grade 4 essay writing samples

4th grade nonfiction writing samples

by: Jessica Kelmon | Updated: June 21, 2018

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In fourth grade, students are starting to prepare for middle school, when nonfiction writing is practiced in all subjects. What’s more, under the Common Core Standards, nonfiction writing is more and more essential to the curriculum. Learn more about your fourth grader’s writing under Common Core . According to the standards, students should be learning three types of writing:

Informative/explanatory writing

Like a report, the purpose of this type of writing is to convey information accurately with facts, details, and supportive information.

These can be stories or screenplays or other fiction written in the first, second, or third person.

Opinion pieces

In opinion writing, students encourage readers to accept their opinion about something by writing what they and why.

Fourth grade writing sample #1

John Cabot and the Rediscovery of North America

In this child’s report on John Cabot, you’ll see a few important features. First, there are five sections, each with a bolded header announcing what sort of information follows. Note that the fifth section is the bibliography, where everyone can see the two sources this student relied on for her information.

Type of writing: Informative/explanatory writing

Fourth grade writing sample #2

Big Book of Evolution

Dylan’s report on evolution is also divided into sections. Note that Dylan uses visuals throughout this report. What’s more, the report has a table of contents at the beginning, and at the end, Dylan cites his sources for the written information and the visuals.

Fourth grade writing sample #3

A Tale of Despereaux

This is a classic fourth grade book report. Note that the student uses headers to announce what type of information follows: the summary, the characters, and the writer’s recommendation about the book.

Fourth grade writing sample #4

Zoos Should Close

This student writes an opinion piece about why she thinks zoos should close. Note that she cites multiple reasons with examples of why zoos aren’t good for animals. She also addresses a counterargument and refutes it, which isn’t actually required until seventh and eighth grade.

Type of writing: Opinion writing

See more examples of real kids’ writing in different grades: Kindergarten , first grade , second grade , third grade , fifth grade .

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101 Exciting 4th Grade Writing Prompts for 2023 (Free Printable!)

Use them for journal writing, essay topics, and more!

Fourth grade is a time for students to continue to hone their writing chops as they put to use the skills they’ve learned and gain confidence in their abilities. We’ve collected this list of fourth grade writing prompts—including opinion, persuasive, informational, and narrative—to spur your students’ imaginations and get them writing!

You can get 50 of these fourth grade writing prompts in a free PowerPoint slideshow bundle! They make it easy to share these writing ideas with your students.  Grab your free PowerPoint bundle by submitting your email here .

• Persuasive and Opinion Writing Prompts
• Descriptive and Expository Writing Prompts
• Narrative and Personal Writing Prompts
• Creative Writing Prompts
• Current Events Writing Prompts

Persuasive and Opinion 4th Grade Writing Prompts

Would you rather be good at sports or good in school? Why?

Would you rather have lots of money or lots of friends? Why?

What is your favorite subject in school? Why?

Are fourth graders ready to stay home alone? Why or why not?

Name two characters from different books that you think might be good friends. Why?

Which is more important for success, skill or luck?

Should kids be paid an allowance to do chores around the house? Why or why not?

Why are classroom rules important?

If you had a time machine, what era of history would you visit?

Why is math important?

Why is science important?

Should fourth graders have cell phones? Why or why not?

If you could open a store, what type of store would it be and why?

Which would you rather read: a scary story that gives you goosebumps or a funny story that cracks you up? Why?

What is the hardest thing about being a fourth grader?

If I were the ruler of the world, the first law I would pass would be … because …

If you found a backpack filled with dollar bills, what would you do?

Is it ever OK to tell secrets? Why or why not?

What animal makes the best pet? Why?

Is it better to spend an hour a day reading or an hour a day exercising? Why?

Descriptive and Expository 4th Grade Writing Prompts

If you had a YouTube channel, what would you talk about?

What’s the best book you’ve read recently? What was it all about?

If you won a million dollars, how would you spend the money?

Describe what you think of as perfect weather.

Describe how to build a birdhouse step by step.

Write five rules for staying organized.

What is the worst book you ever read?

Describe the physical appearance of someone in your family in detail.

Imagine you are in a hot-air balloon above your house. Describe everything you can see.

Describe how to play your favorite board game.

There’s an old saying: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” What do you think this saying means?

Describe your perfect day.

One of your little cousins is very nervous about starting kindergarten. What would you tell them to make them feel better?

Imagine you are an adult and describe your dream job.

Explain your morning routine in detail, from waking up to arriving at school.

Describe the perfect meal, including what you’d eat and where you’d dine.

Share what you do on a typical non-school day.

Explain the right way to do one of your household chores, like making your bed or cleaning your room.

Describe your favorite room at home in detail.

How do you prepare for a big test? Describe the ways you study or practice.

Narrative and Personal 4th Grade Writing Prompts

Share one of the stories your family has told you about when you were a baby.

What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you?

Write about an adult you look up to.

What’s the nicest thing anybody has ever done for you?

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Write about a time you felt like quitting but didn’t. How did you keep yourself going?

Do you like nonfiction books or fiction books better? Why?

What makes your family unique?

What would you say is your greatest strength? Greatest weakness?

Are you a patient person? Why or why not?

What is something you’ve never done that you would like to try?

What is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you?

Write about a time you tried something new and how you felt before, during, and after.

What is your earliest memory?

What’s your favorite holiday? What makes it so special?

Write about a time when you felt proud of yourself.

Tell the story of your favorite field trip of all time.

If you could relive any day in your life, what would it be? Would you want it to be the same or different?

What holiday is important to your family? Describe how you celebrate it together.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten? How did it make you feel?

Creative 4th Grade Writing Prompts

If you met an alien, what three questions would you ask them?

Pretend you drank a magic potion that made you as tiny as an ant. Where would you go and what would you do?

Pretend you ate a magic pill that made you as tall as a redwood tree. Where would you go and what would you do?

Write a story that includes these five words: keys, spaghetti, uncle, jellyfish, spaceship.

What would the world be like if dinosaurs still existed?

If you could invent something new the world really needs, what would it be? How would it work?

Retell a classic story, making the villain the hero instead.

Imagine that one day you woke up and found everyone in the world could no longer talk. What would happen next?

Write a new chapter of your favorite book, with yourself as a new character.

Imagine you woke up one morning with a superpower, like invisibility or the ability to fly. Describe your experiences learning how to use that power.

Use these words to start a story: “When I opened the box that came in the mail, I never expected to find …”

Describe a world where it rains fruit juice and snows M&Ms.

Come up with the most ridiculous excuse possible for why you are unable to turn in your homework today.

Describe a world where all the adults are robots, but kids are still human kids.

Imagine a conversation between yourself and a talking animal.

Describe the kind of creature you’d create if you were a mad scientist. Would it be scary and mean? Nice and friendly?

Invent a new kind of candy. Give it a name, and write a commercial jingle for it.

Write about a day where kids are in charge instead of grown-ups.

Imagine you’re lost in a haunted wood, and tell the story of your escape.

Tell a story that ends with these words: “… and that’s how we all learned to fly.”

Describe a night in the life of the tooth fairy.

Current Events 4th Grade Writing Prompts

If you made a time capsule for this year, what would you put in it?

Describe something that you saw in the news recently and how it made you feel.

Tell about an event that happened recently at your school or in your town.

What do you think is one of the world’s biggest problems right now, and how would you solve it?

Read a news story about something happening in another country and summarize it.

Write a news article about something important that happened to you this week.

Create a poem about something in the local news right now.

Write a letter to the editor about a current issue, explaining your opinion.

Find a “good news” story, and share why it makes you happy.

What living famous person do you most admire and why?

What do you think kids today can do about climate change and global warming?

Learn about an endangered animal, and describe what we can do to help it.

What does the word “racism” mean to you?

What is one thing you would do to make your school or town a better place?

Choose an upcoming sports event, and explain who you think will win.

Describe a current fashion trend or something that’s very popular in your school right now, and how you feel about it.

What can we do to help people with different opinions get along with one another better?

Interview a grown-up you know, and write a news article about them.

What do you think is the best new song right now? The worst? Why?

Describe an event that’s happening in the world right now that you don’t understand. What questions would you ask a grown-up about it?

How do you use writing prompts with your students? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Also check out 57 awesome 4th grade books you’ll want to share with students ..

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Super Writing Lessons | Student Writing Lessons | Expository Writing

Informational/Expository Student Writing Sample- Grade 4

Read Time 8 mins | Mar 25, 2020 11:43:49 PM | Written by: Toolbox

7-Day Process Piece Student Sample Grade 4

One way that I found to ease the tremendous stress of a research project was to break it into manageable chunks for my students. Upon introducing the topic or subject of writing we began by creating a list of everything we knew about the topic and then sorting and categorizing that list.  

Our journey into the research then became much easier to manage. Students focused on one aspect of the big topic and then began to notice severa l smaller main ideas that matched each focused area. Students found information about the main ideas and then it was time to write. The following piece of exposition is a result of   breaking the writing process down into small chunks   and wr iting one section of the piece each day for a total of seven days ( see the Expository/Informative Writing Summarizing Framework . ) In the real world, authors do not just write in one big blur, or what some might call flash drafts.  They in fact write a section, reflect on that section, and revise it as they go. That is exactly what my students were able to do quite successfully.

What really works in this piece:

• Organizational structure – the pillar
• Word choice – word referents
• Distinct Main Ideas
• The use of research: quote, amazing facts, anecdote
• The voice and tone

Note the use of informative verbs and the way the author states each main idea in this introduction paragraph.

Note the use of “word referents” instead of “the horseshoe crab…the horseshoe crab…the horseshoe crab…”  The author uses the productive questions  “What does it look like, why is it important?”  to add meaningful detail to support the main idea – appearance.

The student states the main idea of this paragraph as a question.  This is one strategy taught for revising boring main idea sentences.  Note the use of an anecdote to provide interesting detail to support the main idea – habitat.

In the conclusion paragraph, the author uses a hypothetical anecdote, informative verbs, a definitive phrase, word referents, and a general restatement of the topic sentence.  All of these are strategies taught in EW instruction.

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Essay for Class 4 Children in English | Essay Topics for 4th Grade Students

Essay Writing enhances your thinking capability to put your perception in words. It’s not an easy job to think of a topic and frame sentences on it. Thus, to make your struggle easy we have compiled Frequently Asked Essays for Class 4 all in one place. Prepare whichever topic you want from the list and get different ideas. To make it easy for you we have written the 4th Standard English Essays in a simple language.

List of Essay Topics of Class 4

Explore our collection of most common essays for 4th Grade Children. You will have both Short & Long Essays written on different topics to give you the necessary ideas. You will also find the 10 Lines Essays on numerous topics from here that will help you improve your writing skills. Read them and bring out the imagination in you and write essays on your own for your speeches or competitions.

• Essay on Trees for Class 4
• Essay on My Best Friend for Class 4
• Essay on Swami Vivekananda for Class 4
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation Essay for Class 4
• How I Spent My Winter Vacation Essay for Class 4
• Essay on Forest for Class 4
• Essay on Books are our best friends for Class 4
• Essay on Good Manners for Class 4
• Essay on Holi for Class 4
• Essay on Winter Season for Class 4
• Essay on Christmas for Class 4
• Essay on Rose Flower for Class 4
• Essay on Pollution for Class 4
• Essay on Badminton for Class 4
• My Favourite Book Essay for Class 4
• Essay on Honesty for Class 4
• Health is Wealth Essay for Class 4
• Essay on Tiger for Class 4
• Morning Walk Essay for Class 4
• Essay on Land Pollution for Class 4
• Essay on Mango for Class 4
• Essay on Horse for Class 4
• Essay on Cricket for Class 4
• If I were a bird Essay for Class 4
• My Country India Essay for Class 4
• Essay on Elephant for Class 4
• Essay on Sunny Day for Class 4
• Essay on Cow for Class 4
• Essay on Ideal Student for Class 4
• My Dream House Essay for Class 4

FAQs on Essay for Class 4

1. How Can I Improve my Essay Writing Skills?

Make an outline of what you want to write before you begin and use the right vocabulary. Analyze the topic and know how to write the introduction, body, and conclusion.

2. How do you Start an Essay?

The Most Common Way to Start an Essay is to Introduce Your Topic.

3. Where do I find the List of Frequently Asked Essay Topics for Grade 4 Students?

You can find the List of Frequently Asked Essay Topics for Grade 4 Students on our page.

Hoping the information shed regarding Essay for Class 4 has been useful to you. If you want anything to be added to the list feel free to reach us via the comment box. Stay in touch with our site Worksheetsbuddy.com for the latest info on Essays of different Classes.

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Narrative Writing for Grade 4

Narratives tell stories.

These worksheets and writing prompts focus on creative and effective story writing for kids . 

Writing hooks : 5 ways to get your reader's attention

Plot structure : 5 stages of plot structure

Creating settings : place, time and environment of a story

Character development : create character traits through Q&A

Show, don't tell! : actions and details rather than exposition

Sensory details : writing about what characters see, smell, taste, feel & hear

Descriptive writing : create a complete mental picture of a scene

Small moments writing : write in great detail about a specific moment

Point of view : first, second and third person

Writing personal narratives : organize and write a personal recollection

Narrative writing practice : tying together characters, setting and plot

Narrative writing prompts : creative prompts for grade 4 students

Narrative writing worksheet for grade 4

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B.e.s.t. writing scoring samplers.

The Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Writing Scoring Samplers can be used as a resource regarding the scoring of student responses on the Writing assessment. In each sampler, examples of student responses represent various combinations of the score points across the scoring domains. As a basis for developing a common understanding of the scoring criteria, an annotation follows the response to explain the prominent characteristics of the response described in the rubric. These responses are not intended to provide a full spectrum of examples for each score point in each domain. Moreover, they do not necessarily represent the highest or lowest example of each score point in each domain. The applicable rubric and corresponding prompt and text set are also included in each sampler.

2022 Grade 4 B.E.S.T. Writing Scoring Sampler

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