Hi,
We are Sally and Amanda from Guinea Pig Education. We present a range of complimentary teaching aids and workbooks to use in your classroom or as homework – in both print and digital format.
We aim to raise reading standards and to develop literacy skills, with our ‘fun for kids’ phonic reading resources.
We also offer support for pupils aged 4-16 years. We highly recommend our comprehension and creative writing resources - which build confidence and develop imagination.
Hi,
We are Sally and Amanda from Guinea Pig Education. We present a range of complimentary teaching aids and workbooks to use in your classroom or as homework – in both print and digital format.
We aim to raise reading standards and to develop literacy skills, with our ‘fun for kids’ phonic reading resources.
We also offer support for pupils aged 4-16 years. We highly recommend our comprehension and creative writing resources - which build confidence and develop imagination.
A series of spelling progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment in spelling.
Each test consists of 20 target words, presented within 20 distinct sentences, read by an adult to the children from a script. Although not strictly timed, it should take about 15 mins.
The words have been carefully chosen to suit the requirements of the English National Curriculum. These tests are based on the spelling tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
Spellings may include:
endings like ff, ll, ss, zz, ck, -tch,
consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th)
words ending in y
vowel digraphs and trigraphs
soft c (ce, ci, cy) and soft g (ge, gi, gy)
adding -s and -es at the end of words to form plurals
adding -ing, -ed, -er, -est to words
words ending in -ge, -dge, -tion, -ture, -le, -el, -al
days of the week
compound words
tricky sounds like -igh, -ough, -augh, -ch, -ph, -que, -gue, -ine
long u
i before e except after c
silent letters
suffixes
prefixes
homophones
common exception words
A series of spelling progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment in spelling.
Each test consists of 20 target words, presented within 20 distinct sentences, read by an adult to the children from a script. Although not strictly timed, it should take about 15 mins.
The words have been carefully chosen to suit the requirements of the English National Curriculum. These tests are based on the spelling tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
Spellings may include:
endings like ff, ll, ss, zz, ck, -tch,
consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th)
words ending in y
vowel digraphs and trigraphs
soft c (ce, ci, cy) and soft g (ge, gi, gy)
adding -s and -es at the end of words to form plurals
adding -ing, -ed, -er, -est to words
words ending in -ge, -dge, -tion, -ture, -le, -el, -al
days of the week
compound words
tricky sounds like -igh, -ough, -augh, -ch, -ph, -que, -gue, -ine
long u
i before e except after c
silent letters
suffixes
prefixes
homophones
common exception words
A series of spelling progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment in spelling.
Each test consists of 20 target words, presented within 20 distinct sentences, read by an adult to the children from a script. Although not strictly timed, it should take about 15 mins.
The words have been carefully chosen to suit the requirements of the English National Curriculum. These tests are based on the spelling tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
Spellings may include:
endings like ff, ll, ss, zz, ck, -tch,
consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th)
words ending in y
vowel digraphs and trigraphs
soft c (ce, ci, cy) and soft g (ge, gi, gy)
adding -s and -es at the end of words to form plurals
adding -ing, -ed, -er, -est to words
words ending in -ge, -dge, -tion, -ture, -le, -el, -al
days of the week
compound words
tricky sounds like -igh, -ough, -augh, -ch, -ph, -que, -gue, -ine
long u
i before e except after c
silent letters
suffixes
prefixes
homophones
common exception words
A series of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment.
Although not strictly timed, the test should take about 20 mins.
Each test includes questions that may cover:
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
sentences, statements, questions, commands and exclamations
conjunctions (and, or, but, when, if, that, because)
past and present tense
prefixes and suffixes
full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
capital letters to start a sentence, for names of people, places, days of the week and for the personal pronoun.
commas to separate items in a list
apostrophes
These tests are based on the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
A series of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment.
Although not strictly timed, the test should take about 20 mins.
Each test includes questions that may cover:
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
sentences, statements, questions, commands and exclamations
conjunctions (and, or, but, when, if, that, because)
past and present tense
prefixes and suffixes
full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
capital letters to start a sentence, for names of people, places, days of the week and for the personal pronoun.
commas to separate items in a list
apostrophes
These tests are based on the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
A series of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment.
Although not strictly timed, the test should take about 20 mins.
Each test includes questions that may cover:
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
sentences, statements, questions, commands and exclamations
conjunctions (and, or, but, when, if, that, because)
past and present tense
prefixes and suffixes
full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
capital letters to start a sentence, for names of people, places, days of the week and for the personal pronoun.
commas to separate items in a list
apostrophes
These tests are based on the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
A series of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment.
Although not strictly timed, the test should take about 20 mins.
Each test includes questions that may cover:
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
sentences, statements, questions, commands and exclamations
conjunctions (and, or, but, when, if, that, because)
past and present tense
prefixes and suffixes
full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
capital letters to start a sentence, for names of people, places, days of the week and for the personal pronoun.
commas to separate items in a list
apostrophes
These tests are based on the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
A series of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary progress tests for children aged 6-7 years. These tests can be used to assess a child’s individual attainment.
Although not strictly timed, the test should take about 20 mins.
Each test includes questions that may cover:
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
sentences, statements, questions, commands and exclamations
conjunctions (and, or, but, when, if, that, because)
past and present tense
prefixes and suffixes
full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
capital letters to start a sentence, for names of people, places, days of the week and for the personal pronoun.
commas to separate items in a list
apostrophes
These tests are based on the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary tests given to 7 year olds in the Year 2 SATs.
Our autumn themed special is filled with activities, crafts and stories, with fun questions to answer. It features our loveable characters, Zoggy and Sam, as they share their magical autumn moments with us. It includes some pages where you can record your own autumn adventures.
For ages 3-9
Contents
Chloe and the Hedgehogs
Sam’s Trip to Beech Wood
Autumn Scavenger Hunt
Autumn Crafts (Origami fox head, handprint autumn tree, feather owl, squirrel, butterfly and bird stained glass tissue paper shapes)
There’s A Lost Alien in the Wood
Games (maze, word search, puzzle)
Muddy Shoes
Complete the Autumn story
Uncle Paul and the Haunted House
Bonfire Night
Spooky Crossword
Word Wheel Challenge
Scary Crafts (cotton bud skeleton, cotton bud hand, hanging black spider on web, pumpkin and black cat Trick or Treat paper bags, firework pictures)
94 pages
Learn The Phonic Sounds ar, or, ir, ur and er
Learn To Read With Phonics Reading Packs are a quick and easy way to teach children to read in just six months.
They are ideal for all ages (from 4 years plus), especially reluctant older readers of 7, 8, 9+, children with learning difficulties and children where English is a foreign language.
The packs are designed to be used one to one or in small groups with a teacher and child or parent/guardian and child learning together.
The packs consist of a structured course that build 44 phonic sounds into the text. As the children read the adventures of a loveable boy called Sam, they can have fun searching for hidden sounds. They will build up 44 sounds in total. This will enable them to read 80% of words in the English language, by breaking them down into sounds or syllables - pl ay ing. Children using phonics in this way progress fast.
A series of stories, The Bouncing Castle and The Famous Cousin From The Country reinforce the complex middle sounds being learnt. By the end of the scheme, the child will be ready to progress to ‘solo’ reading books, such as Roald Dahl’s ‘Georges Marvellous Medicine’ and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.
Many of the packs have cut out practice pages for matching words to pictures and phrases to pictures, to fix the sound words in the child’s memory. The simple text and fun colour sketches, appeal to young readers and have helped the authors to teach many, many children to read.
The reading packs may be used in any order, just pick the pack for the sound you require. However, when using the packs for a complete non reader we suggest you start with packs teaching initial sounds (word building with three or four letter words).
Then move on to learning phonic sounds in this order: ch, sh, wh, th, oo, ee, ar, or, ur, ir, er, magic e, ea, oa, ai, ay, oi, oy, oa, short y (as in happy), long y (as in sky), soft c (as in mice), soft g (as in engine), ou, ow, au and aw.
Next, move onto more complex sounds as in, tion, le, el, ough, gue, que, ine, ue, ie, ei, prefixes and suffixes.
How To Use
Each pack introduces a sound.
Learn the sound with the child/children
Read the sentences or stories several times, encouraging the child/children to talk about the pictures.
At the end of the sentences or story, there is a list of words and phrases, which the child can match to the pictures.
Practise each sound several times, until the child is familiar with it.
This is a 3 set pack including:
Plan And Write A Story Called ‘The White Fox’
Plan And Write A Story Called ‘The Creepy Tale’
Plan And Write A Story Called ‘Trapped: The Rescue’
Creative Story Writing work packs cut down preparation time when planning creative writing tasks. Easy to follow, each pack includes an example of how you can build on a title, to first plan a story for 9-12 year olds and then write it.
How To Use Your Work Pack:
Make sure the child/children know that stories must be planned
Read the model story in the pack
Ask the child/children to write down the names of the characters in the story
Ask the child/children to write down where the setting takes place
Ask the child/children to write down what the plot is
Identify the most exciting part of the story (the climax of the story or suspense)
Ask the child/children to plan a similar story - with a beginning, a middle and an end
Ask the child/children to rewrite their own version of the story
Ask the child/children to read their version of the story aloud
Creative Story Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. The work packs will guide students through the story writing process, as if they had a tutor by their side. Each pack is designed to help the child with thinking up ideas, providing starting points for writing, structuring and organizing their writing into paragraphs. It features writing a good introduction with characters, setting and plot, building up suspense and winding up the plot with a suitable resolution.
Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. The student will investigate different narrative structures for writing stories, exploring various viewpoints so they can decide if they write in first or third person. They will learn to evoke mood and atmosphere by using good vocabulary. Each pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by children and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. Each pack contains vital hints and tips on gaining those top grades.
71 pages
5 pages
Imagine You Can Travel Through Space: Write A Story (SATS And 11+ Essential Writing Practice) (9-13 years)
Enter the genre of fantasy and imagine your space age bag is able to transport you through space. Use the notes to consider what it would be like in space. Write a story or diary entry.
An essential series of themed prompts to help children aged 9-12 years to practise their creative writing skills for 11 plus entry exams or S.A.T.S. The packs include an outline to help the child plan his or her own story, article, letter or play script and examples to build on, using harder more challenging vocabulary to stretch more able pupils.
25 pages in length
Creative Story Writing work packs cut down preparation time when planning creative writing tasks. Easy to follow, each pack includes an example of how you can build on a title, to first plan a story for 9-12 year olds and then write it.
How To Use Your Work Pack:
Make sure the child/children know that stories must be planned
Read the model story in the pack
Ask the child/children to write down the names of the characters in the story
Ask the child/children to write down where the setting takes place
Ask the child/children to write down what the plot is
Identify the most exciting part of the story (the climax of the story or suspense)
Ask the child/children to plan a similar story - with a beginning, a middle and an end
Ask the child/children to rewrite their own version of the story
Ask the child/children to read their version of the story aloud
Creative Story Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. The work packs will guide students through the story writing process, as if they had a tutor by their side. Each pack is designed to help the child with thinking up ideas, providing starting points for writing, structuring and organizing their writing into paragraphs. It features writing a good introduction with characters, setting and plot, building up suspense and winding up the plot with a suitable resolution.
Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. The student will investigate different narrative structures for writing stories, exploring various viewpoints so they can decide if they write in first or third person. They will learn to evoke mood and atmosphere by using good vocabulary. Each pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by children and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. Each pack contains vital hints and tips on gaining those top grades.
A true and touching story about some children, who befriend a family of swans, on the River Thames. They watch an adorable cygnet hatch and grow, calling him Skedadally, because he waddles over and eats crumbs from their hand. As the months pass, they come to realise that life on the river is no picnic. There are many dangers facing young birds. It is not long before they have to save their feathered friend from terrible danger. They are more than thankful for the work of the nearby Swan Sanctuary.
Includes questions to answer to see how much you have remembered.
A topical chapter reading book that will encourage kids to consider and discuss important environmental issues.
107 pages
This resource includes 2 packs:
Practise Writing An Interview
Practise Writing A Biography
Information Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations.
Information Writing work packs concentrate specifically on information writing, providing everything needed to stimulate a child to write. The child is taught to recognise the difference between facts and opinions. Each pack in this series concentrates on a different aspect of information writing including: writing to advise, writing to inform, writing to explain, writing to analyse, review and comment, giving examples. The child is taught how a newspaper article is structured, how to write formal and informal letters, diaries, police reports, e-mails, biographies, autobiographies, interviews, book reviews and many more.
The work packs contain starting point for writing, helping the child to form ideas, enabling him or her to structure their work and organise it into paragraphs. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar.
Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the student to be successful and gain good grades.
The packs are a very useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack will give the student ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. Each work pack provides children with ideas for writing, especially reluctant writers who require starting points to write. Each work pack provides a safe topic that children will be comfortable with.
13 pages
How to get a good grade in paper 1 of the GCSE English exam (grades 1-9).
These pages contain helpful hints on how to answer the questions to gain top grades in the new English exam (which changed in 2017).
Many students may fall into the trap of writing good answers for the first three questions and then losing focus or running out of time on the last two questions. If students read these pages, they will see it is very important to know how the paper is organised, to time themselves and to write a well structured answer for questions, such as question 4, that are worth 20 marks.
In other words, these pages teach exam technique.
A fun writing and drawing activity, to keep children busy. To be completed at the level your child is at.
More in this series:
Meet Pom Pom
Pom Pom On A Walk
guineapigeducationshop.com
This DIGITAL resource contains a link, to access and make a copy of it into your google drive. It is fully editable and can be shared with your students via Google Classroom. Pdf version included.
A digital creative writing resource with a spooky Halloween theme. ‘Fright Night: Write An Article’ will certainly get your heart-racing. It is a lively themed resource, that will stimulate a child’s imagination and inspire him or her to write in a more interesting way and to achieve better results.
This resource is packed full of fun features and stories to read, follow up activities to complete, harder vocabulary to prepare children for more advanced writing and many helpful tips and techniques to improve writing style. For example, read the prompt poem on ‘Fright Night’ and write your own spine chilling version, to persuade your reader to join the spooky festivities. Next, write an article reporting on the frightful night, adding some fearsome facts and odious opinions. This is not a resource for the squeamish! It is excellent for stretching fast workers and able writers or preparing for writing tasks in examinations.
The resource consists of 12 editable slides.
This DIGITAL resource contains a link to access and make copy of it into your google drive. It is fully editable and can be shared with your students via Google Classroom. Pdf version included.
A digital creative writing resource with a spooky Halloween theme. ‘House Of Horrors: Make A Poster’ will certainly get your heart-racing. It is a lively themed resource, that will stimulate a child’s imagination and inspire him or her to write in a more interesting way and to achieve better results.
This resource is packed full of fun features and stories to read, follow up activities to complete, harder vocabulary to prepare children for more advanced writing and many helpful tips and techniques to improve writing style. For example, be terrified as you make a poster for ‘Little House Of Horrors’. Use words that are fearfully persuasive, containing chilling vocabulary, to give your reader goose bumps. Next, write a creepy story called ‘The Strange Dream’, to really get your heart-racing. This is not a resource for the squeamish! It is excellent for stretching fast workers and able writers or preparing for writing tasks in examinations.
The resource consists of 9 editable slides.