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Planning, Revising, Editing, Rewriting

A 40-minute Grade 5 lesson on strengthening writing through planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach.

Planning, Revising, Editing, Rewriting is a free 40-minute Grade 5 English lesson plan for Common Core standard W.5.5 — plan, revise, edit, rewrite, or start again with a new approach. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, 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 5
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
W.5.5

Grade 5 · Writing

W.5.5

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

Objective

Students will be able to decide whether a piece needs revising or a completely new approach.

Students are successful when they can

  • Diagnoses the piece.
  • Chooses revision or a new approach.
  • Justifies the choice.

What you need

  • A draft each that is not working
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — fixable or not?

5 min
  1. Read two failing drafts. Judge whether each is fixable.
  2. One has a wrong structure; one has weak sentences.

Teach — the hardest decision in writing

13 min
  1. Take a draft with weak sentences and a sound structure. Revise it.
  2. Take one whose structure is wrong. Show revision failing on it.
  3. Start it again with a different approach, using the same material.
  4. Say what was kept: the research and the thinking, not the sentences.
  5. Say the rule: starting again is not failure, and it is often faster.
“The sentences are fine. The shape is wrong, and no amount of sentence work fixes a shape.”

Guided practice — diagnose and decide

12 min
  1. Students diagnose their own draft.
  2. They decide: revise, or start again with a new approach.
  3. They justify to a partner, who may disagree.

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the revising page.
  2. Two drafts needing different decisions are on the sheet.

Close

2 min
  1. Take one decision and its justification.

What goes wrong, and why

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

Always revises, never restarts.

Why: The draft represents work already done.

Fix: The material is kept either way. Only the sentences are lost, and they were not working.

Restarts at the first difficulty.

Why: A blank page is easier than a flawed one.

Fix: Diagnose first. Most drafts need revision, not replacement.

Restarts and reproduces the same structure.

Why: It is the only structure they have thought of.

Fix: Name the new approach before writing. Restarting without a new approach is retyping.

If they are not there yet

  • Give the diagnosis.
  • Revision only.

If they finish early

  • Restart a piece with a genuinely different structure.
  • Argue against a partner's decision.
  • Say what you would have planned differently.

Exit ticket

Does your piece need revising or a new approach? Why?

What to look for: A diagnosis behind the decision. 'Revise' by default means the fixable-or-not judgement needs practising.

Printable practice for W.5.5

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

Questions about Planning, Revising, Editing, Rewriting

How long does the Planning, Revising, Editing, Rewriting 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, Editing, Rewriting teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.5 — W.5.5, Writing for Grade 5: “With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.” In plain terms, plan, revise, edit, rewrite, or start again with a new approach.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

A draft each that is not working 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: always revises, never restarts; restarts at the first difficulty and restarts and reproduces the same structure. 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: “Does your piece need revising or a new approach? Why?.” A diagnosis behind the decision. 'Revise' by default means the fixable-or-not judgement needs practising. 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, Editing, Rewriting?

Yes — 1 printable W.5.5 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, Editing, Rewriting 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 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to W.5.5 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.