This engaging and informative lesson enables students to develop a detailed understanding of the characters of Ariel and Caliban in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In particular, students compare and contrast how the two characters are introduced to the audience in Act 1 Scene 2, and then developed throughout the play. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which students learn through: Understanding the roles that servants and slaves played in society in Shakespearean times; Reading and comprehending how the two characters are introduced in Act 1 Scene 2; Using textual exploration to discover how the characters are then developed over the course of the play; Considering Shakespeare’s intentions in his portrayal of the two characters; Demonstrating their understanding through an interesting synthesis activity; Self-assessing their learning through the lesson; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Character Profile Template; Ariel and Caliban Development Template; Copy of Act I Scene 2 (freely available online); Comprehensive lesson plan. Resources are provided in PDF (to maintain formatting) and Word (so that they are easily editable - they can be found in the zipfile) The lesson contains opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 10 and 11 classes, however colleagues have used them for between year 9 and year 13 with some adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Willy Russell’s play ‘Blood Brothers.’ 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 story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘Context: 1980s Britain/ Liverpool’ - 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;’ ‘Russell’s Dramatic Devices’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ ‘Edward’, ‘Mickey’, and ‘Mrs Lyons’ - 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 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).

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fourth in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on helping children to create cohesion in their writing, using time connectives and other cohesive devices. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (21 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Time connectives; -Understanding other features that contribute to cohesion in written texts; -Identifying good and bad examples of cohesion in texts; -Improving their earlier written attempts by following steps to improve cohesion; -Following a model example to develop cohesion within the next paragraph of their written compositions (a structure strip is provided, in both PDF and Word format, to help them to organise and sequence this section of their composition); -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the third in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on guiding children towards creating full, interesting sentences to describe their stimulus. By the end of the lesson, they write the opening section of their recount. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (18 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Expanded noun phrases; -Understanding how prepositions can aid us in expanding sentences; -Exploring how expanded noun phrases and prepositions can be used in combination to create interesting, detailed full sentences; -Following a model example to develop effective sentences within the first paragraph (a structure strip is also provided to help the children to formulate this paragraph in an organised manner); -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fifth in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on helping children to vary their sentence structures, to produce interesting and imaginative compositions. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (20 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Identifying word types: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and determiners -Understanding that writing is more interesting and imaginative when writers vary the type of word that they open the sentence with (i.e. not always pronouns and determiners); -Enhancing a boring, monotonous example by adding variety to sentence openers (the worksheet for this is provided, both in Word and PDF); -Improving their earlier written attempts by following steps to increase the variety and quality of their sentences; -Following a model example to develop variety and imagination within the next paragraph of their written compositions (a structure strip is provided, in both PDF and Word format, to help them to organise and sequence this section of their composition); -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Michael Morpurgo’s 'When Fishes Flew.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS2 expectations within the 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: ‘Morpurgo’s Language Techniques’ - 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;’ ‘Character Analysis of Nandi and Maria’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘An Interview with Nandi’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘Storyboarders’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Read books that are structured in different ways and for a range of purposes.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is over 20 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. The resource is suitable for home/ remote learning.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the sixth and final lesson in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on helping children to edit and redraft their recount compositions. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (18 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Understanding why the learning is important, following a video (hyperlinked) which helps to outline why editing and redrafting is important. Listening to facts about how published artists repeatedly edit and redraft their work; -SPAG starter: Correcting basic SPAG errors in sentences, including spelling/ homophones, inconsistent tense, and omitted capital letters/ punctuation; -Applying this knowledge to proof-read and edit their own compositions; -Revisiting the key features of recounts and ensuring that these features are embedded within their own writing; -Learning the meaning of the term ‘uplevelling’ and understanding how more precise verbs, nouns and adjectives can impact on a sentence; -Employing this knowledge to uplevel their own recount compositions; -Once they are happy with their edits, following clear success criteria for redrafting their writing; -Reflecting on their learning from across the unit. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the second in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. In this lesson, children learn to build vocabulary to use in their writing, drawing on a range of word types (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) and using each of their five senses. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Word classes (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs); -Establishing a three-part structure for the recount; -Watching a ‘Climbing Everest’ video (hyperlinked) to gain inspiration and consider how a journey can be structured and described; -Using a clear template and the five senses to build appropriate and effective vocabulary; -Sharing and building upon one another’s vocabulary and ideas; -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. The PowerPoint presentation (19 slides) and activity resources needed are provided (the worksheet template is provided in both Word and PDF). These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the first in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. The first lesson focuses on what recounts are, establishing the main features and techniques. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge harvesting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Homophones -Finding out more about recounts and the essential techniques through watching a BBC Teach ‘Michael Rosen’ video, and answering comprehension questions about what they have watched; -Establishing a success criteria for recounts; -Analysing a ‘WAGOLL’ (what a good one looks like) and identifying the features and techniques from the success criteria; -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. The PowerPoint presentation and activity resources needed are provided (any readings or worksheets are provided in both Word and PDF). These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of the opening chapter of Michael Morpurgo’s ‘When Fishes Flew.’ 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. The reading 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 upper KS2, but it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups. The session is also suitable for home/ remote learning.

This engaging and interesting lesson enables students to demonstrate a clear and developed understanding of the historical context of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers. In particular, students learn about the key social and historical events that took place in the UK in the 1970s and 80s (particularly around the play’s setting of Liverpool) and apply this understanding to characters and events in the play. The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be both independent and collaborative learners. It follows this learning journey: Considering and discussing ideas of class and class systems, both historically and in the present day; Sequencing and understanding the key features of the social and historical context of the UK/Liverpool in the 1970s and 80s; Using independent research to enhance their understanding of deeper contextual meanings; Linking the key events of the play to social and historical context, analysing Russell’s key messages; Taking part in a fun, interactive quiz in order to gauge their learning; Self-evaluating their learning in the lesson. Included in this resource pack are: A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; Detailed cards for the sorting/timeline activity, presenting key contextual events; A ‘Researching Context’ template, to help guide students’ research; A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with quotes from the text; A comprehensive teacher guidance form/lesson plan to assist delivery. Resources are provided in both Word (for easy editing)and PDF (to prevent formatting issues between computers). All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation. Please note - the independent research activity (development task) in this resource pack requires students to have access to the internet.

This engaging and interesting lesson enables students to make clear and developed interpretations of the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers. In particular, students infer and interpret key information about the characters from their introductions into the play, before tracking how their characters develop through close analysis of key quotations. The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be both independent and collaborative learners. It follows this learning journey: Considering the meaning of the key term ‘stereotype’ and how Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons represent stereotypes of social groups; Engaging with the opening to the text and interpreting how Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are presented; Tracking how the characters are developed throughout the play, through engagement with key quotations; Answering an essay-style question about the introduction and development of the characters; Self-evaluating their learning in the lesson. Included in this resource pack are: A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; Appropriate extracts from the play; A worksheet with key quotations to enable students to track the development of characters; A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with quotes from the text; A comprehensive teacher guidance form/lesson plan to assist delivery. Resources are provided in both Word (for easy editing)and PDF (to prevent formatting issues between computers). All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 5 to 6 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, Lil reads Professor Hanawati’s letter and the first section of the transcription of Lysandra’s story. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas. 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 in the session (18 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through a reading of the opening chapter of Emma Carroll’s ‘Secrets of a Sun King.’ 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. The reading 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 Year 3 and 4, but it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups. The session is also suitable for home/ remote learning.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS2 expectations within the 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: ‘Carroll’s Language Techniques’ - 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;’ ‘Character Analysis of Lil and Tulip Mendoza’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘An Interview with Howard Carter’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Understand what is read by drawing on information from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas, and using quotations for illustration;’ ‘Storyboarders’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Read books that are structured in different ways and for a range of purposes.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is over 20 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. The resource is suitable for home/ remote learning.

This engaging and thought-provoking triple-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 9 to 11 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, Lil is punished at school for standing up to Tulip’s bullies, she learns the backstory about her elder brother, and she boards the train to accompany the Mendozas to Egypt. 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. In addition to this, a character profile template is provided for the main character analysis task (in both Word and PDF). There’s a lot in the session (19 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two or even three lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This engaging and thought-provoking triple-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 14 to 16 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, the children find Kyky’s heart within the canopic jar. They also reach Egypt, and attempt to return the jar to its burial place in the Valley of Kings. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Analysing the writer’s use of language. 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. In addition to this, a ‘Writing to Describe’ helpsheet is provided for the creative activity. There’s a lot in the session (21 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two or even three lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 22 and 23 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this final section of the text, the group returns to London triumphant, and Alex’s true identity is finally revealed. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring hidden meanings; -Summarising key 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. A storyboard template is also provided for the creative activity. There’s a lot in the session (18 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 7 to 8 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, Lil reads the translation detailing Kyky’s chariot accident, and learns that her parents have been hiding a secret from her about a baby boy born in 1899. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Making predictions based on clues in the text. 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 in the session (18 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 12 to 13 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, the children manage to decipher the remainder of Lysandra’s script. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Sequencing 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. There’s a lot in the session (18 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).