Fiona, the founder of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers and worked as environmental educator. She is currently studying graphic design.
Teachers Telling Tales is a means to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities. Many are inspired by stories to engage learners.
Fiona, the founder of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers and worked as environmental educator. She is currently studying graphic design.
Teachers Telling Tales is a means to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities. Many are inspired by stories to engage learners.
These sheets inspired by Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins feature little fish and some new fishy friends created by Teachers Telling Tales. They are great for developing fine motor skills, awareness of shape and pattern and early writing skills.
The fishy characters feature in a range of resources by Teachers Telling Tales on opposites, rhyming words and puzzles. They can be bought individually or you can bundle and save.
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
Socks are a great topic for exploring patterns. This pack contains resources to explore repeat patterns.
Contents:
Complete the stripes.
There are striped socks to complete, two with a 2 colour AB pattern and two with a 3 colour ABC patterns to complete. The socks are included in PDF and PNG form so the size is flexible. A blank sock is included for pattern creation.
Complete the sock sequence.
Pairs of socks repeated with a range of colour patterns. Includes a blank line for pattern creation.
A teacher’s guide
Read more ideas for sock topics here https://teacherstellingtales.com/socks-rock/
Related resources are available from Teachers Telling Tales, including an Odd Socks pack, sock-topus counting activities and Fantastic Footwear which includes templates for socks and a variety of shoes and themed design challenge task cards.
These resources are great for awareness days:
#oddsocksday November 16th (part of Anti-bullying Week)
#LotsOfSocksDay 21st March (World Down Syndrome Day)
These fun activity sheets were created to celebrate #WorldSpaceWeek 2023 (October 4–10).
They feature cute and colourful clip art and invite students to make as many words as they can from the letters in ‘astronaut’. The simpler sheet encourages students to complete the countdown by finding ten words. A sneaky way to squeeze in some spelling!
There are colour and ink-saving versions of activity and answer sheets.
Also check out the Teachers Telling Tales free Planet Anagrams / solar system spelling activity.
You may also like this fun Alien poem reading and drawing activity:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/the-alien-read-and-draw-12166304
A picture story book and linked activities for children who have to stay at home during school closures as a result of the corona virus pandemic.
The story is based on the familiar tale of the three little pigs and uses humour while reinforcing important messages about keeping safe and healthy. Activities include matching, colouring, creating signs and writing ideas.
All the resources including the story are free to download and share.
Please take the time to add a review if you find them helpful and share your children’s work related to the story on the Teachers Telling Tales page.
Having a set of stages to work through is a really useful support for students when solving problems. There are lots of acronyms used to help remember stages, this resource features four of the most popular. While some schools or classes adopt one, they can be even more meaningful when a student has selected the one they find most useful to them.
A lesson comparing and evaluating different strategies is helpful in getting to know students’ preferred learning style, for example, using visuals like drawing or underlining. It also encourages students to think more deeply about essential steps such as checking answers. Investigate whether different strategies work better for different kinds of problems.
Contents:
4 small pictures to compare and contrast / stick in books.
4 large posters to display.
4 bookmarks, useful for maths exercise books.
Improve cutting skills by cutting along the lines. Test skills with zig zag (straight) and wavy lines. Cute cartoon minibeasts at the end of each dotted line.
Check out the other minibeasts resources in the Teachers Telling Tales shop.
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.
The Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl have some good examples of figurative speech. This short presentation gives a few examples of idioms, for example: the cat’s pyjamas, he’s had his chips, up my street
There are links to videos of the Revolting Rhymes on YouTube in the notes.
Perfect as a follow up to reading The Revolting Rhymes or as part of a study of figurative language such as idioms.
Check out the other Revolting Rhymes resources by Teachers Telling Tales with a focus on reading comprehension skills: Revolting Times and Revolting Crimes.
Celebrate #WorldBeeDay with some bee-themed handwriting patterns and cutting skills!
For more minibeast-themed resources including card and board games, mazes, sudoku and book making check out https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/minibeasts-big-bug-bundle-12340248
Teachers Telling Tales also have a free bee-themed maths activity here which can be adapted for different ages and abilities:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/buzz-off-square-numbers-multistep-game-12521661
Jar and bottle templates, blank and with lines for Word Collector activities and display. Inspired by the short story in Eren by Simon P. Clark about a man who collected words, locking the ones he liked in special jars so that no-one could ever use them again.
Ideas:
A ‘jar’ for each student to put their words in. This is a good use for those plastic food and drink containers that collect in cupboards! Foil packaging (such as crisp packets) can be used to write words with a permanent marker, or use glitter glue for sparkle. Displayed in a dark corner with fairy lights this will look really special. Whenever a new word is found it can be added to the jar which then become a resource at creative writing time.
Sensory jar creations. Add oil, water, glitter, cubes or Lego with letters on to build the words inside the jar.
A Word Collection notebook to add to and refer to.
A display of The Greatest Words. Each student adds their favourite word to a jar (2D or 3D) on the shelf.
See https://teacherstellingtales.com/word-collectors/ for more.
Pirate anagrams are a great way to introduce or reinforce topic vocabulary. This worksheet has picture clues alongside the mixed up letters and a space to write the word correctly. It can be kept to refer to when completing writing tasks to assist with spelling. Also useful as an activity for early finishers. A greyscale version is included for ink saving or for those who like to colour in their work.
The worksheet can be downloaded on its own or as part of a pirates pack, check out the other pirate themed resources by Teachers Telling Tales.
A lesson plan on hand washing. Perfect for Global Handwashing Day, October 15th annually.
Glitter Germs activity, Card games, songs, quiz and teacher / facilitator’s notes. Links to resources such as posters and card games.
In Word format for easy editing. Differentiated activities for lower and upper primary school children.
An activity for learning about fairy tales and famous quotes from well known characters. Can children read the quote and match it to the correct character?
2 A4 sheets with 8 characters and corresponding quotes.
Can be enlarged and used for teacher modelling or group/class activity. This activity is also useful as a demonstration of how well students know fairy tales, an adult can support with reading. This resource complements the ‘Once Said in a Fairytale’ collection available in the Teachers Telling Tales tes shop.
Some children can be anxious when they feel sick or are hurt and need to visit the school nurse. A classroom visit from the nurse to demonstrate what he/she does can help to overcome this. There are 8 editable common scenarios here to role play with class toys or teddies. For example, taking temperature, using a hot water bottle or ice pack, putting on a plaster.
If children are still anxious, especially about going to the ‘sick room’ they could take a teddy to visit the nurse with a scenario card for a further demonstration. A hospital or doctor role play area with the teddies is a good follow up to this lesson. For more information or ideas check out the post on teacherstellingtales.com https://teacherstellingtales.com/a-visit-from-the-nurse/
Update: new resources developed to encourage writing in the role play area, doctor’s consultation and prescription (simple pictorial sheet for early years).
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/doctor-s-orders-role-play-writing-frames-12248191
Get creative colouring these cool ice lollies. There are 4 character designs and 6 outlines of different shaped lollies to colour. Great for talking about flavours, colours, patterns and preferences.
As a challenge, children could think up a name for their ice lolly and maybe even design the packaging too.
Print or stick on card for creating textured lollies using collage with sequins, beads etc.
Check out the other ice lolly and ice cream resources by Teachers Telling Tales. This resource is included in the ‘Ice Ice Bundle’.
Through this interactive story students learn about different sources of water pollution and consider their impacts on marine life. They follow Finn the fish as he travels through different ecosystems encountering different problems along the way. Immersing a sponge fish in a container of water and adding substances to mimic the different kinds of pollution is a powerful visual way to demonstrate the problems. Follow up ideas including matching cards are included along with editable story scripts to adapt for different learners / contexts.
This multi step maths game is excellent for consolidating square numbers knowledge. It features square numbers and square roots and familiarises students with the mathematical symbols.
The cute bees, flowers and hive design also features on blank sheets to add your own numbers and questions, or for students to create their own as an extension activity. There are colour and ink saving versions, (that students can colour themselves). If working with a partner students can pick a bee each, see who gets the highest answer and check each other’s answers. It also works well as an individual activity. Answers and guide included.
The game can be printed, projected on a screen or completed digitally. as students record their answers on paper or a whiteboard, the game can be used over and over.
There are similar packs available from Teachers Telling Tales with different designs and skills and the option to bundle and save.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/climb-the-trees-multistep-maths-games-12521644
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/cross-the-pond-multistep-maths-games-12521614
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/climb-the-branch-multistep-maths-games-12521653
