Here are five reading comprehensions looking at festivals of the world. They are ideal for a whole class exercise or as part of a guided reading session. They are aimed at children in Lower Key Stage 2 in the UK, or Grade 3, 4 or 5 in the US. Most questions are directly retrievable from the text. I have also produced more advanced texts with a heavier emphasis on inference and deduction questions. All questions give an indication of marks available, and answers are provided. These comprehensions are good preparation for end of unit reading assessments.

These comprehensions are taken from real newspaper reports of major news events that made the world stop in its tracks. These are important stories for your children to understand, as they play a significant part in recent world history. The comprehensions focus on: The sinking of the Titanic 9/11 The Asian tsunami and The assassination of JFK There are a variety of questions styles, testing skills in retrieval, inference and deduction. Answers are provided, and children are given an indication of marks on offer so this is good preparation for reading tests and assessments. As with all of my work, I try to make the subject matter interesting and exciting for the children to engage with. As these stories may be familiar, I have made some of the questions particularly challenging, focussing on the parts of the story that your cohort won’t know about.

The birth of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA is celebrated during Black History Month. But do your students know the full story behind Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King? This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at children aged 10-13 years old, tests children in the Common Core and National Curriculum reading skills. They will learn to: Determine the meaning of words such as segregation and discrimination. Refer to examples in the text, both explicitly and implied. Compare the values of characters like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Identify what is happening in images. Comment on the wider historical implications of the stories. Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. As with all of my reading comprehensions, I aim to make them engaging and challenging. The characters may be well known, but your students will fully understand the broader context of their actions in history through these in-depth character studies. CONTENTS Rosa Parks The Bus Boycott The Civil Rights Movement “I have a dream” and Black Power.

AMUSING, ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL! These reading comprehensions will test your students’ reading skills as they explore the four greatest April Fools of all time, as ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: Spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland A fake volcanic eruption in Alaska Instant Colour TV in Sweden An iceberg in Sydney Harbour Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. They will also generate lively and fun classroom discussion. Would your students fall for these pranks? Can they come up with anything better? A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. Contents: 3: SWISS SPAGHETTI HARVEST 4: INSTANT COLOUR TV 5: ERUPTION OF MOUNT EDGECUMBE 6: THE SYDNEY ICEBERG 7-10: Questions 11-14: Answers 15: How to write a newspaper article 16: Newspaper template 17-20: Posters for display

How does Donald Trump compare to Kim Jong-Un? Should we be worried about North Korea? Or how about Queen Victoria and JFK? Who exactly are Rex Tillerson and Mike Pence? This versatile set of 32 biography cards can be used in numerous ways. Firstly, they will test your students in their Common Core reading skills. Secondly, they will enable them to structure and write biographies of their own. Thirdly, they provide a platform for you as a teacher to critically evaluate your students’ writing with feedback which they will find engaging; encouraging them to write to their very best ability. Fourthly, they provide an insight into Donald Trump’s top team; US presidents of the past; prominent world leaders of today; and influential leaders through history. Fifthly, as a game, this will be a tremendous amount of fun! This is perfect all year round but is especially good as a Presidents Day activity. +++++ THE BIOGRAPHY CARDS ARE SPLIT INTO FOUR SECTIONS: Trump’s Team Trump, Preibus, Spicer, Devos, Conway, Tillerson, Pence, Mattis. US Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, Nixon, Lincoln, Roosevelt. World Leaders 2017 May, Nieto, Netanyahu, Putin, Trudeau, Merkel, Jong-un, Rouhani World Leaders 2017 Mandela, Malala, Mother Teresa, Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Queen Victoria, Princess Diana, Peron. +++++ HERE ARE SOME IDEAS FOR HOW THE BIOGRAPHY CARDS CAN BE USED: Reading skills Each biography comes with three questions. RETRIEVE: Students will find this answer in the text. REVIEW: They will need to use summarising skills to answer the questions. Answers can be quoted from the text. The question will make this clear. RESEARCH: Students can use the internet to answer a question. The information cannot be found within the text. Compare and contrast Students can take any two cards. Their task is to find three differences and three similarities about the characters they have chosen. Highlight the text Referring to the scores under each image, students can color code the text that applies to each category with a highlighter or colored crayon.

This set of multiplication tables activities is designed to help your students learn their tables in a variety of ways. It explores other mathematical concepts such as greater than and less than; inverse operations; word problems and number sequences. There are also puzzles such as word searches and calculation crosswords. The activities not only test a child’s math skills, they also encourage them to use logic, reasoning and comprehension skills. There are ten individual activities for each times table - so thirty in total for this pack. Your children will certainly enjoy this different approach to learning their times tables! CONTENTS 3x table activity worksheet 3x table answers 4x table activity worksheet 4x table answers 8x table activity worksheet 8x table answers I specialise in maths and reading resources. You can check out other items in my store, which include activity packs for other times tables. There is also a bumper pack which includes all of the times tables.

This guided reading resource includes a pair of texts about Asia with four comprehension skills sheets to complete, providing reading passages and questions that are challenging and engaging. Using the ‘LIMS’ approach, students work through Literal, Inference, Meaning and Summary questions to ensure that in the course of a week, they have practised skills in reading right across the curriculum. Text is differentiated and an answer scheme is provided. Suggested itinerary: Day 1 (30 mins) – Read both texts as a class. Highlight key parts. Discuss together. What have we learned? What do we want know more about? It is worth asking the students to write down any questions they have about the texts and putting them on display. Day 2 (30 mins) – Literal sheet Day 3 (30 mins) – Inference sheet (or meaning sheet if you prefer) Day 4 (30 mins) – Meaning sheet (or inference sheet if you prefer) Day 5 (45 mins) – Summary sheet and looking back at questions from the start of the week. This is the first in a series of Paired text resources looking at the seven continents of the world. Keep an eye on my store. Differentiation: All questions are the same, which should make marking easier! However, the texts differ, with asterisks in the bottom right corner indicating the reading level.

This guided reading resource includes a pair of texts about Europe with four comprehension skills sheets to complete, providing reading passages and questions that are challenging and engaging. Using the ‘LIMS’ approach, students work through Literal, Inference, Meaning and Summary questions to ensure that in the course of a week, they have practised skills in reading right across the Curriculum. Text is differentiated and an answer scheme is provided. Suggested itinerary: Day 1 (30 mins) – Read both texts as a class. Highlight key parts. Discuss together. What have we learned? What do we want know more about? It is worth asking the students to write down any questions they have about the texts and putting them on display. Day 2 (30 mins) – Literal sheet Day 3 (30 mins) – Inference sheet (or meaning sheet if you prefer) Day 4 (30 mins) – Meaning sheet (or inference sheet if you prefer) Day 5 (45 mins) – Summary sheet and looking back at questions from the start of the week. This is the first in a series of Paired text resources looking at the seven continents of the world. Keep an eye on my store. Differentiation: All questions are the same, which should make marking easier! However, the texts differ, with asterisks in the bottom right corner indicating the reading level.

This guided reading activity, aimed at 9 and 13 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. It will also promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children decide for themselves who will win the World Cup in 2022! The activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

Reading Comprehension Package for Qatar World Cup, with four individual activities. Whether you love soccer or not, the World Cup will dominate the headlines in the coming weeks. This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at 9 to 14 year olds, tests children’s comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. There are also questions on word meaning. It will promote lively and engaging classroom discussion as children decide for themselves who will win the World Cup 2022, and indeed, if the tournament should be taking place at all! Each activity has questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are on offer at the end of each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required. Contents The World Cup 2022 General information about the World Cup in Qatar and the history of the tournament. Qatar 2022: Controversies A look at why the hosting of the World Cup to Qatar has led to much criticism. Heroes & Villains I’ve chosen six players from previous tournaments, but who are the heroes and villains, and why? Do you know? From an oracle octopus to a dog that found the world cup, here are a few quirky stories from World Cup history!

Make your children’s creative writing stand out with these writing prompts to help them write fantastic character descriptions. Inspired by some of the world’s most famous authors, these words will add wonderful detail to their work. There are seven sections in total, including eyes, hair, skin, facial features, bodily features and physique. The prompts also include ‘super sentences’ in each section to help your children craft their words into masterful sentences. These can be used as a display or as a learning aid available to children on their tables as a printed copy or on tablet devices. I hope you find them as useful as my 10 and 11 year-olds have - their descriptive writing has shown great improvement with the aid of this resource.

This set of multiplication tables activities is designed to help your students learn their tables in a variety of ways. It explores other mathematical concepts such as greater than and less than; inverse operations; word problems and number sequences. There are also puzzles such as word searches and calculation crosswords. The activities not only test a child’s math skills, they also encourage them to use logic, reasoning and comprehension skills. Your children will certainly enjoy this different approach to learning their times tables! CONTENTS 9x table activity worksheet 9x table answers 11x table activity worksheet 11x table answers 12x table activity worksheet 12x table answers

This writing aid will help your students develop creative vocabulary in their work through the use of synonyms. It can be used in a variety of ways. The engaging word clouds can be used as posters for a display, or on an interactive whiteboard during a vocabulary focused lesson. They can be used in small groups as table centres, or by individual students as a set of bookmarks. This is saved as a PDF and is supplemented by a separate customisable Powerpoint file. As this is a PowerPoint file, it can be shared directly with students to use on their own devices. The hyperlinked contents page will take them to the page they are looking for. At the end of the resource are the bookmarks. These can be printed, laminated and attached together so students can keep them and refer to them in all aspects of their writing. There are blank bookmarks so you can make your own synonym bookmarks to add to your sets in the customisable file. You can also edit the whole file as you see fit to suit your own needs. Finally, there is some bunting banner to help you make this into a display. I hope you and your students find this useful! The synonyms featured are: happy sad big small good young old house move walk talk warm cold

AMUSING, ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL! These reading comprehensions will test your students’ reading skills as they explore the four greatest April Fools of all time, as ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebooks, the young journalists will find out about: Spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland A fake volcanic eruption in Alaska Instant Colour TV in Sweden An iceberg in Sydney Harbour Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. They will also generate lively and fun classroom discussion. Would your students fall for these pranks? Can they come up with anything better? A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material. Contents: 3: SWISS SPAGHETTI HARVEST 4: INSTANT COLOUR TV 5: ERUPTION OF MOUNT EDGECUMBE 6: THE SYDNEY ICEBERG 7-10: Questions 11-14: Answers 15: How to write a newspaper article 16: Newspaper template 17-20: Posters for display

Relevant, topical and engaging. This reading comprehension will test your students’ reading skills as they explore an engaging news story from February 2017. Using research skills and their reporter’s notebook, the young journalists will find out about the sad story of the pilot whales that got stranded on Farewell Spit, New Zealand in February 2017. It was one of the largest whale strandings in recorded history, and hundreds of people tried in vain to help. Your students will establish the facts of the story; find out all about pilot whales and work out why it might have happened. This is part of a bigger pack of news stories, which can be found in my store. IN THE NEWS, February 2017 This pack includes the story about the Australian farmer, Dan Miller, who survived for five hours with his nose above the surface of the water after being trapped beneath a digger in Australia; and the story about the discovery of a World War Two bomb in Thesalonica, Greece, which led to the evacuation of 75,000 people. Each story comes with questions and answers, and will require students to check dictionaries; summarise stories; think critically; retrieve facts; and prioritise statements. A template for a news story is also provided so children can write them up for themselves. A scaffold is included to show them how to fill in the boxes. Finally, posters are enclosed if you want to make the students’ work into a simple, effective display. As a journalist and teacher, it’s my passion that children should have an awareness of what is going on in the world through engaging reading material.

Here is a new product designed to help my students learn their 8x table in a variety of different ways. It uses mulitplication, division, number sentences, word problems and puzzles to help them master this skill. My students love the range of activities, and how it enables them to use higher order thinking skills to practice their multiplication. They have much greater confidence and fluency in their knowledge of the 8x table thanks to this activity. I am currently creating similar for other multiplication tables. Watch this space for more!