The middle school years are when students engage in extensive writing across various subjects, essentially writing across the curriculum.
Whether you’re a teacher in language arts or any other core discipline, writing is an important component of the learning process.
During this phase, there’s a multitude of sixth-grade writing activities that can seamlessly integrate with different subjects in order to enhance the learning experience.
This post offers a variety of writing activities for 6th graders that sharpen students’ writing skills and prompt them to write with intention across diverse contexts and for varying audiences.
As students embrace these writing activities, they will become more confident writers, strengthening the foundation for continued writing growth.
Sixth-Grade Writing Activities
1. Make an Advertisement.
In this engaging activity, 6th graders will practice persuasive writing by creating advertisements for some of their favorite products or events.
They will explore the art of capturing attention using convincing language and images.
2. Create a Menu.
Students will design fun menus based on some of their favorite foods.
They will learn how to use enticing descriptions to make food options come alive on paper.
3. Make a Comic.
This activity helps students in the 6th grade use their imagination and drawing abilities to make comic books.
They learn how to make interesting stories, write conversations, and draw pictures to tell stories, show feelings, and share thoughts in a good way.
This helps them understand how words and pictures work together to tell stories.
Related Content: Sixth-Grade Writing Prompts
4. Write a List of Questions.
In this activity, 6th graders are encouraged to be curious and collect information.
They make lists of interesting questions or do interviews to learn more. This helps them understand how interviews work and how to communicate well.
5. Create a How-To Manual.
In this activity, 6th graders use their ability to understand instructions well to create detailed guides that show readers how to do certain tasks or processes.
They write in a way that makes things easy to understand, with clear explanations and organized steps.
This helps them get better at explaining complicated things and demonstrates how important it is to communicate accurately.
6. Write an Essay.
In this activity, 6th graders get to try out different types of essays, like stories, persuasive pieces, and informative ones.
They write in different ways, with different structures and tones.
This helps them become better at writing in different styles, so they can adjust their writing to fit different reasons and readers.
7. Caption the Comic Scenes.
Encourage your students to mix writing with pictures by making short descriptions for scenes in comics.
They will capture important feelings, actions, and conversations in brief but strong descriptions.
8. Cookbook/Recipe
Have your sixth-graders compile their own cookbooks or write recipes.
Using clear instructions, vivid descriptions, and culinary terminology, students will create engaging cookbooks or recipes.
9. Quotation Response
Provide students with thought-provoking quotes, and ask them to share insightful written reflections.
Through their responses, students practice analyzing and connecting abstract concepts to real-world situations, deepening their understanding of various themes and improving their ability to express nuanced ideas.
10. Conduct Polls & Organize the Data
It’s a great idea if some of your writing activities for 6th graders include some cross-curricular exercises like this one.
Combining data collection and writing skills, have your 6th graders conduct polls or surveys and present their findings through organized written reports.
By analyzing and summarizing data, they will strengthen their ability to communicate information in a structured and informative manner.
11. Persuasive Letter Campaigns
Engage students in real-world issues by having them write persuasive letters to local officials or organizations advocating for positive changes in their community.
12. Historical Fiction Podcasts
This activity will help students refine their storytelling and oral communication skills.
Have students create historical fiction podcasts.
They will research a specific time period, develop characters and plots, then record episodes that immerse listeners in the past.
13. Literary Analysis Essays of Movies
After reading a book and watching its movie adaptation, encourage students to write comparative literary analysis essays exploring the differences between the two mediums.
14. Creative Nonfiction Essays
Introduce creative nonfiction by having students write personal essays based on their own experiences.
They will reflect upon and write about meaningful moments, reflections, or challenges, practicing descriptive writing and introspection.
15. Mythological Adaptations
Have students choose a myth or legend from a particular culture and adapt it to a modern-day setting, incorporating relevant themes and issues.
16. Opinion Editorial Pieces
For more advanced sixth-grade writing activities, doing op-ed exercises is a great idea.
Introduce op-ed writing by having students analyze current events and express their opinions on relevant topics.
They will craft well-structured opinion pieces that blend factual information, personal perspectives, and persuasive arguments.
17. Scientific Inquiry Journals
Encourage scientific thinking through inquiry-based journal writing.
Provide students with prompts related to scientific phenomena or experiments they have conducted or will conduct, prompting them to document their observations, hypotheses, and conclusions.
18. Literary Mashups
Challenge students to select two unrelated books and create a mashup where they combine elements from both into a story or poem.
19. Poetry Writing
Have students choose a topic that they enjoy.
Guided by their imaginations and writing skills, they will write a series of poems (haiku, sonnet, limerick, cinquain, etc.) about their chosen topic.
Final Thoughts On 6th-Grade Writing Activities
Create well-rounded writers in your classroom by incorporating some of these engaging and fun 6th-grade writing activities that improve students’ language proficiency, storytelling abilities, and communication skills.