Grades 4, 5 Writing Rubric
Name: ______________________________
Content
Effective
(4)
Develops a main idea
• What is the writing mostly about?
Supports main idea with details
• Gives the reader enough information
Determines purpose and audience
• Student knows why and who they are writing
for
Focuses on topic
• Student doesn’t repeat ideas or include
unrelated ideas
Displays evidence of an Author’s voice
• Student writes with expression, as if they were
Organizationtalking to the reader
Effective
(4)
Conveys a clear message with a developed
eginning, middle and end
• Order of events makes sense
Uses a variety of sentences and vocabulary
• Doesn’t start all sentences with the same
word, uses interesting language and strong
verbs
Contains fluent and easy to follow sentences
• Sentences make sense together
Conventions
Displays correct use of nouns, verbs, and adjectives
• Subject and action match, uses same verb
tense
Displays correct capitalization and punctuation
• Sentences start and stop correctly
• Uses “” ! ? ‘ . , : correctly
• Capitalizes when appropriate
Makes complete sense when read…no unclear parts
Adequate
(3)
Effective
(4)
4
Adequate
(3)
4
Partial (2)
Adequate
(3)
3
Partial (2)
3
Minimal
(1)
Partial (2)
2
Minimal
(1)
2
Minimal
(1)
1
1
Word Processing
Font style
• Uses Times New Roman, Comic Sans, or
American Typewriter fonts
Font size
• Uses teacher specified font size: _____
Spacing
• Spaces once after each word and twice at the
end of each sentence
• Uses 1.5 or double spacing
Graphics
• Adds appropriate graphics for project
Appearance
• Paragraphs are indented
• Margins are used
• Title of paper is at the beginning (header –
includes name and date)
• Student name is at the end (footer)
• Looks appealing to read
Comments:
Effective
(4)
Adequate
(3)
Partial (2)
Minimal
(1)