The Day My Shadow Went Missing

Imaginative

The Day My Shadow Went Missing is a free, NAPLAN-aligned imaginative writing resource for Australian primary students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).

Ethan always noticed how his shadow stretched, danced, and followed his every move—until one morning, it was gone. No shadow under the sun, no dark shape trailing him on the pavement. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it—his shadow, running across the street, waving at him before disappearing into the woods.

The complication

Ethan Chases His Shadow: Ethan runs after his shadow, only to discover it’s not the only one missing. Other kids are losing their shadows, too! Where could they have gone?
Shadows Have Minds of Their Own: Ethan soon learns that his shadow and the others are tired of following their humans around. They want freedom. What does that mean for the people they belong to?
The Mysterious Old Woman: A strange, old woman tells Ethan that shadows are stolen by a forgotten creature that lives between light and dark. What does that mean for Ethan’s shadow?

What's in the full resource

Complications

Brainstorming Prompts

Vocabulary Support

Sentence Starters

Dialogue Prompts

Writing Challenges

Sentence Variety Examples

Creative Twists

Writing Checklist

Reflective Questions

Collaborative Writing Ideas

Printable teacher and student PDFs