The Day the Sky Turned Red

Year 6

The Day the Sky Turned Red is a free, NAPLAN-aligned writing resource for Year 6 students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Year 6 AC9E6LE05 AC9E6LA05 AC9E6LA08 AC9E6LA09 AC9E6LA04 AC9E6LY06

Supports the Year 6 achievement standard (creating written texts).

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

It started just like any other day. I was playing outside, running down the dirt road near the houses when I saw it. The sky was darker than usual, but I didn’t think much of it. Then, I heard the rumble. At first, it sounded like thunder, but the sky wasn’t cloudy. I turned to see what was happening, and that’s when I saw it, the mountain in the distance was smoking, the air was thick with dust, and the sky was glowing red. I had never seen anything like it before, and I didn’t know what to do. Everyone was running, but I stayed still, just staring. I couldn’t look away from the explosion of ash that filled the air like a huge cloud, swallowing everything in its path.

The complication

  • Ash and dust make it hard for I to find my way home, and I must decide whether to help other people or head for safety.
  • The road becomes blocked by fallen trees and rocks, forcing I to find a different route while the air grows thicker and breathing becomes difficult.
  • A strange sound or light appears from the mountain after the eruption, suggesting something unexpected is emerging and putting I and the neighbours at risk.

Sentence starters

  1. I sprinted toward the nearest house, my jumper flapping at my arms as the ash stung my eyes.
  2. Suddenly, the sky flared a deep red and the air tasted like metal and old rain.

…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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