A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
This is a reading mat with questions to prompt quality text discussion of any story. It could be used as a whole class, for individuals or with groups.
This mat provides question prompts to use with any reading book. It helps to develop deeper understanding with highly able readers. It uses higher order reading skills and develops the pupils ability to support answers with evidence from the text. It could be used with individuals, or small groups.
Poetry and Narrative Guided Reading Mats - questions for highly able readers on any poem, or story. There are two poetry questions mat - one aimed at younger and one at older children and a narrative mat. The questions can be selected to suit the ability level of the children. They could be used for book talk speaking and listening or comprehension tasks. It could be used for whole class, group or individual pupil work.
A poetry mat - with question prompts for highly able readers to be able to discuss any poem in guided reading.This mat provides question prompts to use with any poem. It helps to develop deeper understanding with highly able readers. It develops the pupils ability to support answers with evidence from the text. It could be used with individuals, or small groups.
Character - positive character traits vocab building list. I cut up the words and pupils sorted the list into words they knew, thought they might know and definitely didn't know. Words could also be used to sort, for example, words with linked meanings and made into Mind Maps. Suited to some pupils in Upper Key Stage 2, but also some pupils in Key Stage 3 and 4.
This is a great lesson on character. The modelled writing task makes pupils focus on Dahl's style.
There are two word documents for pupils to adapt to create modelled character descriptions.
See the two pdfs which show the work produced by the task.
Pupils are given the opening of Secret Garden and a grid giving clues to techniques used to show character.
An example of the grid is below:
Point - We find out about Mary Lennox’s character from what the narrator tells us directly about her. Evidence – I know this because it says… Explanation – This shows that…
Working with the word document, pupils have to copy quotations from the text that prove the character points listed and paste them into the grid table. Next they fill in the table by explaining how their quotation proves the point.
There are three sheets, differentiated for different abilities, requiring children who need more support to just fill in the section explaining how their quotation proves their point.
There is a worksheet to show pupils how to work out clues to a character and an explanation of PEE (point, evidence, explain)
the task can also be done on paper without a computer using the text. I asked the children to use three colours for the point, evidence, explanation.
An easy simile poem idea that can deliver some surprisingly creative ideas There's an example, ideas sheet and scaffold. I found an example of a 'If my Thoughts Took Shape' poem years ago and recently made the scaffold and ideas sheet to structure and support pupils.
These pictures help pupils to see the imagery used by Dahl to describe Miss Trunchbull. The worksheet requires pupils to find the connotations, for example, in what way is Miss Trunchbull like an 'enraged rhinocerous'?
KS2 convert simple sentences to complex (telling myth of Osiris) & PPTX on complex sentences.
Ideal for topic on Ancient Egypt! Aimed at Upper Key Stage 2.
The Tutankhamun newspaper is written to demonstrate newspaper genre features such as, lead line telling the 5Ws, embedded clauses , synonyms, columns and quotations.
There are detailed teaching notes and differentiated support planners to scaffold the writing to get good understanding of the newspaper genre and a good piece of writing.
This activity gives pupils a clear structure for writing a newspaper about Mrs Pretty’s donation of the Sutton Hoo finds to the British Museum. It also provides all the facts they need to write a really good newspaper article.
A task for able upperKS2, and KS3 historians.
Fun task for summer and pupils can produce good written work! Pupils write instructions for a favourite ice cream and an advert for an ice cream or ice cream shop. There is a wordbank to support pupils who need support, taken from collecting ideas of favourite flavours and toppings from pupils. There are also instructions establishing how to write instructions to make an ice cream sundae. Next, there is a PowerPoint about how to write an ice cream advert. There is a worksheet for children requiring additional support on naming and adding adjectives to ice creams. Children can produce their own advert (either for an ice cream cafe or an individual ice cream) and there are a choice of sheets with a pictures of ice cream provided, if you want to use that for pupils to present their work.
This is a suspense story about being locked in the Egyptian Gallery of a museum over night. This is a word document, so can be used as an ICT text for pupils. The pupils are instructed to improve and finish the story, using techniques (such as, adding description of the character's feelings, describing sounds and setting).
There is a self assessment worksheet ( that proves far more effective than success criteria) and also detailed teaching notes.
