The Ripple That Drew a Map | FREE Years 5–6 Visual Writing Lesson

The Ripple That Drew a Map | FREE Years 5-6 Visual Writing Lesson

What happens when an ordinary classroom experiment creates something impossible?

The Ripple That Drew a Map is a complete visual-writing lesson designed to help Years 5 and 6 pupils develop observation, inference, vocabulary and suspense writing.

Four sequential images take pupils from a familiar colour experiment to a mysterious hidden doorway beneath NOWAY Academy. Each new visual reveals another part of the story, giving pupils a clear starting point while leaving enough unanswered for genuine imagination and choice.

Created by experienced English teacher and former headteacher Cindy Ettienne-Murphy, this lesson is carefully structured to reduce blank-page anxiety and support dyslexic and neurodivergent learners without lowering expectations.

Inside the free pack:

• Four high-resolution visual writing prompts

• A complete 60-minute English lesson

• An optional second writing lesson

• National Curriculum links for Years 5 and 6

• Learning objective and pupil-friendly success criteria

• Teacher questions for observation, inference and prediction

• A structured story-planning worksheet

• A lined independent-writing page

• Precise vocabulary and sentence-start support

• A model suspense paragraph

• Assessment guidance and indicative responses

• Dyslexia- and neurodivergent-friendly adaptations

• Editable Word and print-ready PDF versions

Pupils can write from Daisy-Mae’s viewpoint, James-Riley’s viewpoint or in close third person as the class follows a glowing map through NOWAY Academy.

Ideal for:

• Upper KS2 English lessons

• Creative and narrative writing

• Guided writing groups

• Visual literacy and inference work

• Dyslexia-friendly classroom practice

• Supply teaching and cover lessons

• Home education and tutoring

Download the lesson, reveal the images one at a time and let your pupils decide where the mysterious map leads next.

Because the best writing doesn’t always begin with a blank page.

It begins with wonder.

Created by Cindy Ettienne-Murphy | NOWAY Academy | Diamond Education Hub