One category of elementary school writing projects involves writing a story or story report. For example, an assignment might require students to write a complete fiction story that includes a setting, characters, problem and solution. Students can even be given a photo and asked to simply write a story about what they think is happening in the photo. In this elementary school project, students must brainstorm ideas for a creative storyline that involves a mystery, adventure or fantasy.
Another type of story elementary students can write is a newspaper story. This writing project will teach students how to write a lead -- the first paragraph of the news story -- as well as how to incorporate the five Ws into the story. These five Ws include who the story is about, what the story covers, when the covered event took or will take place, where the news occurred or will occur and why the story is important. This project also will allow students to practice interviewing a person for the story.
In addition, students can be required to read a story and write a brief report on the story. In this report, they can give a short summary of what happened in the story, how the story made them feel and whether they would recommend it to a friend.
Elementary school students also can complete a writing assignment based on a current holiday or favorite holiday. For example, during Easter, they can write a paragraph about Easter egg hunting, or they can write about Santa and their experience with Christmas trees during Christmas. During Thanksgiving, they can write a brief essay about the things for which they are thankful, and Halloween is a suitable time for students to write sentences explaining a favorite Halloween character or even a pumpkin-carving experience. These types of writing assignments also can be included as part of a personal journal writing project during the school year.
Learning how to be descriptive is another possible theme of other elementary school writing projects. For example, students can be required to describe certain objects in the classroom. They might be required to observe an object and write what they see, what it smells like, what it tastes like -- if it is food -- if it produces any sounds and what it feels like. In addition, they could learn how to use figurative language such as metaphors or similes to describe personalities or objects, such as calling an individual "bright."
Another category of elementary school writing involves drafting letters. Students can write a letter to a pen pal in another part of the country, family member or even favorite author. Through this type of writing project, they can practice how to write a heading, greeting, body, closing and signature. In addition, students can learn to apply punctuation rules such as placing a comma after the greeting, indenting each new paragraph and capitalizing the first word in the closing.