Diary entry – 8 of the best writing resources and worksheets for KS2 English
Get primary kids writing great diary entries with this selection of activities, classroom ideas and other resources…
- by Teachwire
1 | KS2 SATS TAF writing evidence – diary recount
In this writing task, pupils are asked to write a diary, recounting a key historical event. This could be used within a history topic, with pupils writing about a key event in history.
This resource pack includes:
- Personal writing skills checklist: for pupils to write their own writing checklists to encourage independent editing
- Diary Recount writing skills checklist: a list of features, without modelled examples, for pupils to use as a checklist for editing writing.
- How to Write a Diary poster: a poster for display with the key features of diary recounts.
- Jed’s Day Trip: a picture prompt for writing
- Sequencing cards: an activity to help pupils organise their own ideas for writing
- Diary Recount Planning Sheet: to support pupils when planning and organising their ideas
- Teacher Assessment Sheets: for teachers to use to assess pupils against the year 6 writing TAF statements which could be placed in pupils books as a record of evidence seen
2 | A Christmas Carol diary writing
In this resource pack pupils in Year 5 and year 6 can explore characters’ viewpoints using extracts from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
They will read two extracts from this classic text and explore Scrooge’s view of Christmas at the beginning and end of the story and compare these viewpoints with his nephew’s.
In the writing tasks, pupils will write diary entries in the role of Scrooge (or another character) describing the events, and his view of them, from the two extracts provided.
3 | Topical Tuesdays diary exercises with The Week Junior
If you’re not familiar with Topical Tuesdays, these weekly resources feature a news story from The Week Junior, and a series of reading and writing activities to accompany that story.
There are a whole host already available, some of which include diary writing tasks, like these:
- Imagine you are your own parent or carer and write a diary entry for a typical day of looking after you
- Write a diary entry as if you had found a tree in a lonely wood that had a tiny door in it
- Imagine you are one of the brothers who broke a world rowing record for crossing the Atlantic and write about the day you finally arrived at Antigua
- Imagine you are a Martian who wakes one day to find a strange vehicle from Earth trundling around in your back garden
- Imagine you are an archaeologist 4,000 years in the future and have just discovered the remains of the house you are living in today
- Imagine you are a detectorist who has discovered a hoard of treasure
- Imagine you are a robot with feelings, and write about the day you were programmed to do a handstand
- Imagine you live in a country like Barbados, and write a diary entry about a day where Queen Elizabeth comes to visit your town.
- Write an imaginary diary entry for the day you’re about to have organ donation surgery
Take a look at the entire Topical Tuesdays series here.
4 | Diary entry examples
If you’re after a whole selection of model texts for KS2 diary entries then head over to Literacy Wagoll where you’ll find everything from Anne Frank and ‘My first day at school’ to Hades – God of the Underworld.
5 | Year 4 diary writing
This diary writing lesson from BBC Bitesize focuses on writing the diary entry of a person from history. Use a video about Grace Darling, a heroic lighthouse keeper’s daughter, and the three activity ideas to help children plan, write and review their diary entry.
6 | Year 6 diary writing
Use another BBC Bitesize activity to teach your Year 6 pupils how to use the features of diary writing in their own work. First watch poet Michael Rosen explain how to write a recount, then watch a video about why diaries were so important in WWI.
Now it’s your pupils’ turn to write a diary entries from the perspective of Emmeline Pankhurst and Ibn Battuta.
7 | Diary writing worksheets
For a nice selection of printable diary entry worksheets then here you’ll find things like a Scottish soldier in Macbeth, nursery rhyme characters, a Stone Age Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
8 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid diary template
This activity provides a framework for children to write their own diary entry across two days in the style of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.
It is divided up into times of the day, so they’re only writing short sections for each rather than being given one long piece to do.
