Between the ages of 9 and 12, children have to complete Standardised.Assessment.Tests (Sats). To help them practise for these tests, we have produced a new series of comprehension booklets. The Standards and Testing Agency states that the child has 1 hour to complete the test, answering the questions in the answer booklet. Read one text and answer the questions about that text, before moving onto the next text. There are three texts and three sets of questions in each booklet. The tests in this booklet are based on the KS2 Reading Assessment sample papers. It is important to try and complete them in an hour, but it is your choice. The more tests you practise the quicker you will get. 31 pages

This resource includes: Write To Advise On Getting A New Pet Write An Informal Diary On Your New Pet This series of resources concentrate specifically on information writing, providing everything needed to stimulate a child to write. The child is taught to recognise the difference between facts and opinions. Each pack in this series concentrates on a different aspect of information writing including: writing to advise, writing to inform, writing to explain, writing to analyse, review and comment, giving examples. The child is taught how a newspaper article is structured, how to write formal and informal letters, diaries, police reports, e-mails, biographies, autobiographies, interviews, book reviews and many more. Each resource contains starting point for writing, helping the child to form ideas, enabling him or her to structure their work and organise it into paragraphs. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the student to be successful and gain good grades. The packs are a very useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack will give the student ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. Each work pack provides children with ideas for writing, especially reluctant writers who require starting points to write. Each work pack provides a safe topic that children will be comfortable with. 27 pages

‘Writing A Balanced Argument’ work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Includes: How To Write A Discursive Argument Hints And Tips For Writing A Discursive Essay Writing skeletons, model answers and points for and against the following essays: Fox Hunting Is Cruel. Discuss In Favour Of Zoos, Or Not. Discuss. Should Animals Perform In The Circus? This series of work packs set out how to write a well-balanced argument. The student will learn how to structure their writing, putting forward a point of view, backing it up with convincing evidence, building up a relevant counter argument and knocking it down, as well as, putting forward their own comments and opinions. These work packs focus on discursive writing, enabling the pupil to examine points for and against in a variety of subjects suitable for older children and teenage readers - healthy eating, fashion, social issues and many more. The student will learn vital essay writing skills, that will assist their studies in other areas of the curriculum. In addition to this, the work packs teach organisational and literary devices in persuasive writing, including, figurative language, emotive words, repetition, connectives and use of good vocabulary. The student will learn how to consider writing for the appropriate audience, how to vary sentence types in order to make writing more interesting, and the importance of using good spelling, punctuation and grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the pupil to be successful and gain good grades. The work packs are ideal for home study and will reinforce the work done in school. They may be purchased in any order. There are a number of titles to choose from. By working through the packs, the student will grow in confidence and will learn to enjoy writing. The packs are also a useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. This series is specifically targeted at Key Stage 2 and 3 (ages 9-14 years), but will also be a valuable resource for those taking GCSE up to grades C and above. They contain material suitable for UK National Curriculum SATS, for those taking 11+ entrance examinations, for GCSE exams and for students learning English as a foreign language. 29 pages

Make up some questions you would ask if you interviewed someone. Now, interview someone you know well and record what they say. Write a shirt biography of your chosen person. An essential series of themed prompts to help children aged 9-12 years to practise their creative writing skills for 11 plus entry exams or S.A.T.S. The packs include an outline to help the child plan his or her own story, article, letter or play script and examples to build on, using harder more challenging vocabulary to stretch more able pupils. 7 pages

Information Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Information Writing work packs concentrate specifically on information writing, providing everything needed to stimulate a child to write. The child is taught to recognise the difference between facts and opinions. Each pack in this series concentrates on a different aspect of information writing including: writing to advise, writing to inform, writing to explain, writing to analyse, review and comment, giving examples. The child is taught how a newspaper article is structured, how to write formal and informal letters, diaries, police reports, e-mails, biographies, autobiographies, interviews, book reviews and many more. The work packs contain starting point for writing, helping the child to form ideas, enabling him or her to structure their work and organise it into paragraphs. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the student to be successful and gain good grades. The packs are a very useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack will give the student ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. Each work pack provides children with ideas for writing, especially reluctant writers who require starting points to write. Each work pack provides a safe topic that children will be comfortable with. 19 pages

Fright Night: Write An Article (And More) (Essential Writing Practice With A Spooky Halloween Theme) (9-13 years) This resource includes five activities: Read the article ‘Fright Night’ and then write your own spine chilling version to persuade people to visit. Next, write a recount of your visit, using the writing skeleton to help you. Read the poem ‘Is White Rat Not Convinced?’ Look for rhyming couplets. Have a go at writing your own poem. Plan your own fancy dress party, using the writing prompts to help you Write some judges comments for rock band ‘The Graveyard Diggers’ performance on the Z Factor. Read the newspaper article and then use the template to write your own report, adding some fearsome facts and odious opinions. An essential series of themed prompts to help children aged 9-12 years to practise their creative writing skills for 11 plus entry exams or S.A.T.S. The packs include an outline to help the child plan his or her own story, article, letter or play script and examples to build on, using harder more challenging vocabulary to stretch more able pupils.

Use the prompts and illustrations to produce an information leaflet about the Amazon Rainforest. The child should arrange their leaflet under the headings: Where is the Amazon rainforest? What is the climate like? What is life in the canopy like? What is the shrub layer like? What is it like on the forest floor? Next, the child can fill in the rainforest chart This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language. 9 pages

This resource shows children how to structure and develop a story. First, the child reads the story about ‘Monster‘. Then, they are shown an outline of how the story was planned – the characters, setting and plot. Secondly, they are shown the content of each paragraph: the beginning paragraph (setting the scene), the middle paragraph (recounting a series of events that build up suspense) and the ending, in this case a happy ending and the situation is resolved. An outline allows the child to write their ‘Monster’ story themselves, by completing the sentences. Next, they can use what they have learnt to write a story called ‘looking after a naughty pet’. This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language. 9 pages

Play Bingo And Snap To Reinforce The Phonic Sound ‘ck’ (3 years +) Play the game over and over again until the child is familiar with the words. How To Use The Pre Reader Work Packs At Guinea Pig Education we believe children do not need to spend years learning reading skills; this innovative new scheme teaches children to read in just six months to a year. A non reader should start with our pre reading material. The Pre reader work packs use phonics or the sounds in words. The child can learn a series of phonic sounds, which give him or her a ‘tool’ to work out nearly 80% of words in the English language. The other 20% of words will be learnt by looking and saying the words. In these packs, the child (or group of children) will be taught to recognise initial sounds as in ‘b’, ‘d’ and vowel sounds as in ‘a’ - c…a…t. They will practise running sounds together to make words. The sentence maker will help him or her to organise the words into sentences. The packs are easy to use with clear instructions, for the adult to use with a child (or group of children). The structured material encourages the child to practise word building and sentence making using phonic sounds. To make learning a really fun experience, the material contains word games, like snap and bingo. The child (children) can move on when the adult is confident the sounds have been learnt. Learn To Read With Phonics Pre Reader packs are designed to start children reading who have not done any reading before. They are a starting point for learning to read with phonics. Children can start at three or four, if they are ready to concentrate. The Pre Reader packs introduce the 26 sounds of the alphabet, the skills of sounding out words with phonics and blending phonic sounds to make three and four letter words. The child (children) should practise the material each day and move on only when the child is familiar with the material. The course is structured. Each new sound builds on the one that went before. Tell the child (children) to personalise the drawings, adding to them, using their own ideas. Play the games. Repeat the exercises many times until they know the words. They should have fun learning to read. Download this free booklet, to find out more about our phonic scheme. Click here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-do-i-start-my-child-learning-to-read-with-phonics-12412206

Lots Of Activities To Help Kids Practise Reading Words with Initial and Final Consonant Blends (3 +) Use the sentence maker to make more 3, 4 and 5 letter words Check up on reading 2 and 3 letter words, 4 letter words with initial and final consonant blends. Plus, 4 letter words you can sound out Read the short story about Tom How To Use The Pre Reader Work Packs At Guinea Pig Education we believe children do not need to spend years learning reading skills; this innovative new scheme teaches children to read in just six months to a year. A non reader should start with our pre reading material. The Pre reader work packs use phonics or the sounds in words. The child can learn a series of phonic sounds, which give him or her a ‘tool’ to work out nearly 80% of words in the English language. The other 20% of words will be learnt by looking and saying the words. In these packs, the child (or group of children) will be taught to recognise initial sounds as in ‘b’, ‘d’ and vowel sounds as in ‘a’ - c…a…t. They will practise running sounds together to make words. The sentence maker will help him or her to organise the words into sentences. The packs are easy to use with clear instructions, for the adult to use with a child (or group of children). The structured material encourages the child to practise word building and sentence making using phonic sounds. To make learning a really fun experience, the material contains word games, like snap and bingo. The child (children) can move on when the adult is confident the sounds have been learnt. Learn To Read With Phonics Pre Reader packs are designed to start children reading who have not done any reading before. They are a starting point for learning to read with phonics. Children can start at three or four, if they are ready to concentrate. The Pre Reader packs introduce the 26 sounds of the alphabet, the skills of sounding out words with phonics and blending phonic sounds to make three and four letter words. The child (children) should practise the material each day and move on only when the child is familiar with the material. The course is structured. Each new sound builds on the one that went before. Tell the child (children) to personalise the drawings, adding to them, using their own ideas. Play the games. Repeat the exercises many times until they know the words. They should have fun learning to read.

29 pages This task practices writing with different purposes. The child should read the description of the rainforest, noting the good use of words - adjectives, verbs and adverbs. In the first task, the child uses the information to write an information leaflet, with or without subheadings. A series of questions and suggested answers are included to help. The second task is a matching activity on the rainforest. In the third task, the child is asked to write a persuasive leaflet, called ‘Rainforest World’. The prompts will help the child structure the information. Devising a map, gives the child scope to use their imagination and practice using more persuasive words. As a follow up activity, the child can plan and write about an imaginary visit to ‘Rainforest World’ or empathise with an animal, using the prompts. Writing about ‘a day in his life’, write more diary entries about animals in the park. This theme could be developed over several lessons. It would be excellent for homework handouts. This resource is featured in the book ‘We Love Animals: Get Going With Creative Writing’ series. This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language. Browse our website, to view our full range of educational resources.

When there is a short vowel sound in a verb like run, you usually double the consonant ‘running’. Can you hear the stress in the second consonant? In this pack Zoggy takes up the challenge to teach children to double the consonant, when there is a short vowel sound, as in ‘run’. He teaches them to listen for the stress on the second consonant ‘running’. These pages provide lots of practice to help children remember the rules. With ‘Learn Spelling Rules Packs’ spelling need not be dull. These work packs can be used at school or at home, to reinforce spelling rules in a fun way. Our character, Zoggy, the friendly alien, is a genius when it comes to spelling. He encourages the children to join him in his spelling workout. In other words, they must train and learn the spelling rules. These packs consist of challenges in spelling, focusing on words formed using spelling rules. For example, dropping ‘e’ in words like ‘take’ to make ‘taking’. Each pack focuses on a different rule and the packs may be used in any order. These packs are essential to help correct common errors in spelling. They also help avoid bad habits forming in spelling. Each pack contains lots of practice to help the children remember the rules. 7 pages

The “Looking Back: Victorian Crime and Punishment” resource is an informative and interactive teaching tool for children aged 8-13. This pack is perfect for reiniforcing key historical skills and helping children acquire important knowledge about the Victorian police, as well as common crimes and punishments in the nineteenth century. Content: This resource contains a total of 65 pages and covers the topics of: the establishment of the Metropolitan Police; the public reponse to the New Police; what the job of a Victorian policeman entailed; common types of crime; the cause of crime; the expansion of the police force outside of London; how Victorian criminals were punished; life in a Victorian prison; and hard labour. In this pack, children will learn how to: engage with the past and get escited 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, posters, pages from a policeman’s notebook, court records and criminal registers. It includes lots of interesting firsthand source material. do research and find information. For some of the topics,

A set of printable worksheets to practice handwriting. Introducing you to our brand new ‘Zoggy Zero’ scheme. Help your child/ren to take their first steps in reading, writing and spelling, with this exciting structured scheme. 19 pages

Read our beautifully illustrated, shortened retelling of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s story, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’ Then, answer the comprehension questions and write your own silly story. A fun activity that will introduce kids, age 7-10, to this famous book and help inspire their imaginations too.

Our beach themed holiday book is filled with activities and stories, with fun questions to answer. Take it on the plane, or in the car, as you travel on your holiday, or enjoy filling it in on the beach, or save it for rainy days at home. It features our loveable characters, Pom Pom, Zoggy and Sam, as they share their magical holiday moments with us. It includes some pages where you can record your own seaside adventures. For ages 3-9 Contents Pom Pom on Holiday There’s An Alien In Danger At The Sea Activities (word search, spot the difference, dot to dot, puzzles, cross word) Pom Pom at the Beach The Sandcastle story and questions My Trip to West Farm What Can I Tell You About My Holiday? 94 pages

37 pages This series of work packs provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Featuring a lively, ‘magazine style’ format to appeal to children of all abilities, these packs are particularly recommended as preparation for creative writing tasks at 11+ or S.A.T.S. The writer herself often dips into the lively collection of imaginative stories and non fiction articles, to teach her students in tutorials. The packs feature detailed prompts on how to plan and write stories and letters, as well as help with non fiction tasks - writing diaries, reports and persuasive leaflets. There is also plenty of practice in writing techniques - variation of sentences, connectives and grammar and punctuation tips.

When Sam accepts that yummy toffee from his friend, Tom, his wibbly wobbly tooth comes right out. To keep it safe, he carefully places it in one of his school books, ready to put under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. After all, she will exchange if for money. On the way home from school, in the car, Sam rummages in his bag to find his spellings. Then, the tooth disappears and Sam undertakes a frantic search. Will it turn up? Will the Tooth Fairy still come? 45 pages

Read our beautifully illustrated version of the classic fairy tale The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen, and answer the comprehension questions. This activity will encourage kids, age 6-9, to think about what it means to be different and to not fit in; and how we should treat everyone kindly and not judge by appearance, because everyone is unique. 55 pages

Learn Initial Consonant Blends (as in sn, sp, dr, gr) and read the sentences. 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.