This is a set of 7 lessons on the Great Fire of London with aims, activities, vocabulary and references to the National Curriculum. The lessons use Vlad and the Great Fire of London and have linked resources, but you can use and adapt in whatever way is most useful to you and your class. I love this topic and have tried to include plenty of talk, drama activities and images that bring it to life, in a way that will excite children, and give them the tools to write and discuss with enthusiasm. The Big Questions aim to give them a wider perspective and stretch their understanding. I visit schools linked to my book ‘Vlad and the Great Fire of London’, for information about this please look at the Reading Riddle website. If you have found this useful please give it a review :) and look at my other free resources.

Six images from our book Vlad and the Great Fire of London, to put in order and make a timeline of the events. For an extension activity children can write further detail and add information about when the fire was finally extinguished. Further free resources are available on my TES shop and if you have found this useful please give it a review so others know :) The images are taken from the 2nd Edition of Vlad and the Great Fire of London and information about this and my school visits can be found on the Reading Riddle website.

Key vocabulary for the history topic, the Great Fire of London, with illustrations to support KS1 children of varying abilities. I hope the sheet is a useful resource in its own right links with our book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, illustrated by Sam Cunningham. The book is available from all sales outlets including the Reading Riddle website. Further resources, materials and updates are also available on the shop and Reading Riddle website.

Using the events of the Great Fire of London, this planning enables children to take an alternative character and write their story. Using drama the children consider the events and write a story set in September 1666. For further ideas and planning see the Reading Riddle website. Vlad and the Great Fire of London is available from Amazon or The National Archives bookshop.

A mixture of images of materials and clues from 1666 and now, that lead to discussion about things that caused the Great Fire of London to spread. This resource relates to the lesson plan available for free from the shop. The images can be cut up and sorted into the relevant era. They then provide a starting point for comparing what houses were made from and how close they were placed. The images are ideal for talking about similarities and differences in life now and hundreds of years ago and are also connected with resources for our book Vlad and the Great Fire of London. All illustrations are the copyright of Reading Riddle. More activities and ideas are on our Reading Riddle website and YouTube channel.

These documents include the rationale, list of activities and record sheet for a set of activities targeted at children who find handwriting and controlling pencils difficult. The aim is to strengthen their grip and improve their ability to control pencils. I put this together after having been asked to do these activities with children by Physios and Occupational Therapists over the years, and having been told that often a barrier to the writing was an inability to hold a small grip. Obviously larger pencils and pencil grips also help but these mini-workouts were targeted at children who still had difficulties and had is many cases had less access to activities needing fine motor control at a younger age.

Questions about non fiction fact books on a prompt sheet. These are intended to help parents to discuss books with their children. There is a separate sheet of questions about fiction books. Reading Riddle is a free website that aims to support parents and gives information about reading with children.

The planning and resources are based on the research and illustrations from the picture book Vlad and the Florence Nightingale Adventure. It works well with the book but can also be used independently. Florence Nightingale’s influence included working to make hospitals cleaner, train nurses to be professionals and gathering data to determine what changes improved healthcare. The lessons cover these ideas and include looking at hospitals past and present, timelines, science investigation on hygiene, the role of a nurse now and in history, first aid and making a difference and data gathering. There are links to RE, PSHE, Science, English and Maths. Within the lessons are Big Questions link to the topic to promote speaking and listening. There are powerpoints and resources to support lessons. Planning for English lessons on persuasive writing and instructions has been downloaded separately. For further information about the Vlad series of books (Vlad and the Great Fire of London, Vlad and the First World War), school visits, lesson resources and encouraging reading with families see the Reading Riddle website.

A list of questions that parents can use to talk about the book they have read with their child. These are the same questions on the classroom fiction question sheets, but on one sheet that can be shared with parents. This could be included as homework or in reading records to extend the reading experience between parents and children. Reading Riddle is a free website that aims to encourage parents and help them become more confident when reading with their children.

This resource accompanies Vlad and the Great Fire of London picture book. This guide has been written by the author of the Vlad picture book. It shares the research behind the book and gives a detailed summary of the history before, during and after the fire. In addition it contains page by page guidance to the images in the original book and useful questions. If you are teaching the Great Fire of London this will give you the key information on the history, context and curriculum learning for this topic. There are Big Questions that test both deeper factual knowledge and critical thinking, and ideas about where to look for visits and other activities. It contains all the information you need to teach the topic to a greater depth, whether it is the first time or if you want to refresh your knowledge and find out some fun facts to keep the subject lively. Contents: • Why is the Great Fire of London a significant event? • Timeline of events • Before the fire • Vlad and the Great Fire of London explained • After the fire • Places to visit in person and online • Big Questions • Other Vlad resources

This is a set of 13 questions about fiction books which aim to prompt discussion. They could be used by groups working independently, for example as a guided reading activity, or in a book corner. They were designed with white space on the right-hand side for the children to write or draw their ideas, and if they are laminated they could then be used repeatedly. Individual sheets might initiate specific pieces of work eg pulling out favourite vocabulary before focussing on what words children might choose to improve their own writing. If you have any suggestions, or would like text specific questions please let me know. Thank you.

Three simple differentiated sheets for fiction book reviews. They have been made with Key Stage 1 in mind and I have used these to make a class book for the book corner or library where children can share their ideas about books.

With illustrations and vocabulary from the book Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb this word mat is one of the resources created for the ancient Egypt topic. There are many more free resources including planning and lesson resources. The picture book Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb is a many layered story that was written to engage, trigger ideas, discussion and help children visualise life for a ancient Egyptian worker. The linked resources help understand the research behind the story. More information about the books, resources and school visits can be found on the Reading Riddle website

This is a set of 5 lessons which focus on the personal testimonies of those caught up in the First World War. The activities and objectives are included on the lesson plan and there are resource sheets and a planning sheet. Children work in groups to read and re-enact stories from eye-witness accounts. They then plan and write their own accounts and read them to the class. For other free resources, information about the Vlad history stories school visits and online sessions visit the Reading Riddle website.

This is a word mat including vocabulary needed to write as part of a topic on Florence Nightingale. It uses illustrations from Vlad and the Florence Nightingale Adventure. Look for the other planning and resources on the topic from my shop on TES or on the Reading Riddle website Check out the website for information on the books, author visits and links to other resources.

This is a lesson plan linked to the Florence Nightingale plan but can be used as a stand-alone lesson. The objectives of this lesson are for children to learn a first aid skill and to be able to write instructions on this skill. For further free resources see my TES shop or the Reading Riddle website There is also further information on the other Vlad books and author visits on the Reading Riddle website.

This lesson can be used in connection with the larger Florence Nightingale plan or as a stand alone lesson. Create a poster persuading people to wash their hands properly. Linked to the science investigation on hygiene the aim of this lesson is to produce text for a poster. For other free lesson plans and resources see my TES shop or the Reading Riddle website The website also includes information on the books and author visits.

These resources support a set of lessons on purposeful persuasive letter writing (KS2). Based on research I did to write Vlad and the First World War, they focus on Walter Tull and Phoebe Chapple. Both could have been awarded the Military Cross, but prevailing attitudes discriminated against them. The lessons support writing a letter to persuade the Ministry of Defence to award them posthumously. It includes a set of lesson plans linked to the literacy curriculum, templates for making notes and crib sheets if you want to focus on the letter writing rather than note taking. There are website links for research and 2 videos summarising their lives. Government offices respond to letters so if sent will receive a letter back. Further resources are available on the Reading Riddle website along with information on my books and school visits.

Encourage children to become involved in their local library by setting a holiday homework which involves joining their library, borrowing a book, reviewing it and returning the book. Children colour the tree as they achieve each part of the task. This could also be used as part of a campaign of activities to support their local library and encourage broader reading habits. My blog about this and ideas for parents who lack confidence reading with their children can be found on the Reading Riddle website.

This is one of the resources for the Great Fire of London topic - although any work needing to observe and collect fire words could use it. The full free planning and other linked resources are available to download on the Reading Riddle website in the Free Resources section.