This Year 1 writing unit from our Real Writing collection is built around an original diary text by published children’s author Dan Smith. Pupils will explore Captain No-Beard’s Diary, following the adventures of a pirate over a week.
The text is available as a PDF in three versions – plain, illustrated and annotated. This is accompanied by annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations. All materials are designed to support teachers with detailed guidance, enabling confident delivery of every lesson.
Curriculum links and objectives
This two-week unit clearly maps to the Year 1 English curriculum. Pupils will:
- Use capital letters correctly for proper nouns and the personal pronoun I
- Read and spell the days of the week
- Sequence sentences using simple time adverbials
- Revisit key skills such as leaving spaces between words, using full stops and exclamation marks, joining clauses with and, adding the suffix -ed and reading aloud their own writing
The unit can also link to geography, using tier 3 vocabulary such as coast, cove, beach, ocean, sea and waves to describe locations. Alternatively, you can integrate it into a pirate-themed class topic.
Resources
The unit provides:
- Four fully resourced lessons with teacher notes, teaching slides and activity sheets
- Vocabulary cards featuring tier 2 words: captive, crew, cutlass, eyepatch, hook, parrot, skull, treasure
- Pirate Diary planning sheets, text maps, sequencing cards and posters to support learning
Key teaching activities
Begin by reading a pirate-themed story to engage pupils and activate prior knowledge, followed by a discussion to create a class list of what they know about pirates.
Pupils will then explore the model text, Captain No-Beard’s Diary, identifying diary features and answering comprehension questions. New vocabulary is introduced and reinforced using word cards and matching activities.
Pupils will examine the features of diary writing, sequencing days of the week using cards and creating text maps to show events. They'll plan their own pirate diaries by drawing or annotating what the pirate does each day, before writing their recounts using capital letters, full stops, time adverbials and descriptive vocabulary.
Provide support for less confident writers through scaffolds such as image labelling and offer challenges for more confident pupils to use adjectives and varied time adverbials. Pupils will then reread their work and self-assess using the writer’s checklist.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will:
- Confidently write a short diary recount in the voice of a pirate
- Use capital letters and full stops correctly
- Sequence events accurately with simple time adverbials
- Incorporate tier 2, tier 3 and common exception words into their writing
- Strengthen oral composition, spelling and handwriting skills
- Connect English learning to geography and a thematic pirate context