This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of J.K Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's 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 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: Magic' - 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.' - 'J.K Rowling's Description of Harry' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.' - 'Severus Snape' and 'Ron Weasley' - 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 24 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 J.K Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.' It contains comprehensive sections on: - Context; - Chapter by Chapter Summary (with quotes); - Main Characters; - Themes; - Rowling's Language Devices; - Features of Fantasy Novels. All key words and ideas are compartmentalised 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 engaging and informative lesson enables students to understand the key techniques used by J.K Rowling in her story opening of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.' In particular, students comprehend the plot and information in the opening chapter of Harry Potter and analyse what makes the opening effective, before utilising this understanding to compose their own imaginative story opening. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Collectively defining the features of effective story openings; - Reading the opening to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, identifying the story opening techniques and comprehending the key events and information in the chapter; - Analysing the effectiveness of each of Rowling's story opening techniques; - Creating their own engaging story openings, utilising story opening techniques effectively and imaginatively throughout; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - The opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (freely available online); - Effective Story Openings analysis template; - Teacher answer sheet; -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 7/8 classes, however colleagues have used them for between years 3 and 10 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 Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol.' 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: 19th Century Britain' - 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;' - 'Dickens' Description' - to aid students with 'Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;' - 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' - to aid students with 'Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;' - 'Editing the Text' - 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).

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to understand the key features of effective villains, as characterised by Lord Voldemort in J.K Rowling’s 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.' In particular, students highlight key character traits of Voldemort evident in Chapter 17 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (e.g. lack of empathy, hideous appearance, links to the hero, and a clear goal/objective), before utilising this understanding to create and describe their own effective villains. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Comprehending Voldemort's role in the novel leading up to the Chapter 17; - Collectively defining the features of effective villains; - Reading Chapter 17 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, identifying and explaining his characterisation as a villain; - Analysing the effectiveness of each of Rowling's techniques in creating the image of an effective villain; - Creating and describing their own imaginative villains, utilising the features of villains effectively and imaginatively throughout; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Paper extract of Chapter 17 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (freely available online); - Lord Voldemort analysis template; - Create Your Own Villain template; -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 7/8 classes, however colleagues have used them for between years 3 and 10 with some adaptations. 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 Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Sign of Four.' It contains comprehensive sections on: - Context; - Chapter by Chapter Summary (with quotes); - Main Characters; - Themes; - Doyle's Language Devices; - Features of Detective Novels. 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 engaging and informative lesson enables students to make clear and precise interpretations regarding Shakespeare’s use of dramatic devices in The Merchant of Venice. In particular, students read and understand several extracts from the play, before identifying and then analysing the effect of the dramatic devices that Shakespeare employs throughout. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Defining and exemplifying a variety of dramatic techniques; Reading and comprehending a number of key events from the play, identifying the dramatic devices utilised; Analysing Shakespeare’s use of dramatic devices through considering context and the effect on the audience; Creating their own dramatic device-filled playscripts, and evaluating their partner’s attempts; Self assessing their learning through the lesson; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Dramatic devices cards for the card-sorting activity; Analysis worksheets - different degrees of difficulty (asides, dramatic irony, dramatic tension & soliloquy); A model example of a completed analysis worksheet; Comprehensive lesson plan. Resources are provided in PDF (to maintain formatting), Word (so that they are easily editable) and also in zipfiles. 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 engaging and informative lesson enables students to make clear and precise interpretations regarding the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In particular, students read and understand Act one scene one of the play, interpreting how Antonio and Bassanio’s relationship is introduced, before tracking how their friendship develops over the course of the play. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Considering the key components of strong friendships; Reading Act One Scene One and comprehending how Antonio and Bassanio’s friendship is introduced; Tracking how their friendship develops over the play, using apt textual evidence; Considering multiple interpretations of Antonio and Bassanio’s relationship; Applying their understanding of Antonio and Bassanio’s relationship to create an original composition; Self assessing their learning attempts; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Antonio and Bassanio development worksheet; Extract - Act One Scene One Character profile template Comprehensive lesson plan. Resources are provided in PDF (to maintain formatting), Word (so that they are easily editable) and also in zipfiles. 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 engaging and informative lesson enables students to make clear, detailed and well-informed interpretations of Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. In particular, students develop their contextual understanding of how Jews were perceived in Shakespeare’s time, make precise interpretations about his character using evidence from the play and link their findings to their understanding of social and historical context. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Knowledge harvesting their understanding of the Judaism and the treatment of Jews throughout history; Researching and sharing how Jews were perceived in Shakespeare’s era; Reading selected quotations from the play and interpreting what these reveal about Shylock’s character; Plotting Shylock’s development over the course of the play; Linking their knowledge of Shylock’s character to their understanding of historical context; Understanding Shakespeare’s intentions/messages in presenting Shylock in the manner that he did; Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Shylock character development graph; Jigsaw pieces for the group jigsaw activity; Essay template Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also 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 8 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.

These creative writing structure strips are designed to help children with formulating their own informal letters. They are tried and tested in the classroom - they are loved by teachers and students, and have helped to enable some incredible compositions! Each strip contains key information about how to construct the content of the letter, alongside differentiated language targets that should run throughout. These structure strips were initially designed for KS2/KS3 children. Provided in both PDF (to prevent formatting issues between computers) and Word (to allow for easy editing). Each A4 page contains 4 structure strips. Hope that they prove useful for you too. Please also take a look at the full ‘Informal Letter Writing’ lesson, which a range of interesting activities and explanations to aid the children in creating imaginative and appropriate informal letters for audience and purpose -thank you!

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, engaging visuals, 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 ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Round 1. The characters in Romeo and Juliet Round 2. Quotations from the play Round 3. Settings, themes, and objects Round 4. Who appears in Act 1 Scene 1? The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Louis Sachar's 'Holes.' It contains comprehensive sections on: - Context; - Chapter by Chapter Summary (with quotes); - Main Characters; - Themes; - Sachar's Language Devices; - The Sub-Plot of Kissin' Kate Barlow. 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 interesting and highly-stimulating lesson enables students to make important inferences and interpretations regarding ‘the beast’ that is referred to by the boys on the island throughout William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. In particular, students form opinions of what the beast may represent, based upon key evidence throughout the text. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Establish, sketch, evidence, and share their initial interpretations of the beast; - Collaborate with others to form rational and substantiated opinions; - Read and understand Chapters Six and Seven of the play, with a particular focus upon how Golding utilises the beast to depict other concepts and notions; - Analyse key quotations which refer to the beast in relation to each of the characters; - Give appropriate and sustained interpretations and inferences regarding altering views towards Golding’s use of the beast; -Peer assess each other’s learning attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Detailed worksheet; - A scaffolded essay template; - Links to the extracts of the text needed for the lesson (Chapters Six and Seven in this case); - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the upper 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 Stanley Yelnats’ - 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;’ - ‘Sachar’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;’ - ‘Yellow-Spotted Lizards!’ - 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 Holes’ - 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).