This resource contains two weeks of lessons (9) and planning using the critically acclaimed picture book ‘The Watertower’. 6 lessons involved in the planning are aimed at supporting key elements and features of SPaG that shall be used in the end goal of writing a newspaper report describing the Watertower and its impact on the community of Preston. Within these lessons, children are presented with the opportunity to explore their own interpretation of the book, look into the difference between factual information and rumour and create their own short descriptive story as to what happens to Bubba but is only implied (which can be a short story from a 1st or 3rd person perspective). The final lessons are a step by step planning guide to creating a newspaper report focusing on creating a balanced viewpoint on whether or not the watertower should be pulled down, followed by an editing lesson and final write-up lesson. Checklists and success criteria are provided alongside the presentations and all resources that are needed for each lesson. It is suitable for later on in Year 5 or Year 6 class. I highly recommend obtaining a copy of the book (whilst images are present in the presentations needed for the lessons) so that the children can study the images more closely. Would also be a very useful book for some creative writing and inference and retrieval reading lessons. Lesson 5 requires the use of newspaper reports from local sources or national papers. Suitable articles would include those that have discussion topics, present information about factual events or persuasive articles to show the contrast in report writing.

This resource is a Guided Reading unit of work based on The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie. It is suitable for Year 5 classes. Within the pack are two highly detailed resources that are 30 lessons worth: The Nowhere Emporium teacher pack - a series of key questions for each lesson based on a chronological breakdown of the novel. Each question is based on a criteria to test different aspects of children’s reading abilities. Answers are given for the key questions in the notes and space is left for notes taken on children’s feedback. Questions can be added or altered based on class needs. The Nowhere Emporium Activity Booklet - 10 separate comprehension activities designed for independent reading and completion. These occur every third lesson and contain a key as to what type of question is being asked of the children. This is taught through a three lesson framework per week but can be taught continuously. Lesson 1 of three is a shared reading lesson where teachers and children read the given chapter together with the teacher stopping for questioning and prompting. Lesson 2 of the three is a discussion lesson where children re-read the previous days lesson and then apply their growing comprehension skills to retrieve, infer, summarise and predict. Teacher and class feedback then allows formation of answers to the given questions. Lesson 3 is an independent activity lesson where children read the next section of the novel and complete the activity page based on their reading.

A two week poetry unit focusing on the theme of villainous characters. The lessons entail an analysis on ‘The Spider and the Fly’, and ‘The Raven’. The children will spend time learning about the narrative of both poems, analysing them for poetic devices and then practicing and performing the poems. The language used in both poems is challenging and provides a good opportunity for children to delve into older language and use their contextual knowledge to try and pick apart the word. The lessons shall then progress to the children using the narrative focus of The Spider and the Fly’ to create their own poem on a predator and prey at a level that we do not often see, incorporating the poetic devices that they have been analysing.

This is a complete unit of work focusing on the use of the short video - Alma. This is aimed at an upper Year 5 class or early Year 6 class. It contains 6 lessons focusing on a descriptive writing element to the story, whereby the children develop a story focusing on setting; relative and subordinate clauses; cohesive devices; colons and semi-colons and then a descriptive recount and edit. The additional three lessons focus on discussion and persuasive writing. However the third and final lesson can be split into two depending on the time allowed for the lesson and the ability of the children. All planning is included as well as the resources and supporting resources necessary to conduct the lessons and activities.

Year 5/6 topic A lesson presentation and accompanying resource that shares examples of the exploits of the Ancient Maya and allows children to discover their uses to them at the time but also begin to make connections with our lives today. Children will complete an ordering activity whereby they decide on a hierarchy of importance for the inventions and subsequently justify their choices referring the explanations used within the lesson presentation and their own opinions.

Completed this activity with my Year 6 class but suitable for most year groups. Takes a short amount of explanation but then children can complete in groups or independently. Puts the onus on the children to think of their own word/arithmetic problems and checks their own understanding. Quite a simple task to run: children are presented with a room template with three doors containing a different answer on the front; they create a question card from one of their topics thus far and a correct answer for the question which aligns with one of the doors. These can then be compiled into a class set which can be preserved and used as you see fit, such as during wet breaks, golden time, a challenge during a lesson. This can added to as the year goes on and a way of revisiting topics. Files contain: room template, question card template, explanation of activity (editable).

A 21-lesson unit for Guided Reading aimed at a Year 6 class. This unit follows a three lesson pattern a week - leaving opportunities to develop on skills such as retrieval, inference, cohesion and summary in other lessons. The first lesson acts as a whole class read whereby you have the opportunity to hear and discuss the chapter with teachers leading questioning from the chapter. The second lesson focuses on the previous lesson’s chapter. However, in this lesson the focus is on aiding children’s understanding of the chapter, developing discussion further and providing opportunity to model different styles of comprehension questions. The lesson starts with a timed read, a short retrieval challenge based on one page and then group/partner questions that are then shared and modelled. The final lesson (lesson 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21) are independent lessons where the children apply what they have practiced on the previous lesson. This time they read the next chapter and then answer comprehension questions based on what they have read. The questions are a mixture of retrieval, inference, summary, author choice, word context. Writing opportunities are frequent throughout this book, some have been noted at the end of the lesson on the Teacher Guide. This book gripped my class and led to some detailed writing. I have used this with my current Year 6 class, they have loved the book and it has led to some interesting writing pieces and outcomes, with some great discussion. Highly recommend the book as an English writing piece, alongside the Guided Reading. Included: Independent Comprehension Workbook containing a range of question types. Teacher Guide for Whole Unit PPTs for Whole Class discussion (Lessons 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20) Activity Sheet for Whole Class Discussion (Lessons 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20) Assessment Crib sheet for Independent Lesson Writing opportunity template and further challenges at end of independent lesson.

A Guided Reading resource for a Year 5/6 class based over 27 lessons on the book 'Skellig’ by David Almond. This resource contains the planning for each lesson and the pages that should be read in each as well as questions and prompts for the teacher. It also contains the comprehension pack for the children to complete every third lesson. The lessons are split into three parts. Lesson 1 is a shared/classroom discussion lesson that focuses on all children and teachers reading a set amount of pages. As children read they should be challenged through the selection of vocabulary in the pages and asked inference and retrieval questions throughout whilst reading this gripping tale. Lesson 2 focuses on applying the skills of a written comprehension. Children shall re-read the same pages from the previous lesson, however this time they shall be given a selection of questions that range in purpose; from inference, retrieval, prediction, knowledge of language and more. The questions and wording shall be discussed as a class and then as groups children shall work through these problems and then their answers shall be modeled and shared as a class and supported through teacher involvement. Lesson 3 acts as an independent lesson that pulls together the different skills the children have been working on. They shall read the next specified section of the book and then complete a comprehension sheet on the read pages. The children will be expected to put into practice the type of answers they have been working on as a class and use the code at the top of the comprehension page to help them identify the manner in which they should answer the question.

Differentiated resource sorting multiples into Venn diagrams.

A lesson focusing on the different purposes of colons and semi-colons, suitable for a year 5 and 6 class. The lesson uses the short video, Alma, as a means to capture the children’s attention. A SPaG starter is used as a warm up before the children are taught the many different purposes of the punctuation and then apply it to their own sentence. This is a very hands on lesson with a lot of back and forth between the teacher and the children. An extension activity is also offered if time allows. This is one of the lessons as part of my descriptive unit of work on Alma, which can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/alma-unit-of-work-12200651

The follow up to the first Active Maths Lesson. The first lesson proved incredibly successful with the lower ability children all taking a proactive part in maths in mixed ability groups and saw fantastic reasoning, grouping and questioning between all children. This lesson follows a similar structure in how the games are played and the summative learning at the end. However there is a focus on using their knowledge of multiplying and dividing fractions to work out their scores and complete the scavenger hunt. I have used blue, white, red, yellow and green for my scores as they are the most abundant coloured PE resource we have in school. This is easily modifiable based on your own schools. Pack contains: presentation with games and explanation; scavenger hunt activity sheet; scavenger hunt questions; lesson plan.

This lesson is designed to give children an active maths lesson where they do not realise explicitly they are being taught maths but rather see it as part of a fun, challenging experience with their classmates. It contributes towards the goal of keeping children physically working to at least a moderate intensity of thirty minutes a day and has proven to capture children’s attention across ranges of ability. The presentation attached guides you through each activity that the children complete, whereby they complete a series of games as teams and then are tasked with adding up their scores in the form of fractions. This gradually gets more challenging but will allow children to show their understanding of grouping fractions to create whole numbers or to create other fractions and work as a team. This lesson in particular covers fractions for Year 6 (comparing, ordering, adding, subtracting and multiplying), however it is easily modifiable to suit other topics of maths and other year groups. I will be uploading further lessons at a later date. To begin the lesson, the children complete a simple warm up moving round the space, this can be practicing their times tables to having a number card and completing commands if the statement said matches their card. They will then join a group designated by the colour of the card/beanie bag and complete the activities. The lesson requires either tables moved to the sides of the room or hall space to be effective. It also requires: an assortment of cones, beanie bags, mixture of different coloured balls or similar item, hoops.

This is a lesson for early on in a World War 2 unit of work or to provide children with some contextual knowledge for the period surrounding World War 2. It contains a presentation giving key information and events that preceded the war with explanations as to their importance. Differentiation is involved in the recapping of events and the ordering of the timeline, furthermore a detailed paragraph considering the significance of the events is offered. Also included are the planning for the lesson and the resources for the timelines.

Part of the War Horse - Historical Story Writing Unit of work (3 weeks). https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/historical-stories-war-horse-war-game-and-one-boy-s-war-12205177 This lesson is a cross curricular lesson that incorporates historical inquiry to tie in with a later English lesson. Children have been reading War Horse in class and are now going to use what they have been exposed to in the story to study the importance of historical accuracy when writing about a specified time period. The lesson looks into the term anachronism in order to then allow children to research factual information, the daily life of those in World War 1 and their hobbies and roles in society with the aim of identifying features that they can include in their own writing for contextually accurate pieces. Attached is the presentation for the lesson, the lesson plan and some research for children to use if they do not have access to books on the time period of internet access.

Year 6 - Lesson presentation, activity sheet and lesson plan focusing on the experiences of those who remained in cities whilst others were evacuated. Culminating in a descriptive, emotive piece of writing in the first person as air raid sirens are sounding and the movements between the home and the air shelters. Activity sheet contains helpful prompt questions and success criteria for piece of writing.

This is the full 15 lesson, unit of work for historical writing. One of the free lessons from this unit is found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/war-horse-anachronims-and-historical-research-lesson-12202278 The unit contains a focus on the study and use of historical stories through World War One as a cross curricular approach to teaching English with History and Drama. We use War Horse as inspiration for work to developing characters, identifying different sentence types whilst becoming familiar with vocabulary from the time period through research based lessons. The aim of these lessons is to compare the book with other adaptations of War Horse before attempting to write their own screenplay of a scene, adapted for their purpose with appropriate dialogue for their chosen scene. War Game and One Boy’s War are included to add further insight from a soldier’s perspective with a focus on creating an understanding of the realism of war and for children to appreciate the horrors, squalid conditions and misleading nature of the war that they joined (some rather enthusiastically). Children shall use research skills to discover the true nature of the trenches that soldiers fought in and create a letter home as a soldier to a friend who may be considering enlisting. In this letter they shall have to decide whether they would encourage or discourage their friend from enlisting. Finally, the audience and purpose for their writing shall change from informal to formal, where they write a historically accurate piece for an exhibition. All necessary resources are included as well as additional tasks based around War Horse for children to complete as homework if they have access to the book at home.

Two-week unit of work focusing on the narrative poem ‘The Highwayman’. The lessons focus on inference and retrieval skills before immersing the children in the different character’s and analysing the story plot in detail. The purpose of the unit of work is to get children to familiarise themselves with poetic devices before using them to continue the narrative poem after the death of Bess.

Activities and presentation containing tasks and challenges to enable children to apply and develop their learning of percentage equivalents in an active manner. A treasure hunt is the final activity that is included which involves a development of the fraction work children will have previously done in class alongside their understanding of percentages. Cones, bean bags and small balls also required. This lesson should be conducted in an area with space.

Presentation and activity sheet exploring the use of formal and informal vocabulary. Allows children to investigate reasons for either type and attempt to use their own. Included: presentation; differentiated activity sheet. Could be taught as part of an English unit or a stand alone lesson. Follow on lesson sees the application of formal and informal vocabulary alongside another presentation.