Prewriting: Students generate ideas for writing: brainstorming; reading literature; creating life maps, webs, and story charts; developing word banks; deciding on form, audience, voice, and purpose as well as through teacher motivation.

Drafting: Students get their ideas on paper. They write without concern for conventions. Written work does not have to be neat; it is a "sloppy copy".

Revising: Improve what the text says and how it says it: write additions, and add details. Take out unnecessary work. Use peer suggestions to improve. When doing peer revision, Students share and make suggestions for improvement: asking who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about parts of the story the peer does not understand; looking for better words; and talking about how to make the work better. This is when students should focus on improving content, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice.

Editing and Proofreading: Work together on editing for mechanics and spelling. Make sure the work is 'goof proof.' This is when students focus on the conventions of their paper.

Publishing: Students publish their final written pieces: sending their work to publishers, posting throughout the school, reading their finished story aloud, and make books. This is a time to celebrate!