Korean Job Discussion Forums

[duke of new york]

Every month, I have to come up with weekly writing topics and presentation topics for my 4th and 6th grade classes. I need about 5 writing and and 5 presentation topics for each per month. Problem is, I've been doing this for about 6 months, and I'm running out of ideas. I've already recycled a lot of topics between classes, and I've been through countless websites offering lists of topics, most of which are more like journal topics or story starters, which are not the kind of thing I'm looking for. Do you know of any free online resources for essay topics?


Writing topics

For the writing topics, 4th grade usually writes a longish paragraph, and 6th grade writes a standard 5-paragraph essay. Some topics I have used are:

4th:
What is the best way for students to spend summer vacation?
Do you think weekends should be longer? Why or why not?

6th:
Is it better to be a member of a group or the leader of a group?
What do you think the world will be like 50 years from now?


Presentation topics

Presentation topics are a little harder, because I have to provide a topic and then five questions about that topic. The kids make a Powerpoint slideshow about it, answer the questions and discuss their answers.

Examples:

4th:
If you could vacation to any country, which one would it be?
1. Why?
2. Who would you take?
3. Do a lot of people go there?
4. What are the best things about that country?
5. What are the bad things about that country?

6th:
Animal rights
1. Do non-human animals have rights? Some rights or no rights?
2. What are the differences between animals and humans?
3. Do you think that animal testing of products like makeup or drugs should be allowed?
4. What about killing animals for meat?
5. Should animals killed for meat be killed as painlessly as possible even if it means more expensive meat?


You can contribute actual topic ideas if you want, but I've done so many of these that I've probably already used them. I'm looking more for websites or other ideas about where to find topics.