This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG.’ 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 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: - ‘An Interview with Sophie’ - 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;’ - ‘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;’ - ‘The Giant’ - 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;’ - ‘Figurative Language’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.’ 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).

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of David Walliams’ 'Awful Auntie.’ 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 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: ‘An Interview with Stella’ - 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;’ ‘Walliams’ 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;’ ‘Aunt Alberta’s and Gibbon’s Character Profiles!’ - 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;’ 'Figurative Language in ‘Awful Auntie’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.’ 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 resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Mildred D. Taylor’s ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.’ 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: The Great Depression’ - 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.’ ‘Taylor’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.’ ‘T.J. Avery’ - 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 detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Lord Byron’s poem 'She Walks in Beauty.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising John Cooper Clarke’s poem 'I Wanna Be Yours.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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).

This detailed and engaging lesson enables students to gain an understanding of what animal classes are, and which animals belong to the different categories. Furthermore, they learn to categorise animals themselves, using scientific knowledge of the features of each animal class. Students justify their choices using critical thinking skills. Students learn through a number of fun and interactive tasks, which enable them to: - Define each animal class and understand its features; - Exemplify each animal class, justifying their choices; - Use research and investigative skills to categorise animals for whom the class is not immediately obvious; - Evaluate the learning and understanding of themselves and their peers. The resources include: -Visually engaging and comprehensive whole-lesson presentation; -Resources for the card-sorting activity; -A categorising and justifying worksheet (and answer sheet for teacher); -An investigation log; -Step-by-step lesson plan. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final page of the slide.

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘The Man He Killed’ with particular focus upon the language, structure, and subject matter employed within the poem. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Considering the emotional impact of war on the individuas involvedl; Securing contextual understanding of The Boer Wars and Thomas Hardy’s life and beliefs; Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities; Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices; Analysing how the futility of war is conveyed through Hardy’s language and structure choices; Self/ Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlinks to informative and videos) Copy of poem (freely available online); Deeper thinking worksheet; Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; Research worksheet; Comprehensive lesson plan. All resources are provided as word documents (for easy editing) and PDF documents (to ensure consistency of formatting between computers). There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 10 and 11 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. 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 Roald Dahl's 'James and the Giant Peach.' 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 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: - 'An Interview with James' - 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;' - '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;' - 'Sponge and Spiker' - 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;' - 'Figurative Language' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.' 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).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Vernon Scannell’s poem 'Nettles.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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 thought-provoking, stimulating lesson enables students to build their knowledge of the content, language, and structure of Thomas Hardy’s pessimistic love/relationships poem ‘Neutral Tones.’ In particular, students learn how the poet’s adoption of a pessimistic tone aids the communication of his key messages about love. The lesson also refers to key contextual information about the poet, referring to both his experiences and his beliefs. Students learn through a logical and step-by-step learning journey, including: -Inferring and predicting information through the title of the poem; -Understanding key contextual information about the poet and his life; -Reading and interpreting the poem; -Understanding the poem, with a particular emphasis upon the content, language, and structural features; -Writing an extended analysis piece based upon the poet’s use of content, language, and structure to get across his key messages; -Peer assessing their partners’ analysis attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful, engaging and substantial; (including hyperlink to a reading of the poem) Copy of poem; Content, language, and structure worksheet; Analysis template with in-built success criteria for creating well-structured responses; Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. 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 Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' 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 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: - 'An Interview with Charlie Bucket' - 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;' - '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;' - 'Willy Wonka' - 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;' - 'Figurative Language' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.' 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).

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Roald Dahl's 'The Witches.' 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 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: - 'An Interview with The Grand Head Witch' - 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;' - '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;' - 'Description of the Grand Head Witch' - 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;' - 'Figurative Language' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.' 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).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Joanna Baillie’s poem 'A Child to His Sick Grandfather.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Elizabeth Jennings’ poem 'One Flesh’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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).

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Keith Douglas’ WWII poem ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ with particular focus upon the language, structure, and subject matter used within the poem. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Knowledge harvesting what they know about World War II, and developing a contextual understanding of Keith Douglas’ experiences in the war; Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities; Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices; Analysing how the themes of suffering and misery are conveyed through Douglas’ language and structure choices; Self/ Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including a hyperlink to a reading of the video) Research template; Copy of poem; Deeper thinking worksheet; Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; Comprehensive lesson plan. All resources are provided as word documents (for easy editing) and PDF documents (to ensure consistency of formatting between computers). There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 10 and 11 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of John Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, with particular focus upon the language, structure, and subject matter used within the poem. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Comprehending the meaning of the poem’s title, and considering how both the life of John Keats and the Medieval Romance genre influence the poem; Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities; Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices; Analysing how the destructive nature of love is conveyed through Keats’ language and structure choices; Self/ Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including a hyperlink to a reading of the video) Research template; Copy of poem; Deeper thinking worksheet; Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; Comprehensive lesson plan. All resources are provided as word documents (for easy editing) and PDF documents (to ensure consistency of formatting between computers). There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 10 and 11 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue ‘My Last Duchess’, through focusing comprehensively upon the subject matter, language, and structure of the poem. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the poem analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Inferring key meanings about the content of the poem using the language in the title; Securing contextual understanding of who the real-life Duke may be, and of Robert Browning, the poet; Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities; Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices; Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlinks to informative and engaging videos) Copy of poem; Deeper thinking worksheet (and teacher answer sheet); Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All resources are provided in both Word (inside the zip file - to allow for editing) and PDF (to prevent formatting issues). All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Simon Armitage’s relationships poem 'The Manhunt.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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 detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Wendy Cope’s poem '1st Date - She 1st Date He.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. 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).

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of T.H. White’s 'The Sword in the Stone.’ 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 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: ‘An Interview with Wart’ - 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;’ ‘White’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;’ ‘Merlin’s and Uther Pendragon’s Character Profiles!’ - 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;’ 'Figurative Language in ‘The Sword in the Stone’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, to create an impact on the reader.’ 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).