After being asked to teach a Year 6 class about ‘The Battle of Britain’ and the ‘Blitz,’ I trailed the internet looking for some excllent examples for my students to read, analyse and ‘mag-pie’ from… However, I couldn’t find any!! The resources available contain: A Blitz non-chronological report, with lots of important facts and key features, a modelled version of a ‘Battle of Britain’ introduction, with success criteria and a VCOPS reminder and version of a ‘not so good’ introduction, then an improved one, using a colour-coded key. Also included are some comprehension questions to accompany the Blitz non-chronological report. All resources have been used in lessons and worked effectively!

In order to carry on a 'topical approach' to learning, an English unit on narrative endings was combined with a Tudor topic. A VCOP rich text was written from the death of Henry VII to Henry VIII getting frustrated and annoyed with the lack of a male heir to the throne. The unit of work is based around creating endings / alternative endings to stories. This text sets the scene perfectly and is perfect to being combined with drama, role-play and story-telling.

Through a text-tell approach to learning key vocabulary / phrases, conjunctions, openers and punctuation, the resources available assist the teaching and learning of information texts and Ancient Egyptian time-line facts about Tutankhamun. Also included is a scaffolded information text for children to use.

After teaching Year 3 on numerous occasions, through a topical approach to learning, I collated a lovely English unit of work on Ancient Egyptian Myths. At first I was unable to find an interesting excellent example, but after searching and searching, I found the 'Ancient Cinderella' story with all the right ingredients for a quest myth. Included in this package is: a Pie Corbett style storytelling unit of work, with the 'Rhodopis myth,' story planning examples, Phase 1 pictures, storyboards, marking ladders, unit of work planning and some examples of pupil innovation.

When studying The Tudors with a Year 5 class, it was important to link the famous events studied with what was happening on the 'local scene.' Using the 'Sense of Place' units from Cornwall. Incorporated within the termly topic was a trip to a real-life Tudor battlement castle (Pendennis Castle, Falmouth). Resources include a presentation tour around Pendennis Castle, linking in with Henry VIII (who commissioned it), a presentation about local Tudor 'An Gof,' who orchestrated a Cornish Rebellion march on London and linking in with an English unit of study; an excellent example of a Tudor time-slip narrative and success criteria, which serves as a 'Pie Corbett' style of story-telling and innovation. All information can bring a different local perspective to Tudor areas of study, enhancing creativity to this unit.

When teaching Year 3 and the topic Ancient Egypt, I always found it difficult to find a myth to fit the topic and the Literacy unit of myths. Then I found a wonderful story from Ancient Egypt (Rhodophis and the Red Rose Slippers). It is the most ancient 'Cinderella' story going with all the elements needed for studying myths. I re-wrote and condensed the myth and added important key features (time connectives etc) and the children learnt and analysed the myth in a Pie Corbett style fashion, drew story-maps, acted it out (videoing and re-playing it). Innovation then followed, making myth cards of settings, characters and special objects. Resources include myth pyramid planning, story-telling text (shorter and display versions).

After learning a text-tell about Ancient Egypt (linked to the Valley of the Kings and Tutankhamun), them children plan and write an innovation of the learnt text. The resources available are templates for the end of unit polished non-chron writing, along with pictures.

'The Tudors,' history topic is used as a means of providing a setting for performance poetry, ( the resource contains an example of a poem with rhyme, syllable count patterns and rhythm and a mini tool-kit.) The resource starts with Henry VIII's first wife; Catherine of Aragon and contains factual information about their marriage leading onto his next wife. The poem example contains a chorus too. The resource can be used as an innovation or as an excellent example for the children to analyse and use to write their own version. They then can plan and write 6 chronologically 'wife' verses or it can be done as a class compilation (choosing verses written by different individuals / pairs .)

Using the Tudor history topic to learn about the key features of Non-Chronological report writing. These texts have been specifically written to include all relevant key features, so pupils can analyse and assess next to the success criteria.

Using Ancient Greece as a topic to immerse Year 5 pupils into a poetry unit of work. The Trojan Horse story sets the scene and introduces Homer as a person of interest to get the children reading, writing and analysing descriptive language and using high level vocabulary. The resources contain real extracts from Homer's 'Iliad' with excellent examples of innovation, plus success criteria, vocabulary definitions, power-point about Homer and much more! This unit then flows very neatly into a non-fiction genre of Newspaper Reports, with the poetry story content put into the features of an Ancient newspaper recount. Again, with excellent examples and success criteria / tool-kits.