This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make precise interpretations regarding the ending in Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom.’ In particular, children identify the features of successful endings, analyse these features in Chapter 10 of the story, and create their own logical, imaginative story endings. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Storyboarding the key events of the text leading up to the ending; Reading the ending of the story and answering comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding; Defining and identifying the key features of effective endings; Analysing the effectiveness of the features that Morpurgo uses in his own ending; Creating their own alternate ending, utilising the features that they have learnt over the course of the lesson; Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Storyboard Template; Story Detectives Worksheet; Comprehensive Lesson Plan All resources are provided in Word (for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure formatting remains fixed between different computers). There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 4 and 5 classes, however colleagues have used them for between years 3 and 8 with some adaptations. The word documents are within the zip file. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of a non-fiction information text about tsunamis. The resource pack includes the extract and all of the activities for the session, which the class are guided through via a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. This is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, prediction and summarising skills. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in years 4-6, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Robert Browning’s power and conflict poem 'My Last Duchess.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; The Poet’s Influences. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Robert Browning’s power and conflict poem 'My Last Duchess.’ Teachers have found the activities particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of William Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the play ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘Context: Shakespearean Times’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ ‘Shakespeare’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ ‘Shylock’ and ‘Bassanio’ character profiles- to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ ‘Editing the Play’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

Based on the popular game show ‘Pointless’, this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I’ve also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ Round 1. The characters in The Merchant of Venice Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in The Merchant of Venice The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Mark Haddon’s ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS3 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: Asperger’s Syndrome’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Know the purpose, audience and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension.’ - ‘Haddon’s Description - The Police Station’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.’ - ‘Ed Boone’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these.’ - ‘Vocabulary Inspector’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapter 3 of Anne Holm’s ‘I Am David.’ In this section of the text, David develops his knowledge and his resourcefulness, as he learns a range of ways to survive. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas about characters and plot events. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses. There’s a lot here (17 slides filled with questions and activities) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 6 children.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapter 4 of Anne Holm’s ‘I Am David.’ In this section of the text, David is initially beaten by Carlo, before winning the respect of Carlo and his family after saving Maria from the shed fire. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Analysing characters. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses. A character profile template is provided (in both Word and PDF) for the main creative activity. There’s a lot here (17 slides filled with questions and activities) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 6 children.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapter 5 of Anne Holm’s ‘I Am David.’ In this section of the text, David struggles to integrate himself into life in the Italian family’s home and he overhears the conversation between Giovanni and Elsa. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Empathising with characters. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses. A character profile template is provided (in both Word and PDF) for the main creative activity. There’s a lot here (17 slides filled with questions and activities) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 6 children.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapter 6 of Anne Holm’s ‘I Am David.’ In this section of the text, David leaves Maria’s family’s home and finds his way through northern Italy into Switzerland. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas and themes. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses. There’s a lot here (18 slides filled with questions and activities) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 6 children.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the fifth and final chapter (‘July’) of Stephen Kelman’s 'Pigeon English.’ This section of the text tracks the events leading up to Harri being stabbed on the final day of the school year. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving and inferring information; -Analysing the writer’s use of language; -Linking to context; -Summarising key plot events. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. Also included is a storyboard template for the summarising activity. There’s a lot of content in the resource (22 slides in total) and in the past I have utilised this material over two or even three lessons. The lessons are best suited to students in KS4, and develop students’ knowledge and skills in relation to a number of GCSE assessment objectives.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the fourth and penultimate chapter (‘June’) of Stephen Kelman’s 'Pigeon English.’ In this section of the text, Harri and Dean are warned away from their detective work by the Dell Farm Crew, Miquita and Chanelle fight in the cafeteria, and Harri and his friends discover a wallet that appears to belong to the dead boy. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving and inferring information; -Making apt predictions; -Explaining key plot events and themes. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. There’s a lot of content in the resource (20 slides in total) and in the past I have utilised this material over two or even three lessons. The lessons are best suited to students in KS4, and develop students’ knowledge and skills in relation to a number of GCSE assessment objectives.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the third chapter (‘May’) of Stephen Kelman’s 'Pigeon English.’ In this section of the text, the Dell Farm Crew begin to turn on Harri, Miquita assaults Lydia with an iron, and Harri’s relationship with Poppy flourishes. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving and inferring information; -Explaining key plot events; -Analysing characters and relationships. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. There’s a lot of content in the resource (19 slides in total) and in the past I have utilised this material over two or even three lessons. The lessons are best suited to students in KS4, and develop students’ knowledge and skills in relation to a number of GCSE assessment objectives.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the second chapter (‘April’) of Stephen Kelman’s 'Pigeon English.’ In this section of the text, Harri sees Lydia washing blood-soaked clothes, and his relationship develops with Poppy. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Making predictions; -Retrieving and inferring information; -Analysing plot events; -Evaluating characters. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. There’s a lot of content in the resource (20 slides in total) and in the past I have utilised this material over two or even three lessons. The lessons are best suited to students in KS4, and develop students’ knowledge and skills in relation to a number of GCSE assessment objectives.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the opening chapter (‘March’) of Stephen Kelman’s 'Pigeon English.’ In this section of the text, Harri sees the blood of the dead boy outside Chicken Joe’s, has interactions with the ‘Dell Farm Crew’ and begins investigating the murder with his friends. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Making predictions; -Retrieving and inferring information; -Analysing characters; -Linking the text to its context. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. There’s a lot of content in the resource (22 slides in total) and in the past I have utilised this material over two or even three lessons. The lessons are best suited to students in KS4, and develop students’ knowledge and skills in relation to a number of GCSE assessment objectives.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapter 7 of Anne Holm’s ‘I Am David.’ In this section of the text, David is held hostage by the evil-hearted farmer and his family, and he forms a close bond with King the dog. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Making predictions about the final section of the story. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses. There’s a lot here (16 slides filled with questions and activities) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 6 children.

This 50-slide pack contains activity ideas and prompts for 12 creative writing sessions. I used these for weekly sessions over one full term with an upper KS2 class, although they could be used for lower KS2 or lower KS3 children with minimal adaptations. The goal of the sessions is to give children a stimulus and the basic information that they need to write with as much freedom as possible. They begin each session with one slide, which outlines what they need to do in the first paragraph/ section, and ordinarily contains a picture stimulus, suggested techniques to use and example sentence openers/ lines. After 10-15 minutes (depending on the nature of the task and the class) the teacher introduces the next slide. There are four slides for each session. By the end of the 45-60 minutes, children should have a coherent first draft of a creative composition. Prompts, support and guidance are provided for 12 individual creative writing sessions: -Description: Haunted House -Narrative: Journey Back to the Land of the Dinosaurs -Newspaper Report: An Alien Landing -Persuasive: Competition for a Dream Holiday -Informative: A Police Statement -Poem: My Favourite Place -Diary: Climbing Mount Everest -Persuasive: Letter to the Headteacher -Narrative: Story of a Scar -Explanation: How to Play (My Favourite Sport); -Diary: Journey to Mars -Narrative: Recreating a Fairy Tale I hope that these prove as useful to you as they were to me!

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Roald Dahl’s ‘Esio Trot.’ (Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions). They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS1 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children love learning from these resources, whilst they are also of great use to teachers, as there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Feed Alfie’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘talk about their favourite words and phrases in the story;’ - ‘Dahl’s Description’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Explain meanings of words that they know and ask the meaning of new words. Link the meaning of new words to words that they already know;’ - ‘Mr Hoppy’s Plan’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Say what might happen next in a story based on what has happened so far;’ - ‘Story Mountain’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Enjoy reading and discussing the order of events in books and how items of information are related.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 20 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).