This Christmas Customs literacy worksheet (10 pages) is designed for Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and offers engaging activities to support reading comprehension, vocabulary building, and collaborative learning. Key Features: Thematic Content: Explore various Christmas traditions, including Advent, mistletoe, the Yule log, Boxing Day, and Christmas pudding, with accessible explanations tailored for younger readers. Comprehension Questions: Includes individual and paired activities to encourage both independent work and partner collaboration, helping pupils practise reading for detail and critical thinking. Cultural Insights: Connects historical and modern customs, sparking discussions about the significance of traditions and their origins. Flexible Use: Ideal for literacy lessons, seasonal activities, or as part of cross-curricular projects linking history and literacy. This resource is perfect for teachers looking to blend seasonal cheer with meaningful learning opportunities in the classroom.

Upper KS2 Christmas Literacy Worksheet - Reindeer Theme - Answers This literacy worksheet, designed for Years 5 and 6, blends festive cheer with cross-curricular learning. Centred around reindeer and their significance in Christmas traditions, the resource includes a mix of history, geography, and poetry analysis. Key Features: Historical Context: Learn about the ancient origins of reindeer, their uses, and their relationship with early humans. Explore the cultural importance of reindeer in Lapland, where they are essential to daily life. Poetry Analysis: Dive into an extract from Clement Moore’s classic poem ‘The Night Before Christmas.’ Activities encourage pupils to identify literary elements, analyse imagery, and understand vocabulary in context. Comprehension Questions: Thought-provoking questions guide pupils to extract key information and develop critical thinking. Includes activities on interpreting evidence and making connections with the text. Quick Quiz: A fun and interactive recap to consolidate learning. Covers key facts and ensures retention of information in a playful manner. This resource offers a unique opportunity to celebrate Christmas while enhancing literacy skills. It’s perfect for independent work, group discussions, or even a whole-class festive lesson.

Activities in this lesson include reading the full text of Jack and the Beanstalk, learning how to describe a character, answering higher and lower order questions; looking at tense/person/punctuation and scaffolding (which includes ways to improve writing) writing an alternative ending to Jack and the Beanstalk and writing a short newspaper article that answers the question ‘Is Jack a Villain’? The five-minute evidence-based CPD activity at the end of this lesson develops the skill of collaboration.

This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included. SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination

This resource provides an excellent model for implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy through a classroom-ready activity on the Black Death for KS3 History students. It comprehensively covers each level of the taxonomy through clear explanations, sample questions, and opportunities for students to generate their own questions. The resource begins by outlining the benefits of using Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as promoting higher-order thinking skills, scaffolding learning progressively, and providing a framework for creating assessments. It highlights how the taxonomy equips students with vital 21st century skills like analysis, problem-solving, and creativity. The core of the resource walks through the six levels of Bloom’s - remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating. For each level, it gives a simple explanation of what that cognitive skill involves. It then provides multiple sample questions related to the Black Death summary that model what questions at that level look like. Crucially, it explains why each sample question exemplifies that particular thinking skill level. An engaging element is that the resource prompts both teachers and students to practise writing their own questions for each taxonomy level based on the text. This interactive aspect reinforces understanding of the levels while involving students actively. Throughout, the resource uses the summary on the Black Death as a grounded, subject-specific context for exploring Bloom’s Taxonomy in a meaningful way. Having a concrete text example makes the hierarchy of thinking skills more tangible. The resource conveniently includes a ready-to-use student handout template covering all the taxonomy levels and aligned to the Black Death text. This allows teachers to easily implement the activity in their classroom with little extra preparation required. Overall, this resource provides a comprehensive, practical and engaging guide for KS3 History teachers to start incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy into their lessons. Its clear structure, modelled examples and built-in student materials offer an accessible way to put this powerful framework for fostering higher-order thinking skills into practice.

Teachers, Immerse Your Students in the Iron Age with this Dynamic Resource Seeking to ignite student fascination with the technological innovations that launched the Iron Age? This comprehensive resource has you covered! Tailored for teachers but presented in an engaging student-centred format, it brings this transformative era to life. What makes this resource so useful? Logically structured sections decode complex smelting processes and explain the advantages iron brought over bronze Bite-sized facts on hill forts, roundhouses, brooches and more give students vivid insights into Iron Age life Supporting maps and images aid visualization of mining methods, artefact examples, settlement types, etc. Conversational explanations dispel confusion over mining, smelting, and forging to cement student comprehension On top of the stellar content, the document format allows for seamless integration into your classroom. Print or photocopy pages for ready-made activities or visual aids. If you want your Iron Age instruction to captivate rather than bore, look no further than this resource! Let it transport your students back 3,000 years to when crude furnaces evolved into the mighty forges that armed Celtic warriors against the Roman legions!

Student-Friendly Peer Assessment Whiteboard Prompts - Any Subject - Any Topic This whiteboard resource is a guide on how to effectively implement peer assessment in the classroom. It offers a clear explanation of what peer assessment entails and highlights its benefits for student learning. The resource presents a series of 15 prompts or statements that can be used by students when assessing their peers’ work. These prompts cover various aspects of peer assessment, including: Identifying strengths and positive aspects of the work being assessed. Providing constructive feedback on areas that need improvement. Encouraging critical thinking by asking questions about the reasoning behind certain choices or approaches. Evaluating the quality of responses, examples, and ideas presented. Assessing whether the work meets the task’s goals or requirements. Offering suggestions for improvement or alternative approaches. Commenting on the clarity and understanding of the presented ideas. Checking for and providing feedback on simple mistakes or errors. From a teacher’s perspective, this resource can be highly useful when introducing and implementing peer assessment in the classroom. It provides a structured framework and specific language that students can use to give meaningful feedback to their peers. The prompts cover a wide range of aspects, from identifying strengths to offering constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. Teachers can use this resource to model the peer assessment process and guide students through the practice of providing effective feedback. The prompts can be displayed or distributed to students as a reference during peer assessment activities, ensuring that students have a clear understanding of the type of feedback expected and the areas to focus on. Overall, this whiteboard resource is a valuable tool for teachers looking to incorporate peer assessment into their classroom. It promotes active learning, critical thinking, and the development of evaluation and feedback skills among students, ultimately enhancing their learning experience and understanding of the subject matter.

This complete, ready-to-use lesson, “Diagon Alley - Numeracy,” takes primary pupils on an engaging, numeracy-focused journey through the magical world of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter series. It combines elements of storytelling with practical numeracy exercises, immersing pupils in problem-solving related to potion-making and wizarding shop items. The activities require pupils to apply their skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as they work with fantasy currency (Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts) and manage shopping lists for potion ingredients and magical items. By integrating these elements, the lesson is designed to enhance both numeracy skills and imaginative thinking, providing a unique context that aligns with pupils’ interests. This lesson is ideal for teachers looking to add an interactive, fantasy-based approach to their teaching, encouraging active participation and a fun, memorable learning experience for pupils.

These are the key features of this KS1 literacy skills builder lesson: Aligned with Key Stage 1 Learning Goals – The resource is well-suited to KS1 literacy objectives, helping pupils develop essential skills like reading comprehension, vocabulary building, and basic literary analysis. It aligns with curriculum goals for reading fluency, understanding text structure, and making simple inferences. Develops Foundational Comprehension Skills – The questions cover a range of comprehension levels, from literal recall to inferential thinking. By using a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, the lesson builds pupils’ confidence in both recognising straightforward details and expressing opinions or interpretations. Engaging Storyline with Relatable Themes – The story of Dippy the Duck and the Tin Soldiers resonates well with young learners, making reading more enjoyable. Themes of inclusion, empathy, and perseverance are meaningful yet accessible, helping pupils connect to the story while building their social-emotional learning skills. Encourages Vocabulary Growth and Discussion – The resource introduces vocabulary in a context that encourages natural exploration and questioning. This is ideal for KS1 pupils, who benefit from contextual learning and the opportunity to discuss new words, characters, and ideas with their teacher and peers. Ready-Made Structure for Teachers – With a mix of reading passages, questions, and a poem, the lesson is well-rounded and organized for easy classroom integration. Teachers can use the resource as a complete lesson or select parts for guided reading, group work, or individual assessment. Promotes Enjoyment in Reading – The relatable setting and playful character dynamics make this story enjoyable for young children. This helps foster a positive attitude toward reading and literature, an important aspect of early education. Built-In Extension Opportunities – The lesson introduces The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen, a classic fairy tale, which opens up possibilities for comparison with other fairy tales, further comprehension activities, and discussions around literary tradition. Additionally, the poem reinforces skills like rhyming and rhythm, important in phonics and early literacy. In Summary This resource is valuable because it’s versatile, engaging, and pedagogically sound, providing teachers with a structured way to build pupils’ reading comprehension while reinforcing key KS1 learning objectives. It’s also flexible enough to support differentiation, making it a practical and worthwhile addition to any KS1 teacher’s toolkit.

This complete grammar resource on modal verbs is designed to support KS2 teachers in providing a structured, interactive approach to teaching modal verbs. The resource is divided into three parts: Part 1: Lesson – This section introduces students to the concept of modal verbs, focusing on how they convey levels of certainty (e.g. might, should, will). Through relatable scenarios and characters, students explore different modal verbs and how they express possibilities, probabilities, and certainties in context. The lesson encourages students to work in pairs, make notes, and prepare for further activities, enhancing understanding through collaborative learning. Part 2: Peer Teaching and Group Activity – Students use the notes from Part 1 to teach the concept to another pair, reinforcing their understanding through teaching. A group video activity is included to further engage students and provide an opportunity for them to present and solidify their grasp of modal verbs in a creative format. Part 3: Self-Assessment Q&A – To support retention, this part includes questions that allow students to assess their knowledge and reflect on their understanding of modal verbs. This resource offers a blend of structured learning, peer teaching, and self-assessment to support teachers in engaging students with the nuances of modal verbs in an enjoyable and effective way.

This 15-minute guide serves as both a theoretical foundation and a practical toolkit for teachers looking to develop independent learning in their classrooms. It provides a solid understanding of the concept and offers actionable strategies to implement it effectively. Here’s a summary of its key features: Definition and importance: It provides clear definitions of independent learning and independent learners, emphasising why these skills are essential for 21st-century education. Evidence-based approach: The guide is based on a review of over 200 educational research papers, giving teachers confidence in its recommendations. Key skills overview: It outlines eight key thinking and learning skills, including independent learning, and how they contribute to developing critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem-solving abilities. Characteristics of independent learners: The resource details the traits of independent learners, helping teachers identify and nurture these qualities in their students. Comparison with dependent learners: By contrasting independent and dependent learners, teachers can better understand the spectrum of learner autonomy and how to move students along this continuum. Implementation strategies: The guide offers practical suggestions for promoting independent learning in the classroom, including alternatives to extended teacher talk and ways to gradually transfer responsibility to students. Benefits of independent learning: It lists the advantages of developing independent learning skills, such as improved academic performance and increased motivation. Teacher’s role: The resource emphasises that independent learning doesn’t mean leaving students to work alone, but rather supporting them in developing self-regulation skills and taking responsibility for their learning. Scaffolding techniques: It explains how teachers can use scaffolding to gradually build students’ independent learning skills. Evidence-based quotes: The guide includes research-backed quotes that teachers can use for their own professional development or to support their teaching practices.

This engaging and informative literacy resource, designed for Years 5 and 6, explores the classic song The Twelve Days of Christmas in an educational and festive way. Pupils will: Reorder the lyrics of the song, enhancing their comprehension and sequencing skills. Discover the historical and cultural significance of the Twelve Days of Christmas, including its connection to Epiphany and traditions from around the world. Explore potential symbolic meanings of the song’s elements, linking them to biblical teachings. Complete activities independently and collaboratively, building literacy and teamwork skills. This resource not only reinforces literacy skills but also provides cross-curricular connections to history and religious studies, making it perfect for the festive season.

A review of this resource (which also serves as a useful description) I recently came across an amazing Bloom’s Taxonomy resource that I believe could be an absolute game-changer for any teacher. It’s called “Bloom’s Taxonomy Meets Five Children & It” and it provides a clear, step-by-step guide to implementing Bloom’s in your classroom using the beloved children’s story. I would give this Bloom’s Taxonomy resource a 5 out of 5 star rating. It is an absolutely stellar teaching tool that provides immense value. This resource is ingeniously designed to elucidate the Bloom’s framework AND develop teacher competency in applying it through guided practice. The ability to move from theory to application is a game changer. Unlocking higher order thinking abilities in students is essential in today’s world. This Bloom’s resource allows you to do exactly that - in a simple, hands-on way. I could not recommend it more strongly to any teacher looking to maximize their students’ potential. Here’s why this resource is so powerful: Demystifies Bloom’s - It breaks down the often confusing Bloom’s levels into simple, easy-to-grasp explanations that make the framework crystal clear. Models the Full Process - You receive a complete walk-through of Bloom’s Taxonomy applied to the story, from basic remembering questions up to higher order creative questions. Builds Understanding - The explanations reinforce the core distinctions between question types, helping you deeply comprehend the taxonomy. Develops Teacher Skills - You are actively involved in writing your own questions for each level, scaffolding your ability to formulate taxonomy-aligned activities. Ready-to-Use Student Resource - A student handout is included allowing you to immediately have pupils work with the story and Bloom’s questions. This resource stands out for making a framework that is often vague and theoretical into something concrete and actionable for teachers. Breaking down barriers to classroom application is hugely important. The guided explanations paired with opportunities to create aligned questions yourself scaffolds the learning process, building confidence in using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Being able to immediately have students try a Bloom Taxonomy activity further cements this. For its clarity, methodical training approach, reinforced connections, and classroom integration, I believe this resource merits 5 shining stars. It empowers teachers to turn Bloom’s Taxonomy from an abstract concept into a powerful teaching strategy. The result is substantial gains in critical thinking and higher order skills among students. When you consider the immense educational benefits unlocked, the resource delivers absolutely top-tier value worthy of the highest recommendations. 5 stars all the way! The best way to understand the power of this resource is to try it out yourself! You and your students will quickly see the many benefits.

This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included. SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination

This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included. SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination

This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included. SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination

This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included. SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination

Teachers - Unhood New Skills with this Red Riding Hood Lesson Do you want an engaging new way to have students reflect on the classic tale of Red Riding Hood? This interactive lesson uses the well-loved story to advance collaboration, thinking, assessment, and metacognition - four essential competencies confirmed by research to enhance achievement. The step-by-step plans have students analyse text features, write a diary entry from the wolf’s perspective, and read a newspaper parody. Reflection questions connect processes to outcomes. Peer review activities build evaluative abilities. Differentiated tasks allow choice in demonstrating skills gained. The ready-to-implement format simplifies preparation and icons match activities to targeted skill development areas. Embedded teacher CPD summarises supporting evidence and suggests ways to apply insights from peer assessment. By blending a timeless narrative with research-backed methods, this cross-curricular lesson empowers deeper understanding across ability levels. Let Red Riding Hood lead the way to student growth this year! This hits the main reasons for using the lesson, linking engagement to focused skill building. It explains the interactive formats like the diary and parody. The CPD insights and skill-matching icons clearly showcase built-in teacher support.

Teachers - Bring Cinderella to Life with this Skill-Building Lesson! Do you want an engaging new way to have students climb the beanstalk with Cinderella? This interactive lesson uses the classic fairytale to advance collaboration, thinking, self-regulation, and independent learning - four essential skills research shows boost achievement. The step-by-step plans break down the story structure, then have students complete a story mountain to map the plot. Higher order questions analyze traditional tale elements and messages. Reflection activities connect learning processes to outcomes. Differentiated tasks allow choice in showing competencies gained. The ready-to-use format simplifies preparation with icons linking each activity to targeted skills. Embedded teacher CPD summarises supporting evidence and suggests concrete ways to nurture metacognition. By blending a beloved narrative with research-backed methods, this cross-curricular lesson empowers success across ability levels. Let Cinderella cast her spell on student growth in your classroom this year! This hits the main reasons for using the lesson, connecting fairy tale engagement to the focused skills development. Highlighting the plot mapping, analysis questions, reflections, and differentiation clearly explains the interactive formats. The CPD insights and skill-matching icons showcase built-in teacher supports.

Activities in this evidence-based learning lesson include looking at the characters, settings and problems in early traditional stories whilst focusing on the character of Goldilocks in particular. Also included is a creative writing task and answering higher and lower order questions. The five-minute evidence-based CPD activity at the end of this lesson focuses on self-regulation.