A no-prep narrative writing unit: twelve ready-to-teach story writing lessons for Years 5 and 6. Open one file on your projector, press the right arrow and teach, while students write in a printed Keeper's Journal. No logins, no student devices, and it works offline.
The lessons are set in Emberwick, a painted harbour town where the lights are going out, with voiced characters, music and help for every writer built into each step.
WHAT A LESSON LOOKS LIKE
You run every lesson from the computer on your projector or board. Your students write on paper, in their own printed Keeper's Journal. Every lesson follows the same calm steps, so the class always knows what comes next: a story from one of the town's painted characters, a quick warm-up, a short teaching point, a model you build in front of the class step by step, a piece the class writes together, their own writing, and a Lamp Check to finish.
Your notes are on every step. Press ? for what to say, what to watch for and the answers. Press G for model answers at three levels.
WHY YOUR CLASS WILL REMEMBER IT
Every lesson your class finishes relights more of the painted town, and a class lamp in the corner fills as you go.
HELP FOR EVERY WRITER
Every writing task has sentence starters, a fill-the-gaps frame, a word bank and Nova's hints on screen, plus a Stretch and a harder Second Lamp task for students who are ready for more. Lessons fit a 45 or 50-minute period.
ON A RELIEF DAY
Because the notes for every step sit under ? on the screen, and the Lesson Guide has the flow and timings for each lesson, a colleague can run the next lesson for you on a relief day.
THE TWELVE LESSONS
- Answer the Letter (writing in role)
- The Telling (setting and mood)
- Pull the Weeds (precise words)
- Open the Windows (using the senses)
- Show, Don't Tell (character)
- Give Every Voice a Line (punctuating dialogue)
- Same Story, New Feel (tone)
- Trim and Stitch (revising)
- First Light (story openings)
- The Long Night (paragraphs and linking)
- Dawn (story endings)
- Light the Great Lamp (editing and sharing)
HOW IT RUNS
- One HTML file. Open it in Chrome or Edge and press F for full screen.
- Arrow keys, Space or a presentation clicker move you through the lesson. T starts a timer, H shows a hint, R reveals answers.
- Works offline, needs no logins and stores nothing about your students. There's a one-page sheet for your IT team in the zip.
- Australian or US English: a Spelling choice in Settings switches the on-screen spelling. The voices and the printed Journal and Guide stay Australian.
- Settings also has a reading font, larger text and less movement.
- Painted art, voices and music are all inside the file.
CURRICULUM
Written for the Australian Curriculum: English (v9) in Years 5 and 6, and mapped to four more: the US Common Core State Standards, the National Curriculum in England (Key Stage 2), Cambridge Primary English and the IB PYP. The Lesson Guide lists the links on each lesson page.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- The lessons: one offline HTML file for your projector or board (12 lessons)
- Keeper's Journal (PDF, 32 pages): two pages per lesson that follow the screen step by step, a toolkit page, Second Lamp pages for early finishers, a "My Finished Tale" page and a certificate
- Teacher Lesson Guide (PDF, 59 pages): flow and timings for every lesson, teacher notes, what to watch for, support and extension, answers and sample writing, curriculum links and printable fill-the-gaps frames
- For Your IT Team (PDF, 1 page)
- START HERE quick guide
WHICH EMBERWICK EDITION DO I NEED?
All five editions are set in the same painted town and are in the Star Class Academy store.
- Teacher-Led Edition, Years 5 and 6 (this one): 12 lessons on one screen and a 32-page Keeper's Journal.
- Teacher-Led Edition, Years 3 and 4: 10 lessons plus a bonus lesson on one screen, a 28-page Keeper's Journal and fill-the-gaps First Lamp pages.
- Teacher-Led Edition, Years 7 to 9: 12 lessons plus a bonus lesson, a 48-page Keeper's Journal, three Lamps in every lesson and Relief Lesson Cards.
- Student Game Edition, Years 5 and 6: each student writes on their own device and hears back from the characters, with a teacher console.
- Student Game Edition, Years 7 to 9: the full game for older students, with a teacher console.
Teaching from the projector? Choose a Teacher-Led Edition. Want students writing on their own devices? Choose a Student Game Edition. You don't need both: this edition is complete on its own. If you also have the Student Game Edition for Years 5 and 6, the two work as one unit, and the START HERE guide explains how.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Teaching Year 4 or Year 7 as well? The Years 3 and 4 and Years 7 to 9 Teacher-Led Editions of Emberwick are in the Star Class Academy store, with the same town and characters.
HOW IT WAS MADE
The painted art, the music and most of the voices were made with AI tools and then chosen and edited by us. Two of the voices are our own.
LICENCE
For use by the purchasing teacher with their own classes. You may put these files on a password-protected or school-internal site (such as your school's learning platform) for your own classes. Please don't post them on a public website or share them outside your classes.
Questions? starclassacademy.com/help?ref=sh or hello@starclassacademy.com
Made by two teachers, one primary and one secondary, who have taught in classrooms around the world.
