This is a fully resourced unit inspired by ‘The Iron Man’. Children change key parts of a known story into news reports. Every session has a detailed plan, a presentation and resources for writing tasks. This was planned for Y4, but it could be easily adapted to any KS2 class (everything is fully editable in Word and PowerPoint). There are some preview screen shots to give you a feel for the unit, but the whole unit is included in the attached zip folder. Each lesson is organised into subfolders for ease of use. Enjoy! Here is a brief overview of the 15 sessions: Pre-unit Assessment - Cold task – ‘Lion loose in school grounds’ • I can show what I already know about newspaper reports Asking questions – reading comprehension • I can ask questions about the text I am reading Interviewer and eye witness part 1: Hogarth • I can use drama explore events from different points of view Interviewer and eye witness part 2: Hogarth’s father • I can reuse words from the text Interviewer and eye witness part 3 and 4: farmer and police officer • I can use drama explore events from different points of view Paragraph structure • I can group and order information Headlines and summaries I can tell, sell and summarise Adverbials of time (fronted adverbials) • I can use adverbs to say when an event happened Adverbials of time (again!) • I can use adverbs to say when an event happened Switching between different voices (objective journalistic comment and informal first person quotes) • I can change between third person (journalist) to first person (eye-witness) Extend a paragraph with further related information • I can add information to a paragraph (sticking to the theme) Co-create a toolkit and pick out key features from news reports • I can identify the features of a news report Combine writing from sessions 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 to create a full news report. • I can edit, improve and publish my work Generate ideas for hot task through drama and plan a news report • I can plan a news report Extended writing - Apply learning from across the unit • I can write a newspaper report (based on a known narrative)

This is a fully resourced, 3 week writing unit celebrating the work of black authors and exploring the themes of ‘A house like no other’ from the ‘Happy Here’ collection. By the final session, children will have written and edited their own ‘overcoming fear’ story. Absolutely everything you need is here. All slides and and resources have been created using PowerPoint and Word. Unit overview - 15 sessions including: Session 1: introduce the theme of the unit LO: I can listen to a poem and discuss it Session 2: pre-teach new vocabulary and make predictions LO: I can explore the meaning of words **Session 3: notice new vocabulary and make new predictions ** LO: I can ask questions and predict what might happen Session 4: What impact does the text have on the reader? Reading comprehension skills – summarising/impact of language choices LO: I can summarise the main ideas drawn from a short text Session 5: 'The argument’ Write dialogue about a child trying to avoid something that has been paid for LO: I can add adverbial phrases to speech sentences Session 6: ‘The Incident’ Look at the incident in first person. Create a diary recount and make use of modal verbs to convey self-doubt and uncertainty. LO: I can use modal verbs to show possibility and uncertainty Session 7: ‘The object’ Descriptive writing – imagine you could wear something that would magically take away all your worries and fears. LO: I can use ellipses to create drama and suspense Session 8: ‘Hot spot!’ What would it be like in for Izzy in this uncomfortable situation? Create multi-clause sentences. LO: I can use a range of conjunctions (if, but, while, when) Session 9: ‘The show’ Using dashes to add ‘chatty asides’ into sentences. LO: I can use dashes to interrupt a sentence or to extend a sentence Session 10: planning a narrative in which a character overcomes their fear Children use two resources: one provides prompts; the other is for recording ideas. LO: I can plan a short story for a Year 5 audience And five more amazing sessions!

Seven poetry lessons for upper KS2 with a focus on performance, creative writing and book making. All plans and resources included - everything you need is here. All work is produced using Word and Powerpoint, so edit as you wish. Most of all… enjoy. This is a fun unit! Please use the contents within the zip folder, and not the PNG files, which are previews of the unit. Overview of unit Session 1 Explore tricky vocabulary I can explore the meaning of words Session 2 Read, discuss, perform I can bring a poem to life using my voice **Session 3 Explore, map, recite ** I can visualise a poem and recite it from memory Session 4 Comprehension I can explain the meaning of words in context I can find information in poetry I can justify inferences with evidence Session 5 Create poetry I can write a free verse poem using a familiar theme and structure Session 6 Peer edit for impact + perform I can choose verbs and nouns phrases to create imagery I can perform my own composition fluently Session 7 present your poem as a book Optional session: fold and cut A3 paper to create a 3-D concertina book showcasing your poem

Word and PDF versions of everything included! In this fun ‘fronted adverbials’ game, children are journalists, working for rival newspapers. Bitter rivals! Players want to be first to the big news stories before their rival scoops them. Only the ‘First on the scene’ will get the story in their paper. The first player to finish their newspaper is the winner! Assessment focus I can use fronted adverbials to say ‘How?’ ‘When?’ ‘Where?’ events happen I know that fronted adverbials come ‘first’ in a sentence Explanation If you’ve been teaching for as long as I have (don’t ask!), you’ll have heard adverbs referred to as ‘roving reporters’. ‘Roving’ because they have more freedom to move around the sentence than other groups of words and ‘reporters’ because they often tell us more about the action and how/when/where it happens. • Slowly, he entered the room. • He slowly entered the room. • He entered the room slowly. Fronted adverbials aren’t ‘roving’ because they always open the sentence. You could think of these words and phrases as reporters (journalists), chasing big news stories and wanting to be ‘first on the scene’ to tell us more about the action as it happens. That’s why I created the game ‘First on the scene’ to encourage young writers to open sentences with adverbials.

Sweet shop lists! A fun way to generate list sentences Assessment focus I can use a comma (or ‘and’) to separate things in a list You will need: a dice guide (included), a tick chart (included), a 1-6 dice Support: Reduce the number of items on the tick list. Use a 1-3 dice and reduce the number of rows on the dice guide. Challenge: For each item in your list add an adjective to extend the noun phrase. There are some helpful words in the ‘Yum word bank’. Example: We shared our chewy fudge, sour laces and delicious lollipops.

A fully resourced, three-week Year 6 writing unit based on chapter 14 of ‘Number the Stars’ by Lois Lowry. This unit links beautifully with history learning, World War 2. If children a familiar with the story of Anne Frank, this text provides another example of what was happening in Europe in the final years of WW2. All planning, slides and activities are included - no extra work necessary. Outcome After looking closely at chapter 14 of Number the Stars, children write their own suspenseful, historical story about a child who has to take a mysterious and important package on a dangerous journey. **The following objectives are comprehensively covered: ** Grammar skills • Use a parenthesis (a single dash) to add an afterthought • Use short sentences to create suspense • Use expanded noun phrases to add descriptive detail • Personify nouns Composition • Develop a historical character • Build atmosphere and create contrasting settings • Apply an understanding of the key features of historical stories and suspense writing • Plan a story using a familiar structure to support Reading and Vocabulary • Explore unfamiliar vocabulary in context • Develop reading fluency skills • Retrieve information and infer meaning • Retell a traditional story • Identify the key features of historical stories and suspense writing

Adverbs are one of the trickier word classes, so let's start off with the basics and learn in a playful way. From Year 3 onwards, children are expected to understand the term 'adverb' and use adverbs in sentences. From Year 4 onwards, children are expected to be able to open sentences with adverbs. In this fully resourced lesson (including lots of engaging activities), complete with lesson plan, presentation and a lively dice game, children will learn to understand the term 'adverb' as well as exploring some of the functions of adverbs. They will also have plenty of opportunities to use adverbs in sentences orally - though if desired, they could record their learning as well. There is also more challenging task for your talented writers and I have included the game cards so that you can edit them to match your class text. This lesson would also be an ideal revision tool for the Year 6 Grammar Test.

From Year 2 onwards children are expected to understand and compose statements, commands and questions as part of their understanding of grammar and punctuation. Bring this dry subject matter to life by playing 'Mission Control'. Why should a fun games-based approach only be used in mathematics? This resource has everything you need: full lesson plan with differentiation; PowerPoint to support direct teaching; fully resourced game. Just add 1-6 die and you are ready for blast off. 10...9...8...7...

This lively whole class game involves stealing words and wearing blindfolds - it causes a real buzz of excitement around creating complex sentences. It is one of my most involved games, but very easy to get the hang of. You’ll need a full lesson to play it. A fun whole class grammar game promoting the use of subordinating conjunctions in complex sentences. My class loved it - I hope yours will too.

How many times have you taught your class about the rules for setting out direct speech? Worksheets are not the answer! How about trying a playful approach? Working in pairs children roll dice, create sentences and score them. They have to look closely at punctuation and think carefully about reporting clauses to be successful at the game. This game can also move more able writers on because players often need to add further chunks (or phrases and clauses) onto the end of the direct speech sentence. If they apply this skill in their writing, it can add depth. I have also added a more advanced version of the game, teaching children to interrupt direct speech by dropping the reporting clause into the middle of the sentence. As with all of my resources, everything is included (teacher/child friendly explanation of key concepts, score cards, rules, dice guides) apart from the dice and the paper!

If you are confident with your classroom management, this game works well in a lesson observation. Children compete in teams, dropping relative clauses into prepared sentences. Children try out different roles, from author to reporter, and work collaboratively. I have found that children were quickly able to apply this skill in their writing after a session playing this game. Differentiation included, if needed. Give it a try!

Updated instructions now added Quiz, Quiz, Trade is a fun and active way for children to learn facts. The cards can be tailored to cover any subject area, topic or learning objective and are particularly useful for introducing a new subject area that your class wouldn’t already know lots about. You could include a range of differentiated questions, but I have often found that the children you least expect will learn the more complicated facts after playing this game. The idea behind Quiz, Quiz, Trade is that it is a fun, non-threatening and exciting game that is inclusive for all and will help all children in your class to acquire knowledge quickly. Really handy when you just need them to have a bit of background knowledge or learn something quickly in order to apply or develop the knowledge in their work. Quiz, Quiz, Trade can be used for any age group (my cards are all aimed at years 4-6) that will be able to read the questions and answers. I have used Quiz, Quiz, Trade in observations with much success (see instruction page) and consistently use it to introduce new topics in class-the children love it!

A version of battle ships which could be used to teach any spelling pattern you like. tried and tested in class. This version is for plurals, but you could quickly edit the game to be played with any 10 words. I hope your class like it as much as mine.

This was a really fun and engaging lesson about polygons, which produced some terrific work. There is clear differentiation, and absolutely everything you need to make this fly in your classroom. I created it for a year 3 class, but I think it could be adapted for any class from y2 to y6. Included: detailed lesson plan quiz quiz trade quiz quiz trade instructions spelling box activity photos of finished investigations support activity - matching polygons to their names instructions for paper-folding polygons investigation at two levels of challenge table top vocab cards additional problems for children who have finished

This is a lesson I used with a year 3 class, but it would be useful for any class learning how to subtract multiples of 10 using a money context. There is a very detailed lesson plan, a presentation to guide the class along and all resources. You will also need a lot of 10p coins: ten 10p coins per pair of children. Just photocopy some if they’ve all gone missing! After a few warm-ups, the children begin with some giving change role play activities, before moving on to working on open numberlines. A lot of thought has been given to differentiation throughout the session. The independent work is differentiated three ways. There are extension activities as well and some challenges for the plenary. This session may run over an hour, depending on how speedy your class are.

A fully planned lesson with differentiated rounding activities. Children place numbers on a number line and round to the nearest 10. Very straightforward. They can work with anything from 2 digit numbers up to 6 digit numbers. Differentiated four ways. Simple but effective!