Writing Checklist

About this resource

Ask a child to "check your writing" and many just read it once and hand it in. This writing checklist gives them five things to look for: capitals, punctuation, spelling, whole sentences and details. It comes at two levels (grades 2-3 and grades 4-5), with desk cards and bookmarks to cut out, practice pages with invented mistakes to find, and partner pages for revising out loud.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (28 pages)

• 16 student pages
• 2 level checklists: grades 2-3 and grades 4-5, five big tick boxes each, with a line for "one thing I fixed"
• 3 genre checklists: opinion, narrative and informative, each with a list for everyone and a "going farther" list for grades 4-5
• 4 Fix the Paragraph pages: a short paragraph with 5, 5, 6 and 5 invented mistakes (capitals, end marks, spelling) and lines to write it again
• 2 partner pages: Read It to a Friend, and Two Stars and a Wish
• 4 cut-out pages, 24 pieces in all: 6 desk check cards at each level, 6 writing bookmarks, 6 genre cards. Pieces touch edge to edge, so the cutting is straight lines
• 1 checking chart where the child marks what they checked
• 1 self-edit log, 1 class grid (14 students), 1 filled example (an invented student)
• 1 what-to-look-for page listing each mistake and its one fix
• 1 family note with three ways to help at home, 1 phrase bank of 15 observable-language starters
• 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and terms of use

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction with a small pencil icon, large rounded letters, lettered badges for each check and boxes big enough to tick with a pencil. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult and nothing is scored. The paragraphs and the student in the example are invented.

Type In, Or Print

The name and date lines, the rewrite lines, the chart, log, class grid and family note are type-in fields in any PDF reader. The cut-out pages need scissors; every other student page is pencil work. Every page prints clean in black and white. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

2nd through 5th grade classrooms, resource rooms, writing centers, small groups and tutors who want one checklist a child can use without a teacher standing over them. Your own writing program decides what to expect at each grade.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

Self-checking and revising pages with the record-keeping around them. There is no scoring and no rubric, and it is not a timed test, a screener or a clinical tool. It makes no claim about any student's age or rate of progress, and there is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.