These 5th-grade writing prompts (or fifth grade essay topics) are written for students in grade five. They are free to use under a Creative Commons License .

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1. People often consider what it would be like to be the last person alive on earth and of course it would be horrible in lots of ways. But let us be a little different – tell me what fun you could have if the earth was all yours!?
2. Walking home from school, you see your dad stealing something from a local store. What would you do?
3. What would be your Olympic event if you had to perform at London 2012? Would you be excited or terrified!?
4. Are older people cleverer than younger people? Give reasons for your answer.
5. Can watching TV harm us?
6. Imagine being amazed and rather shocked at something you find in a drawer under your school reports. Now write about it.
7. Imagine a woman fell out of a plane flying at 20,000ft and survived. How might this have been achieved without a parachute? Use your imagination, anything goes!
8. Imagine that a lady next door digs in her garden at 3am every night. Write a about what she might be up to.
9. Is Christmas too commercialized now? What might make it better?
10. What do you feel you need to be happy?
11. If you could travel back in time, when would you go back to and why?
12. If ants ruled the world, what would things look like?
13. Imagine a lady called Denise who is a very bossy hairdresser. Eventually though she gets her comeuppance. Write about what happened.
14. If someone told you that you would be incredibly famous by the age of twenty-five, what do you think it would be for?
15. Have you ever seen something which you could just not explain?
16. Write down three facts about yourself that not many people know. Then make one fact up that could be true, but is not. Show these to your friends and see if they can spot the false fact!
17. Go and visit your eldest relation. Get them to tell you a true story their grandparents told them. This story should give you a glimpse into the past from about 100 ago. That is amazing, is it not?
18. If you could have the perfect room to do your homework in, what would it contain?
19. Find a local news story that interests you. Change one fact and re-write the story. For example, maybe a local politician opened a supermarket. What if he’d accidentally demolished it instead!
20. What would happen if all the country’s policemen decided to have a month off work at the same time?
21. Using the internet, find some facts about a country you previously knew nothing about. The write about it, amazing your friends and family with what an expert you have become. This is known as doing ‘research’.
22. If it were really possible to bring dinosaurs back to life, should we?
23. Think of the oldest building you know then imagine what might be buried underneath it.
24. If a new pupil, from another town joined your school today, what one piece of advice would you give them and why?
25. Tell me about a household chore you really dislike doing.
26. Describe what it would be like to wake up from a great dream to find it was all true.
27. Describe something which has happened to you, which you felt was really unfair. How did you deal with it?
28. What would be the pluses and minuses of having a parent who was a teacher?
29. When fish go to sleep, do they float down stream and wake up miles away? Imagine what that must be like and write about it.
30. Do you have any keepsakes? If so, describe it (them) and tell me what they are a reminder of.
31. Imagine your perfect day from the moment you wake to going to sleep. Describe it and why it would make you happy.
32. If you had a magic wand, tell me about someone’s life you would really like to make better.
33. Do you think what one person sees as red will look exactly the same to someone else? How can we be sure?
34. Notice that the water always swirls the same way as it goes down the plug hole. Find out why and write a short article about it.
35. If someone said you will be really famous as an adult, what would it be for? Maybe think of things you are good at now.
36. What one thing really, really annoys you at home? Describe what you feel like.
37. Pretend the characters from on TV started speaking to you, write about what might happen.
38. What is the most scary animal you have ever seen and why?
39. Tell me something you succeeded at, but had to try really, really hard.
40. Write about giving something up which would make your life better, or healthier. Plan how you would do it.
41. Pretend you have your favourite rock/pop star coming to stay at your house for the weekend. Write a time-table of activities for you and this person to do.
42. If you have been really good at school, what sort of treat do you like to be given?
43. Which is your least favourite subject at school? Describe why you don’t like it and what might make it more enjoyable for you?
44. Tell me about when you saw something really amazing. How did it make you feel?
45. Is something really good on television more enjoyable if someone watches it with you? Give reasons for your answer.
46. If you had a magic friend who was only five centimetres tall, how might this friend help you?
47. If you were to write a book, describe what it might be about.
48. Tell me about a time when you felt you let someone down.
49. Do you think it might sometimes be boring to be a top film star? If so, give me examples of when.
50. Write ten writing prompts that a friend of yours would really enjoy doing. Then do the same for a parent. Try and get them to write something about at least two of them!

Want to use these fifth grade writing prompts for your fourth grade class? Go for it! Just please give credit to WritingPrompts 🙂

Do you have any great 5th grade writing prompts you’d like to share? Send me an email at hi[at]jeremydavid.com. Also, it would be AMAZING if you could take 2 minutes and fill out this short survey. so I can make WritingPrompts better 🙂