An engaging activity to develop reading comprehension skills linked to The Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl. Focus on retrieval and summarising the main idea or events. Use the templates to create a newspaper, newsflash or breaking news on the television. Guidelines for students include: headline, caption and story characteristics of news texts is included such as punctuation, alliteration, rhyme The television (old and new style) templates can be used for other topics too. Powerpoint and PDF versions allow for adapting the resource for your needs. Includes educator’s notes and examples of work by students using the templates. You may also like the Teachers Telling Tales resource Revolting Crimes and Sublime Rhymes, (available as a Revolting Rhymes bundle).

A complete lesson in a Powerpoint presentation, easily adaptable. Includes a starter activity to engage students and draw out vocabulary, group activities to describe ice lollies using adjectives, comparatives and superlatives and analysing features of advertising. Students then apply what they have learned in creating their own advertisement for a ice lolly of their choice. A suggested lesson plan provides guidance to educators and two printable word mats support students with inspiration and spelling. This lesson is suitable for classroom or distance / home learning. I have a range of creative resources on the ice lolly / ice cream theme you can check out here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ice-ice-bundle-12355950 and will be uploading some word problems on the same themes shortly.

Jar and bottle templates, blank and with lines for Word Collector activities and display. Inspired by the short story in Eren by Simon P. Clark about a man who collected words, locking the ones he liked in special jars so that no-one could ever use them again. Ideas: A ‘jar’ for each student to put their words in. This is a good use for those plastic food and drink containers that collect in cupboards! Foil packaging (such as crisp packets) can be used to write words with a permanent marker, or use glitter glue for sparkle. Displayed in a dark corner with fairy lights this will look really special. Whenever a new word is found it can be added to the jar which then become a resource at creative writing time. Sensory jar creations. Add oil, water, glitter, cubes or Lego with letters on to build the words inside the jar. A Word Collection notebook to add to and refer to. A display of The Greatest Words. Each student adds their favourite word to a jar (2D or 3D) on the shelf. See https://teacherstellingtales.com/word-collectors/ for more.

The Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl have some good examples of figurative speech. This short presentation gives a few examples of idioms, for example: the cat’s pyjamas, he’s had his chips, up my street There are links to videos of the Revolting Rhymes on YouTube in the notes. Perfect as a follow up to reading The Revolting Rhymes or as part of a study of figurative language such as idioms. Check out the other Revolting Rhymes resources by Teachers Telling Tales with a focus on reading comprehension skills: Revolting Times and Revolting Crimes.

A picture story book and linked activities for children who have to stay at home during school closures as a result of the corona virus pandemic. The story is based on the familiar tale of the three little pigs and uses humour while reinforcing important messages about keeping safe and healthy. Activities include matching, colouring, creating signs and writing ideas. All the resources including the story are free to download and share. Please take the time to add a review if you find them helpful and share your children’s work related to the story on the Teachers Telling Tales page.