A nice play for a Christmas assembly. About 12 pages. Sample : Part 1: KIRA - Narrator 1: The time leading up to Christmas is a busy one, and sometimes we can forget what the message of good news it brings. We would like you to imagine that this good news event is being broadcast to you today, live! EMILY - Narrator 2: Our report, and the beginning of Christianity, is set in Nazareth. In the town, Jewish families were living under Roman occupation. These families had become poor due to King Herod’s heavy taxes. Nearly all the money the Jews earned went to Herod and the Romans so that they could afford new weapons and lovely food and clothes. RICKY - Narrator 3: In the town lived a very religious Jewish family: the daughter of this family was called Mary. When Mary was about 14 years old she became engaged to Joseph, a talented carpenter. SONG: Nazareth (NATIVITY) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNDcWruJ4IY Things are really cool in Nazareth. Our city is full of joy, Cause this is where girl meets boy. Barely had a school in Nazareth. There they join hand in hand, side by side, they will stand. A wedding is being planned. Here in Nazareth. Nazareth our place to live. Always willing to forgive. Nazareth will bring us well. We can hear those wedding bells. Feeling in a fix in Nazareth. Rules are to be obeyed, Arrangements are being made. Got to get your kicks in Nazareth Baby, you’ll run away Start at a brand new day Still we can not betray Good old Nazareth.” <Play news theme – Have playing on a screen during broadcast?> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj5Rc60fJ2M ASHTON - Newsreader 1: Hello. And welcome to this breaking news update. We begin our report with the news of wedding preparations that are under way for Mary and Joseph who are pledged to be married. Tonight, however, Mary was woken from a deep sleep by a gentle voice.

Planning from my time in Primary Schools. PRUNING NEEDED! Lots of music info. Lots of great composers. Beethoven Greig Mozart Tchaikovsky Sample : TOPIC: Listening and Understanding Music KS1LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENRESOURCES: dvd copy of Disney’s Fantasia; Beethoven/Pastoral sheet; pictures of orchestral instrumentsLESSON ONEWatch the Pastoral Symphony excerpt, and explain that this very old film uses music that is even older. The artists listened to the story in the music and created their story to fit it. Having watched the excerpt, ask the children what they noticed about how the music and the cartoon went together. Think about the peaceful music for the peaceful scenes; the angry music for the storm; the way the winged horses alight in time to the music etc.Watch a second time, pausing as appropriate to highlight the interaction of music and cartoon. Start to spot instruments.LESSON TWOListen to the Fantasia version of the Pastoral without the cartoon. Invite the children to recognise instruments. Show them pictures of the instruments as they name them, discussing how they are played, how their sounds differ from each other, and why they suit the different aspects of the music. Discuss the differing roles within an orchestra and look at the layout of the orchestra. Invite the children to draw a picture of their favourite instrument and explain why it is their favourite.LESSON THREEWatch the Fantasia excerpt again and remind the children that this story is the artists’ idea of the musical story. Explain that the artists used mythological characters because these were very popular in paintings at the time the music was composed (you could show them some). Invite the children to listen to the music and write their own story, or create their own picture either using the mythological characters or their own ideas.LESSON FOUR Explain that the class is going to listen to the story of the man who composed the Pastoral Symphony, and then write about him and his famous piece of music. Provide the children with paper to make notes should they wish, and the sheets to write up their findings when they are ready.

During my time as a teacher, I enjoyed doing a Big Write or Big Writing. I’ve gathered all my materials together. I liked it as it kept the children occupied all week, leading to a big write on Friday Mornings. There’s some great ideas and powerpoints in here. I’ve included a lot of Greek Myths stuff as I remember this as the best Big Write. sample : To understand the features of myths Introduce the topic of Myths and Legends. Mind map any ideas about ‘myths’ children already have. Explain that the class will be building up their own myth. With each group working on a different aspect of the myth. Show success criteria – list of features of a myth. Read Theseus and the Minotaur, pick out the different features of the myth, evident in this story. Each group will discuss and write ideas for each section. LA (Supported by Ta) Group 1: Describe the hero of the myth. Group 2: Describe the monster of the myth. Children will write ideas, words on post-it notes. If this was a full lesson: Put together all the different groups’ ideas to build a storyboard for the class myth. As a class, decide on a title for our class ‘myth’. Children can: identify all the features of myths Features of a ‘myth’ · When and where is it set? · A hero/heroine · What is the problem? · Does the hero have special powers? · Fantastical beast · The hero’s journey · The conflict · The solution · How does it end? · Is it interesting? MA (Supported by ta) Group 3: Describe the setting of the myth. Group 4: Describe the journey the hero will make. Children will write ideas, words on post-it notes. HA (Supported by Ta) Group 5: Describe the problem the hero will face. Group 6: Describe the resolution to the problem. Children will write ideas, words on post-it notes.

A nice little unit on financial planning. Some calculations required for better financial knowledge. Introduce ‘My Money’ week to children. Explain that we are going to spend all week discussing money, using mathematical operations, setting a budget and thinking about how we will deal with money in the future. Activity One Come back together and allow groups to share mind maps. Lead into a discussion on what money is; use online dictionary to look for definition. Come to the conclusion that it is a medium of exchange; we exchange money for goods or services. Make a list on the IWB of things which people use money for. Separate the list by highlighting things which people need and things that they want. TTYP – what is the ‘currency’ of the UK? Explain that it is called sterling and it is split into pounds and pence. Use PPT to check that children recognise all notes and coins of sterling. Activity One Children work in groups to mind map ‘money’. Each group to have three colours –create a key to show things they know, things they think they know and questions they have. If I gave you £1000 right now, what would spend it on? What might you wish you had spent it on in the future? Can the children name any currencies of other countries? (Euro, US dollar, Aus dollar, Yuan China, Rupee India etc)

100 grids. Pupils have to fill in the gaps. The squares all have to add up. These puzzles involve taking away and adding.

Reclaim your Sundays! Year 5 Autumn planning for Mathematics. Plus great worksheets on Telling the Time. 13 weeks worth of Maths plans. Adapt them for your school. Cut ans paste and adapt to your needs. Topics include Counting, portioning and calculating 3d shapes Securing number facts, calculating, identifying relationships and many more

Some great planning for a project on Africa. Best spread over a half term. A little and often Maybe you could do an assembly? Fun activities. Make a mask Make a dance Climate and history and social science covered. Start off with this: So how much do you really know about Africa? Begin with a quick question and answer session on Africa to ascertain how much the class already know, for example: Is Africa a continent or a country? Is it an island? Is the equator near Africa? What animals do they associate with Africa? Watch the ‘Challenge the Stereotypes’ video after going through the questions Class Input – Has anyone been to Africa? Using a map of Africa (visualiser, cut out, atlas?) ask children to come and label the places they have been in Africa and say 3 sentences about the area. Challenge – How many countries can children label on the map in Africa? Show students a map of Africa. Explain how it is one continent that has 54 countries. Find the UK on the map, discuss the differences in location, size etc. Explain that they are going to be finding out about Africa and looking into its problems and their solutions over the next half term. Think/Pair Share: Discuss where in Africa you might go as a tourist and why? Did they know Egypt was part of Africa? Explain to the chn that Africa is so rich in its culture that the Earth’s oldest known stone tools (2,400,000 BCE) and first known species: homo erectus (1,900,000 BCE) and humans/homo-sapiens (200,000 BCE) inhabited Africa before any other continent! So genetic evidence suggests we all originate from a species in Africa This lesson should highlight the minimal amount we know about Africa and encourage chn to find out more about the continent, the coutries and the culture over the coming weeks.