4 activities on Poe’s famous short story The Tell Tale Heart. These activities are designed to be starter activities to promote literacy and analysis skills. 1 x Match the literary technique to the quote (Answers included) 1 x Match the symbol to the definition (Answers included) 3 x Analyse the quote. Example given on the first page showing students how to identify and explain the literary technique used. 1 x Identify the punctuation and find an example of its use in the text.

8 page PDF file. 4 on ‘The Kiwi’ and 4 on the ‘Tasmanian Devil’. Non-fiction. Students can develop their comprehension skills with basic inference questions, identify language techniques such as adjectives, verbs and onomatopoeia. Some questions require students to research dictionary definitions. Students are asked to sharpen their editing skills with misspelled words, inserting capital letters correctly and missing punctuation. Answers included.

King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream are included in this PNG file. Designs will need to be but into strips for border trim.

3 page Word document. Copy of the poem, The Harvest Moon, and a model answer for the question: Explore how the poet creates a sense of reverence towards the Harvest Moon. Aimed as KS 4 / GCSE level but the Word document can be adapted.

10 pairs or 20 cards each displaying a symbol or motif from Del Toro’s amazing film, Pan’s Labyrinth. There is space on each flashcard for students to write notes on the symbol depicted. The symbols are designed to be matched up. Additionally, students can then explain their paired choices, showing how Del Toro has both connected and juxtaposed the items / concepts.

A 26 page workbook for students who are developing phonological awareness. This is a brilliant resource for students who recognise different letters but need to focus on the sounds made at the start, in the middle and the end of the words.

5 posters of different scenes. A neat way for students to practice finding and listing nouns as seen in the poster. This is an ideal group activity (group competitions can be created adding some excitement to the activity) where students have to find the nouns in each picture. You can introduce a time challenge or first group to find 15 nouns etc. For the 3 posters where activities are being shown , the same can be done for verbs. Great for developing parts of speech understanding.

A set of 10 cards (5 picture cards and 5 word cards). Colour resource to help your students develop their phonemic and phonic awareness. This game can be played by having the words or pictures pre-cut and matching cards are placed on the opposite card or they can be matched up via pen /pencil. Can be used as a group or individual activity.

Visual display featuring Benny, his bowl, dog biscuits and his friend Henry the cat. Ideally, cut out and laminate. 4 story cards are included. Instructions are on each card. They contain basic facts about Benny and need to be read aloud to the student(s) as this activity is designed to focus on phonological sounds, not the written word. Excellent kinesthetic activity for students as they need to listen carefully for the number of sounds emphasised by the teacher and place the biscuits in Benny’s bowl accordingly.

28 pages (4 to a page) of basic sight words. 19 pages (4 to a page) of slightly higher level sight words. These can be copied to a size of your choice. Students who struggle with letter formation appreciate the enlarged size. The larger letters also allow for wooden / plastic letters to be placed on them depending on the size of the copy. Also a good sized card for class display purposes.

10 colourful flashcards, each card citing an aspect of the Tragic Hero. There is space for the students to write the evidence from their text onto each card showing how the character meets (or not) the criteria for a tragic hero. Group or individual activity. Not text specific.

Using Old Major’s song ‘Beasts of England’, students are to select specific literary or language techniques to show how Old Major convinces the animals that Animalism is a worthy cause. This comes with a an exemplar or model answer with grade boundaries for New Zealand NCEA Level 1 levels, A, M and E. Students can see the cumulative effect of techniques on the animals / reader. This resource is designed to take a closer look at Orwell’s language when studying Animal Farm, but also develop general reading comprehension skills.

Two Level 3 / Year 13 Excellence essays on Doctor Faustus NZ Curriculum / NCEA Level 3 Written Text standard.

Example paragraph with Point, Evidence, Explanation and Response / Link highlighted. This was created for NCEA Level 1 Visual Text study on Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The term ‘foreshadowing’ is used in the paragraph showcasing how students can show how the technique used affects the structure of the text too. An additional section is analysis is included that shows how students can combine film techniques in a paragraph to achieve a higher grade.

PEER or PEEL paragraph chart using Glenn Colquhoun’s The Other Side of the River. Each column represents an aspect of the paragraph. Page 1 is a model answer for the students. Two columns on page 2 and 3 are complete leaving the final columns for students to complete. A scaffolded activity showing students how to develop their analysis when writing paragraphs. Aimed at Year 9 or KS 3 level.

8 bright, vibrant posters illustrating a basic definition and examples of the following: Auxilary verbs Gerund Finite verbs Infinite verbs Participles Tautology Syntax Transitive verbs Perfect for classroom display when developing grammar knowledge.

17 pages of 5 letter word spelling lists grouped by their initial blend sound. Blends include: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, gl, pl, sl, sm, sn, sp, sc, sk, st, sw and tw. Each list has 16 - 18 words (tw has 12.)

50 colourful worksheets on basic sight words. Students can work at their own pace through the booklet as they gain confidence with sight words.

11 colourful posters to brighten up your classroom. Each poster lists the name of the term, a definition and provides a picture to demonstrate what is meant by the term. Terms covered are: Noun Proper noun Concrete noun Abstract noun Pronoun Possessive noun Adjective Verb Adverb Preposition Conjunction Posters could also be reduced in size for students to paste into their workbooks.

24 language techniques / literary terms 24 definitions 24 examples Each section is a different colour. Cards need to be pre-cut and students should match the technique, definition and example to create a matching set. A neat revision game for students.