These mug shots were taken at the Fairy Tale Police Department! The fairy tale characters are suspects of crimes. Did they do something wrong? Did they commit a crime? Are they innocent or guilty? There are seven mug shot pictures featuring well-known characters from favourite stories and a blank template for students to create their own. The pictures are a versatile resource that can be used for guessing games, discussion, drama and writing prompts. Activity ideas are included in the download. Good for a fairy tale or crime topic, English and Citizenship. This resource is part of a ‘Once upon a crime’ series by Teachers Telling Tales and accompanies the Fairytale Forensics unit of study. You can also ‘bundle and save’ on this series.

A fun fairy tale quiz in a presentation format. There are 3 rounds each with six questions. Who said it? Given a famous quote, guess the character and story. Complete the quote. Riddles - guess who, Fairytale Folk in their own words. This presentation can be used as a ‘knowledge harvest’ to assess prior knowledge at the start of a Fairy Tales topic and/or learning at the end of a unit of study. It can be a stimulus for discussion and a springboard for learning about characters, drama and speech in any kind of story. Of course, it can also be just for fun! Notes with suggested tiebreaker/advanced questions and discussion points are included. This presentation perfectly complements other Teachers Telling Tales ‘Once said in a Fairytale’ resources. It is useful as an introduction to the other games and activities in the series and can be purchased as part of a bundle.

The classic tale of Sam’s Sandwich is fantastic for engaging students as they eagerly await to discover which creature will be added with each sandwich ingredient. This pack contains resources to accompany the book, including word and picture cards for participation in read-alouds and retellings, a fill the gaps activity focussed on rhyming words (with two levels) and reading comprehension questions. Good for food and minibeasts topics. You may also like the Teachers Telling Tales minibeasts resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/minibeasts-big-bug-bundle-12340248 This pack contains two formats, PowerPoint and PDF.

An activity pack with garden themed games inspired by Nature Trail, a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah. A range of activities for different ages, abilities and literacy skills. Good for living things, habitats, garden, animals and minibeasts themes. Read or listen to the poem and remember or find all the creatures living in the garden. Scavenger hunt, bingo, matching and list variations using pictures and words. Dyslexia friendly font version of poem. Draw the garden or design your own including habitats for living things. Create your own nature trail.

Some fairytale folk have been up to no good! After reading the model case file on the alleged crimes of Goldilocks, students practise their form filling skills to complete a case file for another fictional character. They will need to complete sections for personal details (name, age, address etc. as well as information on the crime, witnesses and a short statement from the accused. This activity provides the opportunity for humour and imagination, while developing real-life writing skills. Basing writing on well known stories will support students who struggle to come up with ideas. Good for: fairy tales writing skills citizenship, crime There are seven fairy tale character writing frames, (including a blank version of Goldilocks) and 1 blank template so other characters can be used. There are colour versions for best work/display and greyscale to save on colour ink! This resource is part of a ‘Once upon a crime’ series by Teachers Telling Tales. The activity is one of twelve in a Fairy Tale Forensics unit of study and works well as a springboard for other activities involving role play and writing in the unit. The mug shots are also available as a separate resource. You can also ‘bundle and save’ on this series.

A collection of lessons / activities in the form of a presentation with slides to inspire, instruct and guide through each activity. This unit uses well known fairy tale stories and characters to explore story and citizenship themes through a fairy tale crime topic. The activities are designed to build from one another and can be followed consecutively, or used as a stand-alone lesson or activity in any order. Teachers notes are included in the presentation and a document with screen shots of each slide, notes and links. This presentation can be bought as part of a bundle which includes lots of supplementary materials such as templates to enhance the lessons. These resources are optional and linked to specific lessons so you may prefer not to use them or to purchase individually. Key ideas, concepts and questions explored Good and bad deeds What is a crime? Victim or Villain? Viewpoints and motivation, do two wrongs make a right? Mitigating circumstances. Truth, Lie or Excuse? Consider complexity moving from black and white to shades of grey. Perspectives and Persuasion, considering, expressing and explaining a viewpoint. Investigation. Questions: who, what, why, when, where. Fact and Opinion, looking at evidence. Critical Thinking Skills Focus Reasoning Expressing an opinion Considering differing viewpoints Explanation Persuasion Ways of Working Discussion Drama (hot seating, role play) Writing (different genres and styles – forms, reports, statements, social media posts, case files, persuasive, factual). Drawing Contents Introduction (assess prior knowledge). Police line-up of fairy tale characters Right, Wrong or Crime? Discussion, vocabulary. Right, Wrong or Crime? Write a list. Share and compare with classmates. Victim or Villain. Consider case of Jack and the Giant. Truth, Lie (or excuse) show and share your opinion. Arrest or Release (or keep for further questioning) show and share your opinion. Criminal Case File. Record personal details, crimes, witnesses, defence. Present your Case (drama) take turns to be the accused and questioners and have a discus about your case. (Questioners in role as witness / victim / law enforcement etc.). Perspectives and Persuasion Writing Prompts. Four styles to choose from – police report, lawyer case notes, reporter article and suspect/victim social media post. Detective Evidence gathering. In small forensics teams collect the evidence from a scene. Photograph, bag and label each item. Special Agent Investigation Board. Examine a sample investigation board then apply the questions (what, when, why, who, where) and different aspects (crime scene, suspect, witness, evidence, victim) to assigned case. Create investigation board. Magic Mirror. Draw a portrait of the meanest, guiltiest or biggest villain from the fairy tale world in the magic mirror frame. Explain your choice. Who would be the kindest or most heroic of them all?

Loanwords are words we borrow from other languages, like ‘ski’, or ‘pizza’. This fun quiz features five words each from other languages, can you guess which words come from where? A fascinating introduction into the origin of words and encouraging a love of language. Students who speak more than one language will recognise that common feeling when you feel the need to borrow form another language to express what you mean! Includes information on the meanings of some of the words and activity ideas to follow up, using the words in context. The presentation is also useful for exploring spelling patterns in loanwords. Powerpoint and PDF versions provided for flexibility. Originally created for and used with Year 6 pupils (UK) age 10-11, but fun for older ages, even adult learners! Includes a slide that can be used interactively and an answer slide.

Writing and drawing frames for evidence collecting at the scene of a crime! Great for role play or building a case in a crime scenario. Contains a model for students to use as inspiration / guidance, label and two sizes of bags. You can, of course, use real bags and add the printed labels, especially if using real objects as evidence. This resource is part of the ‘Once upon a crime’ series by Teachers Telling Tales. It is designed for one of twelve activities featured in a Fairy Tale Forensics presentation. It can be a one-off lesson or an introduction to the Special Agent Investigation Board project. The police and Fairytale Bureau of Investigation (FBI) badges and ID cards complement this resource. You can also ‘bundle and save’ on this series.

A pirate themed board game to learn the ‘ar’ sound and have fun talking like a pirate! Good for phonics, vocabulary, pirate topics. Contents: Game board (A4 size will work for 2 players, enlarge for more) 20 Clue cards with short riddles to answer, e.g. “the opposite of near”. Answer sheet Guide with instructions Colour or ink saving versions. As well as phonics this game is good for vocabulary with English learners. Talk like a Pirate ‘ar’ bingo is also available. This board game can be purchased as part of a bundle with ‘Yo ho ho’ pirate resources with a focus on the long ‘o’ sound.

Great for a space topic. A fun alien poem for shared reading, worksheets with a copy of the poem for more careful reading and a space to draw the scene. A checklist is provided for students to work with a buddy and see how many of the descriptions they included in their drawing. (This could be printed on the back of the sheet). While they are challenged to include all the specified details, students can be encouraged to use their imagination to complete the scene. The activity provides lots of opportunities for discussion and develops reading comprehension skills. Worksheets provided in PDF and Word (editable) formats. Dyslexia -friendly font versions are provided.

In ‘Quack! said the Billy Goat’, the silly poem by Charles Causley, the animal sounds are all mixed up. The poem is fantastic for learning about farm animals, the sounds they make and using speech bubbles. Children enjoy making the sounds and exploring how to write them. This resource comes with a guide with suggestions for introducing the poem, shared reading ideas to involve children and follow up games. There are animal silhouette pictures, animal names and speech bubbles with sounds. These are in the form of a picture for retelling the poem and to make cards for games and activities.

These worksheets feature a selection of poems from Commotion in the Ocean and Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae. Students are given the rhyming words to choose from to fill the gaps. There is space for drawing when the work is complete. There are greyscale (black and white) versions for saving on ink.

A complete lesson in a Powerpoint presentation, easily adaptable. Includes a starter activity to engage students and draw out vocabulary, group activities to describe ice lollies using adjectives, comparatives and superlatives and analysing features of advertising. Students then apply what they have learned in creating their own advertisement for a ice lolly of their choice. A suggested lesson plan provides guidance to educators and two printable word mats support students with inspiration and spelling. This lesson is suitable for classroom or distance / home learning. I have a range of creative resources on the ice lolly / ice cream theme you can check out here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ice-ice-bundle-12355950 and will be uploading some word problems on the same themes shortly.

This pack features fifteen adorable monsters to describe, compare and sort. They come in four colours with carefully selected similarities and differences, perfect for Guess Who games to develop observation, concentration and vocabulary skills. Use the quiz as a model for describing, for example, I am pink, I have three sharp teeth, I have horns. The presentation can be used on screen / interactive whiteboard and there are PDF files for poster / cards. Ideas and instructions for games along with photograph illustrations are included. For more monster-themed literacy and numeracy resources, check out the Teacher Telling Tales shop.

This resource was created to celebrate #WorldSpaceWeek 2023 (October 4–10). Planet Anagrams / solar system spelling This fun activity sheet was created to celebrate #WorldSpaceWeek 2023 (October 4–10). It features cute and colourful clip art and invites students to solve the anagrams of the names of planets in our solar system and write them in order. A sneaky way to squeeze in some spelling! Check out the free Astronaut Spelling Activity pack featuring two levels and answer sheets. You may also like this fun Alien poem reading and drawing activity. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/the-alien-read-and-draw-12166304

Develop phonics and reading skills with this Bingo game. Featuring 28 ‘ar’ words, there is a clue for each, for example, “The opposite of blunt”. There are 6 colour coded game boards, each with 16 words. Players must try to get 4 in a row. Good for listening skills and consolidating vocabulary with English learners. For more fun with the ‘ar’ sound, check out the board game: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ar-talk-like-a-pirate-phonics-board-game-12403169 Teachers Telling Tales also have Pirate phonics packs with the long ‘o’ sound. Pirate fans, check out the pack with position activities, mazes, anagrams and sudoku.

A simple and fun assembly idea based on Little Red Riding Hood. Performed by a Year 1 class, easily adaptable.

Inspired by the magic mirror from Snow White that tells the truth about characters, these templates can be used as frames for portraits. Heroes and villains are key feature of fairy tales. Characters tend to be represented in black and white terms, purely good or evil. This makes fairy tales a great vehicle for exploring character traits and discussing good and bad deeds. Children can decide who they think is the meanest (or kindest) fairy tale character and draw them. Depending on their age/developmental stage they can ‘show and tell’ their thoughts, perhaps scribed by an adult or write a few sentences to explain their choice. Some children may prefer to write in the frame instead of drawing. The pack contains two colour images (useful for discussion/display/modelling) and six black and white versions for drawings of the ‘kindest’ and ‘meanest’ of them all. There are variations on the wording, for example, the ‘biggest villain’ and ‘most heroic’. Did you know in the Disney film the evil queen says “Magic mirror” not “Mirror, mirror”? There is a magic mirror version too, in case you prefer this! This resource is part of a ‘Once upon a crime’ series by Teachers Telling Tales. The activity is one of 12 in a Fairy Tale Forensics unit of study presentation which includes a police line-up of characters that could be used as a stimulus for mirror portraits. The Mug Shots resource would also complement this activity. You can ‘bundle and save’ on this series.