Your Year 5 students are ready to write with craft and intention. This unit takes them from “I don’t know where to start” to a polished, published narrative in 15 lessons — finishing with a story between 400 and 600 words that demonstrates real literary skill.

Fifteen 45-60 minute lessons across three weeks. A consistent five-part structure every day: Hook · Mini-Lesson · Worksheet Preview · Your Turn · Share & Close. 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 5 teachers across all Australian states and territories — NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, NT, ACT, and TAS.

WHAT’S INCLUDED
✓ 140 editable lesson slides — 15 lessons with detailed teacher speaker notes on every slide (PPTX + PDF)
✓ What Makes a Story Strong? — lesson 1 story hunt and reflection worksheet
✓ Character Build Sheet — build a character with an outer want, inner fear, and three showing-traits
✓ Story Mountain Planner — full plot plan using formal literary terms (exposition through resolution)
✓ Drafting: Strong Openings — try three of five hook strategies on the same story, then choose the strongest
✓ Drafting: Show Don’t Tell — rewrite one telling sentence through action, sensory detail, and dialogue
✓ Sensory Detail Layers — layer five senses plus internal sensation into one key scene, then add figurative language
✓ Peer Feedback Sheet — structured feedback using the rubric and I noticed / I wonder / I suggest frames
✓ 5-criteria narrative rubric — 1 Beginning / 2 Developing / 3 Meeting / 4 Extending · /20 total
✓ 16-page unit overview — cover page and one lesson per page with AC codes, materials, differentiation, and teacher tips
✓ 2-page summative task — student task brief, planning space, before-you-submit checklist (400–600 words), and self-assessment
✓ Editable parent letter — introduces the unit, explains the craft skills, and includes publishing celebration (DOCX)
✓ Product cover JPG

THE STORY MOUNTAIN FRAMEWORK
Every lesson is built around the same five-part story mountain using formal literary terminology — Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution. Students map it in a published narrative in Week 1, plan their own in Week 2, and publish in Week 3. The rubric, worksheets, peer feedback sheet, and summative task all reference the same five criteria — so students are never assessed on something they have not practised.