This KS2 Writing Burst Suspense Pack gives you everything you need to teach five focused, 15-minute lessons on building suspense in narrative writing.
Aimed at lower and upper KS2, this flexible unit can be taught across a single week or spread over a longer period, depending on your timetable.
Each session builds essential writing skills, guiding pupils through the process of understanding, using, planning, writing and editing suspenseful stories.
At the core of this resource are three high-quality model texts, or WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like), written to demonstrate effective suspense techniques in action.
Pupils will explore how to build tension through carefully chosen vocabulary, short sentences, vivid imagery, varied sentence openers and hints of danger. The extracts also show how to use setting, atmosphere and inner thought to draw the reader in.
Five-lesson structure
Each of the five short lessons is clearly structured:
- Understand – Annotate a suspense text and explore key techniques together.
- Use – Practise writing suspenseful sentences using image prompts and technique cards.
- Plan – Plan a suspense story using a model (e.g. Hansel and Gretel) and image stimulus.
- Write – Write a full suspense story using the plan and ideas developed.
- Edit – Improve and refine work using editing cards and a final model text.
The full pack includes:
- PowerPoint slides to guide each lesson
- 3 suspense model texts (WAGOLLs)
- Suspense challenge sheet
- Technique cards with definitions and examples
- 5 image stimulus cards
- Writing plan
- Editing cards
- Teacher notes
You can teach pupils how to:
- Create mood and tension using descriptive detail and structure
- Use dialogue and action to move the plot forward
- Edit and improve writing to increase impact on the reader
Curriculum links:
- Narrative composition: planning, writing and editing
- Creating atmosphere through setting and character
- Using dialogue to develop character and advance action
- Applying grammar and vocabulary to suit purpose and audience