Planning questions
- What did you wish for?
- How did the wish come true differently than you imagined?
- What problem or adventure does the unexpected result create?
NarrativeYears 3–9
The Wishing Well
You throw a coin into a well and make a wish. The next morning it comes true—but not in the way you expected.
Bring your characters and setting to life, and give your story a clear beginning, complication and resolution.
NarrativeYears 3–9
The Wishing Well
You throw a coin into a well and make a wish. The next morning it comes true—but not in the way you expected.
Bring your characters and setting to life, and give your story a clear beginning, complication and resolution.
Planning and teaching notes
Writer’s checklist
- Plan the characters, setting and main problem.
- Shape the events so the reader can follow what happens.
- Choose words carefully and vary your sentences.
- Use paragraphs, punctuation and spelling to make meaning clear.
- Reread and edit before you finish.
Teaching notes
Read the prompt and pause at “not in the way you expected”. Collect a few wishes, then ways each could come true wrongly, before students choose their own.
Support: Plan the wish, the surprise and what the character does about it, one sentence each.
Extend: Let the character learn something from the wish, and show it in the last line.
Choose one skill from your current teaching. Model it and practise it together before students write, then check it again in a later task.
How to teach narrative writingOriginal NAPLAN-style practice for Years 3–9. Not an official ACARA prompt. Print and share with your class.
Feedback on the story they write
Writing Boost marks students’ writing and gives each writer feedback for their next draft.
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Typed or handwritten
Bring typed work into Writing Boost, or review a transcript of a handwritten piece before sending it for feedback.
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Feedback on each criterion
Students see what is working and where to focus next, with a specific change to try in their draft. From “improve your vocabulary” to a next step a writer can act on.
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Revise and compare drafts
Feedback stays close while students revise. Compare versions to see what changed and talk about why. Students make the changes. The writing stays theirs. See a writing example
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See the whole class
See criterion results across your class, spot shared needs and strengths, and open the student work behind them.
Illustrative product views with example writing and fictional class data.
See Writing Boost in a demo
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