Two pages of Year 3 descriptive writing about an abandoned lighthouse on a rocky cliff top, shrouded in thick, grey mist. Pupils spend five minutes planning with four questions about what they see, hear and feel, including one simile. A word bank offers twelve words such as towering, crumbling and jagged. The last page gives space for the full setting description for an adventure story. The sheet links to three England National Curriculum writing composition objectives.
Writing - composition
“Discussing and recording ideas”
The four planning questions have pupils record ideas before they start to write.
Writing - composition
“Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2)”
Question 4 asks for a simile, and the twelve-word bank moves pupils towards more ambitious vocabulary.
Writing - composition
“In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot”
The whole sheet builds one setting for an adventure story, from planning to the finished description.
Four questions on what towers above, the sounds around the cliff, how the air feels and smells, and one simile for the mist or the dark shadows.
A bank of twelve words, including looming, creaking, salty and shivering, for pupils to weave into their writing.
Space for the full setting description, with a reminder to use the senses.
Sound starter
Play a recording of waves and seagulls while pupils answer question 2.
Shared writing
Write the first sentence together with two words from the bank, then let pupils continue on their own.
Editing lesson
Keep the descriptions for the next lesson. Pupils count how many bank words they used and improve one sentence.
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