This year’s National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June) marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum and the 25th anniversary of the historic Mabo decision. Use the Say Yes and Stories for Simon Story Graphs as a starting point for exploring our nation’s reconciliation journey.

On Wednesday 24th May children all over Australia enjoyed The Cow Tripped Over the Moon during this year’s National Simultaneous Storytime. Explore the story further from a Seven Steps perspective using this completed Story Graph. There are also plenty more completed Story Graphs available on Seven Steps Online.

These covers can be used to distinguish your Seven Steps workbooks. Download the colour or black and white version and get students to stick it on the front of their workbooks.

This list of practical technology-based writing activities that utilise different apps and software is designed to help you integrate different forms of technology into your writing lessons. There are lots more ideas on how to integrate technology into your lessons in the Action Activities series on Seven Steps Online. << Back to Article

The beauty of the Seven Steps is that once you have mastered them they can be applied to any creative
text types including poetry. Haiku are a great place to start with any age group, try this activity and see
how the Seven Steps can help you introduce and improve this form of poetry. For more ideas on how to apply the Seven Steps to other types of text, join Seven Steps Online.

Sizzling Starts are the most effective way to engage the audience and the quickest way to improve students’ writing results. This extract from the ‘Simple Guide to Improving NAPLAN Data’ is a great starting point when preparing students for the NAPLAN Writing Test. The complete guide is available on Seven Steps Online.

The Curriculum Matrix is a planning tool designed to help you quickly and easily find the content you require. This extract from the Curriculum Matrix lists the Year 2 Australian Curriculum content descriptions covered by each Step and directs you to the relevant pages in the Early Years Writing Manual. The full matrix is available on Seven Steps Online.

This simple marking template can be used by teachers to track students’ progress and provide feedback. It can also be used by students for peer or self-assessment. This is part of the ‘Narrative Marking Guide’ available on Seven Steps Online. << Back to Article

This short play was created using dialogue lines from Jen McVeity’s novel Dreamcatcher. Ask students to rehearse the scene in groups of four and then pick a group to act it out for the rest of the class. Discuss what the play reveals about each of the characters and the plot based on what was said.

Use this template to help students plan and structure letters correctly. << Back to Article

This list of fun writing research activities is designed to help you integrate different forms of multimedia into your writing lessons. There are lots more ideas on how to integrate multimedia into your lessons in the Action Activities series on Seven Steps Online. << Back to Article

This template is based on the Final Eight System used by both the AFL and the NRL. Display the template on your whiteboard or print it out on A3 paper and use it to record the teams competing in each round of the ‘Finals Fever’ activity. There are also a range of Game Cards to accompany this activity on Seven Steps Online. << Back to Article

Tanya Gill from Allenstown State School has kindly allowed us to share the Term 4 planning document for the Writing Improvement Agenda implemented in 2015. Their approach was modelled on a similar plan implemented by Crescent Lagoon State School in 2014 which involved amalgamating the NAPLAN Marking Criteria and the Seven Steps program in a fortnightly scheme of work.  << Back to Article

Jillian Mudford from Bellevue Hill Public School has kindly allowed us to share her comprehensive list of picture books that are perfect for modelling the Seven Steps techniques and inspire students’ creative writing. For examples of Picture Books that follow the Narrative Story Graph go to Seven Steps Online. << Back to Article

Kids LOVE chatterboxes. Use this template to help prompt new writing ideas for your students, and for a little classroom fun! There are more writing prompts in the Step 1 Action Activities on Seven Steps Online.