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Planning, Revising and Editing

A 40-minute Grade 3 lesson on the three stages of producing a piece — planning, revising and editing — and what each is for.

Planning, Revising and Editing is a free 40-minute Grade 3 English lesson plan for Common Core standard W.3.5 — plan, revise and edit a piece rather than handing in the first draft. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the meaning, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Grade 3
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
W.3.5

Grade 3 · Writing

W.3.5

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

Objective

Students will be able to name whether a piece of writing needs planning, revising or editing, ask that stage's question, and do the matching work: order ideas, improve what the writing says, or correct spelling and punctuation.

Students are successful when they can

  • Sorts activities into plan, revise and edit, and explains one that is easy to misplace.
  • States the stage's question before starting work: "What am I saying and in what order?", "Does it say it well?" or "Is it correct?"
  • Makes at least one revision that changes what the writing says (adds, cuts or moves), before any editing.
  • Uses a partner's suggestion for one change and says whose idea it was.

What you need

  • Six activity cards for the sort, listed in the warm-up
  • The beach draft on chart paper, written out in the Teach section
  • Three stage cards on lanyards or desk tents: PLAN, REVISE, EDIT
  • A drafted piece from earlier in the week, one per student
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — which stage?

5 min
  1. Pairs sort six cards under PLAN, REVISE, EDIT: "Choosing three things to write about." "Putting ideas in order on a list." "Adding a detail so the reader can picture it." "Cutting a sentence that is off topic." "Fixing a spelling." "Adding capital letters."
  2. Go through them. Two are usually misplaced: "cutting an off-topic sentence" often goes under EDIT because it feels like fixing. Ask: "Is the sentence wrong, or is it just not helping?" It is not wrong; it is unhelpful, so it is revising.
  3. Write the rule of thumb on the board: "Revise = change what it SAYS. Edit = fix how it is WRITTEN."

Teach — three stages, three questions

13 min
  1. Write on the board, each in its own color: PLAN "What am I saying, and in what order?" REVISE "Does it say it well?" EDIT "Is it correct?"
  2. Show the plan for a beach piece: "1 drive there 2 crab pinches Leo 3 ice cream 4 home." Ask: "Which part is the story?" Fish for: the crab. Move it, so the plan becomes "1 arrive 2 crab pinches Leo 3 home." Say this is planning: deciding what to say before the sentences exist.
  3. Display the draft: "we went to the beach. it was fun. we had sandwiches. my brother leo found a crab and it pinched him. we went home."
  4. Show the cost of editing first. Carefully capitalize "it was fun" and "we had sandwiches," fussing over each letter. Then switch to the REVISE question and ask: "Does 'it was fun' help the reader picture anything?" No. Cross it out, along with the sandwiches. Say: "I just spent time making two sentences perfect, and then I deleted them."
  5. Revise properly, asking the question aloud: add "The crab was the size of my hand, with one huge claw." and change "it pinched him" to "it clamped onto his toe and he hopped around yelling." Read the new version to the class.
  6. Only now ask the EDIT question. Fix the capitals in "we," "my" and "Leo," and add the periods.
  7. Point to the three questions and say the order matters: a revision can delete a sentence, so edit last.
“Three questions, always in this order. Do not ask "Is it correct?" until you have answered "Does it say it well?", or you will polish sentences you are about to throw away.”

Guided practice — one stage at a time

12 min
  1. Students reread their draft and put the stage card on their desk that it needs next. Most drafts need REVISE.
  2. For five minutes they do only that stage's work, saying the question to themselves first.
  3. Partner swap: the partner reads the draft and gives one suggestion that answers the stage question, e.g. "Where were you? I could not picture it." The writer decides whether to use it.
  4. Partners check that the changes match the card on the desk: a REVISE card with only spelling fixes underneath it is sent back.
“Look at your partner's card before you give advice. If their card says REVISE, do not tell them about spelling yet. Tell them one place where you could not picture what happened.”

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the writing-process page. It gives a draft at a known stage.
  2. They write the stage and its question at the top before changing anything.

Close — name the question

2 min
  1. Hold up one stage card at a time. The class says its question together.
  2. Ask one student to show a change they made and say which question it answered.

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Edits when the piece needs revising: fixes "beech" to "beach" and calls the piece done.

Why: Editing has clear right answers and gets a check mark from adults, so it feels like real progress. Revising asks "is this good?", which has no right answer and feels risky.

Fix: Require the stage card on the desk before work begins, so the choice is visible to a partner. Replay the beach model: the perfectly capitalized "It was fun." that was then deleted shows the cost.

Skips planning and writes straight away, then the best part is buried in the middle: the crab appears after lunch.

Why: The idea feels clear in the student's head, so writing it down seems like the real work and planning seems like extra. They do not notice the order problem until they reread.

Fix: Two minutes of numbered notes before drafting, with one question: "Which part is the story?" Show the beach plan with the drive and the ice cream crossed out and the crab circled.

Treats revising as recopying neatly: the new version is the old one in better handwriting.

Why: The page looks different, so something has happened. Students have often been asked to "write it up in best," and that has been called a second draft.

Fix: Compare the two versions sentence by sentence and ask: "Which sentence says something new?" If none does, it was copying. Ask for one addition, one cut or one move, like the crab's huge claw.

If they are not there yet

  • Work on only two stages, REVISE and EDIT, using the beach draft instead of the student's own.
  • Give the stage: "This draft needs REVISE. Add one detail that helps the reader picture the crab."
  • A revise menu card with three choices: add a detail, cut a sentence that does not help, move a sentence.

If they finish early

  • Revise the same beach sentence two ways — once to make it funny, once to make it scary — and say which suits the piece better.
  • Go back a stage on purpose: find a paragraph in your draft that would be better if you re-planned the order, and explain the new order.
  • Write a "next time I will plan" note: one thing you would decide at the planning stage that you had to fix while revising.

Exit ticket

This draft says: "we went to the park. it was nice. we fed the ducks." Write the stage it needs first, its question, and one change for that stage.

What to look for: REVISE, "Does it say it well?", and a change to meaning: cut "it was nice" or add a duck detail. EDIT with capitals fixed means editing is chosen because it feels safer; repeat the beach model. PLAN suggests stage names are not linked to their work.

Printable practice for W.3.5

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Planning, Revising and Editing

How long does the Planning, Revising and Editing lesson take?

40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Planning, Revising and Editing teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.5 — W.3.5, Writing for Grade 3: “With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.” In plain terms, plan, revise and edit a piece rather than handing in the first draft.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Six activity cards for the sort, listed in the warm-up, the beach draft on chart paper, written out in the Teach section, three stage cards on lanyards or desk tents: PLAN, REVISE, EDIT, a drafted piece from earlier in the week, one per student and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: edits when the piece needs revising: fixes "beech" to "beach" and calls the piece done; skips planning and writes straight away, then the best part is buried in the middle: the crab appears after lunch and treats revising as recopying neatly: the new version is the old one in better handwriting. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “This draft says: "we went to the park. it was nice. we fed the ducks." Write the stage it needs first, its question, and one change for that stage.” REVISE, "Does it say it well?", and a change to meaning: cut "it was nice" or add a duck detail. EDIT with capitals fixed means editing is chosen because it feels safer; repeat the beach model. PLAN suggests stage names are not linked to their work. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Planning, Revising and Editing?

Yes — 1 printable W.3.5 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Planning, Revising and Editing free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on October 8, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-10-08. Aligned to W.3.5 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.