The Clockwork Apprentice

Year 6 · Steampunk

The Clockwork Apprentice is a free, NAPLAN-aligned steampunk writing resource for Year 6 students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Year 6 AC9E6LE05 AC9E6LA05 AC9E6LA08 AC9E6LA09 AC9E6LA04 AC9E6LY06

Supports the Year 6 achievement standard (creating written texts).

Australian Curriculum content descriptions © ACARA. Writesy is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA.

Dr. Alistair Greaves adjusted his monocle and tightened the final bolt on the automaton’s arm. The soft whir of gears and pistons filled the workshop as the machine lifted its hand, flexing its fingers for the first time. The doctor had spent years perfecting his creation, an artificial being with the mind of a scholar and the heart of a dreamer. But as the robot turned its gaze to meet his, it asked a question Dr. Greaves never expected.

The complication

  1. Dr. Greaves must confront the ethical implications of creating life when the automaton reveals it has desires and emotions.
  2. The workshop is suddenly plunged into darkness, and a mysterious figure appears, intent on stealing the automaton for their own nefarious purposes.
  3. An unexpected malfunction causes the automaton to misinterpret Dr. Greaves' commands, leading to chaos in the workshop.

Sentence starters

  1. Just as Dr. Greaves was about to respond, the automaton spoke again with an inquisitive tone.
  2. The air crackled with excitement as the automaton took its first steps across the workshop floor.

…and 1 more with your free account.

What's in the full resource

  • Complications
  • Brainstorming Prompts
  • Vocabulary Support
  • Sentence Starters
  • Dialogue Prompts
  • Writing Challenges
  • Sentence Variety
  • Creative Twists
  • Writing Checklist
  • Reflective Questions
  • Collaborative Writing Ideas
  • Printable teacher and student PDFs

NAPLAN writing criteria this resource targets

Audience Text structure Ideas Character and setting Vocabulary Cohesion Paragraphing Sentence structure Punctuation Spelling

See how Writesy aligns to the NAPLAN writing criteria.

Last updated

Register free to unlock the full resource — scaffolds, vocabulary support, sentence starters and more.

Get free access →

Or see today's free resource →