The Great Cow Abduction

Year 4 · Humorous

The Great Cow Abduction is a free, NAPLAN-aligned humorous writing resource for Year 4 students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Year 4 AC9E4LE05 AC9E4LA06 AC9E4LA04 AC9E4LA12 AC9E4LA11 AC9E4LY06

Supports the Year 4 achievement standard (creating written texts).

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

The cows had seen many strange things on Farmer Bill’s ranch. This was the weirdest of all. A gigantic, glowing spaceship hovered just above the treetops. Its blue lights cast an eerie glow on the pasture. The ship tilted slightly, and a low hum filled the air. Then, without warning, a bright beam shot down. The cows did not wait to see what would happen next. They turned and ran for their lives!

The complication

  1. As the cows flee, they accidentally split up into two groups, leading to confusion and panic among them.
  2. The spaceship starts to lower itself further, creating a swirling wind that threatens to blow the cows back toward it.
  3. Farmer Bill arrives on the scene just as the cows are running away, and he must decide whether to investigate the spaceship or help his frightened animals.

Sentence starters

  1. Just as I thought we were safe in the barn, I heard a loud crash outside.
  2. The bright beam of light illuminated the pasture like it was daytime.

…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.

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