Through completing this collaborative narrative writing activity, students will develop their ability to construct complex sentences and incorporate them into a cohesive paragraph.

How to Complete

1. Students will work in groups to write a narrative based on a theme. Choose from space exploration, medieval kingdom or deep sea exploration.
2. Each student or pair within the group will be responsible for composing either the orientation, complication or resolution paragraph. As students’ paragraphs must result in a cohesive story, provide planning time and remind them to discuss their ideas with their group members as they write.
3. To support them in writing their paragraphs, students will select a set of themed word prompt cards which will be incorporated into their paragraph’s complex sentences.
4. Set guidelines related to how many complex sentences are to be included within the paragraph and which subordinating conjunctions should be used.
5. Ensure the group reviews their completed paragraphs, focusing on how complex sentences add detail and cohesion to their group’s narrative.

Additional Tips

1. Display an example paragraph on the board to demonstrate how simple and complex sentences can work together.
2. Decide whether you want the whole class to write stories on the same theme or give each group a different theme.
3. Allow each group to share their stories with the class.
4. Use the completed paragraphs to create a writing display.

Extension Ideas

1. Publish & Share: Allow students to revise, illustrate and publish their stories before sharing them with a buddy class.

This activity fosters creativity, critical thinking and sentence-building skills while allowing students to explore storytelling in a fun and structured way.

The resource is part of our Year 4 English Unit: Complex Sentences & Conjunctions.