A complete, standalone lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils design a ‘room-cleaning robot’ and then use this as the context for an explanation text on how the robot functions. This can be done as an assessed piece in one extended lesson or the content could be split into separate planning and writing days. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, design template, planning (‘flowchart’) template, L.O page header slips and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A lesson prompting pupils to reflect on the messages in two important stories about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): Muhammad and the Old Woman The Rich Man and the Poor Man The main task prompts pupils to think about how to apply the lessons in these stories to their own lives. There is an extension for those who require a further challenge.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 on writing rhyming couplets, with water as the context for the poetry. The lesson involves plenty of partner talk and oracy so as to allow pupils to hear the effect of different rhyming structures, as well as the overall rhythms of poetry. The main activity is differentiated three ways with a word bank to support children working at all three levels of challenge.

A lesson for Y3/4 all about rhythm in poetry and the syllables in words. The context is water-themed poems constructed with rhyming couplets. The activities are differentiated three ways with an extension challenge. Challenge 1 requires pupils to count the syllables in each line of a poem and then choose the best line to finish it off. Challenge 2 requires pupils to write their own additional lines, as does Challenge 3 but a syllabic limit is imposed for them to work within.

A complete, standalone writing lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils complete a written piece to either begin or end a unit on newspapers (with an Anglo Saxon topic theme!). In this lesson, pupils complete a newspaper article breaking the news to Romano Britons that the Anglo Saxons are about to invade their shores. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, planning template, writing frame (pages 1 and 2, with newspaper-style columns) and a step-by-step powerpoint.

Use these differentiated resources in a practical 3D shape lesson in lower KS2 on prisms and non prisms. You will need to source the items for the children to investigate: balls Toblerone boxes Smartie boxes fruit cans or similar matchboxes teabags (the ‘pyramid’ (tetrahedron) kind) pencils ice cream cone wrappers toothpaste boxes There is a template that starts pupils off at the ‘1 chilli’ (i.e. easiest) level and allows them to choose how their level of challenge progresses from there. Ask your TA to trim the activities along the black lines into rectangles and pupils can come up to collect the one they want when ready!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 that introduces subtraction with regrouping. The resources comprise a powerpoint with animated base-ten blocks to show what is happening when numbers are subtracted, a template for children to ‘create their own worksheet’ and 2-way differentiated activities that pupils can add to the template to suit their own level of challenge. The worksheets are uploaded as Word documents and are therefore fully editable - please feel free to replace ‘Mr Drakes’ and ‘Mrs Nichols’ with members of staff from your school! There was originally a separate set of resources for different partners within the class (hence the ‘blue’ and ‘yellow’ labels).

This is a short (30-45mins) R.E lesson to teach lower KS2 children about the importance of the Eid (Eid Al Adha) festival: why the concept of sacrifice is important in Islam and what happened in the original sacrifice story that is remembered at Eid (Ibrahim and Ismael). The presentation begins with a discussion-based starter with examples of sacrifices children will be familiar with from general life. The video (linked from YouTube) explains the story of the original story of Ibrahim and Ismael). The activity that follows is differentiated three ways: ‘1 chilli’: order the storyboard pictures and match with them the text, 2 chillies: pupils create their own pictures to accompany the story text, 3 chillies: pupils create their own text and images to narrate the story. Please note: It is an important belief in Islam that characters of religious significance should not be explicitly depicted in images - therefore the faces of the characters on the 1 chilli activity are hidden - the powerpoint reminds pupils completing the two more challenging activities to do the same with their drawings. It is worth reiterating this orally to your class. For those who complete quickly, an extra challenge is described on the powerpoint.

A lesson for KS1 on Sikh places of worship, featuring a video which edits together the most useful parts of older content that give a tour of a Gurdwara for a child audience. Activities are differentiated three ways and include a challenge for any fast finishers. The plenary is a short, quickfire quiz.

A lesson for Y5/6 that takes some of the themes of the final sections of The Journey , e.g refugees arriving in a new and strange country, and uses them as the inspiration for writing haikus. The lesson begins with a ‘diamond 9’ activity to get children discussing the feelings that a refugee finally stepping into safety might experience. There is then a brief recap on syllables using a fun paired game. Pupils are then introduced to haiku as a form and, through good and ‘not so good’ examples, draw out the success criteria themselves. For teachers less confident with spontaneous shared writing, there is a ‘crib sheet’ with key questions and ‘think out loud’ points. For the independent activity, pupils can select an image to write a haiku about and the help sheet has examples for each image which pupils can use to base theirs on if needed.

An assembly that I used during an assessment day for an deputy head position (I got the job!) This is a presentation with some embedded videos (links to YouTube - please check that they work with your school’s firewall/intranet before using) that starts with the famous ‘marshmallow test’ before exploring the life stories of three very different ‘geniuses’ (Einstein, Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs) and relating their successes and struggles to the growth mindset. Pupils are then confronted with three scenarios and asked to think what a person with a growth mindset would do and what a person with a fixed mindset would do in each of them.

A lesson on Ramadan with a video clip following young Muslims as they fast during the holy month, and then celebrate at Eid-al-Fitr. Three differentiated activities for pupils to complete are included, plus an extension challenge.

A lesson for KS1 on the five pillars of Islam, with three differentiated activities for pupils to choose between and a quiz for the plenary.

A lesson for Y1/2 on the last supper and the Christian practices around Maundy Thursday. Lesson includes a video recounting the key events of Maunday Thursday as told in the Bible. The pupil activity is differentiated three ways.

A tarsia puzzle for practice with mentally adding/subtracting multiples of 1, 10, 100 and 1000. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems?

A debate lesson for Y5 English at the beginning of a unit on writing balanced arguments, to complement a geography topic on Global Trade. The motion is ‘globalisation is a force for good in the world’, with eight fictional characters who stand on different sides of the argument. Through hot-seating and diamond four activities, this should help get some in-depth discussion going in your classrooms about the hidden costs of our cheap and plentiful consumer goods in the West, whilst acknowledging that standards of living would probably be worse across the board without worldwide commerce. Happy teaching and please do leave your feedback.

A lesson to introduce the topic of ‘creation stories’ for Y1/2 that focuses on encouraging pupils to see the complexity and variety of nature in comparison to the man-made world and prompting them to think about how it may have been created. This then prepares them to hear various religions’ creation stories in the following weeks as well as the scientific theory. The main activity in the lesson is a chance to leave the classroom and go to the school field/Forest Schools area/nearby park/garden to look for examples of complexity and beauty in nature. This is followed by a ‘follow-up’ activity to evidence the learning in the lesson input, which is differentiated three ways.