<p>3 Reading comprehensions aimed at levels 1 - 2 featuring a variety of question types and styles in line with functional skills tests. Excellent as test revision and preparation. Easy to read, 1-page texts laid out with a range of text features. Written to persuade and to guide or advise. Editable for a variety of learners.</p> <p><em>Reading comprehensions - on the subjects of mental health, minimalism and night shift workers<br /> Questions - styles include; inference, retrieval, vocabulary, text type, explanations (vipers)<br /> Question formats - filling in a table, circle the answer, match definitions, tick the answer, find evidence for etc<br /> Full answers - where there are multiple possible answers, the range of answers are given as an example.<br /> Organisational features - texts can be used for other exercises particularly for analysing features or discussing layout as they include sub-headings, bullet points, columns, pictures, paragraphs.</em></p> <p>Suggested use:</p> <ul> <li>Lesson materials - independently complete by writing straight onto the sheets</li> <li>Test revision - expose the students to a variety of question formats</li> <li>Building competence - work in pairs or small groups as students build their confidence</li> <li>Formative assessment - practice tests to allow the tutor to track progress</li> <li>Writing lessons - analyse features of texts in preparation for own pieces.</li> <li>Expand vocabulary - although the texts are easy to read, there are a range of words to build vocabulary such as crucial, fluctuating, excessive.<br /> .<br /> .<br /> Example question and answer 1;<br /> According to the text, what could be the signs that we need help?<br /> <em>When the feelings of sadness, stress or anxiety persist or interfere in our daily lives.</em></li> </ul> <p>Example question and answer 2;<br /> What words or phrases show that the writer believes minimalism benefits work performance?<br /> <em>Increase productivity, better concentration, you can improve your focus and efficiency.</em></p> <p>Included:<br /> 3 comprehensions, 1 page each<br /> 3 sets of questions, 2 pages each, 13 questions each (some 2 part questions)<br /> 3 sets of answers.</p> <p>All files are formatted using Microsoft Powerpoint and can be imported to Google slides or copied to Word etc.</p> <p>All MGLearnTogether resources are formatted according to dyslexia friendly principles which not only make a huge a difference to the estimated 10% of the population with dyslexia, but provide a comfortable, easy experience for all. Easy to read, thoughtfully set out text; dyslexia friendly font; comfortable, low contrast colours; concise, to the point writing style; free of visual clutter.</p>

<p>6 weeks of guided story writing frames broken down scene by scene with examples. Children write 2 high-quality sentences per day to build up to a full story. There are writing objectives for self assessment. Minimal help needed from the teacher, excellent as morning work or supplementary activities. Can also be used in lessons as a plan to form the basis of a full length piece of writing. KS2, year 3, 4, 5.</p> <p>*<em>Example of activity:</em><br /> Part 1: You left the house. Where were you going? How were you travelling?<br /> Example: With a spring in my step, I bounded through the creaky old gate. I felt uplifted by the sunshine as I walked towards Amy’s house.</p> <p>*<em>2nd Example of activity:</em><br /> Part 1: You went on a trip. Where? What was your mode of transport?<br /> Example: Excited, I got onto the huge train that would take me to the countryside for my camping trip. I was so excited to have a holiday with my scout friends, although I was worried about feeling homesick.</p> <p><strong>Included:</strong><br /> *The activities are divided into 5 days.<br /> *Each day has a scene descriptor, instructions about what to write and an example as above.<br /> *There are 2 boxes for the children to write their 2 high quality sentences.<br /> *At the bottom of the page are 8 National Curriculum writing objectives from year 3-5.<br /> *Use the objectives by ticking them off, producing tally marks for each skill or using as ‘prove-its’; colour the box then use the same colour to underline where it was used.<br /> *2 of the stories cover 2 weeks (10 parts) and 2 stories cover 1 week each (5 parts) so there are 6 weeks worth altogether.<br /> *After 5 or 10 days, they will have written a full story.<br /> *Created using MS Powerpoint and fully editable.</p> <p><strong>Suggested use</strong><br /> *Give as morning work and share examples each day.<br /> *Supplement lessons - those days when we suddenly have extra time that we weren’t expecting and need a low resource lesson that can get he children settled and working quickly.<br /> *Lessons - excellent for providing the children with a set structure to follow so that they can concentrate on word and sentence level skills.<br /> *Lessons - Can be completed in 1 lesson then used as a starting point for a longer piece of writing.<br /> *Writing assessment<br /> *Homework<br /> *Excellent for mixed year groups</p> <p>Tips<br /> *Print onto A3 paper for younger children and/or those with large handwriting.<br /> *Encourage the children to write more than 2 sentences if they need to but stress that the sentences should be high quality and contain one of their year group skills.<br /> *Edit the success criteria at the bottom to suit your class/year group.</p>

<p>Complete reading lesson resources bundle learning about Subject, Purpose, Audience and Format and the structure of options on the FS test. Easily editable for non-functional skills learners. Presentation, short activity lesson plan and comprehension task.</p> <ul> <li> <p>Lesson plan - including curriculum criteria, suggestions of complimentary activities to extend the lesson using the materials, session outline using the resources.</p> </li> <li> <p>Presentation - Powerpoint, Google slides or import to Activ or Smart board software. Going through each term, describing and giving examples. Phrases and clues to identify purpose etc. Examples to discuss.</p> </li> <li> <p>Short task - 8 short extracts to label with subject, purpose, audience and format. Great for discussion, paired work, group work or independent (depending on your learners, ability and teaching style of course.) And a separate file with the answers.</p> </li> <li> <p>Comprehension - in a VIPERS style. Piece of writing (chocolate bar review blog post) and selection of questions in test style with labels of how many marks each Q is worth and the level. Mainly a mixture of retrieval, inference, vocab and explanation.</p> </li> </ul> <p>5 files but 4 resources in all; plan, short task, comprehension, presentation.</p> <p>This is a complete lesson that could fill 2hours+ depending on your timetable. A deep dive into analysing texts for functional skills learners studying for level 2, can be adapted down to level 1 by only using the first 4 extracts in the short task or by simply offering more teacher support or group work when required. In my experience, level 1 learners are capable of level 2 work in lessons.</p> <p>All MGLearnTogether resources are formatted according to dyslexia friendly principles which not only make a huge a difference to the estimated 10% of the population with dyslexia, but provide a comfortable, easy experience for all. Easy to read, thoughtfully set out text; dyslexia friendly font; comfortable, low contrast colours; concise, to the point writing style; free of visual clutter.</p> <p>Also available as individual resources.</p>

<p>12 sets of photos representing Instagram accounts and list of questions. Stimulating discussion, speculation and inference.</p> <p>Print the photos and chop horizontally in sets of three, put the questions on the reverse and laminate them together. Keep each set in an envelope for easy distribution during lessons.</p> <p>Fantastic activity for learners who find decoding difficult or have a negative attitude towards reading. This is a fun, visual task that students can get started on immediately.</p> <ul> <li>Provokes thought - what can we learn from pictures? Why do we share photos to social media? Is this reading?</li> <li>Stimulates writing - making a point and explaining their reasoning behind it</li> <li>Starts discussion - sharing ideas, debating, giving logical reasons, listening to others’ point of view</li> <li>Develops reading skills - noticing smaller details and drawing out more information from the pictures. Making informed judgments about characters</li> <li>Encourages group speaking - presenting opinions to the group is a great, low pressure way to help under confident learners become comfortable with sharing their thoughts and their voice.</li> </ul> <p>Included<br /> 36 photos (12 sets of 3)<br /> Set of questions to go with the photos<br /> Brief lesson plan with curriculum objectives, outline of lesson and list of suggested uses. (curriculum criteria are based on Pearson but these have probably been updated now)</p>

<p>10 different structured story plans; full instructions on how to use; annotated diagram; suggested use for year 5&amp;6 and 3&amp;4; example week of planning using the resource; writing targets ‘cheat sheet’ with multiple examples for each objective.</p> <p>Children find structuring their story to be the trickiest skill to master; these plans remove the barrier of structure to leave the children free to think up amazing vocabulary, use their growing sentence skills and enjoy being creative.</p> <p>Included:</p> <ul> <li> <p>The Activities - Each activity begins with a clear title and details about genre, voice and tense. Their plan features questions to answer, decisions to make and space to brainstorm interesting vocabulary. At the bottom of each plan is a challenge linked to curriculum writing expectations. There is also a blank template for the teacher to fill in their own prompts.</p> </li> <li> <p>Cheat sheet - Easy to use list of writing skills with examples for each (fronted adverbial, sub-clause openers, onomatopoeia etc). These are bullet pointed and coloured to make the layout easy to skim and scan.</p> </li> <li> <p>Instructions - annotated, labelled diagram with examples of what to write. Useful for the teacher or for parents if you want to use these as homework tasks.</p> </li> <li> <p>Suggested use - Ways to use this for bother upper and lower key stage 2. Year 5 and 6 may use this as morning work throughout the week. Year 3 and 4 may use it as the basis of a story writing unit. There is an example week of planning for year 3/4 using this resource.</p> </li> </ul> <p>All are fully editable powerpoint files also compatible with other programmes like open office or google slides.</p> <p>Although the planning sheet provides a structure, the ideas are in no way limited and the choices are completely open to the children’s interests and imagination.</p> <p>The aims of these activities are;<br /> *To inspire children to want to write<br /> *Foster enthusiasm and enjoyment of English<br /> *Give grown-ups a clear and focused way to help children achieve</p>

<p>Created to prepare year 4 students for the NTS maths summer assessment. 5 days of 16 short, questions worded and structured in test style covering a mixture of topics from the year’s curriculum.</p> <p>Example questions:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Write 0.4 as a fraction</p> </li> <li> <p>2 x 12 = ____ x 4</p> </li> <li> <p>What’s the rule for this sequence?<br /> 13 17 21 25</p> </li> <li> <p>How much could your school bag weigh?<br /> 18kg 30g 1.5KG</p> </li> </ul> <p>A focus on mass, time and fractions in keeping with year 4 maths curriculum and expectaions.</p> <p>Excellent, quick way to get practice in at the beginning of the day, beginning of the lesson or homework. I used these on the run up to assessment week as morning work. The tests repeat the same style of questions to embed the skills and understanding of how to answer. Can also be used as extension tasks for high ability year 3s, revision for year 5s (particularly in autumn), and booster work for low ability year 5s.</p> <p>In my experience, the children had the skills to convert 0.4 into tenths (for example) but lacked the understanding to know that that’s what they were being asked to do - it was the wording that they needed exposure to.</p> <p>Included:</p> <ul> <li>5 sets of questions - 16 questions each featuring a range of topics and skills such as ordering, calculating, converting reasoning. Each fits onto 1 sheet of A4 with space for the answer</li> <li>5 sets of answers in separate files - each test is labelled A-E</li> </ul> <p>All MGLearnTogether resources are formatted according to dyslexia friendly principles which not only make a huge a difference to the estimated 10% of the population with dyslexia, but provided a comfortable, easy experience for all. Easy to read, thoughtfully set out text; dyslexia friendly font; comfortable, low contrast colours; concise, to the point writing style; free of visual clutter.</p>

<ul> <li>An example (WAGOLL) discussion with linguistic devices labelled.</li> <li>‘Cheat sheet’ breaking down the structure to follow very clearly. Brief word bank with example openers.</li> <li>Tips and examples of linguistic techniques to use.</li> </ul> <p>Suggested use<br /> Use the example to read through and annotate with learners.<br /> Give the already labelled copy with learners to read through and note down phrases of vocabulary to use.<br /> Learners follow the structure of the guide while writing their own discussion. You can add to the word bank and suggested openers as a class.</p> <p>Like all MGLearnTogether resources, this is formatted according to dyslexia friendly guidelines. The BDA (British Dyslexia Association) conservatively estimates 10% of the population has dyslexic tendencies. Dyslexia friendly colours, fonts and general formatting principles ensure that reading is comfortable for all of us and lessens screen eye fatigue. If you feel you have dyslexic learners in your classroom, I recommend printing these resources onto coloured paper (yellow or blue are most common but you can ask the learner for their preference if you feel it’s appropriate).</p>

<p>Functional Skills level 2 presentation about how to read and analyse persuasive writing including full example to go through as a class. 4 Devices to spot and use. Writing scaffold to plan own piece of writing and lesson plan.</p> <p>Dyslexia friendly formatting.</p> <ul> <li> <p>Presentation - Introduction to genre, example f four main linguistic features to look for and use. Example argument over a number of slides illustrating linguistic devices. Great to print out and have students highlight/annotate example of the linguistic features then share at the end - answers on the final slide.</p> </li> <li> <p>Writing frame - structured plan, easy to fill in and use to structure an extended piece of writing. Can be used multiple times according to abilities of learners; initially in partners or groups and then used independently. Could also be printed onto A3 and used as a whole class plan. Clear and easy to follow. Easily used for level 1 too.</p> </li> <li> <p>Lesson plan - criteria objectives according to Pearson curriculum (but these may have changed over the years) outline of the session and ideas on how to use the resource.</p> </li> </ul>

<p>Functional Skills English level 1 and Level 2 reading activity. This was designed to be the first lesson on this topic with more advanced work later in the sequence of learning.</p> <ul> <li>Presentation - introduction and definitions, example sentences, example piece of writing to discuss as a group or analyse independently, vocab to look out for and tips of how to identify fact and opinion.</li> <li>Independent worksheet - piece of writing featuring a mixture of fact and opinion so learners can annotate, pick out facts and make inferences based on given information.</li> <li>Lesson plan - list of criteria covered and level, objectives, aims and plan of lesson with activities. Easily edited or reformatted for unique house style. (curriculum objectives are included for Pearson but these plans were made in 2016 so the objectives may have changed/updated since then.)</li> </ul> <p>Like ALL MGLearnTogether resources, this is formatted according to dyslexia friendly principles which are optimal for ALL learners and an essential part of teacher practice. The British Dyslexic Associated conservatively estimates that 10% of the population has dyslexic tendencies. The presentation style is designed to cut down on visual clutter, reduce contrast, space out text comfortably and include fonts which clearly differentiate between similar letters like b, d, p, g, a, o, etc. Overall screen and reading fatigue is reduced for a more pleasant, easier experience. All resources are formatted this way as standard.</p>

<p>All used in the classroom with year 1 and 2 classes including mixed year group. A really lovely week of work culminating in impressive display work, positive learning experiences and skill progression.</p> <p>All resources are laid out ready to print and chop and share out to children/tables, all are .ppt files suitable for powerpoint or google slides. (NB: these are the resources for children to use in lessons, not teacher presentations.)</p> <ol> <li>Photos of rainbow lorikeets to inform descriptive writing</li> <li>Word bank of relevant KS1 vocabulary</li> <li>Outline drawing of a lorikeet with outstretched wings in 2 versions; one with and one without wings depending on your project/use.</li> <li>Lesson ideas and detailed suggestions for use.</li> </ol> <p>Suggested use<br /> Pictures - class/group discussion to generate vocab, discussions and writing.<br /> Vocab - model/work as a class to build sentences e.g. <em>The brave bird flaps her fiery feathers.</em><br /> Picture - Children paint/colour or print the feathers.</p> <p>Detailed descriptions, internet links and tips within the resource.</p> <p>Combine with videos of rainbow lorikeets to further nurture a positive atmosphere in your classroom. My most recent class was a mixed year 1/2 class and they absolutely loved it. We combined it with our geography work on Australia and science work on habitats.</p>