A great month of planning. lots of powerpoints. Pupils have to use persuasive language to make a chocolate bar. sample Adverts will be up on the board. Introduce topic by asking what it is… (5mins)Asked to identify the aim of the advert (using mini whiteboards). Teacher leads discussion through the answers e.g. “what made you think it was that purpose?” (10mins) Then asked to go to tables and work in mixed ability groups to identify the aims of adverts on their tables – recording this info(15mins). Extension work – to write the features as to how they knew it was that purpose. class discussion as to the aims of the adverts – questioning how they know that(5mins)etc Discussion to lead onto ‘who is the intended audience’, again using mini whiteboards at first(5mins), then back to groups to identify the audience of the adverts they had seen before – recording this information(10mins). Discuss the audience – recap with new adverts asking pupils to identify both purpose and audience as plenary. (10mins) Starter – to recap on purpose and audience of adverts quickly on the board, using adverts seen yesterday then new advertisements that weren’t seen yesterday (5mins). Put cadburys cream egg advert on board and ask the children to point out some of its features. Ask questions like ‘what makes this advert stand out’ talk about the colour, the slogan, the brand, the image. Put up some other advertisements and ask them to point out the slogan, talk about how slogans rhyme, have a play on words, are short, use alliteration etc (10mins). Go back to their tables where there will be some recognisable products (coca-cola, mars bar, bouncy ball, yazoo milkshake), where children have to come up with a slogan for each. Extension work – come up with more than one slogan and they have to pick their favourite. (15mins) Children then share their slogans with the rest of the class. Table points for the best. Point out that slogans are in big bold fonts and match the phrase e.g. the Cadbury one is ‘gooey’, Children draw out their favourite slogan on A4 paper – to colour in too (20mins). Children asked to explain why they used certain colours or style of writing for their slogans for that product. (5mins). Homework – find 5 slogans from ads.

Planning for this interesting book. sample Show chn the front cover of The Hodgeheg and say that we will be working on this book. Read blurb on back then ask chn what type of story they think this is? Establish that it is a Quest or Adventure story with a problem, journey and resolution. Ask chn what else the blurb tells us and note their ideas for Working Display notes. (E.g. the main character is Max who is a hedgehog, he has a family and he wants to cross the road…). Explain that today we are going to be Sentence Detectives as we read the story. We are looking for sentences which have adverbs in them. Revise the fact that an adverb modifies a verb, telling us how something was done: She went happily to see her granny. Develop this to talk about fronted adverbials, phrases at the start of a sentence which act like an adverb, telling us how, where or when something is done or happened, e.g. In total silence, the girls tiptoed along the corridor. Comprehension 1/ Grammar 1 Display extract from Hodgeheg (see resources). Read it out loud together. Briefly revise the rules for writing dialogue: (1) Speech marks around direct speech; (2) new speaker = new line; (3) Punctuation (question marks, exclamation marks, commas, full stops) that goes within the speech marks. Point out that if the dialogue finishes but it’s not the end of a sentence, then a comma goes at the end of the dialogue within the speech marks. See resources for marked up example. Then make-up physical signs for each type of punctuation, e.g. speech marks = hands held up, 2 fingers on each hand bent; comma = one finger drawing it in the air; full stop = pointing gesture, etc. Draw a map of the passage together, (look at the example map resource to guide you). Ask chn for suggestions for each element. Spoken language 1

Nice compilation to get you through the tricky Summer term. Compilation from several schools I taught at. Plenty of material. sample: TTYP what is an autobiography? Come back together and discuss. Repeat for biography. Which would be written in first person and which would be written in third? Who is the audience and what is the purpose of both text types? Activity One Show ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ on the board. What do these mean? Talk about how autobiographies can contain both because the subject is writing their own life story. Activity One Give groups a copy of the John Lennon biography section and the section of ‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl (both from essential non-fiction anthology). Each group to divide a large piece of paper in half and create a features list for both text types. Read the 2008 Long writing task and discuss how we would tackle this. Your task is to write a biography of Pip’s life, Including information about his inventions. Success Criteria: I have revised the features of biography and autobiography. I have started to think about how I might tackle tomorrow’s writing task.

Gathered together my plans from an excellent Catholic school. sample: Watch the story of Rapunzel with the children http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgZkcs72oI Also show the pictures (thorns, tower, hair, witch etc) that are being used in the lesson on PP. Make sure that everyone is clear on what the pictures are of. Explain that today we will be using our phonic knowledge to write some of the main words in the Rapunzel story, to prepare us for our sentence writing next session. Practise with a few words. Ask the children to recap the story of Rapunzel with a talk partner. As a class verbally retell and order the story. Fill in the story journey of Rapunzel. Discuss the order and use of time connectives and language. Ask the children to think about where the story was set. Today we will be thinking of words that describe the tower that Rapunzel was imprisoned in and different towers. We will start by describing the tower that Rapunzel was imprisoned in. Ask the children to give suggestions of their descriptive words, CT to write them up alongside the picture. Ask children to support CT in spelling the words. Talk to the children about good and bad characters, remind them off the goats and troll from last week. Name each of the characters, discuss if they were good or bad. Explain that we will make a wanted poster for the witch as we did for the troll last week. To prepare ourselves we will think of as many words to describe the witch as we can. Display the picture of the witch and give the chn time to think, pair and share. CT to model how to put these words into sentences.

8 powerpoints 12 word documents Looks at the Greek Myths. Example : WALT: box up the labours of Heracles looking at details of setting, obstacles, proof of time, how obstacle was overcome for each event You need to draw or write brief notes about the setting of each event, about the obstacles that had to be overcome, the words used by the writer to show the passage of time and how the obstacle was overcome. Remember to think about the senses (what could be seen, heard, smelt, touched or felt) to describe the setting. Event 1: Setting Event 1: Obstacle

A great deal of planning on Fiction. Loads of great powerpoints and word documents. Sample: Introduce the words ‘fiction’ and ‘genre’. TTYP and discuss the meaning of the word ‘genre’. At this point, introduce the new and improved writing journals where children can make notes during lessons, can jot down words they wish to magpie, jot words that they have generated but which aren’t suitable for the task in hand and can jot questions/things they are unsure about. Explain that I will prompt to use these for the first couple of days but then children need to become more independent. Prizes for most effective use! Ensure the children understand the difference between fiction ‘narrative’ and non fiction ‘non narrative’. Activity One Come back together and do class mind map for working wall. Ask children to think of any titles of books which could fit with any of these genres. Ask children to discuss their preferences and discuss our preferences with them. Activity Two Talk about how they sorted the books in activity two. What clues were you looking for? Talk about words which suggest different genres. Explain activity three. Activity One In lit books complete quick mind map of different types of fiction genre. Activity Two Children to work in table groups. Children to be given a wide range of fiction books from class/school library. Children to sort the books into fantasy, historical, science fiction and mystery by scanning the book, looking at the front cover and reading the blurb. Activity Three Children to have a selection of pictures from books (front covers and insides) and blurbs from a variety of fiction books. Ch to decide which genre they think they book comes from and justify their opinion by highlighting the key words or annotating the pictures. SEN: (Mrs Shephard & Mrs Maguire’s groups) to work as a group on this task. MA: In pairs. Miss Noble to work with ‘Quality Question Marks’ (both groups). HA: Independently. Plenary: What have we learned? What is narrative? Non narrative? What is a genre? Name some genres of narrative? What is your favourite? Why? Least favourite? Why? Does this link to visual literacy (i.e. do films and TV programs split into genres?)

Some powerpoints and worksheets. sample bit: WALT: Describe a character WILF: ‘ed-ly-ing’ openers Adjectives and similes Connectives- e.g. if, when, because, so Punctuation Short and long sentences Paragraphs Neat handwriting Have you ever read Charlie and the chocolate factory before or watched the film? Who are the characters? Discuss what happens to them. Watch: video of Violet getting blown up as a blueberry. Children to create a new character for Charlie and the chocolate factory using a modeled frame (three camera shots). Children to begin by completing a planning sheet- what is your character called? What age are they? What adjectives would you use to describe him/her? How would you describe their personality? How might they get in trouble in the factory? Planning sheet- 10/15minutes Teacher will model writing a character description for Charlie. Discuss adjectives used, camera shots- long, medium, up close and reveal. Children to complete their own character description using the model given. Using their white boards to plan and improve their work before writing in books. Children to read through their work and edit and improve it. Guided group will read their work. Children to listen and give opinion on the work. What could be improved? Green Group CT to support children in choosing more interesting vocabulary/ adjectives.

Some nice simple planning for this excellent book. Plus some other bobs and bits. example: WALT: Prepare a short drama performance. Display an image of a cave on IWB. Hand out a post-it note to each child and ask them to write a sentence on it to describe one of the caves. Once they have finished, they should swap their post-it with a partner and try to edit or improve their partner’s sentence. Enlarge the illustration from pages 24-25 of Stone Age Boy. Ask the children to imagine how the boy feels as he enters the cave. Arrange children into an ‘alley’, with the children each facing a partner in a long line to make a corridor. Ask for a volunteer to be the boy and allow each child to say what he might be thinking as he walks past them down the middle of the cave corridor. Mixed Ability Groups: Ask children to work in groups to role play the boy and Om walking through the cave. They should prepare a short drama of this part of the story and they need to include a ‘narrator’, whose role it is to explain what the boy is thinking and feeling. Prompt children to use the thesaurus skills they worked on earlier in the week to find interesting words to include in their drama. Take time to perform some of the dramas. Ask for feedback from the other children including what went well and what could be improved.

Great little lesson or short set of lessons for persuasive writing. Couple of nice powerpoints. Endangered Pandas Pandas are rare today and are protected by law in China. In 1963, the first panda was exhibited in a zoo outside of China. Today, there are more than a dozen pandas in most zoos. Pandas can be seen in zoos in Washington D.C, Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Madrid, Paris, and Berlin. All pandas in zoos are given double names; this is a Chinese custom, which indicates affection. Scientists study the zoo pandas in hope to learn how to save wild pandas from extinction. There are only about 700 to 1000 pandas alive in the world today. Imagine you are one of the scientists that are researching pandas and a philanthropist has come to you and offered you a substantial research grant if you can persuade him that your research deserves. He asks you, “What makes a Panda so special that it should be saved?”…. your response is crucial!!! In both short and extended texts, I can use appropriate punctuation, vary my sentence structures and divide my work into paragraphs in a way that makes sense to my reader. Tools LIT 2-22a Throughout the writing process, I can check that my writing makes sense and meets its purpose. Tools LIT 2-23a I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and / or influences my reader. Creating Texts ENG 2-27a Learning Intention ~ I can use personal research to create a persuasive piece of writing. Success Criteria – have you… (Tick as you have achieved) ???  I have used emotive and descriptive language to engage the reader’s emotion  I have punctuated accurately  I have used paragraphs effectively to organise my ideas  I have proof read and self-corrected using a variety of resources

A great set of planning. Concentrates on rewriting Shakespeare’s famous tal. Sample planning: Begin by introducing the new topic and the learning outcome. We will be studying ‘older’ literature. Explain that older literature is defined as anything written before 1914 but we are going to look at much older than this! Show a picture of William Shakespeare: children to TTYP – Who is this man? What is he famous for? Can you name any of his works? Come back together and elicit that William Shakespeare was an author – not of stories but of plays and sonnets (poems). Talk about some of his more famous work and explain that he wrote 38 plays and over 160 sonnets. Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. He produced most of his work between 1589 and 1613 – why do you think he wrote mostly plays rather than stories? Elicit that he was an actor so he loved the stage and he intended his works to be acted out rather than just read and also because of the times. TV and film were not entertainment options and the majority of people couldn’t read so going to the theatre or watching an outside performance was very popular. Explain that Shakespeare’s plays can be broadly split into tragedies and comedies. TTYP – what does this mean? Show a list including some of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies and tragedies. Talk about our recent history topic – who would have been on the throne when Shakespeare was writing (Elizabeth I until 1603 and then James I start of the Stuart dynasty). Talk briefly about the context to Shakespeare’s plays – Elizabeth I ruled over a very successful empire, England was starting to explore and find new shores and arts & culture were becoming more important and sought after. Finish reading the children’s version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Explain that this has been adapted for a young audience – it has been changed from a play script to a narrative and the language and been modernised. List the main characters on the board, to include: The Capulets etc

Great planning and activities on the Tron Man. sample Introduce the book to the children. Highlight the cover of the book. What do you think the book will be about? Discuss with partners, share ideas with the class. Read the blurb. Why do you think the book is described as a modern fairy tale? Introduce that the author of the book is also a poet. Share that there are many poetic features in the text that are used to describe the characters and setting e.g. similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia. The children will have to take notes of these features. Read chapter 1 to the children. Ask the children to jot descriptions of Iron Man on their whiteboards while listening to the story. Use a PowerPoint to highlight the description of Iron Man on page 1-2.The children will create a mind maps on Iron Man. They will create a description his movements, his features and his personality. Focus: Characters WALT: To create a description of a character from a text. WILF: Use of adjectives, verbs and poetic features (i.e. similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia). Use neat handwriting. Recap on previous lesson. Ask what has happened so far in the text (Chapter 1 describes Iron Man stepping off a cliff and getting his body back together. In then walks into the sea).How has the author kept our interest so far? What have you enjoyed? Read first half of chapter two to ‘The Iron Man had gone back to the sea.’ Discuss how the boy might felt when he saw Iron Man. How might it have been different if his family didn’t believe him? Why do you think Iron Man went back to the sea? What might happen next? WALT: To create a description of a character and their actions. Identify and discuss powerful verbs, adjectives and adverbs which describe the Iron Man’s movement. Create a mind map of those from the text and other suggestions. Mind map to include similes. Task: Children are to create a ‘Wanted’ poster for the Iron Man. They give a detailed account of his description (using similes and metaphors.) They also must provide details for why he is wanted, listing crimes committed, reward, contact number etc.

Lots of nice planning. A melange. Three nice powerpoint on adverts. The kids have to build their own advert. Plus some performance poetry and general grammar. example: Starter – to recap on everything covered so far by using post it notes on the working wall, in order for students to see throughout the rest of unit (10mins). Split the class up into mixed ability groups of 5-6children and explain they will be working in these groups for the next few lessons. Tell them that the aim of today is to come up with some ideas for their own chocolate bars. What do they want it to be like? Who is it for? Is it cheap and easy or posh and luxurious? 10mins) Children then present their product ideas to the rest of the class and their slogan justifying why. Rest of class offer opinions whether they like it and if they think they could improve it (20mins). Pupils then to go back to their groups and complete an initial design idea for their chocolate bar, thinking about the points the rest of the class have made. Annotate work, stating why they have selected ideas for their product. Homework – find a product similar to the one they have designed and research it – e.g. how it’s been advertised before etc.

lessons for this interesting topic plus some maths. sample: In Jotters As a class think about what a newspaper is and where we have seen them. Can anybody name any famous newspapers? When did we last read a newspaper? Who knows the sort of things we read in a newspaper? Create a list on flip chart paper. Give children 30 seconds in talk partners to discuss answers and share. Show class an example of a newspaper front page. Can anybody name any of the different features? Call children out to front to highlight on IWB. Children are then sent off to have a go at annotating a real-life example on their own. Children will then be stopped and asked where they are with the task. As a class revisit work from the previous lesson (refer to working wall.) What can we remember from last lesson? Can you name any features of a newspaper? Children to be given a worksheet with cut outs from a newspaper article. Can any of you recognise these different segments of a newspaper article? Where would this segment go in a newspaper? Children will be asked to justify their choices as to why they have put a segment of the article where they have. Why would you put this here? Does this segment make sense here? Children to use talk partners to discuss what an orientation paragraph is and what they think the purpose is. Create an expectations vs reality table on flipchart – to be put up on the learning wall. What is an orientation? Where do you think an orientation goes in a newspaper? Children to be discuss the 5 W’s and what they are. Children to be given an example of a newspaper article and asked if they can see any of the W’s in there. Children to be asked to begin using their understanding of an orientation paragraph to complete a number of different tasks.

Four word docs. Plus powerpoint. Plus a few other bobs and bits. Word doc as example. The rest is in the zip. example: Introduce ch 1 for Kensuke’s Kingdom. Record initial response with prediction. Select examples to show Michael’s feelings. List reasons for and against yourself and family setting off on a round the world sail, Justify relating to evidence selected from the text. Red: format provided Gr/Or: list reasons from two places Bl/Y: form contrasting sentences… begin with, “even though…” Read ch 2. In pairs. How does Mom feel about the trip and Dad’s ideas? What is the alternative? Why has Michael decided now to tell his story?2. Who are the members of Michael’s family?3. What do the family do together on the weekends? Can you describe how it makes them feel?4. Why do the family stop sailing?5. What is the atmosphere like in the house?6. What happened to Michael’s best friend?7. What happens to Michael’s father and why?8. What do you think happens next?9. Describe the father when they meet up again. What sort of mood is he in?

Great lesson on this interesting book. Plus some nice Maths. Great for year 6. sample : Display the image from the front of the book. What does the title of the book tell you? What could the book be about? Why do you think that? Introduce the title. Children to identify what the book is about? What is the theme? Genre? What makes you think this? Children to make predictions about the book in groups using the cover – share and discuss ideas. Share extract from blurb ‘As young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood from the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life in the countryside.’ 5ws and predictions modelled by CT. What has changed? Why has your opinion changed? What questions and predictions can you make now? Resources: Book cover, sentence starters, 5Ws sheet (LA), blurb extract Children to be reminded of the previous lesson. What did we learn? What do we think the text book is about? What happened in chapter one? Play BBC schools episode 1 - Children are to be given the first paragraph of the book. What is the theme? What is the genre of the book? Children to use talk partners and class discussion to list the characters involved in the first chapter and paragraph. Who are the characters we have met? What do we know about Tommo and his older brother Charlie? What is their relationship like? In this chapter, Tommo starts a new school – how would he be feeling about this? Look at the kindness of Molly – why does she act this way? Why doesn’t big Joe go to school? How would this be different today?

I have designed 100 worksheets on letter patterns for the 11+ non verbal reasoning questions. There are 100 worksheets. Letter patterns is an important aspect of the 11+ exams. Ideal for parents, pupils and tutors. Answer sheets provided. Introduce some logic and problem solving skills to students with the Letter Patterns worksheet. Sets of letters related in some way are displayed. Students must find the next two letters in the pattern for each set of letters. You can see an answer sheet in my picture with the answers in red.