A 3 day series of lessons on suspense and mystery. These lessons allow children to write in a suspense style by using ellipses, short sentences and making the reader think that there is something hidden. These lessons involve video clips and setting a spooky scene my turning off the lights during the reading of these paragraphs. Included: A powerpoint Detailed, differentiated lesson plan Spooky pictures to spark writing Sample of mysterious writing for WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) Picture of the finished product from two Year 4 girls.

A 6 day plan on formal arguments, encouraging children to think about moral dilemmas. Children will be introduced to the idea of moral dilemmas and arguing for and against both in a balanced argument. This resource involves teaching children how to write a balanced argument in a progressive manner. Children will initially watch clips on how to argue in a balanced style. As the week progresses, children will be gathering information needed in order to write a balanced argument for themselves. There is a planning period as well (with resources) to allow children to properly plan their argument, as to ensure it’s balanced. This also gives children the opportunity to edit and correct their small errors. There is elements of arguing/debating orally also, which taps into speaking and listening. By the end of the week, my class were excited to write a balanced argument on whether it is a good idea or not to keep a giant bag of cash that you found at the bottom of your garden. They were even more excited about turning it into a debate, which can easily be achieved. This resource is saved within a ZIP file. INCLUDED: *A 6 day detailed lesson plan, explaining how to carry out each lesson. *A detailed, colourful notebook file to encourage discussion and to show expectations. *A powerpoint to show the structure of a balanced argument. *A success criteria to allow children to self-assess and peer-assess the written task. *2 differentiated planning sheets. *Moral dilemma scenarios to cut and distribute for discussion. *A notebook file on how to use connectives. Please leave a comment on your thoughts of my resource and check out some of my others: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Morrisr9

This is a weeks worth of planning, resources and presentations based on imaginary settings. Children will be creating their own imaginary world in which they will need to know inside out to write about. To make it more interesting, children will need to pretend that they are Horrid Henry entering their own imaginary land. I taught these lessons this week and they worked very well. Children loved creating their own worlds in which they could bring Horrid Henry into it. There is planning stages to these lessons also which allow children time to edit their worlds for the ‘big write’ at the end of the week. Included is: Powerpoint on Frontal Adverbials Planning sheet Model Plan Powerpoint for reference Scaffolding sheet Success Criteria for stick in (checklist for children while writing). Detailed, differentiated plan.

Shared/Guided Reading lesson based on the story ‘Journey to Jo’Burg’. This was used to inspire these kids and completely engage them with the story. My idea is for the starter, display three questions (see planning) and get them to write their answers in groups on post-it notes. Then stick them up on the IWB on a picture of South Africa (also in resources). This will engage them straight away with the text and what’ll happen. Then you’ll move on to explaining that the idea is to focus on what a dilemma is and what it is in this chapter. (The chapter is linked on the planning and you can download it as a pdf). The children should have a hard copy in front of them and together you will make a success criteria of what a good, interesting reader sounds like. Get them to critique you reading in a boring way. Children to sort pre-made laminated statements into positives and negatives about going to Jo’Berg. In groups children will then engage in a conscience alley (role-play) to thrash out both sides of a dilemma. You can do it as a whole class or small groups either. Children really get into the story this way and feel they’re helping Naledi choose her dilemma. Great, engaging lesson. Really enjoyed it!

A fun, engaging week of lessons based on writing a persuasive leaflet to encourage people to come Visit Qatar (the home of the World Cup 2022). This resource includes: A detailed, differentiated lesson plan. Pictures to stick on the leaflets Information sheets for children to research and make notes Planning activities Powerpoints Sample leaflet to annotate and recognise the features Comprehension also for one day. A sample of my kids writing to show you WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) Children produced some fantastic leaflets (see preview) using lots of taught persuasive techniques to persuade the reader to visit Qatar. It engaged both boys and girls and we did it in pairs. Very enjoyable :)

In my class, I got really fed up of using the carousel for teaching guided reading. I felt only 1-2 groups benefited from it, while the others were in engaging in monotonous activities. The idea behind this is to engage in whole class reading/discussion about a picture or text and answer only 3 questions in the CAR format: C- Choice of the Author A- Always Infer R- Retrieval Included in this pack is: 6 different activities to use CAR technique How to use page Display of CAR to remind children what the different letters stand for.

This is a follow on lesson from:Non-Chronological Reports: Understanding the features. Children cannot and should not be writing their own report without first of all familiarising themselves with the text type. Having completed that step, they can then begin to think about planning their very own report. This resource includes: *4 day detailed lesson plan with a step-by-step guide on how to deliver these lessons. *Report adaption sheet for drawing their new idea to change. *Pictures to caption- this confirms children’s ability to order the report. *‘Who murdered King Tut’ text for reference. *Comprehension on the text used to ensure understanding. *Success Criteria for children to self and peer assess their report writing. *Drama ideas: such as text tennis, hot seating etc. The idea behind this week of teaching is that children are reciting/acting out the text each day, confirming their understanding of the report structure/sentence structure orally. Once children can do this, they will be able to write their very own version. They are encouraged this week to change one part of the report in order to write their very own version. For example: instead of ‘Who killed King Tut?’, it could be ‘Who killed King Thor the Viking’ children will have to adapt the report they know so well to make it their own. Now that they have a basis to go off, their report will be much more successful.

6 Guided Reading Assessment/Guidance Sheets to use with your younger readers. These sheets can be printed for each child to keep track of their reading abilities/areas needed to improve. How to use this product: Each week, I use a new assessment focus (AF). They are marked as *AF1- decoding of the text. *AF2- retrieving information. *AF3- deducing and inferring information. *AF4- structure and organisation of the text. *AF5- comment on the writer’s use of language. *AF6- to identify the purpose. *AF7- to relate the story to others. Each sheet contains 4-5 ‘I can’ statements in which you can shade in to mark where each child is at in terms of reading. By using one assessment focus per week of guided reading, you can see real progression in the children’s understanding of the particular questions you’re asking. Beside each ‘I can’ statement, I have put a heart shape in which the teacher shades: Green: if the child is secure in that area. Orange: if the child is emerging in that area. Red: if the child is un-secure in that particular area.

FUN, COLORFUL and SUPERHERO THEMED! This resource is 25 pages of superhero themed guided reading activities to cover lots of objectives from the curriculum. Children will engage with activities such such: *Sorting fiction and non-fiction book titles. *Feature spotting in a non-fiction text. *Adding an appropriate sub-heading. *Adding captions to pictures. *Book review *Designing book covers *Designing blurbs *Identifying what makes a book cover attractive in fiction books. *Identifying what makes a book cover attractive in non-fiction books. *Dictionary work. *Alphabetical ordering and why it’s important… And much more! Just PRINT and TEACH!

If you are teaching your class about myths or simply just want a comprehension activity that is SLIGHTLY different from the norm, then this resource is for you. Included: *Text *Questions to check understanding (inc ordering events, decoding meaning etc) *Creation Station- where children create their own labyrinth. *Adjective Alley- children create amazing adjectives and phrases to describe the minotaur. *The New Minotaur- children will get their creative juices flowing and create a Minotaur of their own, perhaps even half human, half unicorn. An enjoyable, creative way to check and extend children’s understanding of what they’ve read. Also an excellent addition to your myths topic, if you’re teaching it. Check out: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/myths-understanding-the-features-11943412

Making Connections is a very valuable skill to teach in Guided Reading. Children learn to connect what they read to themselves, another text and the wider world, helping them to understand the text on a deeper level. Most of us tell the children that a good reader “makes connections”, but for the most part, only a handful of the children actually know what this means. This resource will explicitly teach your children how to make connections with what their reading to themselves, another text and the wider world. This resource can be used with ANY text. It teaches the SKILL of making connections and that can be applied to fiction, non-fiction and poetry. What’s included A detailed daily PowerPoint to structure the lessons and encourage children to engage in child talk/cooperative learning. Making Connections support cards- to provide children with the sentence stems in order to be successful when structuring a connection. Summarising Tweet template- to ensure children have understood the text read on a basic level before engaging in making connections. Children are challenged to include the main events, main characters etc in 280 characters. Making Connection activity Sheets. I hope this resource is useful for you. Please leave some feedback and let me know how these lessons went. I’d love to hear from you.

A complete booklet to hand out to staff outlining events for Book Week. There are ideas, timetables for the week, overviews, checklists for teachers etc. This booklet can be edited to suit your school, but also can be used directly as is to make your Book Week run successfully. This has just been used by my school and was incredibly successful. See photos on my Instagram for more details (Rebecca.the.irish.teacher).

4 reading skills graphic organizers and 5 support cards to structure children’s answers for comprehension questions. These post-it note graphic organizers are engaging and encourage children to discuss what they have read to arrive at the correct answer. They can be printed in Black and White or can be printed on colored paper to make them nice and colorful. I love to use them during my guided reading sessions as it encourages children to engage in paired work, extending and elaborating on their own ideas. See how I use them over on my blog: rebeccatheirishteacher.com Reading skills/strategies included: -Main Idea/Details -Making Connections -Theme -Summary Support Cards include: -Making Connections Support -Evaluating -Author’s Choice -Characters -Vocabulary Follow my Instagram to see these products and more in action. The whole idea behind this resource is to structure and build on children’s understanding, by giving them the scaffolding to write their own answers. Reading lessons have become much more ‘talk based’ and fun as a result.

A weeks lesson plan introducing children to non-chronological reports. Speaking and Listening is incorporated into these lessons also by allowing children to pretend they are news reporters. Children will be taught how to 'hook' their readers in and write in factual sentences.