All these starters are designed to build students' vocabulary, familiarising them with words, getting them to build words and helping them to choose apt vocabulary: the right word in the right place. All are self-check, with clear answers that enable self- and peer assessment, minimising your workload. All have an element of differentiation in a worksheet option. Each is available separately as part of the 'Word-hoard series 1' starters, but as a bonus, all 6 are available here, so you get one free!

Each game is a 9-letter word for students to find and then use to make 4-or more- letter words from. Vocabulary is a vital – and these 3 games are can be used as a starter or reward that focuses attention on their word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better. Each PP has a last slide with possible answer, so students can check their own or each other's work and you won't have to do a thing!

The recipe for success describes lessons 1 and 2, introducing students to the contextual differences that make up the 19th Century world. In lesson 2, for which PP and extracts are provided here, the idea is to get students noticing the writers’ choices by changing them and thinking of their own choices. Short extracts from a range of writers are given on the extract sheet for analysis and /or changing. Instructions and a brief extract as model are given on the PP. PS The title 'Fiction and non-fiction' refers to the UNIT or COMPONENT of the syllabus, rather than this particular resource. However, a non-fiction extract has been added to extend the scope of the lesson.

Although these poems were both in the old OCR anthology and are easy to find online, they are given again on a handout to to enable the task to be done more easily as a cover or homework. The main worksheet is a fill-in which makes it suitable for all abilities - as extension more able students can work these ideas into a comparative essay. The second worksheet has possible answers in bold and can also be given out to students who have missed the work by way of catch-up help.

In this quick quiz students have to guess which story the quote comes from. In the process, they learn a useful quote and a point to make about gothic writing, for which the quote is evidence. However, if your class needs more than a quick brushing up on the stories, use the worksheet first as a long starter or homework prior to the lesson. Discussion is key to the success of this lesson - the 'reveal' is not definative, its to stimulate thought. Ask students to recall what is happening n the story - the 'moment' - to put the quote in context and then to think about all the things they might say about the gothic on the strength of it. This type of exercise should leave them with an armoury of quotes and able to recall one suitable to the exam question, as well as generally revising the stories.

241- Keep this resource in store for those times when you’re overloaded and need to let the students do a bit of the work. Begin with homework – 1 or 2 depending on amount and complexity - that don’t require marking. The first task will be the ‘flipped learning’ or revision content you want students to research, the second checks they’ve done it. Although these are designed for revision, set in advance of a new topic and you’ve got students engaged already. These tasks lend themselves to any topic or content subject and all you have to do by way of preparation is apply the tasks to the specifics of your subject and provide some guidance as to where students can find information, whether that’s in the text book, online or reference books. Slide one has 6 images – choose any icon to click on in a way that engages the class [throw a di, ask a question, choose a quiet student to make the choice]. A hyperlink will take you straight to the relevant slide, where the tasks will come up in steps on your click [adapt the wording of these to suit your specifics if you wish]. Once homework is set, ‘end show’ to get back to slide 1 and store for the next session. Each task is explained in your ‘recipe for success’ word document and alternatives or ways to differentiate suggested. The central idea is to get students helping each other while you facilitate only when required.

This lesson builds on the previous two Writing lessons to look at how to get top marks. The starter opens with a discussion about how students use persuasive devices and moves on to the ‘tool box’ of persuasive techniques they have. These are basically the same whatever the exam board. A handout enables the students to glue in a list of these - and what their effect is - into their books for revision purposes. The lesson PP focuses on example extracts - sentence variation and persuasive techniques - and gives tasks through which they explore how the writing is crafted. Their homework requires them to write a short piece on the same topic as their extract in timed conditions. You could spend another lesson peer assessing work and using the checklists to look for criteria, proof reading and editing as you go.

In this lovely, easy to read novel by David Almond, the author uses both past and present tense. This starter brings this to their attention and begins a discussion about the merits of each. The task is really simple, just changing the verbs, but it can be developed into a discussion that moves analysis of reading to a higher level for some. Suitable for KS2 & weaker KS3/ reluctant readers. In addition, there is a starter on tense for those who feel imparting grammatical knowledge is important: students could take notes or just discuss tense, but this is a useful opportunity to give some clarity on a topic often left to 'what sounds right'.

The most challenging wordsearch ever! Students have to find synonyms in the text for the listed words then find the synonyms, not the given words, so no mindless highlighting of any recognisable words. To make it slightly easier, two words are given for every word in the text and the chapter and page number are given too. Page 2 has the answers - the list of words to find and where they are in the grid. Do reward students who haven't fallen into the trap of highlighting any recognisable word rather than only the synonyms from the text.

A first reading of the eponymous short story is best done privately as some students need to adjust to the graphic descriptions. So this is ideal as holiday homework before class reading begins; best made available electronically. If students have their own texts, highlighting different aspects or threads in different colours is really useful - the PP alerts students to the strands they need to notice as well as giving a link to the original tale, which they may not know. The vocabulary activity is best done digitally, but remember when uploading it to the VLE to remove the answer page! Answers can be projected in the next lesson. This is a good opportunity to discuss the 'body language' of a text - here the obscure vocabulary makes the reader experience what the character feels [confusion, a world more sophisticated etc].

Students draw a postcard, with a given scenario, and write a message in the voice of the given writer to the given recipient - here they practice writing succinctly in a voice they take on. As an extra challenge, to practise tone, students can draw an emoticon to include that emotion in their message. The second phase of the task is to swap the postcards and then for students to write a reply to the postcard they receive in the voice of the given recipient, in either the tone appropriate to the postcard, or using an emoticon to suggest another tone. Lastly, both the sent and received postcards could be used to stimulate a longer piece of either narrative or descriptive writing. To make the teacher's life easier, the PP provides step by step instructions, the recipe for success gives the teacher tips and the tasks come either on the postcards or as strips. The emoticons can be printed in colour, laminated and used again to add extra challenge to several other tasks.

The PP contains the lesson, slide 1 being the starter which requires students to retrieve the action of the chapter. [Most of the chapter is thoughts and flashbacks, so picking out the action in the 'now' is not too onerous.] Students are then given a quote to analyse, step by step, through questioning. Possible answers are given along the way. Thus they recognise 'personification' and think about why its use here is effective. In this way they begin to add 'evaluation' to their analytical skills. The plenary, slide 8, takes them back to the piece of writing they did in the opening lesson - but could be set afresh as a stand-alone task; students try to write their own personification. Differentiation is via a handout: page 1 serves very weak or visually impaired students and can be done with a TA outside the classroom, while page 2 provides the quote which can be handed out to slow writers, those returning from music etc.

These starters feel like games, right from the choice of icon [let students pick as a reward], which is hyper-linked to the task. From making words to choosing the most apt word, the aim is to make students more aware of the vast array of words available to them. There are 7 starters with answers, making self- and peer-assessment quick and easy. Two of the tasks have paper texts to help weaker students or speed-up the task.

Both these starters aim to fine-tune vocabulary so that students actually say what they mean. The vocabulary match gets definitions right to expand their word-hoard, while the connectives exercise picks up on some common mis-usage and gets students to choose more appropriate connectives. In each case the first slide gives the task which is also on the handout and then the students can check their won work from the PP. A drip-feed of SPaG starters will keep students mindful of using language correctly while improving their knowledge of how the language works.

Gathering a wide vocabulary is a matter of regular exposure over time. This resource offers exposure, engagement and, hopefully, enjoyment of the words. Encourage students to say the words, be silly with them, learn to spell them. The PP hyperlinks each of 6 icons to a different vocabulary activity; synonyms, antonyms, odd one out, T&F, choose the correct word and find the word. The first slide of each activity sets out the task, the second the answers for easy self checking [a good habit to instil is to write in correct answers ] and the third slide suggests an extra challenge which could be set as homework, given as a task to early finishers in the main lesson or to add differentiation. Each task has a paper version to aid differentiation, accommodate slow workers or to be set as homework. I call vocabulary a ‘word-hoard’ to impress on students that words are treasured currency - all our thoughts, experiences and feelings are known to ourselves and others through our words ; if we get our words wrong we miscommunicate; if we have no apt words we’re impoverished.

The lesson starter can easily become a discussion lesson with an enthusiastic class, but a 'one-liner' mumble if the class isn't interested: either have a discussio topic on each desk as students enter or put them in a hat for pairs to pick out. This gets them thinking about the themes covered by the collection of short stories. The lesson consists of short extracts promoting close reading in order to infer and deduce information about the characters and the setting. This is an important skill and if students say they didn't find the stories frightening, ask them whether they are just reading words or actually infering and deducing - I liken the difference to a balloon with and without the breath that blows it up. This is all about making reading a 3-D experience!

Being able to summarise is a vital skill. It is a particularly good way of checking understanding of what has been read and the ability to foreground the most important information when writing. It impacts other subject areas as summarising aids revision. The PP begins with a few guidelines and a starter exercise, models how to summarise and then gives an independent summary task using an extract from 'Out of Africa'. This task is also on the worksheet, which should be handed out at that point. There are two to a page to save printing costs. Students can check their own from the penultimate slide. The last slide plenary challenges students to think of other ways in which we summarise information, as in mind-maps & lists...

Although these extracts are chiefly for display - printed on A3 colour paper is best - they are also useful to get students imagining or as starters for creative writing and unseen poetry discussions.

The aim of this series of starters is to show students that they do possess the skills required for the course; also, that the skills required for the non-fiction media paper is the same as for the literature paper and visa versa. there is also a quick test to see if they've got the hang of inference.

These are two of my favourite poems and ideal for 'unseen' practise as well as comparing. You can flip learning by giving the worksheet as a homework, then using the Power Point as an aid to discussion, or a self-mark/ peer assessment guide. Close reading, annotation and comparison are all skills taught through this task. And if there's time, the poems stimulate lovely discussions about appreciating and understanding parents, which could also lead to writing... win-win.