Students Should Start Writing Five-Paragraph Essays at Eighth Grade Level

Students Should Start Writing Five-Paragraph Essays at Eighth Grade LevelIn the seventh grade, most fourth graders should have a sample model of a five-paragraph essay to teach them how to write an effective thesis statement. Most adults would be better served by having a working five paragraph essay at the eighth grade level.I don't think it's fair for younger children to be asked to read and write the same kind of materials as their older brothers and sisters are reading and writing. Although younger students will always write better than their more mature classmates, they may find the five paragraph essays too difficult to grasp. Unfortunately, these essays are required reading for their English classes and, as such, a five paragraph essay at the eighth grade level is often expected.The fourth grade can easily be skipped for students who are aiming for fifth through eighth grade for their next academic pursuits. Younger students are far too busy, distracted, and easily bored with fifth and sixth grade material and they do not really have the patience to read anything beyond fifth or sixth grade level.An eighth grade five paragraph essay should include vocabulary and sentence construction exercises designed to increase comprehension of the thesis statement. It should involve detailed assignments on the examples of quotations from the sample models of the five paragraph essays that should be discussed at length.During a typical academic year, students spend more time working on their freshman year projects than any other task in their studies and, therefore, they don't have time to focus on five paragraph essays beyond fifth grade level. Sixth grade is already challenging enough for students without the added burden of reading and writing complicated five paragraph essays at the eighth grade level. If there is no need for that extra work and comprehension problems, why should sixth graders be asked to write them?As students progress through elementary school, they should be encouraged to start working on five paragraph essays only if the higher grades require it. If the subject is old enough to still be worked on in the fourth grade, it should be handled before seventh grade, when students can already handle the variety of fifth grade writing projects available to them.Third grade presents new challenges that need to be tackled and, therefore, it is better to start with the third grade writing projects that focus on writing skills. Although many adults continue to wish for fifth and sixth grade, there is no point in doing so.Third grade writing projects should focus on fourth grade reading and writing skills. By doing so, teachers can have a more focused plan for using fifth and sixth grade materials to teach the young students.