I am a teaching Deputy Head in a primary school in Hampshire and TES recommended author. I've been teaching in primary since 2007 with experience in most year groups, although my heart lies in Year 1! I enjoy making helpful, time-saving and engaging educational resources for teachers and pupils - I hope you find them useful!
I am a teaching Deputy Head in a primary school in Hampshire and TES recommended author. I've been teaching in primary since 2007 with experience in most year groups, although my heart lies in Year 1! I enjoy making helpful, time-saving and engaging educational resources for teachers and pupils - I hope you find them useful!
Stories include: Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man, The Frog Prince, The Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk. Opportunities for pictorial or written responses - perfect for Year R and Year 1!
This resource contains two files:
1. Making connections - children are encouraged to relate their own experiences to five different traditional tales.
2. Retelling - children are given a framework and some simple story vocabulary for retelling five different traditional tales. There is also a character and a speech bubble from each story where children can write recurring character phrases.
Year 1 National Curriculum reading comprehension objectives:
Pupils should be taught to:
- develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
- being encouraged to link what they read or hear read to their own experiences.
- becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics.
- recognising and joining in with predictable phrases.
Need an assembly presentation for Remembrance Day? This powerpoint explains Remembrance Day in a child-friendly way and is appropriate for young children (Early Years/KS1). It contains 13 slides, plus notes, on the meaning of peace, Armistice and Remembrance Day.
Looking for further assemblies? Try these:
SMSC plan and presentation - Social
SMSC plan and presentation - Moral
SMSC plan and presentation - Spiritual
SMSC plan and presentation - Cultural
Assembly plan and presentation - Hope
I hope your children enjoy the assembly. Don’t forget to leave feedback so I can improve what I do - or make more of what you love!
Follow me on TES to be notified when new products are uploaded.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
A primary assembly on Diwali that involves and engages the children. When you download this resource you will get a powerpoint on Diwali with accompanying notes and ideas for presenting the assembly.
Looking for other assemblies? Try these:
SMSC assembly and plan - Social
SMSC assembly and plan - Moral
SMSC assembly and plan - Spiritual
SMSC assembly and plan - Cultural
Assembly plan and presentation - Hope
I hope your children enjoy the assembly. Remember to leave feedback so that I can improve what I do - and make more of what you love!
Follow me on TES to be notified when new products are posted.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
Primary school SMSC assembly plan and presentation based on the word ‘Moral’ and informed by the government’s advice document on promoting fundamental British values as part of Spiritual Moral Social and Cultural development in schools.
The assembly helps children to understand the meaning of the word ‘moral’. They apply the concept to themselves first with a fun hook and then apply it with a set of scenarios for them to consider. They extend it to the wider world, learning about laws and what they are. There is a reflection at the end of the assembly for children to consider the importance of listening to their own moral compass, even in the face of peer pressure.
Looking for other assemblies? Try these:
SMSC assembly and plan - Social
SMSC assembly and plan - Moral
SMSC assembly and plan - Spiritual
SMSC assembly and plan - Cultural
Assembly plan and presentation - Hope
I hope your children enjoy the assembly. Remember to leave feedback so that I can improve what I do - and make more of what you love!
Follow me on TES to be notified when new products are posted.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
Explore the changing emotions of the Easter story through art with this complete lesson plan and resources. This is a great lesson for children in KS1.
I have taught this a few times and it is a very memorable lesson that both the children and I enjoy immensely. The artwork is often thoughtful, moving and special, sparking great discussions and deep thinking. Try giving the children drawing the scene of Jesus on the cross some grey/black paper and red, black and white oil pastels (in contrast to the other groups who have all colours available to them) - it produces quite a startling effect.
I hope you enjoy teaching this one too!
For further Easter resources see:
Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s Easter puzzles
The Easter Story - powerpoint
Write your own Easter story booklet
Easter assembly
All of these resources are available as a bundle, saving you 25%.
Primary school SMSC assembly plan and presentation based on the word ‘Social’ and informed by the government’s advice document on promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools.
The assembly helps children to understand the meaning of the word ‘social’, apply it to themselves and their own lives and then extend it to the wider world. There is a reflection at the end for children to celebrate how lucky they are to lead social lives and consider how they can make a difference to someone in their social groups.
Files included:
SMSC assembly plan
SMSC assembly presentation
Looking for other assemblies? Try these:
SMSC assembly and plan - Moral
SMSC assembly and plan - Spiritual
SMSC assembly and plan - Cultural
Or get all four SMSC resources in a bundle and save 40%!
I hope your children enjoy the assembly. Remember to leave feedback so that I can improve what I do - and make more of what you like!
Follow me on TES to be notified when new products are posted.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
Another set of red herring slides for my Year 1 class! Handy for the Year 1 phonics screening check, Year 2 revision and even end of Year R. The red herrings are a bit random, but the children love looking out for them. The ‘red herrings’ are slides within the powerpoint that don’t contain the featured grapheme, e.g. in a set of words for ‘ea’, a slide will pop up saying ‘shirt’ - a red herring. When they arrive the children put their hands together, make a fishy movement and call out ‘red herring!’ For some reason, they think it’s hysterical and I’m happy to go with it because they are engaged, they’re paying attention to the graphemes and best of all they’re having fun - I love hearing their cheeky giggles!
I also use the slides to teach silent blending, how to break down longer words for reading and spelling patterns we’ve practised, e.g. words ending in ‘ed’ or ‘y’. I’ve really noticed their reading coming along and although it’s not entirely down to the red herring powerpoints as we do lots of stuff, I think they’re a solid part of it. I don’t use them every day because I don’t want the concept to get boring but I always get a ‘yessss!’ when I do.
I’ve checked Letters and Sounds carefully against the National Curriculum and believe that all of the digraphs and trigraphs listed are included (between this set of powerpoints and the Phase 3 set) but if you spot any discrepancies, please get in touch and I’ll update the slides.
I hope your class enjoy using this as much as mine do!
Take a closer look at the symbolism of eggs at Easter and the significance of Easter for Christians with this assembly plan and presentation.
Included in this resource are:
An assembly plan which helps to make the concept of new life relevant for students at a personal level before moving onto the broader picture of new life in the context of the Easter story.
An assembly presentation in PowerPoint to accompany the planning.
Looking for more Easter resources? Try these:
Easter story through art - lesson plan
Write your own Easter story booklet
The Easter Story - presentation
Counting in multiples - Easter puzzles
Or you may be interested in all of these resources, including the assembly plan and presentation, in one bundle - saving you 25% off the total price!
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
Track errors, diagnose areas of development and organise groups and interventions to prepare your class for the Year 1 phonics screening check.
This document contains a set of instructions, the diagnostic tool, a worked example for an individual pupil and whole class with a follow-up breakdown. This should help you complete the diagnostic tool and see how you can use the information it provides to plan your priorities for teaching whole class, small groups and/or 1:1 interventions.
This really worked for me last year, I used it within my own class where I achieved a 90% pass rate for the screening check, and as year leader across Year 1 to inform the teachers of phonics sets, where we achieved an 84% pass rate collectively.
Get your parent/carer volunteers organised and briefed with one easy kit.
We found at our school that we weren't 'getting the most' out of our volunteers in school when it came to 1:1 reading so I put together a briefing presentation/handout for volunteers. Feedback from our volunteers was very positive as they felt more confident and that they were being more useful. The presentation also covers health and safety and confidentiality to set expectations from the outset.
The kit includes:
- initial letter to parents/carers
- invitation to a volunteer briefing
- the briefing presentation including health and safety, confidentiality, tips for supporting early readers and next steps for readers
- a volunteer 1:1 reading record (one copy per pupil)
One week’s worth of Year R mastery maths planning informed by the NCETM’s key areas of early mathematics learning and White Rose mastery principles. Printed and digital resources are included to facilitate delivery of the planning although you will also need some practical resources, e.g. duplo, beads, tens frames, Numicon.
The planning is based around a Traditional Tales/Jolly Postman topic however it is written in MS Word so that you can tweak it to suit your curriculum and practical equipment. For example, if you don’t have gems, you could use penny coins; if you were doing Supertato, you could use evil peas in a match box, etc…
A focus group runs throughout the week, rotating through the whole class, and these groups should be mixed ability in line with mastery principles. Notes for supporting less able pupils and extending more able pupils are included in the planning document. The remaining maths activities run all week, with extensions to bring in as the week progresses and the children become more competent at the key idea. Personally, I box up all the resources I’ll need for the week during PPA which makes it easy to bring out and put away the numbertime activities throughout the week.
Included in this resource pack:
One week’s worth of planning (editable)
Foldable signs for each activity and extension (pdf)
Gingerbread men number frames with number sentences for the extensions (editable)
Hansel and Gretel treasure box recording frames (editable)
The Jolly Postman PowerPoint activity (editable)
Big number frame and recording scaffold (editable)
Number cards 0-5 (editable)
I hope you find it helpful - happy teaching!
Katharine7
A behaviour consultant once recommended I use social stories to tackle persistent behaviours in class. However, I found these hard to find relevant to my particular needs so I wrote some myself. The stories explain very specifically the behaviours being exhibited and the effects and feelings that these behaviours create. I wrote these stories for real children so please excuse the lack of ethnic diversity and gender bias, this happened to be my demographic at the time of writing! Contact me if you would like an updated version to suit your pupils.
I read the 'calling out' story to a bright boy who persistently called out in class and it was like a revelation to him. He hadn't considered how it affected other children. He said, "This boy is a bit like me, isn't he?" His calling out improved dramatically and when it inevitably slipped, we simply got the story out again and re-read it. Much better than repeated tellings off and squashing his spirit! I used the other two stories similarly and enjoyed the discussions I had with the children involved.
Children choose the course of the story in this dynamic story-telling PowerPoint.
I originally wrote this for an assembly in National Storytelling Week and had huge fun with the whole school choosing which characters, setting and plot developments to follow. The children showed me via hands on heads or crossed arms which options they wanted to pick. The children were incredibly excited and engaged; I really enjoyed the assembly.
If you miss off the first two slides about National Storytelling Week, this resource could also be used in an English lesson to look at story structure, character, setting and/or the use of descriptive language, e.g. adjectives and similes. Or simply use it in class as an enjoyable story to revisit and retell, allowing the children to make different choices to build a different story.
I’ve tested the PowerPoint thoroughly (including in assembly and at home with my own daughter!) as there are a lot of action buttons to click on that lead you to the next slide in the chosen story. However, if I’ve missed anything, please do contact me via TES conversations and I will straighten it out asap.
PS The fonts don’t look very good on the preview pane on the TES website, but should be fine when downloaded. I created the resource using PowerPoint 2016.
Save time, avoid mistakes and ensure a high-quality, consistent approach to organising your trip days. These templates can be re-used time and again, providing a quick and efficient system and supporting a happy, safe and educational school trip.
This resource includes:
group details sheets
helper introductory letter and timetable for the trip
class teacher summary sheet
Customise the highlighted text in each document for your own class(es) and trip. Fill in the details, print off everything and then make 5 more copies of the introductory letter and timetable. Staple together the letter and a group details sheet for each supporting adult and the teacher summary is for you.
Most of the hard work is done for you, just fill in the details, print, be safe and look good on trip day!
NB this pack does not include a risk assessment which must be completed in line with your school/LA’s policies. Information on medical conditions must be planned for but should not be listed on documents shared with non-school staff due to the GDPR.
Words containing Phase 3 graphemes for reading practise.
I made this resource this term for my Year 1 class and they love it! The red herrings are a bit random, but the children love looking out for them (they are words in the powerpoint that don’t contain the featured grapheme). When they arrive the children put their hands together, make a fishy movement and call out ‘red herring!’ They generally fall about laughing too. I don’t know why it’s so funny but I’m happy to go with it because they are engaged, they’re paying attention to the graphemes and best of all they’re having fun!
I also use the slides to teach silent blending and how to break down longer words for reading. Handy for preparing for the Year 1 phonics screening check and I’ve really noticed their reading coming along. It’s not entirely down to the red herring powerpoints, they’re only one aspect of what we do, but I think they’re a solid part of it. I don’t use them every day because I don’t want the concept to get boring but I always get a ‘yessss!’ when I do.
I’ve included the graphemes are, ore and ear (as in pear) in the trigraphs powerpoint as they’re in the Year 1 curriculum (although not in letters and sounds). I thought they would fit most conveniently in the trigraphs powerpoint. I also took out ‘ure’ as it doesn’t appear in the curriculum until Year 2 but you can easily add it back in by editing the powerpoint if you would like to use it. Many of the graphemes are also appropriate for Year R.
I hope your class enjoy using this as much as mine do!
This compare and contrast Titanic lesson is perfect for an end of unit lesson that promotes retrieval of taught information, addresses common misconceptions and teaches children to apply their understanding in a new context. Children are presented with opportunities to think historically, choronologically order events and discuss ideas.
The lesson plan is written around the new Ofsted draft framework requirements with an Intent, Implementation and Impact planning format. The lesson plan takes into account the following Quality of Education judgments:
an ambitious curriculum
provision of knowledge capital
promote discussion
identify misconceptions and provide clear, direct feedback
avoid unnecessarily elaborate or differentiated activities
help learners to remember taught content in the longer term
help learners integrate new knowledge into larger concepts
use assessment well
resources and materials that do not create unnecessary workload
This was a fun lesson to teach (I taught it for a lesson observation for a new job - I got the job!) and the children enjoyed showcasing the knowledge that they had acquired and taking it further. You can see some of the children’s responses from the lesson included within the resource. I hope you enjoy teaching it too - happy teaching!
Katharine7
If you’re looking for more history resources you might like to take a look at these resources:
Fire of London poetry - English unit of work
Fire of London - writing commands - English unit of work
Stone Age planning bundle
Roman Empire code cracker
Ancient Egypt code cracker
Save time, effort and 25% by buying these Halloween maths resources together! A range of no-prep worksheets closely match 8 of the Year 1 maths curriculum objectives and a set of 20 differentiated one-step addition and subtraction word problems will ensure challenge for all your pupils.
These resources are available to buy individually:
Halloween maths worksheets
Halloween word problems (addition and subtraction)
You may also be interested in a set of free Halloween phonics digital worksheets!
Don’t forget to leave feedback so I can improve what I do - or make more of what you love! Follow me to be notified when new products are uploaded.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
We've been teaching number bonds for a few weeks now. It makes me nervous to spend so long on a single objective but I am noticing fringe benefits. Obviously, the children are all doing well with their number bonds but they are also using and embedding their understanding of + and = symbols which they now all use without thinking. Also, somewhat subconsciously, they know what addition is. Many children are starting to notice the commutativity of addition and share what they've realised in plenaries. As they have noticed it for themselves, they really get it, which is great.
I'll be using the same resources to teach related subtraction facts shortly and I'm hoping all the solid work we've done on number bonds to date will give us a good springboard for subtraction and its relationship to addition.
This resource contains:
- a range of number bond printables for 3 strategies - grid, bar and cherry picking.
- a range of mastery printables to extend more able children and embed learning.
- a few photos of the children's work.
Year 1 national curriculum objective:
Pupils should be taught to represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20.
A perfect introduction to 2D shapes in Early Years and/or Year 1! Children are introduced in detail to:
circles
triangles
rectangles
squares
Then briefly to:
pentagons
hexagons
semicircles
Mathematical language is used to describe them, i.e. sides, corners, straight and curved.
Pupils are shown varied images of these 2D shapes in both abstract and real world examples, promoting discussion and addressing misconceptions, e.g. that all triangles are equilateral triangles, with the bottom side oriented horizontally.
The slides are animated to engage children and make learning points clear. They can be clicked through at your own pace and there are 10 teaching slides in total.
Happy teaching!
Katharine7
8 session Year 2 English creative writing unit of work that can be easily adapted for other year groups. There is a focus on correctly sequencing a story and the use of adjectives and expanded noun phrases to describe and specify. The planning is based around ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson but can be tweaked to apply to an adventure story of your choice. Cutaways are suggested within the planning for a variety of groups of children.
This resource includes:
- 8 sessions of planning
- sentence opener and suffix scaffold cards for children requiring additional support
- ‘think about it’ prompt cards for more able writers
- lesson starter activities
- suffixes presentation (also available separately)
- emotions graph template
- planning frame and vocabulary gathering extension sheet