Aimed at KS2 and KS3, use this figurative language worksheet as a starter, main, fast finisher or homework task in October! Use the Halloween theme to build your students’ understanding of alliteration, similes, personification, and onomatopoeia. This resource comes in US letter and UK A4 size, with a link to a Google Apps editable version. Black and white and colour versions provided. If you found this helpful, you might also like: Oracy Mats | Speaking and Listening | Prompts and Sentence Starters Oracy | Free Choice Talk | Individual Presentation | Planning Accuracy Passport | Improve Punctuation and Grammar | Literacy Secondary Grammar Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy Secondary Punctuation Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy Ambitious Sentence Structures Mat | Literacy Stretch | Challenge MAT Ambitious Punctuation Mat | Literacy Stretch | Challenge MAT Student Newsbites | Introduction Activity | Back to School Secondary Persuasive Writing Bingo | Any Topic | Differentiated Layouts Primary Persuasive Writing Bingo | Any Topic | Differentiated Layouts Primary Grammar Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy Primary Punctuation Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy Guided Practice | Literature Essay Frame

Blackout Poetry is a great creative pre-reading activity, and this activity focuses on the three different versions of the lullaby in Louis Sachar’s Holes. Different worksheets allow you to explore single stanzas, pairs of stanzas, or all three versions. You also have the option to use worksheets with fully redacted words, or redacted words with grammatical prompts (noun, adjective, verb, etc). Editable Google Apps version included, and all worksheets are provided in US letter size and UK A4 size.

This differentiated art, sketching or drawing task requires students to create an image of the Yellow Spotted Lizard from Louis Sachar’s novel Holes. There are three styles of lizard outline included, and five levels of differentiation: Outline only Outline with empty quote boxes Outline with empty quote boxes and prompt arrows Outline with pre-populated quote boxes Quotation boxes only (no outline) All versions come in both US letter and UK A4 document size.

Coach your students through the close reading and annotation of extracts from the opening chapters of Holes, then instruct them in the use of the differentiated essay frame to challenge and stretch pupils at all levels. The extract and annotation sheet includes focused extracts and chapter references, and the essay frame shows a clear route of progress with a built-in example and extension column to model development of ideas. Easel version included! This resource includes US letter and UK A4 size versions, and editable Google Docs version of the essay frame.

Encourage developed sentences in creative writing with this fall/autumn themed worksheet. Using the prompts (what, who, where, when, how, and why) your students start with a single detail and build it into a fully developed, image-filled sentence. One sentence-building process is modelled for your students, then two prompts are provided, and finally there are three empty spaces for students to create their own idea from scratch. This worksheet is in graphic organizer format, comes in 2 black and white styles and 2 color styles, and all of these come in both US letter and UK A4 document sizes with appropriate spellings and terminology on each.

This differentiated art, sketching or drawing task requires students to create a reptile species of their own after reading about the Yellow Spotted Lizard from Louis Sachar’s novel Holes. There are three styles of worksheet included, and a prompt or ideas handout to help you to differentiate the task for your students. All versions come in both US letter and UK A4 document size.

This resource is a great alternative to ‘First Chapter Friday’ or ‘Taster Tuesday’. Blurbsday tasks focus on the blurb on the back of the book, and encourage students to look at vocabulary, genres and editing skills. There are three tasks included, increasing in difficulty and length (half page, full page, and double sided), and all worksheets are provided in US letter and UK A4 size document. Editable Google Apps version also included!

This graphic novel reflection task can be used with any part of any graphic novel! No prep required - just print and go. After reading, give your students either an A3 one-pager or a back-to-back smaller version of the sheet. This resource acts as a graphic organizer to explore and reflect on the pages that have just been read, whether that’s one page or one hundred! There are four A3 version and four letter-size double-sided version, making this resource 12-pages for you to select from as necessary. All sheets prompt your students to think closely about… The characters The way the images and frames are used Personal reactions to the content Questions raised Predictions for the upcoming pages (or post-novel if you finish the text) Evaluation of the final three frames of the day’s reading Drawing of a frame in a different style of the student’s choice

Need a creative task that you can use over and over again, with any book? This set of twelve creative worksheets asks students to select evidence from their reading to build an image of a specific character. Set the character for the class, give a selection to choose from, or let your students choose their own! This also works for classes where students are all reading their own novels. There are three styles to choose from, and the drawing guides are differentiated; simple outlines, realistic outlines, and no outline at all for the really confident ones! The resource comes in both US and UK document sizes, making this resource 24 pages long.

If you love succulents and cacti, this set of 15 posters is perfect for your themed learning environment! The posters have five background designs and explain 15 different punctuation and grammar rules - perfect for your middle or high school ELA classroom. The posters are US letter size document and are provided as a high quality PDF file.

This activity focuses on the idea of a time capsule - what would your students put in a time capsule to be opened more than 100 years from now? The resource features three formats: What eight items would you put in a time capsule, and why? What six items would you put in a time capsule, and how would people react if they dug it up in 100 years? What six items would you put in a time capsule, and how would the people in the society in your novel react if they dug it up? This makes this set of worksheets suitably flexible for one-off lessons, or linked to a range of tasks and subjects, or linked specifically to the study of a dystopian or futuristic novel or story. All worksheets are provided in US letter size and UK A4 size, and also as a Google Docs editable version.

A great bellringer, brain break, warm up or ‘getting to know you’ task that can also be used as an extended task. Differentiated in nine different ways, this resource encourages students to select and edit their thoughts to a strict limit… harder than they anticipate! It’s also worth using for fast finishers. Includes: 9 levels of differentiation Quick and extended versions of the task US letter and UK A4 document sizes and terminology Fully editable Google Docs version

Looking to engage students with an interest in gaming? This differentiated resource allows your gamer students to design or describe a live stream similar to those seen on Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok and Facebook. Bring their world and your world together with this alternative writing task! One version of this task allows students to design or draw their ideas, and two versions offer prompts for written descriptions on a computer screen style graphic organiser. All three versions of the sheet are provided in both US letter and UK A4 size document.

This activity focuses on the idea of a time capsule - what would your students put in a time capsule to be opened in the past? The resource features three formats: What eight items would you put in a time capsule, and why? What six items would you put in a time capsule, and how would people react if they discovered it 100 years ago? What six items would you put in a time capsule, and how would the people in the historical society in your novel or story react if they dug it up? This makes this set of worksheets suitable for one-off lessons, or linked to historical study, or linked specifically to the study of a novel or story. All worksheets are provided in US letter size and UK A4 size, and also as a Google Docs editable version.

A fun bellringer based on the TikTok ‘put a finger down’ trend. This slideshow includes 15 editable statements about high school that students can ‘confess’ to. A great lead into goalsetting and expectations!

This resource is a step by step guide to building sentences by rewriting a sentence and adding an example of figurative language or a creative device each time. Use as a full lesson, or spread it out over several lessons as a bellringer. A peer feedback task is built in to the end of the process. The provided example models the process every step of the way whilst students work on their own sentence from a choice of three. Students begin with a base, three word sentence and add an adverb, alliteration, simile, personification, onomatopoeia and oxymoron in guided stages. The slideshow provided steers this process, and can be used as a lesson slideshow, or as bellringer slides. An editable Google Slides version of the PowerPoint is also included. Both US and UK document sizes are included!

Coach your students through the close reading and annotation of the opening description from the play An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley, then instruct them in the use of the differentiated essay frames to challenge and stretch pupils at all levels. The extract and annotation sheet includes focused instructions, and the essay frame shows a clear route of progress with a built-in example and extension column to model development of ideas. Full answer key and suggestions provided.

These printable tone cards can be used to discuss and analyse the language in both fiction and non-fiction texts. Available in colour and black and white! Prompt your students to use more sophisticated vocabulary with these sets of positive, neutral, and negative tone word mini-cards which also have the option to print four synonyms on the reverse to clarify meaning and avoid repetition in written or spoken responses. Low prep - print and cut. For repeated use: print, laminate, cut, and store in small popper wallets or boxes.

This differentiated set of A4 sheets asks students to create a character sketch of Link, from Robert Swindells’ Stone Cold. Includes the option to provide quotations or not, and to provide silhouettes to sketch over or not. 8 different worksheets to choose from!