Do your students struggle to start a story - or always begin a narrative in the same way? This organiser suggests 5 different ways to open a Gothic horror story and gives examples of each one. It also suggests pros and cons for each of the styles of openings which enables students to consider and explore which style of hook they want to create for their Gothic stories.

A word mat to help students create more expressive and figurative descriptions of winter and snow. The word mat has a picture of a snow covered wood that can be used as the prompt for a piece of descriptive writing. The word mat contains lists of adjectives, verbs, adverbs, extended noun phrases, preposition sentence openers, similes and prompts for using the senses.

The teaching resource “Alliteration - Magic Potions” is an engaging resource designed to help students learn how to use alliteration and sensory language to create captivating descriptions. Through the exploration of magical potions, students will develop their understanding of the power of alliteration and how it can enhance their writing. The purpose of this resource is to engage students in a fun and imaginative way, while also teaching them important language techniques. By analysing the names of the potions, students will learn how alliteration can create a memorable and impactful description. They will discover how the repetition of consonant sounds, such as the ‘c’ in “Cackling Cursed Concoction” or the ‘w’ in “Whimsical Whisper Whirling Elixir,” can add depth and meaning to their descriptions. Furthermore, this resource encourages students to consider the sensory language used in the potion names. They will explore how words like “cackling,” “whisper,” “thunderous,” “torrent,” “venomous,” and “delicate” evoke specific emotions and imagery. By incorporating sensory language into their writing, students will be able to create vivid and engaging descriptions that captivate their readers. The resources includes a sensory word mat to help with vocabulary choices. Two worksheets: one analysing alliterated potion names, the second creating alliterated potion names. Teachers notes for a quick reference to analysis of worksheet 1, and a story exemplar using alliteration and sensory descriptions.

This extensive resource was created to help pupils with their creative writing.Designed for KS4 students, but also suitable for high-achieving KS3 classes, the resources is to support students in creating vivid, developed descriptions of fog. The Word Mat includes figurative and sensory terminology: adjectives, verbs, alliteration, sibilance, personification, similes, metaphors, and sensory cues are all included in the mat. In addition to the Word Mat, there is a short video that helps students think of original ways to represent fog and concepts for using figurative language. Eight AI-generated images are included in a four-slide PowerPoint presentation that c serves as visual prompts for students creative writing.

A fun twist on Halloween - the science behind our enjoyment of the spooky holiday. This resource is a two page reading comprehension with comprehension questions. It provides an overview of Halloween’s origins, tracing back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and its evolution into the modern celebration. It explains the science behind why people enjoy fear, discussing the role of adrenaline and the fight-or-flight response. The question sheet includes vocabulary, comprehension, and an inference question to test students understanding of the text and encourage critical thinking. There are two extension tasks offering additional tasks for deeper exploration such as inferring why Halloween has become popular in Japan and researching the traditions and customs of the Day of the Dead and comparing the Mexican festival with Halloween. [computer suite or library lesson to enable students to do independent research] The questions are presented in 3 ways: a one sheet printout - students can then write answers in their books. A two page printout with marks given for each question and space for students to write their answers. A two page printout with no marks given for each question and space available for students to write their answers.

A word mat to help students create more sensory descriptions of an underwater setting. The word mat includes several picture prompts to help with description ideas. The word mat contains lists of adjectives, adverbs, verbs, ideas for similes, metaphors and personification, and a reminder to use ISPACE sentence openers to help with sentence variety. There are also prompts to help students think about how to use the senses for this kind of setting. There is also a power point with further picture prompts for the genre.

A word mat to help students create more detailed descriptions in their adventure stories. The word mat includes several picture prompts to help with story ideas. The word mat contains lists of words to describe sights, sounds, smells, sensations and feelings to support making writing more sensory. There is also a powerpoint with further picture prompts for the genre. Tes paid licence

This Halloween Word Mat is a great teaching resource designed to enhance students’ descriptive writing skills. It provides a rich collection of vocabulary and phrases that can be used to create vivid and engaging narratives. This resource is perfect for engaging students in creative writing for Halloween, and can be used to inspire them to write more descriptively and imaginatively. It is a versatile tool that can be integrated into various writing exercises and activities, making it a valuable addition to any classroom. The word mat includes: Descriptive Vocabulary: Words like “glimmering,” “luminous,” “decaying,” and “haunting” help students paint a vivid picture in their writing. Expanded Noun Phrases: Examples such as “shadowy, dilapidated hallways” and “putrid smell of decaying, withered plants” guide students in expanding their nouns to make their writing more descriptive. Synonyms: A variety of synonyms for common words, such as “magical,” “dim,” and “revolting,” help students avoid repetition and enrich their vocabulary. Sensory Descriptions: Words related to senses, like “reek,” “malodorous,” and “nauseating,” enable students to create immersive and sensory-rich descriptions. Sound Descriptions: Terms like “booming,” “deafening,” and “cacophony” help students describe sounds effectively, adding another layer of detail to their writing. Adverbials: A section on adverbials, including time, place, manner, and degrees of possibility, helps students structure their sentences in varied and interesting ways. This resource is perfect for engaging students in creative writing, especially around Halloween, and can be used to inspire them to write more descriptively and imaginatively. It is a versatile tool that can be integrated into various writing exercises and activities, making it a valuable addition to any classroom.

Support your students with this word mat tailored specifically for describing fireworks. The resource includes ideas of figurative techniques, an extensive vocabulary list, and ideas for creating sensory descriptions. The mat will support students in enhancing their descriptions by including rich, varied language to create immersive and atmospheric descriptions and experiment with figurative language to add depth and complexity to their writing. There is a short video to suggest ways students can use the different techniques and images of fireworks exploding highlighting what students can do to write more evocative descriptions. There is also an eight slide power point of AI generated images to use as picture prompts for students independent writing. The images cover traditional, futuristic and fantasy portrayals of fireworks.

The power point is a great way to get students to think about how to describe emotions and create their own poetry using metaphors, similes, emotive language etc. Works really well for paired or group work as well as individual work.

A purpose written, challenging, high interest reading comprehension for KS4 about TikTok (52.6 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale). The text is designed to create discussion as well as be used for answering comprehension questions. The article is supported by a series of questions and exemplar answers that can be shared with the class as feedback for marking, or to be used as examples of how to approach different styles of questions, or as support for marking the student’s work. There are 5 short answers questions, 5 vocabulary questions, 5 retrieval questions, 1 discursive essay question based on the text (with a detailed exemplar plan) and 1 differentiated question. All the questions have exemplar questions.

This reading comprehension text delves into the fascinating history of Halloween, tracing its origins back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and its evolution through Roman and Christian influences. Unlike traditional Halloween comprehension exercises that tend to focus solely on modern customs, this text provides a rich historical context, making it both cross curricular and engaging. Purpose: Educational Enrichment: To provide students with a deeper understanding of Halloween’s historical and cultural significance. Skill Development: To enhance reading comprehension, critical thinking, and inferencing skills. There are a variety of questions to challenge all abilities, from basic comprehension to more complex inference questions. Questions are presented on either a single page, making it easy for students to answer in their books, or printable worksheets are provided for students to complete their answers on paper. One worksheet come with allocated marks to guide students on the depth of their answers, while the other has no marks allocated. Teachers notes, and detailed exemplar answers are provided to help teachers guide discussions and assess student understanding. Three engaging extension activities suitable for library or computer suite lessons are also suggested.

The resource includes a Help Sheet that helps students identify the different word classes and then 5 worksheets to support their writing of descriptive sentences and then descriptive paragraphs using heavily scaffolded word banks and images. This was made for my weak KS3 students and has also been used with developing E2L students. It is a great first teach for primary learning and also as a revision tool at KS3 for those students who need to revise their understanding of word classes and how to use them creatively.

Suitable for Year 7 or weak Year 8 students. A brilliantly, funny short story by Paul Jennings (not in the pack as still in copyright - available in the compilation of short stories ‘Unreal’) A great read for all students but especially for boys and reluctant readers - a great twist in the tale 7 page story. A 40 slide lesson by lesson power point (6 to 8 lessons depending on the speed and ability of the class) is accompanied by 3 graphic organizers and a marking criteria/rubric. The scheme focuses on building two specific reading skills - locating and selecting information and infer/deduce - reading between the lines. Students write P.E.E. (point, evidence, explanation) paragraphs and focus on improving their drafts. The word wall helps them build and develop vocabulary and the exemplars help them to recognize the standard they are aiming for. The graphic organizers help students to explore and formulate their ideas on characters and themes and the story structure organizer helps students recognize the structure of a story and identify exposition, climax, resolution etc. Also includes comma starters on the power point to help improve punctuation accuracy.

An A4 Help Sheet to support weaker KS4 students when writing Paper 2 Question 5 texts. Works as a quick reference sheet and includes connective, discourse markers and emotive language examples. Plus a reminder of DAFOREST with examples.

A set of 27 creative writing prompt cards that have 3 levels of differentiation. Higher ability students write 100 words describing the image on the card and must include at least named literary techniques e.g. personification, metaphor, semantic field. Middle ability students have to select appropriate vocabulary to describe the image e.g. adjectives, verbs, paint colours. Lower ability students are given 3 words for each image which they have to look up in a dictionary and then use in a sentence. They are ideal as starters or extension tasks. There are 9 A8 cards on each A4 sheet which are designed to be laminated for repeated use. I store mine in a card index box and students select the card they wish to work on - the cards are numbered so the students simply write the number of the card in their book. Because they are differentiated they are suitable for all KS3 and KS4 classes. (Paint colours - I have a full range of paint palette cards in the classroom so students can select appropriate colours to describe - so instead of black they will have various shades to choose from - e.g. licorice black.)

This bundle includes resources to support students who are learning to write newspaper articles. The resources and lesson ideas will cover 4 to 6 lessons. Students are introduced to headlines, opening paragraphs, the inverted pyramid structure, who, what, where, when, why and how. The bundle includes knowledge organisers, worksheets (with exemplar answers), a newspaper article exemplar, article planning notes, teacher notes and a possible teaching sequence. The possible sequence of lessons: reading comprehension on newspapers, research lesson (library or computer suite), headlines, inverted pyramid structure, analysing an article, planning an article, writing an article. The resources are suitable for KS3, but could also be used with high ability Year 6 students.

Support your students with this word mat tailored specifically for describing haunted houses. The resource includes examples of figurative techniques, an extensive vocabulary list, and practical examples of sensory descriptions and extended noun phrases. The mat will support students in enhancing their descriptions by including rich, varied language to create immersive and atmospheric settings and experiment with figurative language and extended noun phrases to add depth and complexity to their writing. There is a short video to set the scene for describing a haunted house and highlighting what students can do to write more evocative descriptions.

Ideal for practicing world level analysis for KS3 or weaker KS4 classes. Short original paragraph that then explains how to go about exploring the connotations of individual words and then gives an exemplar. Students then look at a marked response and try to work out why a ‘tick’ has been awarded before completing their own P.E.E.

A set of images with writing prompts. Each homework can be printed and then hand written or completed on a PC. Handy to upload on SMHW etc as it covers multiple weeks. Make great classroom displays - quick and easy to mark.