
- Describe a favorite family photo and the story it tells.
- One time when I was having dinner with my family…
Persuasive Essay Ideas
- Why It’s Important To Be a Good Winner
- How to Make Friends and Keep Them
- To Be Successful, You Need To…
- How to Disagree With Someone Without Being Rude
- The Best Thing About This School Is….and Here’s Why
- The Best Place to Live Would Be…and Here’s Why
- Why It’s Important to Set Goals
- How to Prevent Bullying
- Students Should Be Allowed to Learn At Their Own Pace
- The Best TV Show On Right Now Is…Because….
- The Best TV Show Ever Made Is….and Here’s Why
- My Favorite Superhero Is…Because…
- Why My Favorite Sport Is the Best Sport
- Students Should/Shouldn’t Have Their Phones at School
- Our Country Would Be Better If We Passed This Law
- No One Should Ever Watch More Than Four Hours of TV, Movies, and Videos a Day
- Why It’s Time to Remove the Penny From Circulation
- It’s Likely that Extraterrestrials Exist
- Taking Photographs of People Without Their Permission Should Be Prohibited
- Telling A Lie Is/Isn’t Always Wrong
Compare and Contrast Essay Ideas
- Baseball and basketball have both similarities and differences.
- Here’s what I would and wouldn’t be willing to do for a million dollars
- The biggest differences between winter and spring are…
- Ways I’m alike and ways I’m different from my parent/sibling are…
- Cats and dogs may be very different, but they’re also alike in some respects.
- My two favorite bands compare and contrast in the following ways.
- Compare and contrast your two favorite superheroes.
- My two favorite restaurants are different in many ways.
- Though very different, the sun and the moon do have a few similarities.
- While my two favorite classes have key differences, they also have much in common
- Skating and running have a lot in common.
- Parent teachers and classroom teachers are different and alike in many ways.
- Poems and stories have some similarities and some differences.
- PCs and Mac computers have less in common than you might think.
- The book and movie version of my favorite story have a lot of similarities, but they’re different in some ways.
If you have other ideas for easy essay topics for middle school, let us know in the comments. And if you liked the list, please share them on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter—we appreciate it, and busy teachers might appreciate it, too! Thanks for reading this, and have a great day!
– Gill Donovan
This is a great list for home schooling parents and self-paced learners. Thank you for sharing.
PS Please hit me back sometime with a comment on my blog http://www.naomiplane.com
Hi! Thanks, Naomi! I’ll stop by your blog in just a sec.
These are so great! Thanks for posting Mr. Donovan! This list can also be used to connect with grandkids. If I answer some of these questions about my own life, the answers will likely be something of interest to my grandchildren and wouldn’t it be great to have them write on the same topics for me to read. Thanks again for your experiences with young people that make greater connection possible.
Thanks, Jessie! Interesting take on the list! I suppose I could actually use the list to connect with my own nieces and nephews.
These are fabulous! I often simply want my children to practice handwriting, but I’m at a loss when they ask me what they should write. This takes care of two problems with one awesome solution! Thank you!! 🙂
Hi, Lisa! So glad you can use it in this way. Thanks for letting me know.
as a mom of three boys, I find the list insightful into the minds of kids.
Good to hear this–as I was working on it, I kept circling back to try to decide whether or not the subjects would appeal to kids. So thanks!
Having taught thirty-one years in elementary school (many of those years in 5th and 6th grade), this is an awesome list. I would have used some of these for sure. Teachers are the biggest thieves.?
When we had creative writing time in my class, I always wrote too. I wanted my students to know that I looked forward to this time. Teachers set the atmosphere. After a time, the kids quit asking, “How much do we have to write?” and instead asked, “Mr. Springer, can we write about this?” Giving students time to share is another key to putting a value on the written word.
Thanks, Pete Springer! As someone who taught 6th grade for a year, I know what a fine achievement it is to bring students to want to write in class and to feel comfortable enough to share their writing. Sounds like you taught some wonderful classes. Great to hear you’d have used these.
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