The Lighthouse of Lost Signals

Year 6 · Mystery

The Lighthouse of Lost Signals is a free, NAPLAN-aligned mystery 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.

The waves crashed against the jagged rocks below, but it was the beam of light that caught my attention. The lighthouse had always stood there, a silent sentinel overlooking the cliffs, its light guiding ships through the stormy seas. But tonight, something was different. The light shone brighter than ever before, and above it, I saw a strange shimmering trail, like magic itself was being woven through the night sky. I knew that trail was meant for me. There was something calling, and I couldn’t resist. I had to find the source, even if it meant descending into the cave beneath the lighthouse, a place the locals whispered about, but never spoke of openly.

The complication

  1. As I descend into the cave beneath the lighthouse, the shimmering trail begins to fade and a sudden tide surge traps the entrance, leaving me with a choice: find another way out or risk deeper exploration.
  2. Inside the cave I discover markings that suggest someone else has been there recently, and footprints lead into a flooded tunnel where the light seems to be coming from a submerged chamber.
  3. The beam of light is not purely magical but is tied to an old mechanism in the lighthouse that must be repaired while a storm worsens overhead, forcing me to race against time and failing equipment.

Sentence starters

  1. Action opener: I tightened my grip on the rope and edged toward the dark mouth of the cave.
  2. "Suddenly, the shimmering trail pulsed as if it had heard me," I said aloud, my voice swallowed by the cavern.

…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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