Every great writer starts somewhere.
Write with Thea is the free, step-by-step research paper process for K‑6 — guided by a wise owl who’s been teaching writing since 1973.
Trusted by teachers since 1973 · Free forever · No account required to explore
Teaching research writing is hard. It shouldn’t be.
There are no good free tools. Worksheets don’t give feedback. AI tools write for kids instead of teaching them. And building a writing curriculum from scratch is exhausting. You deserve better — and so do your students.
Four stages. 85 steps. One patient guide.
Students work at their own pace. Thea guides each step with explanations, examples, and practice — so you’re free to coach, not lecture.
Getting Ready
Print your forms, pick your topic
Gathering Information
Research and take organized notes
Organizing Information
Structure your notes into an outline
Writing Your Report
Draft, revise, edit, and publish
Meet Thea. Your students’ new favorite writing partner.
- She explains concepts, shows examples, and gives practice tasks
- She gives personalized feedback on student writing
- She never writes for students — she teaches them to write for themselves
- She’s witty, wise, and impossible to frustrate
“Hmm, your introduction jumps right into the details. What if we gave your reader a moment to settle in first? A good opening sentence is like holding the door open.”
— Thea, giving feedback
You teach. Thea guides. Everyone wins.
Create classes in minutes
Add students and organize by class or group.
Student codes, no emails
Each student gets a unique code — no email or parent permission needed.
Track progress at a glance
See who's drafting, who's revising, and who just published.
Flexible for your schedule
Use it for 20-minute blocks, homework, or full writing units.
In 1973, a teacher named Thea had an idea.
Thea Holtan was a high-school English teacher turned elementary media director in Bloomington, Minnesota. She noticed her students couldn’t write research papers — not because they weren’t smart, but because nobody had shown them how. So she created a step-by-step process from classroom experience, not academic theory. Over 50 years and thousands of classrooms, that process was refined into what works today.
Today, her process lives on — guided by Thea the owl, powered by modern technology, and still doing what it always did: teaching kids to think, organize, and write.
Start in 2 minutes. Stay because it works.
Create your free teacher account
Just your email — no credit card, no trial period.
Set up a class and share student codes
Students join with a simple code. No emails required.
Students start writing. You watch them grow.
Thea guides each step. You focus on what matters most.
No credit card. No trial period. No catch.