Teaching children to write creatively is not something that you can complete at any one particular grade level. It involves a series of planned situations and activities that gradually lead to independent writing. From as early as preschool a child's writing begins to take shape as he learns to interpret print. As he grows his understanding of that print is translated into a greater command of the language. Essentially, as he progresses through the grade levels his writing unfolds as a more personal stamp. As a teacher my goal is to d evelop the writing skills of my students. This means that I must slowly direct each child to writing independently. To do so I must model good writing, write with them collaboratively, guide their efforts and allow them to work on their own. These stages are summed up under the following headings: Modeled Writing Shared Writing Guided Writing Independent Writing 1. Modeled Writing In this initial step I must