Thanks to the wonderful teachers from around the world who have chosen my resources. I care passionately about quality and value and want you to fill your teaching ‘shelf’ with confidence, saving precious time. Hopefully they won’t be staying on the shelf for long as you’ll use them again and again! I’m a Primary Teacher and published writer with an English degree and French A-level. My resources are mostly Primary but some suit Secondary classes too. I hope your students enjoy using them.
Thanks to the wonderful teachers from around the world who have chosen my resources. I care passionately about quality and value and want you to fill your teaching ‘shelf’ with confidence, saving precious time. Hopefully they won’t be staying on the shelf for long as you’ll use them again and again! I’m a Primary Teacher and published writer with an English degree and French A-level. My resources are mostly Primary but some suit Secondary classes too. I hope your students enjoy using them.
For New Year 2024 and back to school after the Christmas holidays, here is a differentiated January nonfiction passage / informational text reading comprehension, cloze procedure task, and fun puzzles, designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7 and equivalents). These New Years themed close reading tasks and fun activities are in a printable non-editable PDF file with 20 pages. An additional US spelling / grammar version is included in the Zip file with a small number of amendments to the UK version. Also available in this money-saving**January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE**.
Most activities are provided at two levels of challenge, therefore they will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packets to provide a variety of interesting and relevant texts and related activities, a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year. They feature specially written very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each pack is linked to a particular month but of course you can use them whenever you want! Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those times when everything goes crazy and you just need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute! I hope you enjoy using them.
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Vocabulary grid puzzle (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Proofreading puzzle
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
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Complex Sentences Activity Cards
Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Improving Sentences Writing Worksheets
Winter Stories Creative Writing Story Prompts
Creative Writing Story Prompts
This hands-on making sentences word ordering resource (questions version) is a full class set of 30 different reusable question building activity boards and also comes with an additional worksheet version of all boards. Originally designed for Year 1 (Y1) - or Primary 2 in Scotland -, these simple sentence construction SPaG / Grammar activities could be used elsewhere in EYFS / Reception (Primary 1) and Key Stage 1, depending on ability. Emergent writers love lifting the words off to sort and unscramble them to find the hidden simple question. With an engaging picture clue and title on each, this word sequencing Literacy Basic Skills resource suits a range of learning styles. After carefully reading the jumbled words, your early writers correctly rearrange them on the board before writing the question out on the lines, using a dry-wipe pen. Regular practice of making question sentences should help children begin to form questions independently.
This is a 67 page PDF document in a Zip file, together with an additional editable Word document of the word cards only.
Each mixed-up question contains a word beginning with a capital letter to help identify the first word and to reinforce this key punctuation rule, and a question mark to place at the end. While constructing sentences, children learn about word order in questions and as it features a range of question starters (What?/When?/How?/Who?/Did? etc), it helps children begin to use a wider variety.
Also available are 2 more sets of scrambled sentences boards (non-questions), one with 4-5 words per sentence and a more challenging one with 6-8 words. SAVE by purchasing all 3 in a bundle.
Jumbled Sentences (4-5 words)
Jumbled Sentences (6-8 words)
Jumbled Sentences BUNDLE
Colour print on quality card to make it sturdy and laminate for repeated use. It’s ideal for using as a regular activity, with children working on a different one each session. Or choose the ones you make up if working with a smaller group. It could be used with SEN / ASN groups or others requiring support.
Words are printed in faint grey on each sheet in a random order. Once laminated, cut the word strips and stick each word on top of this, using Blu Tack, Blu Tack ‘Glu Dots’ or equivalent. Each strip is coloured differently to help identify the board it is from. Train students to replace the words and to wipe boards before putting them back. Quality laminating pouches and easy-wipe pens help!
A one-page ANSWER KEY is included.
Please visit FullShelf Resources
An upper KS2 BUNDLE of games and puzzles worksheets for spelling, punctuation and grammar revision. These fun printables could be used as part of SATs test preparation. There are:
3 Hidden Word Puzzles and 3 Four in a Row Games for the Year 5 / Year 6 statutory spelling word list of 100 words
6 Hidden Word Proofreading Puzzles to consolidate a range of SPaG skills (3 are at a lower level, which you could use for differentiation)
All in PDF format.
The spelling, punctuation and grammar in these resources follows UK rules.
Use them as lesson starter tasks, early finisher challenges or as stations in spelling or SPaG lessons
Great as fun, start of term or end of term purposeful activities too
Full answer keys and instructions are included
Please see the individual resources pages for more detail and previews to check if they will suit your needs:
Proofreading Hidden Word Puzzles
Year 5 /6 Spelling Activities
MORE INFO:
PROOFREADING HIDDEN WORD / SPOT THE MISTAKES PUZZLES:
6 puzzles
Fun alternatives to standard worksheets
Minimal preparation
Concepts included: homophones and other common spelling errors, full stops, capital letters, question marks, commas, colons, speech marks, proper nouns, missing words, repeated words, tenses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses
Included with and without pastel background, which could support some learners to view text more clearly
Students circle or highlight errors in each line of text. When they find lines with 3 or more errors, they take the corresponding letter from the grid at the bottom of the page
When finished, rearrange letters to find hidden grammar or punctuation word
Individuals, pairs or small groups
For differentiation put lower ability children into pairs, perhaps with a higher ability student
To save printing, print on card and laminate for repeated use with whiteboard pens
YEAR 5 / YEAR 6 SPELLING HIDDEN WORD / SPOT THE MISTAKES PUZZLES:
3 puzzles feature sentences containing multiple words from the Year 5 and Year 6 spelling list, most spelled correctly
Puzzles work in the same way as the proofreading ones above
In each puzzle the hidden word is another word from the spelling list
Versions included without and without background
For differentiation put lower ability children into pairs, perhaps with a higher ability student. Allow a word list or dictionary for support.
FOUR IN A ROW GAMES:
3 boards, each containing 36 sentences which feature a misspelled word from the Year 5 and Year 6 word list
These words are printed in bold and underlined
Pairs or individuals play against each other, aiming to correct 4 adjacent spellings in a line - horizontally, vertically or diagonally
Students roll dice to determine from which column they must pick a sentence
Print and laminate for regular use
They were originally designed for A3 printing, and I recommend this, with students writing directly on the board with a thin whiteboard pen. However, it works fine in A4 (you may need to adjust printer settings). If A4, students could write their spelling on a mini whiteboard or paper and put initials in the space on the board if correct
Thank you for supporting my store.
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Creative Writing Story Prompt Cards
Complex Sentences Activity Cards
Full Stops and Capital Letters Self-Check Cards
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Giant Books Quiz Crossword
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Literacy and English sentence structure and ambitious vocabulary activities to help your students improve and extend sentences. These are KS2 / Early KS3 (Year 5, 6 and 7) creative writing activity cards and worksheets to promote complex sentence structures and ambitious vocabulary in descriptive writing. These activities will get students extending their sentences, varying their openers, adding more powerful verbs and adjectives and using subclauses. Use as starters or warm ups for writing, main lesson tasks or early finisher challenges. PDF format.
This BUNDLE includes 2 resources which can be purchased separately if preferred:
Super Sentences (Complex Sentence Writing)
40 printable activity cards
Colour and black and white versions)
Works well as a regular morning starter activity, early finisher task or warm-up for a writing lesson
An introductory card models different ways to add interest and variety to sentences.
Originally designed as a dice game, it can be used as a variety of ways. Please see the individual resource for more detail.
Uplevelling Sentence Trails
40 A4 complex sentence construction cards / worksheets to get students extending sentences
Differentiation and worked examples
Support learners to take boring, simple sentences, changing vocabulary and sentence structure step-by-step, building much more ambitious, descriptive and exciting sentences.
Use with a variety of age groups and abilities.
Thank you so much for supporting my store.
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Creative Writing Prompt Cards
40 Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Editing / Proofreading Puzzles Worksheets
Spelling Word List Year 5/6 Games and Puzzles
Roald Dahl Giant Crossword
Giant Books Quiz Crossword
First and Third Person Lesson
20 summer themed KS2 or early KS3 imaginative / creative writing story starters cards, featuring high quality photo prompts, vocabulary banks with descriptive words, prompt questions and more. Ideal for use throughout the year and especially during May, June, July or for Back to School in September (for stories inspired by summer holidays). These full-page story generators can be used across a range of abilities and ages, especially in Year 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Y4 / Y5 / Y6 / Y7), to spark ideas for stories. They’re great for reluctant writers and they have a dyslexia friendly format. PDF format (not editable for licensing reasons).
You can purchase this as part of this Creative Writing Story Prompts BIG BUNDLE 100 Prompts!
Use as warm ups, early finishers activities and as a framework for free writing sessions
Each of the 20 A4 cards features a visual element (photo / picture stimulus), a starter sentence or part-sentence to help launch children into their fiction / narrative writing
Prompt questions to get ideas going
A word bank and suggested openers to add variety to their writing
A box at the bottom reminds students to read their work aloud, check for full stops and capital letters and common spellings
UK and US English versions included, with spellings and references to ‘full stops’ and ‘periods’ etc amended as appropriate
Designed to offer maximum support for dyslexic learners and those with similar barriers to learning. Verdana font and spacing used are both dyslexia-friendly and the background colours are designed to reduce glare. Both the UK and US cards are also included with the background colours removed and could be used if printing on dyslexia friendly paper or card.
Could be used to support the writing of a full story
Could also work well as a regular tool to support struggling writers in one-to-one or small group sessions, where students write a few sentences inspired by the prompts, without worrying about completing a story
MORE LITERACY RESOURCES…
KS2 Writing
Writing and Grammar Activities
Complex Sentences Cards
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Improving Sentences Worksheets
Chinese New Year 2024 is celebrated on February 10 (Year of the Dragon) but the earliest the festival, also known as Spring Festival, can fall is January 21. Here are differentiated nonfiction informational text reading passages with comprehension questions, cloze procedure tasks, vocabulary grid puzzles, and direct speech worksheets, designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7 and equivalents). Also available in this money-saving January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE.
These Chinese New Year themed close reading tasks, puzzles and grammar worksheets are in a printable non-editable PDF file with over 20 pages. UK and US spelling versions are included in separate files within the Zip file to cater for both. All activities are provided at 2 levels of challenge, so will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packets to provide a variety of interesting and relevant texts and related activities, a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year. They feature specially written very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each pack is linked to a particular month but of course you can use them whenever you want! Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you just need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Vocabulary grid puzzle (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage, student will work on extending vocabulary, while practicing spelling and working on parts of speech knowledge.
Direct speech / punctuating dialogue with speech marks worksheet (2 levels of difficulty) – students punctuate a short passage (more challenging version) or sentences (easier version) of dialogue, that has a link to Chinese New Year. The more challenging version requires students to take a new line for each change of speaker, as well as putting in quotation marks / speech marks etc.
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
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Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
Use these as no prep and low prep Literacy and English activities in Upper Key Stage 2 (KS2). A BUNDLE of activities for warm ups / starters and early finisher challenges, including creative writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG). Use for early KS3 (Year 7) too. Fun and printable and great for minimal planning and preparation.
These are 3 of my most popular resource packs. PDF format.
INCLUDES:
6 Editing / Proof-reading Fun Puzzles Worksheets: Students reveal a hidden word by finding mistakes, including homophones and other common spelling errors, full stops, capital letters, question marks, commas, colons, speech marks, proper nouns, missing words, repeated words, tenses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses. Ideal for SATs revision.
40 Complex Sentence Structure Writing Game Cards for students to create ambitious sentences, using interesting vocabulary.
20 Dyslexia-friendly Creative Writing Prompt Cards . Story starters with photos, word banks, prompt questions etc for short pieces of writing in varied fiction genres.
For more information and previews, please click through to the individual resource pages.
Thank you for supporting my store.
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Improving Sentences Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Self-Check Cards
Spelling Word List Year 5/6 Games and Puzzles
Roald Dahl Giant Crossword
Giant Books Quiz Crossword
First and Third Person Lesson
OTHER LITERACY BUNDLE OPTIONS…
Writing and Sentences Activities BUNDLE
Literacy and Maths Meaningful Fillers BUNDLE
Literacy Activities KS2 BUNDLE
Improving Sentences BUNDLE
Literacy Activities Year 5 / 6 BUNDLE
Complex Sentences Activities Cards BUNDLE
SPaG Revision Activities BUNDLE
Explore more at FullShelf Resources
12 fun festive puzzles worksheets for Key Stage 2 Mental Maths and Literacy / English (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar / SPaG) to use as warm ups, starters, revision, homework or early finisher activities in December. They could also be used as main lesson tasks. With 2 levels of challenge, this BUNDLE provides ideal differentiation in many classes, perfect for meaningful practice at this busy time of year, with no prep required. Some of the puzzles were designed for Year 3 and 4 but these are likely to suit some learners in Year 5 and 6 requiring a simpler level of challenge. On the other hand, the Year 5 / 6 puzzles could provide challenge for more able learners in lower year groups.
Full instructions and answer keys included.
Click on the links to see more detailed information and previews, or to purchase separately:
Christmas Maths Puzzles
Christmas Literacy (SPaG) Puzzles
CHRISTMAS MATHS PUZZLES:
There are 3 Set A Numeracy puzzles that best suit Year 6 and 5 (P7 and P6) and 3 Set B puzzles originally designed for Year 4 (P5) - and Year 3 (P4) if all concepts have been covered. Both sets could be used in the same class for differentiation if required. Set A might also suit some early KS3 classes. They work well at the busy end of term as little preparation is required and they are very flexible and can be left aside and picked up again as required.
An engaging alternative to standard worksheets, these Hidden Word / Spot the Mistakes puzzles make ideal starter, early finisher or homework activities for this special time of year. Similar to codebreaker puzzles, a Christmas-related word is revealed after completing mental arithmetic calculations. Each puzzle contains a grid. Within each box is a calculation and a letter. Pupils circle any boxes containing mistakes. Then they assemble letters from the circled boxes to reveal the Christmas word. Puzzles can be completed individually or in pairs / groups.
Concepts include: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, Times Tables, Doubling and Halving, Multiplying and Dividing by 10 and 100, Place Value, Negative Numbers, Fractions, Percentages and Decimals (Not all concepts feature in Set B).
LITERACY (EDITING / PROOFREADING PUZZLES:
KS2 Christmas Editing / Proofreading puzzles. Minimal preparation required (ideal for busy end of term), these 6 fun Literacy / English puzzle worksheets provide practice of a range of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) during late November and December. 3 puzzles were originally designed for Year 6 and 5 (P7 and P6) and 3 simpler ones for Year 3 and 4 (P4 and P5). Both sets could be used in the same class for differentiation if required. They could also be used for revision in early KS3. Versions are included with and without a festive background picture. All sentences are Christmas-themed.
These puzzles work in a similar way to the maths ones above, a Christmas-related word being revealed after completing the editing work. Each puzzle contains 20 lines of text (or 15 in the simpler ones). Pupils circle any mistakes they spot. If there are 3 or more mistakes in a single line, they highlight the corresponding letter in the grid at the bottom of the page. At the end they rearrange the highlighted letters to reveal the Christmas word. Puzzles can be completed individually or in pairs / groups, with pupils supporting each other and pooling their editing / proofreading skills.
Pupils often forget or avoid re-reading their own work to check for errors so it’s great to get them carefully checking in these puzzles. Spotting common spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors may help them remember to check their own work and help them avoid common errors themselves.
Some of the aspects of SPaG included: common spelling errors, full stops, capital letters, question marks, commas, colons, speech marks, proper nouns, missing words, repeated words, tenses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses. (Not all concepts feature in the 3 simpler puzzles (Puzzles 4-6).
You might also be interested in my general set of Editing / Proofreading Puzzles for Year 5 and 6.
Thank you for you interest in my resources. Here are some of my other popular maths packs:
Maths Puzzles
Halloween Maths Puzzles
Place Value Puzzles
Mental Maths Puzzles Year 5 / 6
For engaging, time-saving printables and presentations to plan Primary Literacy / English, Maths / Numeracy and French lessons, visit FullShelf Resources
10 KS2 Year 4, Year 5 or Year 6 spelling games to make learning about homophones and near homophones fun. This could be used as a home learning activity, with a child aiming to reach a target of correct answers in a given time. These ‘splat’ SPaG activities include the following words that are often muddled up and misspelled:
there / their / they’re (64 sentences included)
it’s / its (64 sentences included)
where / were / we’re / wear (64 sentences)
whether / weather (32 sentences)
knew / new (32 sentences)
your / you’re (64 sentences)
here / hear (64 sentences)
to / two / too (64 sentences)
threw / through (32 sentences)
no / know (32 sentences)
CONTENTS:
2 PDF documents (37 pages in total)
2 PowerPoint (10 slides in total)
This bundle is comprised of 2 homophone splat game packs that are also available separately:
Homophones Games 1
Homophones Games 2
The games revolve around a total of 512 sentences which model a variety of structures so that while children are learning about the spelling of commonly confused words they are also learning about how to use a range of openers, connectives, sub-clauses etc to construct interesting sentences. Many sentences are silly to further engage children!
It’s a challenge to make SPaG work active and engaging, rather than relying solely on worksheets and these homophones splat games are ideal for fun consolidation during the main part of SPaG lessons or can be used as purposeful early finisher and/or starter activities. If you print and laminate them all, children could self-select the homophones they need to practise.
It is best played in small groups, where children each take a sentence card which features 8 sentences with a homophone word in it (homophone words are printed in bold). Children take it in turns to read a sentence from their card while the others compete to splat the correct homophone flashcard (homophone flashcards are included in black and white as well as fun colour ‘explosion’ style cards so you can choose which to print). The first student to hit the correct homophone word scores a point. Students could lose a point for hitting the wrong word to stop them being tempted to guess early.
The PowerPoint includes a slide for each game and features the homophone words for splatting as a whole class version on a ‘splattable’ whiteboard, should you so wish. 3 people could compete together each round, perhaps representing 3 teams.
Thank you very much. You might like to explore some of my other Literacy and English resources:
Imaginative Story Writing Prompts
Spelling Games and Puzzles Year 5 / 6
Editing / Proofreading Puzzles Worksheets
Super Sentences (Complex Sentence Writing)
Improving Sentence Structure Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
First and Third Person Lesson
Christmas Literacy fun! These 6 December no prep KS2 Editing / Proofreading Literacy puzzles worksheets (and full solutions) are ideal for the busy end of term. Use for starters, main lesson tasks or early finisher activities to practise a range of spelling, punctuation and grammar during December. 3 puzzles were originally designed for Year 6 and 5 (P7 and P6) and 3 simpler ones for Year 3 and 4 (P4 and P5). Both sets could be used in the same class for differentiation if required. They could also be used for revision in early KS3. Versions are included with and without a festive background picture. All sentences are Christmas-themed.
Now available in a good value Christmas Puzzle BUNDLE with this festive mental maths puzzle pack: Christmas Mental Maths Puzzles
An engaging alternative to worksheets, these festive puzzles make ideal starter, early finisher, revision or filler tasks for this special time of year. Similar to codebreaker puzzles, a Christmas-related word is revealed after completing the editing work. Each puzzle contains 20 lines of text (or 15 in the simpler ones). Pupils circle any mistakes they spot. If there are 3 or more mistakes in a single line, they highlight the corresponding letter in the grid at the bottom of the page. At the end they rearrange the highlighted letters to reveal the Christmas word. Puzzles can be completed individually or in pairs / groups, with pupils supporting each other and pooling their editing / proofreading skills.
Pupils often forget or avoid re-reading their own work to check for errors so it is great to get them carefully checking in these puzzles. Spotting common spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors may help them remember to check their own work and help them avoid errors themselves.
Some of the aspects of SPaG included: common spelling errors, full stops, capital letters, question marks, commas, colons, speech marks, proper nouns, missing words, repeated words, tenses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses. (Not all concepts feature in the 3 simpler puzzles (Puzzles 4-6).
You might also be interested in this popular pack, which is great for any time of year: Editing / Proofreading Puzzles Year 5 / 6
For engaging, time-saving resources to plan Primary Literacy / English, Maths / Numeracy and French lessons, visit FullShelf Resources
Celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day on 25 January with these 2 fun and flexible no prep puzzles about Saint Dwynwen / Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of love and lovers. Although the crossword would need to be printed, the other puzzle can just be displayed on a screen and students can message you the answer.
The zip file contains a True or False Hidden Word Puzzle and a Crossword Puzzle, plus solutions, all in PDF format. These activities work well as follow up work to an assembly, as part of a stand-alone lesson or as part of a longer topic. They could be used as starter tasks (if building on previous learning), as individual or group tasks to focus pupils’ own research, an informal assessment task at the end of a topic or mini-focus, early finisher tasks or engaging homework tasks. These would best suit Upper Key Stage 2 / KS2, early KS3 and other equivalents.
The Hidden Word Puzzle includes 15 statements about St Dwynwen and St Dwynwen’s Day, which is the equivalent of St Valentine’s Day in Wales. Pupils must work out which ones are incorrect and then, using the grid at the bottom, rearrange the letters linked to the incorrect statements to find a word related to the subject of the puzzle. This is a very flexible resource, which works especially well to focus pupils’ own online research. All statements can be checked by looking through the first few websites that come up in internet searches. Children will practise reading comprehension skills and skimming and scanning strategies. They will also practise their digital literacy skills as they check facts, evaluating the reliability of websites used, ensuring they check more than one website etc. The solution to the puzzle, identifying and correcting the relevant statements, is included on a separate page. As versions of Dwynwen’s story can vary, the puzzles focus on details agreed on by several key websites.
The crossword could be used with the same pupils as although there is some overlap between the two puzzles in the information covered, there are also details in each which do not appear in the other.
No preparation is required, other than simply printing and copying. Two previews are provided, with a 4-page PDF document - containing the puzzles and their solutions - in the zip file. I hope your students enjoy using these puzzles. I would be grateful for a review if you get a spare moment.
Thank you for your interest in my resources. Please visit FullShelf Resources for engaging, time-saving printables, activities and presentations to plan Primary (and some Secondary) Literacy / English, Maths / Numeracy and French lessons. I also have a growing collection of puzzles for special events, anniversaries and Social Studies.
5 KS2 Year 4, 5 or 6 spelling games to make learning about homophones and near homophones fun. These ‘splat’ SPaG activities include the following words that are often muddled up and misspelled:
there / their / they’re (64 sentences included)
it’s / its (64 sentences included)
where / were / we’re / wear (64 sentences)
whether / weather (32 sentences)
knew / new (32 sentences)
CONTENTS:
1 PDF document (19 pages)
1 PowerPoint (5 slides)
SAVE by purchasing this with more homophones splat games as part of this Homophones BUNDLE.
The games revolve around a total of 256 sentences which model a variety of structures so that while children are learning about the spelling of commonly confused words they are also learning about how to use a range of openers, connectives, sub-clauses etc to construct interesting sentences. Many sentences are silly to further engage children!
It’s a challenge to make SPaG work active and engaging, rather than relying solely on worksheets and these homophones splat games are ideal for fun consolidation during the main part of SPaG lessons or can be used as purposeful early finisher and/or starter activities. If you print and laminate them all, children could self-select the homophones they need to practise.
It is best played in small groups, where children each take a sentence card which features 8 sentences with a homophone word in it (homophone words are printed in bold). Children take it in turns to read a sentence from their card while the others compete to splat the correct homophone flashcard (homophone flashcards are included in black and white as well as fun colour ‘explosion’ style cards so you can choose which to print). The first student to hit the correct homophone word scores a point. Students could lose a point for hitting the wrong word to stop them being tempted to guess early.
The PowerPoint includes a slide for each game and features the homophone words for splatting as a whole class version on a ‘splattable’ whiteboard, should you so wish.
Thank you very much. You might like to explore some of my other Literacy and English resources:
Imaginative Story Writing Prompts
Spelling Games and Puzzles Year 5 / 6
Editing / Proofreading Puzzles Worksheets
Super Sentences (Complex Sentence Writing)
Improving Sentence Structure Worksheets
5 KS2 Year 4, Year 5 or Year 6 spelling games to make learning about homophones and near homophones fun. These ‘splat’ SPaG activities include the following words that are often muddled up and misspelled:
your / you’re (64 sentences)
here / hear (64 sentences)
to / two / too (64 sentences)
threw / through (32 sentences)
no / know (32 sentences)
CONTENTS:
1 PDF document (18 pages)
1 PowerPoint (5 slides)
SAVE by purchasing this with more homophones splat games as part of this Homophones BUNDLE.
The games revolve around a total of 256 sentences which model a variety of structures so that while children are learning about the spelling of commonly confused words they are also learning about how to use a range of openers, connectives, sub-clauses etc to construct interesting sentences. Many sentences are silly to further engage children!
It’s a challenge to make SPaG work active and engaging, rather than relying solely on worksheets and these homophones splat games are ideal for fun consolidation during the main part of SPaG lessons or can be used as purposeful early finisher and/or starter activities. If you print and laminate them all, children could self-select the homophones they need to practise.
It is best played in small groups, where children each take a sentence card which features 8 sentences with a homophone word in it (homophone words are printed in bold). Children take it in turns to read a sentence from their card while the others compete to splat the correct homophone flashcard (homophone flashcards are included in black and white as well as fun colour ‘explosion’ style cards so you can choose which to print). The first student to hit the correct homophone word scores a point. Students could lose a point for hitting the wrong word to stop them being tempted to guess early.
The PowerPoint includes a slide for each game and features the homophone words for splatting as a whole class version on a ‘splattable’ whiteboard, should you so wish.
Thank you very much. You might like to explore some of my other Literacy and English resources:
Imaginative Story Writing Prompts
Spelling Games and Puzzles Year 5 / 6
Editing / Proofreading Puzzles Worksheets
Improving Sentence Structure Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
25th January is Burns Night when people all over the world with Scottish connections attend a Burns Supper. Celebrate the life and poems of Scotland’s national Bard this January - or at any other time of the year - with these differentiated non-fiction / informational text reading passages with comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task, discussion writing prompt card and a crossword puzzle. They were designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7). These close reading tasks and other activities are in an 18-page PDF. A US version with minor spelling changes is also included in the Zip file.
Also available in this January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE.
Please check the preview to assess suitability. The non fiction comprehension and cloze task are provided at two levels of challenge, therefore they will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
Famous Scottish poet Robert Burns (often known as Rabbie Burns) was born on January 25 1759 and became one of the world’s best known writers. On Burns Night, his life and achievements are celebrated in Scotland and all over the world, especially in countries where many Scots have emigrated, such as Canada.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packs to provide a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year, though of course you can use them whenever you want. They feature very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy / English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels) – using same passage
Discussion writing prompt card (with and without background color) - this will help students to write a balanced argument about whether Burns is the greatest Scot ever. Students could carry out research to expand on the arguments and explore further points, if you want them to write a more detailed piece.
Burns Supper crossword puzzle (research task) - the text provides some answers but this will require internet access to search for most answers (unless they have done a Burns study)
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
YOU MIGHT LIKE: Scotland Crossword
This New Year, your students can learn about the Christian Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) or Three Kings Day (El Dia de Los Reyes) with these differentiated January nonfiction reading passages with comprehension questions, cloze procedure task, compare and contrast activity, and fun crossword puzzle were designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7). While using and developing their literacy skills, students will learn about Three Wise Men and their role within the Christmas Story as well as finding out about the significance of Epiphany to Christians and some of the various traditions associated with this religious celebration in different countries. These Epiphany themed close reading tasks and fun puzzle are in a printable non-editable PDF file with 20 pages. An additional US spelling / grammar version is included in the Zip file with a small number of amendments to the UK version.
Also available in this money-saving January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE.
Most activities are provided at 2 levels of challenge, so will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packs to provide a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year. They feature very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each pack is linked to a particular month but of course you can use them whenever you want! Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you just need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Compare and contrast task – using additional text, where 2 students from different cultures outline their experiences of Christmas and Epiphany / Three Kings Day. A Venn Diagram is then to be filled in with key details to show similarities and differences.
Crossword puzzle - students will be able to answer many clues from having read the texts in this pack but could have internet access to search for the remaining clues.
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
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Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
World Braille Day is on January 4 so in the first week back in the New Year you can use these differentiated January non-fiction reading passages with comprehension questions, cloze procedure task, sentences punctuation task, a hidden word puzzle, and crossword puzzle, designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7 and equivalents). Your students will use and develop their literacy skills while learning about the inventor of the well-known code that enables blind and visually impaired people to read and write. These informational text close reading tasks, punctuation activity and fun puzzles are in a printable non-editable PDF file with over 20 pages. UK and US versions are included in the file where there are differences (such as the use of the word “period” instead of “full stops”).
Also available in this money-saving January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE.
3 of the 5 activities (not the two puzzles) are provided at 2 levels of challenge, so will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packets to provide a variety of interesting and relevant texts and related activities, a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year. They feature specially written very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each pack is linked to a particular month but of course you can use them whenever you want! Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you just need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Sentences punctuation task (2 levels of difficulty) – using additional linked text, where students must decide where sentences begin and end, placing periods and capital letters correctly
True or false puzzle - students will be able to complete much of this after reading the texts in this pack but could have internet access to search for the remaining clues
Crossword puzzle - as with the other puzzle, a little internet search will be required for some clues
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
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Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
High quality KS2 or early KS3 Halloween literacy and maths activities in a bundle: 6 fun printable Halloween mental maths puzzles and 20 creative writing prompts (mystery / scary / spooky / horror genre - the prompts can be used all year round as there is no specific mention of Halloween).
Click on the 2 individual resource packs that are included in this bundle to see more information and previews.
Halloween Hidden Word Math Puzzles:
3 puzzles designed for Year 5 and 6
3 puzzles designed for Year 4 (and Year 3 if all concepts have been covered)
Both levels can work well in many classes for differentiation (and the more challenging puzzles can work for consolidation in Year 7 too)
Full Answer Keys included
PDF format within the Zip file
Engaging alternative to standard worksheets - students spot mistakes and use the linked letters to spell a Halloween-related word!
Great for individuals, pairs or small groups
Use for starters, early finishers, homework etc.
Concepts include: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, Times Tables, Doubling and Halving, Multiplying and Dividing by 10 and 100, Place Value, Negative Numbers, Fractions, Percentages and Decimals (Not all concepts feature in the lower level puzzles)
Scary Story Writing Prompts:
Use as warm ups, early finishers activities and as a framework for free writing sessions
Each of the 20 A4 cards features a visual element (photo / picture stimulus), a starter sentence or part-sentence to help launch children into their fiction / narrative writing
Prompt questions to get ideas going
A word bank and suggested openers to add variety to their writing
A box at the bottom reminds students to read their work aloud, check for full stops and capital letters and common spellings
Range of scariness levels - Students who get more easily spooked can find prompts to suit them too.
UK and US English versions included, with spellings and references to ‘full stops’ and ‘periods’ etc amended as appropriate
Designed to offer maximum support for dyslexic learners and those with similar barriers to learning. Verdana font and spacing used are both dyslexia-friendly and the background colours are designed to reduce glare. Both the UK and US cards are also included with the background colours removed and could be used if printing on dyslexia friendly paper or card.
Could be used to support the writing of a full story
Could also work well as a regular tool to support struggling writers in one-to-one or small group sessions, where students write a few sentences inspired by the prompts, without worrying about completing a story
YOU MIGHT LIKE MY OTHER STORY PROMPTS, which feature a range of genres and subjects:
STORY PROMPTS BUNDLE
MORE FULLSHELF RESOURCES…
KS2 Writing
Writing and Grammar Activities
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Improving Sentences Worksheets
Mental Maths Bundle
Maths Puzzles Worksheets HUGE BUNDLE
6 upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7 and equivalents), reading comprehensions with informational texts, other close reading tasks, grammar, punctuation, and writing activities, plus fun puzzles, perfect for January and the New Year. This BUNDLE includes differentiated packs on New Year’s Resolutions, Epiphany or Three Kings Day, MLK Day / Martin Luther King Day, World Braille Day / Louis Braille, Robert Burns / Burns Night, and Chinese New Year.
Contains over 120 pages, including 6 nonfiction reading comprehensions (all at 2 levels of difficulty), 6 cloze procedure tasks using the same texts (all at 2 levels) and each of the six packs has at least 2 additional tasks linked to each pack, some of which are also differentiated. Also contains all answer keys.
These packs provide Literacy or English activities based around short non-fiction texts with a link to the month. Each pack contains 4 or 5 printable activities in non-editable PDF format. Please check the previews to assess suitability for your students. In addition to the UK versions, US spelling and grammar versions are also included where relevant, meaning they can be used in most English-speaking countries. The majority of tasks are provided at two levels of challenge, therefore they will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
This BUNDLE provides a big discount so that you can pick and choose which texts and activities you wish to use and still make a saving. You’ll be able to use them again and again, starting each new year with plenty of relevant and meaningful Literacy and English tasks. The 6 packs are also available separately if you prefer:
New Year’s Resolutions
Louis Braille / World Braille Day (January 4)
Epiphany / Three Kings Day (January 6)
Martin Luther King / MLK Day (January 15 in 2024)
[Robert Burns / Burns Night](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-11811174 (January 25)
Chinese New Year (included in the January BUNDLE as it varies each year from January 21 to February 20 - in 2024, it is February 10)
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packs to provide a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year, though of course you can use them whenever you want. They feature specially written very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
Please click on the links to see the individual resources in this bundle, to assess suitability for your students. You will find detailed information and previews for all of them. Many thanks.
YOU MIGHT LIKE…
Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
Creative Writing Story Prompts
Complex Sentences Activity Cards
Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Improving Sentences Writing Worksheets
An Upper Key Stage 2 (KS2) purposeful time fillers or cover lesson activities BUNDLE of flexible no prep or low prep printables for Y5 and Y6 for a big saving, to target key skills as morning activities, warm ups, starters, early finishers challenges, revision and main lesson tasks. They are great to have on hand before you get into your normal planning at the beginning of term or can be used throughout the year to practise key skills. There are 6 flexible packs for mental maths, SPaG and writing, and are some of my most popular resources, used by many hundreds of teachers already. I hope you will use them again and again in your classroom! All resources are in PDF format.
BUNDLE contains:
20 Creative Writing Story Prompt Cards
6 Editing / Proofreading SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) Puzzles
40 Complex Sentences Writing Cards
8 Mental Maths Crossnumber Puzzles
36 Maths Trail Cards
200+ Mental Maths Question Cards
For full information and previews please see the detailed descriptions on the 6 individual resource pages.
Thank you for supporting my store.
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Writing and Sentences Activities BUNDLE
Literacy Activities KS2 BUNDLE
Improving Sentences BUNDLE
SPaG Revision Activities BUNDLE
Mental Maths Year 5 / 6 BUNDLE
Maths Hidden Word Puzzles MEGA BUNDLE
Multiplication and Division Activities BUNDLE
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