The Forgotten Letter

Year 3

The Forgotten Letter is a free, NAPLAN-aligned writing resource for Year 3 students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Year 3 AC9E3LE05 AC9E3LA06 AC9E3LA10 AC9E3LA11 AC9E3LA04 AC9E3LY06

Supports the Year 3 achievement standard (creating written texts).

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

Tom stood in the dusty attic. He could not believe his eyes. He held a yellowed letter in his hands. Its edges were crinkled with age. The stamp was faded and worn. It showed the letter was a message from the past. The message had never reached its destination. Sunlight streamed through a small window. He carefully opened the letter. He wanted to uncover the story it held. Tom did not know that the letter would lead him on an amazing adventure.

The complication

  1. The letter contains only half of a message and a torn map, so Tom must find the missing piece before someone else does.
  2. A neighbour or relative arrives claiming the letter belongs to their family and wants to keep Tom from investigating.
  3. The letter's writer hinted at a secret hidden in the town centre that is now guarded or difficult to reach, forcing Tom to choose whether to sneak in or ask for help.

Sentence starters

  1. After Tom unfolded the letter, he stared at the neat handwriting and tried to work out the date.
  2. Dust motes danced in the sunlight while the attic smelled of old paper and wool.

…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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