Two user friendly lesson plans and sets of worksheets, with free audio, to download and use straightaway, in primary classrooms. They are fun, easy to manage and a great way to introduce Shakespeare to children, from Reception up to Year 6. Each lesson has clear aims and criteria for achievement, differentiation for ability, a sample keywords and questions, a list of resources and next steps. Worksheets are plain and simple, and are designed specifically for the lessons, but can be adapted or seen as a template for your own worksheets or work in books. The lessons can be the starting point for other activities as a project on the text, such as music (creating a witches dance), science/technology (creating potions), maths (measuring potions, comparing measures etc) and so on. If you check out my resources, I have lesson plans based on the Witches Spell that you can use or adapt for your purposes, all for free. I have used the extract here with 3 to 11 year olds, and it is always a guaranteed winner, becoming a firm favourite warm-up game for drama activities (reciting it, not, you know, heating up a cauldron or anything - Elf and Safety and all that, and I so got in trouble for destroying the Kingdom of Mordor, so not doing that again). To hear a FREE recording of the poem, please go to my website: http://emblabee.org/the-31-days-of-scary-day-1/ or SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/user-983069543/the-witches-spell If you like my resources, I’d be really grateful for a review and some stars. If you don’t like them, ask your loved ones to stock up on flies for your breakfast x

A PowerPoint explaining how Anthony Browne put his pictures together in Willy’s Pictures to tell stories, by looking at the work of other famous artists. Anthony Browne was a past Children’s Laurette and is a leading illustrator and author. His picture books are literate and, often, contain a darkly humourous subtext. Willy’s Pictures uses famous paintings to create a sketch book of stories, with surreal images of Willy from the Willy the Wimp series of books. You can use this power point as a way of exploring the pictures in the book and the famous art it refers to, as well as the way pictures are composed and are used as a method of expression. Honestly, though, it’s not as boring as it sounds…!

A lesson plan and worksheets (or ideas for display activities) for the ingredients. Great inspiration for World Book Day or Book Week activities, or inspiring young readers and writers to talk about their favourite books, this will get them thinking and putting ideas on paper or provide a focus for a class discussion. Suitable for EYFS and KS1, I have done this activity as individual, group and class discussion work, and each time it has been different and the same! It's always fun, interactive, spirited, but full of ideas that come out of nowhere. Be prepared to be amazed. Please let me know how you get on, via the review box or twitter @EmmisStories