Take your students on a creative journey with this imaginative writing task, designed to spark curiosity and develop narrative writing skills. Using a visual prompt, planning template and structured narrative format, students craft an imaginative diary entry, detailing the events that take place. This activity targets imaginative writing and narrative elements, with a focus on organisation, descriptive language, punctuation and spelling. It also supports the development of personal voice and creativity in writing. With an included rubric, these templates can be used to assess your students’ writing abilities.

How to Complete

We have included an editable version of each document within this resource, meaning you can make adjustments to suit the needs of your students.

1. Distribute a black and white prompt strip, a planning template and writing template to each student. The colour prompt can be displayed on the board.
2. Students use the planning template to organise their ideas, considering characters, setting, problem and resolution, and diary entry sequence (beginning, middle, end).
3. Using the writing template, students write their imaginative diary entry in full sentences, describing the event in detail. Encourage them to include feelings, reactions and vivid descriptions.
4. Students reread their work to ensure it makes sense, check for punctuation, spelling, and grammar and fix any mistakes.
5. Use the rubric (aligned to Year 4 Australian Curriculum outcomes) to assess students’ writing skills, including text structure, language, grammar, punctuation, spelling and editing.

Additional Tips

1. Begin with a class discussion based on the image prompt and encourage students to brainstorm ideas and scenarios.
2. Model an example imaginative diary entry to show what a well-structured text looks like.
3. Display brainstorming charts or vocabulary walls to support descriptive word choices.
4. Provide scaffolding or sentence starters for students who need extra support.

Extension Ideas

1. Have students read their diary entries aloud to a partner, small group or the class.
2. Allow students to publish their edited diaries.
3. Invite them to write a second diary entry from another character's perspective.

This engaging and purposeful writing task not only brings narrative skills to life but also provides a rich opportunity for assessment. It is the perfect resource to inspire creative thinking in the classroom and assess students’ writing skills throughout the term, at the end of a writing unit, before parent interviews or in the lead up to semester reports.