Your Year 1 students are already storytellers — they just need the structure to put it on paper. This unit takes them from “I don’t know what to write” to “I AM AN AUTHOR” in 12 lessons, finishing with their very own 6-page Mini-Book read aloud from the Author’s Chair.

Twelve 25-minute lessons across three weeks. The same 9-slide routine every day so students build the habit fast. Speaker notes on every slide. Open Monday morning and teach.

Note: This unit is aligned to the Australian Curriculum v9.0 and is suitable for Year 1 teachers across all Australian states and territories — NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, NT, ACT, and TAS.

WHAT’S INCLUDED
✓ 108-slide lesson deck — 12 lessons, 9 slides each, with detailed teacher speaker notes on every slide (PPTX + PDF)
✓ Heart Map worksheet — brainstorm story ideas across People I Love, Places I Know, and Moments I Remember
✓ 5-Page Story Plan — quick-sketch all 5 story pages (Setup, First, Then, Next, Finally) before writing
✓ Mini-Book template — 6-page student book with Cover + 5 story pages using the FIRST·THEN·NEXT·FINALLY sequence
✓ Stretchy Words Bank — 45 Year 1-friendly feeling, color, and action words organized in a word bank for reference
✓ Partner Listening Sheet — compliment-giving scaffold for Author’s Chair (Lessons 11–12)
✓ 4-criteria teacher rubric — Starting / Growing / Got It! / Glowing scale with student self-assessment box
✓ 14-page unit overview — cover page and one lesson per page with target, AC codes, success criteria, materials, and conferring prompts
✓ 2-page summative task and assessment guide — task overview and level descriptors with Year 1-specific scoring tips
✓ Editable parent letter — introduces the unit, defends sound spelling to families, and includes Author’s Chair invitation (DOCX)
✓ Product cover JPG

THE DRAW · TELL · WRITE FRAMEWORK
Every lesson follows the same three-step structure: Draw first to plan the story, Tell it aloud to a partner, then Write it down. This sequence builds oral language and drawing as genuine writing tools — not just warm-ups. The rubric and summative task specifically honor drawing and oral storytelling as valid and valued forms of writing at Year 1 level.

YEAR 1 NARRATIVE WRITING SKILLS TAUGHT
Declaring identity as a writer (“I AM AN AUTHOR!”)
Identifying characters, setting, and the events of a story
Choosing one small moment from real life to write about
Planning a story using the Heart Map and 5-Page Story Plan
Drawing strong pictures showing WHO + WHERE + ACTION on each page
Writing 2 sentences per page with capital letters, finger spaces, and full stops
Adding stretchy words — feeling, color, and action words — to make sentences grow
Reading a finished Mini-Book aloud with voice and expression at the Author’s Chair

THE 3-WEEK ARC
WEEK 1 — WHAT MAKES A STORY: L1 I Am a Writer · L2 Characters and Setting · L3 First, Then, Finally · L4 Telling Strong Stories
WEEK 2 — BUILDING MY STORY: L5 Finding My Small Moment · L6 Planning My Story Page