Teaching writing skills to kids involves a lot of repeating oneself over and over again. Did you use capital letters? Did you use punctuation? Did you check for misspelled words? Etc. etc. etc. Finally, I decided to just create this proofreading checklist for my students (aka my two oldest kids) because I was tired of sounding like a broken record.
This checklist could work well for any elementary student. It could certainly be used for older kids as well, but the skills addressed on this checklist are more basic (punctuation, spelling, correct use of homophones, etc.). It doesn’t address bigger concepts like being concise, thorough, or using a consistent point of view, for example.
Using the Proofreading Checklist with Students
I prefer to print these two-to-a-page (because I have two elementary students and because that’s my preferred size). You could also do full-sized copies if you prefer and you don’t need to conserve paper.
You could print a new copy for every revising assignment, but I prefer to laminate a single copy and reuse it all year. If you don’t have a laminator, I have and I love it!
I give my student a dry erase marker and have them complete the checklist every time they complete a written assignment (even if it’s only a few lines). My goal is for this proofreading process to become so ingrained that, eventually, they run through this mental checklist automatically.
In the meantime, before it becomes automatic, they will continue with this concrete checklist. It prevents me from having to make the same corrections to their writing repeatedly. It also helps them take ownership of their own final product. This checklist is especially helpful with one of my children who frequently rushes to complete his work as quickly as possible, making careless errors in the process.
I hope you enjoy this proofreading checklist and find it helpful when you’re working with your students! Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more fun and educational activities and resources.
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