This action research is designed to help students improve their writing skills and their confidence in themselves as writers. The targeted population is third graders in a suburban Chicago, Illinois elementary school. Evidence of the need to improve writing skills exists through teacher observation and evaluation of student writing, and scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in writing. There are many probable causes for third grade students' inability to communicate effectively through written language. The writing expectations may not be age appropriate. Many teachers lack adequate training in teaching the writing process. Also, teaching the necessary skills to be a successful writer is a time consuming process. A review of solution strategies suggested by knowledgeable others suggests that expectations be adjusted to be age appropriate. Teacher training should be offered to help staff become more competent in teaching writing. A variety of motivational writing strategies should be implemented into the writing program to improve the quality of student output. Post intervention data indicated progress in the students' writing skills. Most students became able to write organized and developed essays independently within less than four months. This improvement may have been the result of the writing strategies and activities implemented during the intervention period of September 1, 2000 through December 15, 2000. (Contains 21 references, and 3 figures and 4 tables of data. Appendixes contain a language arts rubric, teacher and student surveys, a writer's checklist, and a color-coded organizer.) (Author/RS)