Hi, welcome to my shop. I have been a primary teacher for 34 years and have a wide range of experience in different roles. I have been a senior leader in schools and most recently a SENDCO for 10 years. I am posting resources that I think will be helpful for SENDCOs, class teachers or even parents and home educators. I am new to this - so please do send reviews to help me improve - or requests if there is something you think I might be able to create that you would find helpful.
Hi, welcome to my shop. I have been a primary teacher for 34 years and have a wide range of experience in different roles. I have been a senior leader in schools and most recently a SENDCO for 10 years. I am posting resources that I think will be helpful for SENDCOs, class teachers or even parents and home educators. I am new to this - so please do send reviews to help me improve - or requests if there is something you think I might be able to create that you would find helpful.
This worksheet asks students to think of the impact different books or stories have had on them. They are asked to think of stories that have made them happy, sad, laugh and curious They could draw or write in response. It is designed to be a quicker activity for perhaps registration time on World Book Day - or for younger students. There is a more complex version with 9 responses in my shop if you are working with older students or want a longer task.
This set of cards can be used to review recall of early phonics (satpin) with a student. Each card has a task that will provide an opportunity focus on one sound , the grapheme is displayed and a series of images to prompt discussion about things starting with that initial sound. Rainbow Routes are designed to be displayed at a series of locations within or beyond the classroom. The student then travels from one card to the next and engages with the activity. They are particularly useful for students who find the classroom environment challenging and need a structured approach to being out of class for a period of time. This route allows the focus to be on reviewing some core learning whilst also giving the student time out of an overwhelming environment to process things or reset. However, the cards could also be out into a display book and used in one location whether that is in class or beyond. These kinds of activities can be very appropriate for neurologically atypical students for example with ASD or ADHD or students suffering from anxiety.
This resource is another simple visual plan for a sensory circuit with alerting, organising and calming phases. It can be shared with a student or used by an adult. It is designed to need as little additional equipment as possible. Sensory circuits can be used at the start of a day or session with students who need this kind of activity to transition into the learning environment. They can be useful and are often recommended for students with neurologically typical development such as ASD or ADHD or a sensory processing disorder.
This resource has all of the sensory circuits and arrival planners in one document for ease. It includes the set and blank plans for adults to use with students who need support with transition into school or sensory processing throughout the school day.
This booklet contains a range of activities to support the preparation for transition to secondary school and includes pastoral as well as academic preparation activities. There are specific pages to address:
Reading a timetable
School uniform
Equipment
Canteens and money
Travel
Staff at secondary school
Induction day
Dealing with worries and anxiety
Preparing for conversations
Study skills including listening, reading, note taking and writing up as sentences
Target setting for the first term
Links to sources of support online
Could be used with individuals, groups or a cohort. Print and use the pages appropriate for your students.
Non-fiction 2
This booklet includes a series of comprehension tasks based on the VIPERS approach that many schools use to teach the component’s needed to be able to demonstrate reading and text comprehension. It is designed to be used with the text from the 2023 Year Two reading test (Paper2 – non-fiction) as all schools will be able to access that and English schools may have physical copies of it that they can use. There are two ways in which this booklet may be useful:
As a guided reading group intervention for students in Year 3 and 4 who are early readers and can decode at this level but would benefit from reading and working on text together to develop their confidence. It would be recommended that reading the text together more than once will help build fluency for these early readers.
As an individual provision for an older student who is an early reader and not able to fully access text at an age-appropriate level but needs to build some independent comprehension skills.
The booklet has been deliberately designed to look age appropriate for key stage two students. If using the test material booklets alongside this – please replace the cover sheet to help students see this activity positively. There are printable covers to use for this purpose in my TES shop. These covers can be put on any tasks or adapted classroom work to make them look generic.
Want to use those old Year 2 test papers in a positive way to help students in KS2 who are early readers?
This pack has 4 booklets that include KS2 VIPERS style activities based on the most recent of these texts (2023) . Each booklet has at least one activity per VIPERS strand.
They can be used as a guided reading group intervention at year 3 and/or 4 as well as independent work for an older child.
Fiction 2
This booklet includes a series of comprehension tasks based on the VIPERS approach that many schools use to teach the component’s needed to be able to demonstrate reading and text comprehension. It is designed to be used with the text from the 2023 Year Two reading test (Paper2 – fiction) as all schools will be able to access thatand English schools may have physical copies of it that they can use. There are two ways in which this booklet may be useful:
As a guided reading group intervention for students in Year 3 and 4 who are early readers and can decode at this level but would benefit from reading and working on text together to develop their confidence. It would be recommended that reading the text together more than once will help build fluency for these early readers.
As an individual provision for an older student who is an early reader and not able to fully access text at an age-appropriate level but needs to build some independent comprehension skills.
The booklet has been deliberately designed to look age appropriate for key stage two students. If using the test material booklets alongside this – please replace the cover sheet to help students see this activity positively. There are printable covers to use for this purpose in my TES shop. These covers can be put on any tasks or adapted classroom work to make them look generic.
There is a well-established tradition in primary schools of using Christmas adverts as a context for literacy work.
This pack contains materials to support using one advert to review students comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills at the end of the autumn term, giving them an opportunity to apply all they have learned since the start of the year.
Activities are provided in a range of formats to allow them to be adapted and appropriate for a range of students.
This pack contains:
• Comprehension task
• Retrieval comprehension task
• Response comprehension task
• Retell as cartoon strip
• Vocabulary task
• Retell as narrative activity
There is a well-established tradition in primary schools of using Christmas adverts as a context for literacy work.
This pack contains materials to support using one advert to review students’ comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills at the end of the autumn term, giving them an opportunity to apply all they have learned since the start of the year.
Activities are provided in a range of formats to allow them to be adapted and appropriate for a range of students.
This pack contains:
• Comprehension task
• Retrieval comprehension task
• Response comprehension task
• Vocabulary task
• Story map and narrative writing activity
There is a well-established tradition in primary schools of using Christmas adverts as a context for literacy work.
This pack contains materials to support using one advert to review students’ comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills at the end of the autumn term, giving them an opportunity to apply all they have learned since the start of the year.
Activities are provided in a range of formats to allow them to be adapted and appropriate for a range of students.
This pack contains:
• Comprehension task
• Retrieval comprehension task
• Response comprehension task
• Vocabulary task
• Instruction writing activity
This is a simple record card that can be used to implement a behaviour plan with a specific student.
It includes:
target setting
a timetable tracking record
record of any agreed reward
a weekly review
next steps plan
It can easily be printed on A4 and folded to make a simple card that can be kept in class or taken to different classes by the student.
This learning sequence board can be used to plan or share with a student what learning activities they will do. It is designed to be used with the plan-do-review approach and includes a prompt to review the learning that happened as a result of the activities undertaken. This board has 5 learning steps for those students ready to progress to a slightly longer learning sequence. This could be used for a range of different activities or for the steps to complete one learning activity.
It is particularly appropriate for use with neurologically atypical students or those who struggle to engage with adult directed learning. It is also really helpful for students who need a check list to help them keep on track or recall the steps they need to take.
This planning board is designed for sharing choices with a student to help them engage with learning activities. . It is designed to be used with the plan-do-review approach and includes a prompt to review the learning that happened as a result of the activities undertaken. It offers space to share 3 choices and record the one made. It also shows the student that they will get a reward for completing their choice of activity. The reward might be a highly motivating activity or experience such as time in a sensory room. Or some students may be motivated by rewards such as stickers that they collect. It is particularly appropriate for use with neurologically atypical students or those who struggle to engage with adult directed learning and feel anxious if they cannot be self-led.
This resource includes some advice about using the different learning planners in practical ways. It particularly addresses their use with neurologically atypical students; those who struggle to engage with adult directed learning or those who feel anxious if they cannot be self-led. It can often be difficult to record and evidence the work that these students are engaged with in school , so there are a set of suggested record sheets that adults supporting these students can use for this purpose. These can then be used to look back over with the student; to share learning with parents and carers and to evidence provision to other professionals.
This set of cards can be used to provide a series of movement activities for a student. Each card has a task that will provide an opportunity to release energy and help the student to refocus on being in the moment. It can be helpful to review the different activities and help the student decide which might be good to apply when they feel anxious or overwhelmed within the classroom. Rainbow Routes are designed to be displayed at a series of locations within or beyond the classroom. The student then travels from one card to the next and engages with the activity. They are particularly useful for students who find the classroom environment challenging and need a structured approach to being out of class for a period of time. However, they could also be out into a display book and used in one location whether that is in class or beyond. These kinds of activities can be very appropriate for neurologically atypical students for example with ASD or ADHD or students suffering from anxiety.
This set of cards can be used to provide a series of sensory activities for a student. Each card has a task that will provide an opportunity focus on processing input from one sense and help the student to refocus on being in the moment. Rainbow Routes are designed to be displayed at a series of locations within or beyond the classroom. The student then travels from one card to the next and engages with the activity. They are particularly useful for students who find the classroom environment challenging and need a structured approach to being out of class for a period of time. However, they could also be out into a display book and used in one location whether that is in class or beyond. These kinds of activities can be very appropriate for neurologically atypical students for example with ASD or ADHD or students suffering from anxiety.
This set of cards can be used to review mathematical learning with a student. Each card has a task that will provide an opportunity focus discussion on one mathematical concept. The cards have been made with a range of starting points to be appropriate for students with a range of mathematical knowledge. Rainbow Routes are designed to be displayed at a series of locations within or beyond the classroom. The student then travels from one card to the next and engages with the activity. They are particularly useful for students who find the classroom environment challenging and need a structured approach to being out of class for a period of time. This route allows the focus to be on reviewing some core learning whilst also giving the student time out of an overwhelming environment to process things or reset. However, the cards could also be out into a display book and used in one location whether that is in class or beyond. These kinds of activities can be very appropriate for neurologically atypical students for example with ASD or ADHD or students suffering from anxiety.
This set of cards can be used to review recall of early phonics (satpin) with a student. Each card has a task that will provide an opportunity focus on one sound , the grapheme is displayed and a series of images to prompt discussion about things starting with that initial sound, but this set includes one image that does not fit in the set to prompt deeper conversation. Rainbow Routes are designed to be displayed at a series of locations within or beyond the classroom. The student then travels from one card to the next and engages with the activity. They are particularly useful for students who find the classroom environment challenging and need a structured approach to being out of class for a period of time. This route allows the focus to be on reviewing some core learning whilst also giving the student time out of an overwhelming environment to process things or reset. However, the cards could also be out into a display book and used in one location whether that is in class or beyond. These kinds of activities can be very appropriate for neurologically atypical students for example with ASD or ADHD or students suffering from anxiety.
This resource contains some further advice on ways that Rainbow Routes can be used to give short respite breaks to students whilst still working on their targets. They may have self-regulation targets or curricular ones and there are options provided to work on both. The record sheets allow for the learning done to be noted so that it can be reviewed with the student; shared with parents and carers or shared with other professionals.