This informative, engaging CPD session is intended to offer a valuable introduction to phonics for teachers and support staff. It aims to enable participants to: -To understand what phonics are and understand why they are widely used; -To grasp key phonics terminology and apply it in different contexts; -To break down the key phonics stages, comprehending how skills develop. The session is aimed at those who are new to phonics. I myself moved from secondary to primary, and can understand how daunting phonics schemes can appear! These resources, whilst detailed, present ideas in a simple way, helping to make key ideas understandable. Included is: A 27-slide colourful, clear PowerPoint presentation, including post-CPD quiz; Resources for an optional card-sorting activity, to learn appropriate phonics terminology; A comprehensive phonics helpsheet, detailing most of the main points from the session. I hope that you find these resources helpful. Many thanks!

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Scene by Scene Summary (with quotes); Main Characters; Themes; Dramatic Devices; Features of Tragicomedy. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to understand how the lead protagonist of Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’ – Katniss Everdeen - develops as a character throughout the novel. In doing so, students learn how she develops and acquires the key skills, characteristics, beliefs, and values to become the complete dystopian heroine. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Comprehending how Katniss is initially introduced to the reader; Reading extracts from Chapters 3, 7 and 14 of The Hunger Games, identifying how Katniss’ character develops; Analysing how her character fits the role of the ‘Dystopian Hero/Heroine’, and matching her traits to the different features of this character form; Applying their understanding by creating their own Dystopian Hero/Heroine; Self assessing their learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive;’ Extracts from The Hunger Games (from Chapters 3, 7, and 14); Character Profile for Katniss Everdeen; Blank Template for Creating a Dystopian Hero/Heroine; A comprehensive lesson plan; All resources are provided in Word (for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure formatting remains fixed between different computers). There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 8 classes, however colleagues have used them for between years 5 and 10 with some adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make sustained and developed links between Stevenson’s novella ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and its social and historical context. In particular, students learn about 19th Century attitudes towards scientific discoveries and religion, the duality of the mind, and the idea of civilisation vs. savagery. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Understanding key information about 19th Century through the creation of a timeline - plotting key events, inventions, and scientific discoveries; - Comprehending the key events of the text; - Learning about Robert Louis Stevenson and his key influences in writing the text; - Linking their understanding of context to the key elements of the text; - Analysing how Stevenson presents 19th Century attitudes towards religion, science, and ‘the savage.’ - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Cards for the timeline activity; - Links to context worksheet (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Links to an engaging video and further reading for advanced students (internet access needed for these); - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. These resources were originally taught to GCSE students, but with subtle adaptations they have also been used with KS3 and A Level Students. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

Based on the popular game show ‘Pointless’, this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I’ve also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, interesting tasks, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.’ Round 1. The characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Michael Morpugo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the upper KS2 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children love learning from these resources, whilst they are also of great use to teachers, as there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘An Interview with Michael’s Parents’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘Morpugo’s Description’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Explain meanings of words that they know and ask the meaning of new words. Link the meaning of new words to words that they already know;’ ‘Michael’ and ‘Kensuke!’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘Figurative Language in Kensuke’s Kingdom’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is over 20 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This lesson enables students to gain a detailed understanding of the opening scene in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Students learn to make sustained and developed inferences and interpretations in relation to both characters and plot. Students also produce a family tree to demonstrate the relationships between the characters, using colourful and interesting images and resources. The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be attentive and interactive learners. It follows this learning journey: - Defining the key term 'feud' and apply this understanding to a range of contexts; - Reading and interpreting the prologue and Act 1 Scene 1, and establishing how Shakespeare sets the scene in Verona; - Reflecting upon what effect this may have had on audiences at the time; - Making detailed inferences/ interpretations into clues about characterisation and social structure; - Analysing Shakespeare's intentions in including such an energetic scene at the outset of the play; - Peer/self evaluating the learning in the lesson. Included in this resource pack are: - A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Resources for the reading and interpreting activity - full scene transcript with space for notes; - A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with P.E.E instructions; - A family tree template and character list; - A challenging and thought-provoking worksheet, and an answer sheet for the teacher. All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of R.J. Palacio’s 'Wonder.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS2 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children love learning from these resources, whilst they are also of great use to teachers, as there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘An Interview with Auggie’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘Palacio’s Description’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Explain meanings of words that they know and ask the meaning of new words. Link the meaning of new words to words that they already know;’ ‘Julian Alban’s and Summer’s Character Profiles!’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ 'Figurative Language in ‘Wonder’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This lesson enables students to gain a detailed understanding of the balcony scene in William Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Students learn to demonstrate a developed understanding of language, supported by precisely-selected textual evidence. Students develop clear interpretations of the key meanings within the scene, as the lesson provides a close analysis of the figurative language, rhyme, and repetition strategies utilised by Shakespeare throughout. The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be attentive and interactive learners. It follows this learning journey: - Establishing the events leading up to the scene, and the predicament that Romeo and Juliet are in; - Reading and interpreting Act II Scene II, interpreting and inferring the key meanings; - Understanding the key themes throughout the scene, including Juliet’s comparison with sunlight; - More closely analysing Shakespeare’s use of language in Juliet’s ‘What’s in a name?’ speech; - Peer/self evaluating the learning in the lesson. Included in this resource pack are: - A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Resources for the reading and interpreting activity - full scene transcript with space for notes; - A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with P.E.E instructions; - A challenging and thought-provoking worksheet, and an answer sheet for the teacher. All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Willy Russell’s play ‘Blood Brothers.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘Context: 1980s Britain/ Liverpool’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ ‘Russell’s Dramatic Devices’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ ‘Edward’, ‘Mickey’, and ‘Mrs Lyons’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ ‘Editing the Play’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This lesson aims to improve students’ skills in comparing and contrasting poems. Students learn how to understand the different ways that poetry can be compared, plan a well-structured comparative essay, and complete a detailed, organised, and sustained comparison. This lesson is most suitable for children preparing to sit GCSEs/ A Levels. Please note, the lesson should be used subsequent to students being taught poems, as I have left the poems to be compared up to the teacher, as opposed to specifying particular poems. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Understanding what features of poems can be compared (a comprehensive list is provided and utilised in the lesson); - Comprehending how to structure comparative essays as a whole (using a specific formula, which has always formed a successful model for my previous students); - Reading and analysing a model example of a comparative paragraph, in order to understand the key features within each paragraph of a comparative essay; - Writing their own poetry comparison, using planning and success criteria that are formed over the lesson; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; - Worksheets and resources for all activities; - A model example; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed-ability year 10 groups, but can be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This interesting and highly-stimulating lesson enables students to gain a clear understanding of the key meanings in the Greek Myth ‘Pandora’s Box.’ Through engagement with the story, students learn to interpret and infer the key elements of plot in texts, comment upon the writer’s purposes and messages in texts, challenging and building upon their ideas, and apply the key messages to other contexts. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Understand the phrase ‘opening Pandora’s Box’ and apply it to modern contexts; - Read the story ‘Pandora’s Box’ and interpret the key meanings; - Summarise the key events of the story through a storyboard; - Identify, explain, and analyse the writer’s key messages in ‘Pandora’s Box;’ - Engage deeply with the text by challenging and building upon the ideas/messages raised by the writer;’ - Test their understanding of the story by creating their own recreations; - Peer assess each other’s learning attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Paper copies and online links to a copy of Pandora’s Box; - Pandora’s Box Storyboard; - The Writer’s Message Worksheet; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising the basics of French as an additional language. It contains comprehensive sections on: Greetings; Basic Questions/ Answers; The Alphabet; Months/ Days/ Seasons; Numbers; Colours; Family; Animals; Places; Verbs and Verb Forms. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Thomas Hardy’s power and conflict poem 'The Man He Killed.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; The Poet’s Influences. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).