A teacher and tutor with more than thirty years' experience working in both mainstream and independent schools. I have an Honours degree in English Literature and Linguistics from UEA and have written a dissertation about encouraging children to write. I am a mother of three and interested in all things green. I am in the process of setting up my TES shop and hope to launch my "Spagbag" resources which are suitable for both Primary and Secondary aged pupils.
A teacher and tutor with more than thirty years' experience working in both mainstream and independent schools. I have an Honours degree in English Literature and Linguistics from UEA and have written a dissertation about encouraging children to write. I am a mother of three and interested in all things green. I am in the process of setting up my TES shop and hope to launch my "Spagbag" resources which are suitable for both Primary and Secondary aged pupils.
I have bundled together three quizzes which test various aspects of spelling, grammar and punctuation. As they are in a similar format they can be easily rotated on a regular basis and tweaked to suit the needs of the students. Answers are provided.
Suited to ages 8+
This Power Point tests knowledge of hear and here, pronouns, apostrophes, prefixes to form opposites, homophones and alphabetical ordering. There are some deliberate errors to spot and correct in a passage at the end.
This is one of a series of similar quizzes to be found in my shop that can be used on a regular basis to test knowledge and understanding of different aspects of grammar and punctuation.
I include an extra resource where knowledge of grammar can be tested and writing skills honed.
Answers are included. Suitable for ages 10+
This Power Point contains ten slides reminding pupils how to write an argumentative response. The use of rhetorical questions, statistics, emotive language and logical structure are encouraged amongst other techniques. Finally students are required to produce either a leaflet arguing against animal testing or a letter supporting testing cancer drugs on rats.
I include a resource which includes mixed grammar revision and an opportunity to describe a favourite animal or pet.
This resource is suitable for pupils aged 12+
This Power Point comprises twelve slides which will test students' knowledge of subordinating conjunctions, imperatives, active and passive sentences, prefixes to form opposites, identifying metaphors and similes and much more besides.
There is a strangely worded passage to correct and a useful mnemonic to help with a tricky spelling.
Answers are provided. This resource is one in a series of similar resources which can be found in my shop which can be used on a rotational basis for revision purposes.
I include a resource which encourages the use of a wider range of punctuation.
Suitable for ages 10+
This bundle comprises three quizzes which will test the knowledge of various aspects of spelling , grammar and punctuation and can be rotated regularly whenever extra revision is needed.
This Power Point tests understanding of its and it's, subordinate clauses, tenses that agree with each other, prefixes to form opposites, alphabetical ordering and much more besides. This is one in a series of similar quizzes which can be used to check knowledge and understanding of different aspects of grammar and spelling. There is a weirdly worded passage to decipher at the end. Answers are provided and where they are not, it is intended that students read out their own examples with suitable choices.
I include a resource which encourages pupils to include a wider range of punctuation in their writing.
Suitable for ages 10+
This Power Point resource looks at literary techniques and presentational devices. Pupils are asked to consider the tools a writer has at his or her disposal to create an effect. Pupils are asked to write definitions of various techniques and to provide their own examples. They will also need to sort terms into groups: linguistic feature or presentational device? Finally students are required to use their knowledge to create a leaflet or write a film review.
It would be useful to provide each group with an array of printed materials such as magazines, newspapers, promotional leaflets etc so that students can hunt for examples to match the terminology. Students need to be already familiar with an array of different terminology such as oxymoron, hyperbole, juxtaposition and more besides.
This resource is intended as a revision tool and is suitable for ages 12+
This animated Power Point asks pupils to punctuate passages from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The selected passages will test knowledge of proper nouns, apostrophes for contraction, hyphens, colons, brackets, speech marks and much more besides. The answers will appear as if by magic. There is an activity to invent muggle words from some of the characters' names and a bonus question to test knowledge of the book. Pupils are asked to write a formal letter to Harry complaining about inappropriate use of his wizarding skills.
This is an ideal way to test knowledge of punctuation and encourage reading at the same time.
Suitable for ages 10+
This animated Power Point presentation discusses the evolutionary future of the human race and the part modern technology plays in that futuristic landscape. Obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes are the big killers. Has our sedentary lifestyle and addiction to screens caused our brains to work in different ways? Will computers ever achieve consciousness?
This resource is suitable for audiences aged 16+
This bundle contains four resources aimed at improving writing skills. Students will learn how to appreciate the tools writers use to create an effect, how to vary the length and type of sentence so that it suits its purpose and how to write an argumentative piece of their own based on animal testing.
Suitable for 12+
This animated Power Point takes five extracts from J'K'Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and asks students to identify deliberate spelling mistakes. The answers will magically appear. One of the extracts has punctuation removed and requires the students to re-write the dialogue between Harry and Sirius Black, inserting the correct punctuation.
Finally, inspired by the passages they have read, pupils are required to split into houses to perform their own writing challenge. They can choose from writing a review of a lesson from a student teacher who can transform into an animal of his own choosing, a report of a Quidditch match, an argument about how Harry's parents died or a descriptive piece about the discovery of an invisibility cloak.
This resource will prove useful when revising aspects of spelling and punctuation and will inspire the writing of reviews and reports in particular. Included is an informative resource about the development of the racing broom for Quidditch enthusiasts.
Suitable for pupils aged 10+
This animated Power Point presents pupils with five extracts taken from J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and asks them to provide the missing punctuation. The extracts selected will test knowledge of proper nouns, speech-marks, colloquialisms and colons in particular. The extracts will also require knowledge of how to write a formal letter and how to compose an advertisement. Pupils can be divided into Hogwarts' Houses and answer questions from each extract. Answers will magically appear. Finally, students are challenged to write their own advertisement for a super-charged broom of their own invention.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+ and is intended to test knowledge of punctuation as well as comprehension . Moreover, it will encourage further reading and develop writing skills.
This bundle of Harry Potter themed resources will give a new twist to grammar lessons as the exercises are based on the Prisoner of Azkaban story. A more general quiz is included for good measure.
Students can test their knowledge and will hopefully be inspired to widen their reading as they dip into passages written by J.K.Rowling.
Suitable for ages 10+
Start the term with another quiz to check understanding of plurals, tenses, prefixes,suffixes, homophones, alphabetical order and much more besides. Answers are provided for ease of marking. Each section of the quiz can be tweaked to suit specific needs within your group.
This is one of many similar quizzes to be found in my shop which can be used on a rotational basis when revising spelling and grammar.
Suitable for ages 10+
This Power Point looks at adjectives and nouns. Pupils are given animals and adjectives which describe them using the same initial letter. Students are asked to match adjectives and nouns with the same initial letter and then with different initial letters. Pupils are asked to make adjectives out of nouns ending in -ful and -ous. Examples are given when several adjectives are used to describe and so pupils need to use commas to separate. Students are required to think of different scenes such as being a football match or in a supermarket and think of five things that might be in that particular environment.
This resource should prove useful when revising nouns and adjectives and the use of commas in a list.
I include a more general spelling, punctuation and grammar quiz in which adjectives feature . All answers included.
Suitable for ages 7+
I have bundled together five resources which explore the techniques of writing to inform, persuade, describe and entertain. These resources explore different formats and structural devices and give ideas for students to write and develop their own style to suit various real life scenarios and a range of different audiences.
Suitable for ages 10+
This bundle comprises three resources:
one of the popular spelling, punctuation and grammar quizzes, a resource about the peculiar phrases found in idioms and proverbs of the English language and another resource about tricky spellings which contain silent or unexpected letters.
This resource should prove useful when revising spelling strategies in particular.
Suitable for ages 10+
This Power Point resource is one of a host of similar quizzes to be found in my shop. This one tests understanding of punctuation, spelling rules, conditional phrases, using prefixes and suffixes and identifying root words, homophones and alphabetical ordering. Pupils are required to decipher a weirdly worded passage and translate it into standard English. Answers are provided.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+ and is ideal for revision purposes.
This animated Power Point is about writing to inform and explain. Students are asked to think about the structure of their writing, how to organise it logically with sub-headings or bullet points, how to include facts and statistics and how to maintain a formal tone throughout. Finally students are requested to write a piece of their own and may choose to write a report to the head teacher about an accident in the science lab, a leaflet to eleven year olds explaining how to cope with an asthma attack in PE or explain how to make a healthy meal from scratch to people with no previous cooking experience.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+
This animated Power Point discusses how descriptive writing is used in travel brochures and autobiographies to describe places and events. Extracts are taken from works by J.K.Rowling, Anthony Bourdain , Susan Hill and Mary Shelley and pupils are asked to focus and discuss how techniques such as similes, metaphors, personification and pathetic fallacy are used for effect. Students are reminded to use Point, Evidence and Explain when commenting about an author’s writing. Finally, pupils are asked to match examples of figurative language to explanations and examples. They are required to provide examples of their own such as a metaphor to describe the moon or alliteration to describe a ticking clock in an examination.
Worksheets are available show-casing these extracts which could be used alongside or separate from the Power Point.
This resource is suitable for 14+ years (one of the extracts is quite graphic and describes the slaughter of a pig)