Writing Teaching Resources
Teaching writing strategies and the writing process this school year? Explore a comprehensive collection of teacher resources for primary English teachers — all created by teachers!
Stocked with graphic organisers, writing prompts, templates, worksheets and so much more, this collection of printable and digital activities is designed to help you as you help your students become more effective communicators and unleash their creativity and imagination.
Save time on lesson planning with resources that are aligned with the Australian curriculum (including version 9!) and have been through a careful review process by an expert member of our teacher team to ensure they're ready for your classroom and your students!
Are you looking for tips and tricks to add to your teacher toolkit this school year? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including engaging activities for teaching writing inprimary school and a look at some of the different writing strategies your students will need to learn.
11 Writing Strategies Kids Should Know by the End of Primary School
We can't talk about teaching kids to write without talking about the different writing strategies that can help them do just that!
When it comes to teaching our students to become confident writers who articulate their ideas effectively, here are some of the strategies our teacher team prioritises:
1. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is something we often do in the classroom, and it's a crucial part of learning to generate the ideas that will drive students' writing as they progress through their educational journey. Kids should know how to create a list of potential topics or points related to a particular writing assignment.
With younger students, this is often done as a whole group by writing ideas and points on chart paper. In upper years, students transition over to using text-based materials to generate ideas and talking points.
2. Outlining
Before diving directly into any assignment, our students should be able to create a structured framework or outline. Teaching students how to create this outline will help them organise their thoughts and arguments for penning their essays, reports and research papers.
3. Using Graphic Organisers
Technically graphic organisers are classroom tools, so you may not think of their use as a writing strategy per se. However, learning to use these tools is another means of providing kids with the tools they need to organize their ideas and information before they sit down to write.
These organisers are particularly useful for expository writing — students can use them to outline main ideas, supporting details, and transitions.
Students can also take advantage of story maps when they are working on narrative writing to plot the key elements of a story, such as characters, setting, conflict, rising action, climax and resolution.
Graphic organisers such as the OREO strategy and hamburger paragraph are also great tools for students to use when working with opinion and persuasive texts.
4. Freewriting
Writer's block is the enemy of creativity, and it can easily frustrate young students who don't know where to begin.
When students freewrite, they write continuously without worrying about grammar or punctuation. This writing strategy can be extremely freeing — hence the name! — and helps frustrated writers move past that writer's block, generating fresh ideas.
5. Peer Editing
Learning to review and provide constructive feedback on each other's work is a great writing strategy to employ in your classroom to help students improve their writing quality and enhance their editing skills.
The strategy allows your students to learn from one another, and it arms them with an important tool they can use well into the future — calling on peers to provide a critical eye to a piece of writing.
6. Using Sensory Language
Working on descriptive writing? With this writing strategy, students engage the reader's senses through vivid and sensory language to create a more immersive experience.
7. Including Transitions and Connectives
As students become more proficient in the writing process, learning to use transitional words and phrases allows them to create smooth transitions between sentences and paragraphs. This strategy makes their writing more coherent and polished.
8. Incorporating Evidence
In persuasive, opinion and expository writing, students are taught to support their claims with evidence and examples to strengthen their arguments.
It takes some practice to train your students to use evidence in their writing, so it's often a good idea to start with something simple, like the R.A.C.E.S. strategy.
9. Crafting a Thesis Statement
In expository, opinion and persuasive writing, crafting clear and concise thesis statements that summarise the main point or argument of their essay helps students be more focused and organised in their writing.
This strategy can also have the effect of empowering students to express their ideas confidently and persuasively.
10. Incorporating Introductions and Conclusions
With this strategy, students practice crafting effective introductions and conclusions that grab the reader's attention and leave a lasting impression.
11. Following a Revision Checklist
Teaching your students to use a revision checklist is a strategy that will help them be more self-reflective, evaluating their own writing against the checklist criteria and becoming more aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
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NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Narrative Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' narrative writing.
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Developing Narrative Writing Skills PowerPoint - Year 3 and Year 4
A 18 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the structure and language features of narrative texts.
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Informative Text Structure - Sorting Activity (Complete Set)
A set of 5 sorting activities to use in the classroom when learning about the structure of informative texts.
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Making Sentences – Cut and Paste Worksheets
A set of 10 cut and paste worksheets for making short sentences.
- Free Plan
Printable Adjectives List for Kids
Print your students a list of adjectives to keep at hand when writing to help them use descriptive language.
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Persuasive Writing Graphic Organiser Pack
Help students gather their thoughts during persuasive writing with this differentiated set of graphic organisers.
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Persuasive Device Examples – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Match the persuasive writing techniques with the correct examples using this simple cut-and-paste worksheet perfect for your persuasive writing unit.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Devices Word Search
Familiarise your students with the most common persuasive devices with a fun word search.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Topic Cards - Upper Grades
A set of persuasive topic cards for upper primary.
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NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Persuasive Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' persuasive writing.
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Phonics Sound Wall Display
Build a classroom sound wall to match your phonics programs and literacy progressions with a printable sound wall display.
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Persuasive Texts Sequencing Activity
3 jumbled persuasive texts for students to sequence in the correct order.
- Free Plan
Identifying Descriptive Language Worksheets - Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs and Adverbs
A set of 5 worksheets to help your students identify descriptive language in narrative texts.
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Alphabet Handwriting Sheets - Individual
Handwriting sheets for each letter of the alphabet.
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NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Informative Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' informative writing.
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Writing Informative Texts PowerPoint
A 19 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the structure and language features of informative texts.
- Free Plan
Identifying Informative Language Worksheets
A set of 3 worksheets to help your students identify informative language features in informative texts.
- Free Plan
Editing Passage Task Cards - Year 4
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
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Dotted Numbers 0-20 Handwriting Sheet
Get your students writing numbers from 0-0 with this number formation worksheet available in Australian school fonts.
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Literary Devices Poster Pack
Explore the various literary devices used by authors with the set of colourful classroom posters.
- Free Plan
Editing Passage Task Cards - Year 2
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
- Free Plan
Identifying Dependent Clauses Worksheet
Practise identifying dependent clauses in complex sentences with a dependent clause worksheet.
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Sequencing Activity - Stop Polluting The Ocean (Persuasive Text)
A sequencing task using a persuasive text.
- Free Plan
Time Connectives Word Wall
Help your students demonstrate the passage of time in their writing with 35 time connective word cards.
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Word Work Grid and Worksheets – Version 1
A grid with spelling activities and corresponding worksheets.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Text Planning Template (Using OREO)
A planning template for students to use when writing a persuasive text.
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Improving Persuasive Texts Worksheets
3 pieces of text for students to rewrite in order to make them more persuasive.
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Introduction to Personal Recounts PowerPoint
An 18 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching younger students about the structure and language features of personal recounts.
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Writing Procedural Texts Teaching Slides
Use this procedural writing PowerPoint to teach your students about the purpose, structural elements and language features of procedure texts.
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Narrative Sentence Starter Cards
Thirty sentence starter cards for narratives.
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Informative Text Checklist - Structure, Language and Features
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their informative texts.
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Writing A Persuasive Text Poster
Display this poster in your room as a visual reminder of the structure of a persuasive text.
- Writing Worksheets
- Writing Templates
- Writing Posters
- Writing Games
- Writing Teaching Presentations
- Writing Labels, Signs & Decorations
- Writing Word Walls
- Writing Projects
- Writing for Preschool/Kindergarten
- Writing for Foundation Year
- Writing for Year 1
- Writing for Year 2
- Writing for Year 3
- Writing for Year 4
- Writing for Year 5
- Writing for Year 6
- Writing for Year 7