Hi,
We are Sally and Amanda from Guinea Pig Education. We present a range of complimentary teaching aids and workbooks to use in your classroom or as homework – in both print and digital format.
We aim to raise reading standards and to develop literacy skills, with our ‘fun for kids’ phonic reading resources.
We also offer support for pupils aged 4-16 years. We highly recommend our comprehension and creative writing resources - which build confidence and develop imagination.
Hi,
We are Sally and Amanda from Guinea Pig Education. We present a range of complimentary teaching aids and workbooks to use in your classroom or as homework – in both print and digital format.
We aim to raise reading standards and to develop literacy skills, with our ‘fun for kids’ phonic reading resources.
We also offer support for pupils aged 4-16 years. We highly recommend our comprehension and creative writing resources - which build confidence and develop imagination.
Learn To Read With Phonics Reading Packs are a quick and easy way to teach children to read in just six months.
They are ideal for all ages (from 4 years plus), especially reluctant older readers of 7, 8, 9+, children with learning difficulties and children where English is a foreign language.
The packs are designed to be used one to one or in small groups with a teacher and child or parent/guardian and child learning together.
The packs consist of a structured course that build 44 phonic sounds into the text. As the children read the adventures of a loveable boy called Sam, they can have fun searching for hidden sounds. They will build up 44 sounds in total. This will enable them to read 80% of words in the English language, by breaking them down into sounds or syllables - pl ay ing. Children using phonics in this way progress fast.
A series of stories, The Bouncing Castle and The Famous Cousin From The Country reinforce the complex middle sounds being learnt. By the end of the scheme, the child will be ready to progress to ‘solo’ reading books, such as Roald Dahl’s ‘Georges Marvellous Medicine’ and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.
Many of the packs have cut out practice pages for matching words to pictures and phrases to pictures, to fix the sound words in the child’s memory. The simple text and fun colour sketches, appeal to young readers and have helped the authors to teach many, many children to read.
The reading packs may be used in any order, just pick the pack for the sound you require. However, when using the packs for a complete non reader we suggest you start with packs teaching initial sounds (word building with three or four letter words).
Then move on to learning phonic sounds in this order: ch, sh, wh, th, oo, ee, ar, or, ur, ir, er, magic e, ea, oa, ai, ay, oi, oy, oa, short y (as in happy), long y (as in sky), soft c (as in mice), soft g (as in engine), ou, ow, au and aw.
Next, move onto more complex sounds as in, tion, le, el, ough, gue, que, ine, ue, ie, ei, prefixes and suffixes.
How To Use
Each pack introduces a sound.
Learn the sound with the child/children
Read the sentences or stories several times, encouraging the child/children to talk about the pictures.
At the end of the sentences or story, there is a list of words and phrases, which the child can match to the pictures.
Practise each sound several times, until the child is familiar with it.
This is a two pack set including test 1 and test 2.
Improve Your English Work Packs teach the child good English. They help improve the child’s punctuation, spelling and grammar skills. There are a wide range of packs to choose from, providing practice in sentence writing, use of connectives and parts of speech. The child will also be introduced to literary techniques - similes, metaphors and other stylistic devices.
The format of each pack is so simple. The pages are quick and easy to work through, so the child will learn fast and remember skills taught easily. Each pack includes a lesson plan, with structured exercises, including answer pages. Improve Your English Work Packs save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks.
Included in this series, there are eight structured assessment tests, to test vocabulary, capital letters, punctuation, spelling and use of English language with answers.
20 pages
This is a two pack set including test 3 and test 4.
Improve Your English Work Packs teach the child good English. They help improve the child’s punctuation, spelling and grammar skills. There are a wide range of packs to choose from, providing practice in sentence writing, use of connectives and parts of speech. The child will also be introduced to literary techniques - similes, metaphors and other stylistic devices.
The format of each pack is so simple. The pages are quick and easy to work through, so the child will learn fast and remember skills taught easily. Each pack includes a lesson plan, with structured exercises, including answer pages. Improve Your English Work Packs save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks.
Included in this series, there are eight structured assessment tests, to test vocabulary, capital letters, punctuation, spelling and use of English language with answers.
21 pages
Learn To Read With Phonics Reading Packs are a quick and easy way to teach children to read in just six months.
They are ideal for all ages (from 4 years plus), especially reluctant older readers of 7, 8, 9+, children with learning difficulties and children where English is a foreign language.
The packs are designed to be used one to one or in small groups with a teacher and child or parent/guardian and child learning together.
The packs consist of a structured course that build 44 phonic sounds into the text. As the children read the adventures of a loveable boy called Sam, they can have fun searching for hidden sounds. They will build up 44 sounds in total. This will enable them to read 80% of words in the English language, by breaking them down into sounds or syllables - pl ay ing. Children using phonics in this way progress fast.
A series of stories, The Bouncing Castle and The Famous Cousin From The Country reinforce the complex middle sounds being learnt. By the end of the scheme, the child will be ready to progress to ‘solo’ reading books, such as Roald Dahl’s ‘Georges Marvellous Medicine’ and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.
Many of the packs have cut out practice pages for matching words to pictures and phrases to pictures, to fix the sound words in the child’s memory. The simple text and fun colour sketches, appeal to young readers and have helped the authors to teach many, many children to read.
The reading packs may be used in any order, just pick the pack for the sound you require. However, when using the packs for a complete non reader we suggest you start with packs teaching initial sounds (word building with three or four letter words).
Then move on to learning phonic sounds in this order: ch, sh, wh, th, oo, ee, ar, or, ur, ir, er, magic e, ea, oa, ai, ay, oi, oy, oa, short y (as in happy), long y (as in sky), soft c (as in mice), soft g (as in engine), ou, ow, au and aw.
Next, move onto more complex sounds as in, tion, le, el, ough, gue, que, ine, ue, ie, ei, prefixes and suffixes.
How To Use
Each pack introduces a sound.
Learn the sound with the child/children
Read the sentences or stories several times, encouraging the child/children to talk about the pictures.
At the end of the sentences or story, there is a list of words and phrases, which the child can match to the pictures.
Practise each sound several times, until the child is familiar with it.
Book three of four books to practise skills required to have success in verbal reasoning.
Working through these tests will help increase reasoning ability. Although our tests target children of ten or eleven, they can be used at any stage.
Our verbal reasoning tests are in line with National Curriculum targets and can be used to practise for 11+ selection tests for entry to grammar schools.
A parent or teacher can work through the tests with their children and practise any skills that need reinforcement. Some of the skills included are alphabet reasoning, anagrams, letter grouping, rhyming words, word patterns and logical reasoning.
Instructions for Children Taking the Test:
There are 100 questions in each tests. Start at question 1 and work your way to question 100, filling in your answers on the worksheet. Leave blank questions you cannot do and go on to the next one.
A parent or teacher can choose to set a time limit, say 50 minutes, for you to complete the test. When you have finished the test, ask an adult to mark it for you, and explain questions you do not understand.
Book four of four books to practise skills required to have success in verbal reasoning.
Working through these tests will help increase reasoning ability. Although our tests target children of ten or eleven, they can be used at any stage.
Our verbal reasoning tests are in line with National Curriculum targets and can be used to practise for 11+ selection tests for entry to grammar schools.
A parent or teacher can work through the tests with their children and practise any skills that need reinforcement. Some of the skills included are alphabet reasoning, anagrams, letter grouping, rhyming words, word patterns and logical reasoning.
Instructions for Children Taking the Test
There are 100 questions in each tests. Start at question 1 and work your way to question 100, filling in your answers on the worksheet. Leave blank questions you cannot do and go on to the next one.
A parent or teacher can choose to set a time limit, say 50 minutes, for you to complete the test. When you have finished the test, ask an adult to mark it for you, and explain questions you do not understand.
Part 3 of the “Looking Back: Child Labour” resource focuses on children who worked on the land, in agriculture, and in domestic service in Victorian Britain. It is an informative and interactive teaching tool for children aged 8-13. This pack is perfect for reinforcing key historical skills and helping children acquire important knowledge about what life was like for the many children who worked in the nineteenth century.
This resource contains a total of 34 pages and covers the topics of: the typical jobs children did on the land; what the working day was like for children employed in agriculture; why children worked on the land; the Agricultural Children Act; and what life was like as a maid-of-all-work.
Part One - Looking Back: Child Labour - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13111442
Part Two - Looking Back: Child Labour - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13112787
To find out about child labour in the factories see https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12938508
The Looking Back: Victorian Fashion resource is an informative and interactive teaching tool for children aged 8-13. This pack is perfect for reinforcing key historical skills and helping children acquire important knowledge about how men and women’s fashion changed in the Victorian Period, for both the rich and poor.
Content:
This resource contains a total of 44 pages and covers the topics of: the changes in the shape and style of women’s clothes in each decade between 1840 and 1900; the working lives of dressmakers and seamstresses; how new inventions and technology changed fashion for men and women; aesthetic dress; the clothes worn by Victorian men; the second-hand clothes markets; and the rise of ready-made clothing.
In this pack, children will learn how to:
engage with the past and get excited about history. This pack is rich in detail. Historical facts are presented in a fun and engaging manner, surrounded by colourful illustrations, making the information easy to remember and recall. Children will get to read fascinating imaginary interviews with real and fictional characters of the times, newspaper reports, magazine articles, and adverts; as well as look, at lots of original cartoons and illustrations. This pack includes lots of interesting firsthand source material.
do research and find information. For some of the topics, children will have to find out the answers for themselves to specific set questions and look for pictures. In order to do this, they’ll need to investigate and retrieve the relevant information in books or on online websites. This will help them learn how to ask their own questions and think about what they want to know.
explain, or interpret, evidence and information. Many of the set questions and creative writing exercises will encourage children to thoughtfully consider the evidence before them. They will be asked to look for clues in texts and pictures, to describe, to explain, to reason, to draw conclusions, to think critically and form their own opinions.
communicate historical information in an exciting way. This pack includes lots of different sorts of activities: from answering questions and writing diary entries, to dressing up a male and female figure with the typical garments worn by men and women in the 1860s. These fun tasks will help children learn how to write their own narratives about each topic; how to recall, select and organise relevant historical knowledge; how to empathise and imagine how people from the past might feel and act; and how to present their ideas in a manner that is memorable and appeals to the intended reader.
This pack is designed to help support your children as they explore the Victorian era, deepen their understanding of this historical time period, and ignite their interest in history. However, many of the tasks would also make wonderful themed creative writing activites for english lessons and it also contains lots of information that would be ideal
Make an autumn leaf wreath. This super simple activity will help children practice shading and blending colours. Just print the leaf templates, colour in the leaves and cut them out. Then, cut out a ring shape from cardboard (or the centre of a paper plate, paint it brown and glue on the leaves.
This pack includes instructions and templates. There are also some bonus worksheets that your pupils can use to make notes and observations about different species of trees and to find out for themselves why leaves change colour in autumn.
This is a PDF with 8 pages.
