Free Printable 5th Grade Writing Worksheets

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NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comWrite your answer in each box.WritingIs learning cursive still worth the time? Give orderedreasons and a closing.
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Next step Print lined essay paper for a longer piecePlan a narrative: characters, setting, problem

All 60 prompts

Opinion 20

  • Are video games a sport? State a claim and answer one objection.
  • Is a longer school day worth a four-day week? Weigh both sides, then decide.
  • Is homework helpful? Give your strongest reason last.
  • Is it better to master one hobby or try many? Defend one side.
  • Is it fair to keep animals in zoos? Support your claim with facts.
  • Is learning cursive still worth the time? Give ordered reasons and a closing.
  • Should cities ban cars near schools? Use specifically and consequently.
  • Should every student learn a second language? Back your claim with examples.
  • Should fifth graders get letter grades? State a claim and order your reasons.
  • Should fifth graders mentor younger students? Give reasons and an example.
  • Should kids under twelve have phones? Use consequently in your answer.
  • Should recess be earned or guaranteed? State your claim and reasons in order.
  • Should schools replace textbooks with tablets? Support your claim with facts.
  • Should schools require uniforms? Use specifically to give an example.
  • Should students grade their own group work? Order your reasons.
  • Should students pick the new books for the school library? Support your claim.
  • Should students vote on field trips? Explain what could go right and wrong.
  • Should the school year run all year with short breaks? Defend your claim.
  • What should the next school assembly be about? Persuade the principal.
  • Which matters more in a team, talent or effort? Order your reasons.
Show all 60 prompts (40 more)

Informative 20

  • Compare renewable and nonrenewable energy. Use in contrast.
  • Compare two biomes. Begin with what they share, then use in contrast.
  • Describe how a book becomes a movie. Group the steps and use examples.
  • Describe how the internet carries a message across the world.
  • Describe the three states of matter. Use especially to stress one point.
  • Explain how a bridge holds weight. Name two types of bridges.
  • Explain how a compass works and when a hiker would need one.
  • Explain how a hurricane forms. Use domain words such as eye and surge.
  • Explain how an author builds suspense. Quote a line from a book you know.
  • Explain how earthquakes happen. Use the words plate and fault.
  • Explain how erosion changes land over time. Use domain words and a closing.
  • Explain how fractions and decimals are related. Give three examples.
  • Explain how sound travels from a guitar string to your ear.
  • Explain how the branches of government share power. Define veto.
  • Explain photosynthesis to a younger student. Define each science word.
  • Explain what an ecosystem is. Open with one broad observation.
  • Explain why we have time zones. Use an example with two cities.
  • Open with a general statement about deserts, then explain how animals survive.
  • Write a report on an explorer or inventor. Include a quotation or example.
  • Write about a tradition from another country. Use facts from a source.

Narrative 20

  • A robot spends its first day at school. Let the robot narrate.
  • A stray cat picks your family. Tell it from the cat's point of view.
  • A time capsule is opened fifty years late. Narrate what is found.
  • Narrate the journey of a message in a bottle. Skip years in one sentence.
  • The power fails in a museum at night. Use sensory details to build tension.
  • Tell a story from the point of view of a lost umbrella.
  • Tell a story in which two characters want the same thing.
  • Tell a story where the weather acts like a character.
  • Tell about a big game through the eyes of the kid on the bench.
  • Tell about a goodbye. Slow down the last moment with details.
  • Tell the same morning twice: once rushed, once slow.
  • Two friends argue and make up. Tell it mostly through dialogue.
  • Write a scene set in a crowded kitchen. Use dialogue and sensory detail.
  • Write a scene that lasts one minute but fills a page. Slow it down.
  • Write a story that starts at the end and then explains how it happened.
  • Write about a chase that ends in a laugh. Control the pacing.
  • Write about a moment of silence. Use sound, smell and touch.
  • Write about a small choice that changed your day. Show the turning point.
  • Your narrator has a secret. Reveal it only in the last sentence.
  • Your narrator is the new kid and notices everything. Write the first hour.

How this list was compiled: Prompts written for this site on 2026-10-02, twenty in each of three sets. The sets follow the three kinds of writing the Common Core State Standards name for grade 5 (opinion pieces supported with logically ordered reasons, informative or explanatory texts, narratives), read on 2026-10-02 in the standards document at https://learning.ccsso.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ELA_Standards1.pdf (Writing Standards K-5, page 20). The grade is our suggestion: no published prompt list, program or test was copied, and no prompt is claimed to come from the standards. Licence: own work

How it works

These free printable 5th grade writing worksheets each carry one prompt above a page of ruled lines. The 60 prompts, in opinion, informative and narrative sets, ask for what grade 5 adds: reasons in logical order, an opening observation, pacing.

Read the full guide

What grade 5 adds

Set picks Opinion, Informative or Narrative. New at grade 5: opinion prompts ask for reasons in a logical order, linked by consequently or specifically; informative prompts open with a general observation and link ideas with in contrast or especially; narrative prompts work on pacing. Domain words, quotations and sensory detail carry on from grade 4.

Choosing the prompt

A set holds 20 prompts, and the full 60 are printed in a list under the tool. Paste any of them, or one you wrote, into the box above the sheet.

  • A typed prompt holds 80 characters; a longer task goes on two lines, which print as two boxes.
  • Paper, under More options, switches the sheet between Letter and A4.

Questions and answers

What kinds of writing do fifth graders do?

The Common Core standards for grade 5 name three: opinion pieces with logically ordered reasons, informative texts that start from a general observation and use facts, quotations and domain words, and narratives that use dialogue, description and pacing.

Are the worksheets free to print?

Yes, and there is no sign-up. Print worksheet opens the print window of your browser, where Save as PDF keeps a copy of the sheet to hand out later.

What changes between the 3rd grade and 5th grade prompts?

The task, not the page. Both print a prompt above ruled lines. A grade 3 prompt asks for reasons, facts or dialogue; these ask the writer to order reasons, quote or give examples, and control pacing.

Can students type their answers?

No. The sheet is for writing by hand, and its lines print empty. Only the prompt is typed, in the box above the sheet, before printing.

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