Teaching and Learning

Write On Students!

Start writing, no matter what…Across the school at Numurkah Primary, YOU – our students - are engaging daily in the ‘Writing Process’ of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” - Ernest Hemingway

During the ‘pre-writing’ stage, you brainstorm and capture ideas in your Writer’s Notebooks, just like real authors do! Observing, talking and listening to the people around you inspires you to create characters and plots that engage your audience.

“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”   - Shannon Hale

The first draft - getting those wonderful ideas down on paper is the process of how thoughts in your head are magically transformed into words for others to see and read. Writer’s, you are learning that you don’t always start out writing the good stuff; but you have to start somewhere if you’re going to build a magnificent sand castle!

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” - Dr. Seuss

Revising: sometimes the more you take out, the more you magnify what you leave in. In this part of the writing process, you step back and look at your writing through a stranger’s eyes. You decide what to keep and what to delete, what words to use to breathe life into your characters, and what phrases will keep your audience’s attention from start to finish.

“You can always edit a bad page” - Jodi Picoult

While you may become pre-occupied with you spelling, it is not until the fourth phase of the writing process – the editing phase – that spelling is addressed.  Now, you will examine and fix your spelling, grammar and punctuation and see how a ‘bad’ page is transformed into something special.

“Easy reading is hard writing.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Publishing – the exciting moment when your brain-child reaches adulthood! The final draft, the good copy, the finished piece. You’re now ready to share your writing with the world, and you’ve done your best to make it as easy to read as possible.

C.S.Lewis once said “You can make anything by writing.” And YOU can! Just follow the five steps of the Writing Process - pre-write, draft, revise, edit and publish – and

Hey presto - You’re an Author!