The Lighthouse Keeper’s Journal

Year 5

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Journal is a free, NAPLAN-aligned 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.

As Emma stepped through the heavy wooden door of the abandoned lighthouse, the howling wind outside seemed to echo through the dark, forgotten rooms. She had stumbled upon it by chance, while hiking along the coast. The lighthouse was old, its windows shattered and its light long since extinguished. However, when Emma found an old, dusty journal resting on a desk by a window, something seemed to pull her in. The pages, yellowed and brittle, contained the ramblings of the lighthouse keeper, words that hinted at a mysterious event, a hidden truth that had been left behind in the pages of time. She opened it to the first page and began to read.

The complication

  • As Emma reads further, the handwriting suddenly changes tone and becomes frantic, and footsteps echo above her as if someone else is inside the lighthouse.
  • A loose board beneath Emma’s foot reveals a hidden compartment containing a map, but the map is incomplete and points to a dangerous cliff path that may collapse.
  • The journal hints that the lighthouse keeper left a secret key somewhere in the building, but the key is claimed by a local family who believe the keeper wronged them years ago and they want it back.

Sentence starters

  1. When a faint scent of salt and old paper filled the room, Emma felt a chill run down her spine.
  2. Emma flipped another brittle page and a photograph slipped out onto the desk.

…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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