Rango’s Desert Showdown

Year 5 · Adventure

Rango’s Desert Showdown is a free, NAPLAN-aligned adventure writing resource for Year 5 students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Year 5 AC9E5LE05 AC9E5LA05 AC9E5LA08 AC9E5LA09 AC9E5LA04 AC9E5LY06

Supports the Year 5 achievement standard (creating written texts).

Australian Curriculum content descriptions © ACARA. Writesy is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA.

I had just finished my morning stretch when I noticed something strange. A large shadow was hanging over me. I squinted against the desert sun. I saw a group of cactus plants waving in the wind, but I could not tell if they were real or not. A slow chuckle escaped my throat. No, it was not the cactus, it was a group of bandits. They were sneaking up behind me in the desert heat. As I straightened my cowboy hat, I gave them a slow, menacing smile. The desert had never seen a chameleon quite like me. It was time for a showdown.

The complication

  • The bandits recognise my camouflage and set a trap that uses mirages and heat to confuse me.
  • One bandit captures my favourite hat to distract me, and I must decide whether to chase or protect something more important.
  • A dust storm rolls in, hiding the bandits’ movements and forcing me to rely on senses other than sight.

Sentence starters

  1. Suddenly, I tipped my hat and let a slow grin spread across my face.
  2. I crouched low and tested the sand with the tip of my tail.

…and 1 more with your free account.

What's in the full resource

  • Complications
  • Brainstorming Prompts
  • Vocabulary Support
  • Sentence Starters
  • Dialogue Prompts
  • Writing Challenges
  • Sentence Variety
  • Creative Twists
  • Writing Checklist
  • Reflective Questions
  • Collaborative Writing Ideas
  • Printable teacher and student PDFs

NAPLAN writing criteria this resource targets

Audience Text structure Ideas Character and setting Vocabulary Cohesion Paragraphing Sentence structure Punctuation Spelling

See how Writesy aligns to the NAPLAN writing criteria.

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