Elementary school writing instruction is crucial in developing students' foundational literacy skills. Research indicates that a structured approach to writing instruction in the early grades can significantly impact students' academic performance and future success.

In grades K-2, the focus is primarily on sentence-level writing and basic sentence combining. As students progress to grades 3 and 4, they begin to compose simple, but structured, academic paragraphs. In grades 5 and 6, students typically start writing short essay responses and basic multiple-paragraph essays. This progression aligns with national academic standards and reflects the consensus among professional educators regarding appropriate writing expectations for elementary students.

With users nationwide, the Essaypop team is uniquely positioned to understand how writing is taught at all educational levels across the country. We engage in daily conversations with teachers who think deeply about writing instruction, and increasingly, these discussions include elementary school educators. While there appears to be some consensus around grade-level writing complexity, the educators we speak with vary widely in their approaches to teaching writing to younger students. One reason we offer a flexible and customizable platform is that we learned early on that different teachers, schools, and even regions use diverse terminology, color-coding systems, assessment rubrics, and instructional methods. Levels of rigor and writing expectations are far from uniform.

Although there is considerable variety, and even disagreement, among elementary school teachers regarding approaches to academic writing instruction, we have also observed some consistent trends. It is from these shared practices that we hope to develop a unified approach to writing that all elementary educators can embrace.

The most consistent pattern we have observed is that teachers of grades 3 through 6 typically have their students produce writing that accomplishes three fundamental tasks:

Academic writing for this age group consistently involves the interplay of three key elements: claim, evidence, and explanation. This approach aligns with the standards established for these grade levels. And these elements are not exclusive to elementary writing; they, of course, are also present in the work of middle school, high school, and college students. While more experienced writers manipulate these components in more sophisticated ways, they remain essential building blocks of effective academic writing at every level.

Learning to write at a young age parallels the process of gaining proficiency in other disciplines, such as math and science. Just as students first master foundational concepts in those subjects before advancing, elementary students must first develop a strong grasp of the basics—claim, evidence, and analysis—before progressing to more sophisticated forms of writing.

The Essaypop writing method is firmly rooted in a research-based method that emphasizes a segmented and color-based approach to academic writing, making it ideally suited for elementary school students. This granular approach to writing consistently blends the components of claim, evidence, and explanation, seamlessly stitching them into coherent and polished pieces of writing. Once they have mastered this organizational structure, they can then move on to more complex ones.

In grades two and three, students begin using the Essaypop platform to compose simple quick writes. Quick writes give younger students the opportunity to engage in writing quickly and without constraints. These brief, low-stakes tasks help familiarize students with the Essaypop system and foster enthusiasm and confidence as they respond to prompts using a basic, single-frame approach.

Quick writes can be used for any occasion (warmup, exit ticket, reflection) and can be part of a structured lesson plan or be assigned spontaneously as writing opportunities arise, even when not part of the original plan. They can even be set up as timed assignments.

As students write, they are encouraged to share and collaborate within the interactive Hive environment, where real-time feedback and peer interactions are integral to the process. Teachers are also encouraged to participate by composing exemplar responses alongside their students. Additionally, the assessment tool, featuring pre-made rubrics, can be used to evaluate various aspects of student writing, including organization, coherence, and mechanics. Below is an example of what a typical quickwrite might look like.

Once students are comfortable composing single-frame quick writes, they progress to simple paragraph structures. In this stage, they state a thesis or claim in the first writing frame, provide supporting evidence or details in the next frame, and then explain or analyze the evidence, connecting it back to their original claim, in the final frame.

This basic three-frame template gives students the organizational foundation to work with the essential elements of academic writing outlined earlier. This approach can be repeated over several weeks (or as long as necessary) while students become more comfortable with this style of academic paragraphing. Throughout the process, students can be grouped in the Hive to encourage sharing and peer support, both during writing and upon completion. The Hive also enables teachers to monitor student work and track progress. Below is an example of a completed three-frame composition.

Once students have mastered the fundamental concepts of claim, evidence, and explanation, they can begin to incorporate additional elements that lead to more sophisticated paragraphs, “power” paragraphs, and short essay responses. For example, a hook or opening statement frame can be used to engage the reader and provide necessary background or context. A closing statement frame can be added to summarize key ideas, introduce a call to action, or offer a personal reflection.

Students may also include additional evidence or smooth transitions between ideas. They can add another section of analysis, allowing their individual voices and interpretations to come through with greater clarity. These enhancements are easily implemented by adding new frames. Below is an example of a paragraph with additional frames included.

All student writing is converted in real-time into perfectly formatted MLA documents.

Here is an article that includes a short video you can watch with your students; it explains how the writing frames work.

While the Essaypop Lesson Library offers a wide selection of ready-to-use lessons appropriate for elementary students, and each lesson is organized with a specific structure such as quick write or simple paragraph, the platform also gives teachers and students the flexibility to create or modify any structure, form, or template to suit their needs. For example, if a teacher finds a quick write assignment she likes but wants to adapt it into a simple paragraph writing exercise to better support her students, she can easily adjust the structure using the assignment dashboard. Similarly, if she comes across a multiple-paragraph essay designed for middle schoolers but wishes to convert it into a simpler paragraphing activity for younger students, that adjustment can be made quickly as well.

Teachers can create their own lessons or upload existing ones using the Essaypop lesson creation wizard. If they decide to simplify or enhance the lesson structure, this can be done seamlessly in the assignment dashboard. This flexibility allows educators to tailor lessons to meet the specific needs of their students. Additionally, teachers can customize the rubrics for assessing writing and the help content displayed in the sidebar for student reference.

The Essaypop platform offers two key scaffolding features to support students as they write. First, the help content in the sidebar provides clear, student-friendly explanations and models for every element of a paragraph or essay, all accessible without leaving the writing area. Second, sentence starters are available in modal window that expand from each writing frame, offering academic stems and phrases to help students begin specific parts of their writing. Below is an example of how these scaffolding features appear within the platform.

Narrative and storytelling templates are also organized using writing frames. Of course, the frames represent different components such as setting, dialogue, action, etc. Approaching story writing like this gives students all of the advantages of Essaypop, including color-coding, scaffolding, and social interaction and collaboration. Here’s what the narrative template looks like:

The Essaypop lesson library has hundreds of lessons for elementary teachers. Simply go to the library, filter by grade level, choose elementary, and you're off to the races. Here are just a few examples of elementary lessons that have been created by our team of National Board-certified teachers --

Life in a Vernal Pool

"Hairs" by Sandra Cisneros

Our Rhetorical Awareness Activities flip the script for young writers. Some activities ask students to add pre-written passages into the appropriate writing frames. Others provide them with partially written paragraphs that students complete. These are perfect lessons for teaching the fundamentals of writing.

Rhetorical Awareness Activity: Earthworms

Know Your Paragraph Parts: Earthworms 2

Essaypop offers elementary school students a valuable opportunity to consistently practice the fundamental components of effective academic writing. By composing clear thesis statements or claims and supporting them with relevant evidence and thoughtful explanations, young writers develop essential skills that serve as a strong foundation for their growth. The platform’s step-by-step approach empowers students to build writing competency and take on more complex assignments with confidence. Additionally, Essaypop enables teachers to tailor tasks to meet the needs of their students, providing the flexibility to adjust the scope, sequence, and pacing of lessons for different groups. This adaptability makes Essaypop an excellent writing platform for elementary school classrooms.