A complete, standalone writing lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils complete a written piece to either begin or end a unit on newspapers (with an Anglo Saxon topic theme!). In this lesson, pupils complete a newspaper article breaking the news to Romano Britons that the Anglo Saxons are about to invade their shores. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, planning template, writing frame (pages 1 and 2, with newspaper-style columns) and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A geography lesson for Y2/3 in which pupils make some basic comparisons between the UK and a neighbouring European country (France), relating to both environmental, physical and human aspects of their geographies. Main activity involves a venn diagram, differentiated two ways plus an added extension.

This is a complete lesson for lower KS2 pupils who are studying Hinduism in RE and have already had a basic introduction to the concepts of Ahimsa, Karma and Dharma. There is a starter intended to ‘hook’ the children in by getting them to ask the questions - these questions could then be used in an alternative plenary in which pupils can answer their original questions. The reading activity could be completed in groups of four (one card each) or pairs (two cards each). There are comprehension questions at the bottom for the pupils to ask each there peers after reading each section. Finally, the main written activity is differentiated three ways to allow children to apply their new understanding of Ghandi and his beliefs.

A tarsia puzzle for practice with telling time from an analogue clock. The challenges comprise “o’clock”, “half-past”, “quarter to/past” times, as well as times to the nearest 5 minutes and nearest minute. In addition, there are added challenges that test pupils’ knowledge of certain ‘time facts’ (e.g that there are 24 hours in a day and 12 months in a year) that are on the LKS2 curriculum but best taught through continuous provision rather than discrete lessons. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems? **Note: This puzzle works best when enlarged to A3 **

A lesson for KS1 about the importance of stewardship of the world and what some of the major world religions say about looking after the planet. Includes two videos. Activity (to produce poster about what we should and should not do to be good stewards of the world) is differentiated three ways.

A lesson for Y2 or Y3 on the key locations on Earth (North Pole, South Pole, Equator, Northern and Southern Hemispheres) plus the directions of a four-point compass. Activity comprises three smaller tasks and is differentiated three ways. Includes a world map with the key countries (for the questions) highlighted. However, you may prefer to use a photocopied atlas (perhaps enlarging to A3) for greater readability.

A lesson for lower KS2 on poetic metaphor and personification, using poetry about water as the context. The powerpoint introduces the idea via the concept of similes (so pupils should understand similes before teaching this content). The differences and similarities between metaphor and personification are then explained. The lesson then gets pupils to discuss ‘good’ and ‘not so good’ examples of metaphors and uses this to draw out ‘success criteria’ (guidelines) for writing good metaphors. The main activities are then differentiated 3 ways.

A complete, standalone lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils design a ‘room-cleaning robot’ and then use this as the context for an explanation text on how the robot functions. This can be done as an assessed piece in one extended lesson or the content could be split into separate planning and writing days. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, design template, planning (‘flowchart’) template, L.O page header slips and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A complete PSHE lesson lasting 30-45 mins for Y3/4 on the importance of oral hygeine. The slides explain how ‘Toothless Tom’ and ‘Peraly White Paul’ (resemblance to Joey Essex is purely incidental!) came to have teeth that look the way that they do. Pupils than work in pairs/groups to answer the differentiated questions on post-its that can be attached to the images.

A complete lesson for Y4-6 (adaptable for Y3) about how to identify and write effective similes. This lesson is intended to take pupils right back to what the point of similes is: to create vivid imagery in the reader’s mind. From there, various ‘good’ and ‘not so good’ examples show pupils how to build that imagery most effectively. Pupils then generate the ‘success criteria’ for effective similes (the powerpoint refines these down to 3 ‘golden guidelines’). Finally, there are 3 differentiated activities ranging from quite heavily scaffolded (‘Challenge 1’) to freer writing. For higher year groups, you could make ‘Challenge 2’ the easiest and then challenge your most able writers to apply the ‘golden guidelines’ in their own similes ‘from scratch’. Please note: this lesson frames similes through the context of writing descriptive settings of a forest. You can of course edit the powerpoint directly and copy/paste, then edit the wording from the activities.

A lesson for Y3/4 all about rhythm in poetry and the syllables in words. The context is water-themed poems constructed with rhyming couplets. The activities are differentiated three ways with an extension challenge. Challenge 1 requires pupils to count the syllables in each line of a poem and then choose the best line to finish it off. Challenge 2 requires pupils to write their own additional lines, as does Challenge 3 but a syllabic limit is imposed for them to work within.

A writing lesson for Y3/4 giving pupils an opportunity to write a section of an adventure story with a polar/Arctic/Canadian/Inuit theme. The pupils are challenged to write the ending to a story they are introduced to (‘Nukilik and the Bear’) about an Inuit boy and an orphaned polar bear. This lesson can be used as an assessment piece at the start or end of a unit on adventure story writing. The resources comprise: a planning template, wordbank, story introduction to follow on from and a step-by-step powerpoint.

This is a complete writing lesson for lower KS2 during which pupils will write a biography of Harry Potter. It is structured as an assessment piece that could take place either before the start or at the end of a unit on biographies. However, it is adaptable if you wish to use it in another way. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint with embedded videos, a list of the major facts in Harry’s life (for pupils to order), an example text (WAGOLL) and a word bank to assist pupils’ writing.

Use these differentiated resources in a practical 3D shape lesson in lower KS2 on prisms and non prisms. You will need to source the items for the children to investigate: balls Toblerone boxes Smartie boxes fruit cans or similar matchboxes teabags (the ‘pyramid’ (tetrahedron) kind) pencils ice cream cone wrappers toothpaste boxes There is a template that starts pupils off at the ‘1 chilli’ (i.e. easiest) level and allows them to choose how their level of challenge progresses from there. Ask your TA to trim the activities along the black lines into rectangles and pupils can come up to collect the one they want when ready!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 on telling the time to the nearest minute. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint presentation, a laminatable sheet of blank clocks for pupils to use to represent the times given in the guided activities and three differentiated worksheets for the main activity. There is also a discussion-based plenary. Please note: pupils should already be able to read time to the nearest 5 minutes (lesson available at this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/tell-the-time-from-an-analogue-clock-nearest-5-mins-11909819?theme=0) before you teach this lesson and should know how many minutes are in one hour. It’s also recommended that you have teaching clocks with moveable hands for both the pupils and a larger one for you and/or your TA.

A complete lesson for lower KS2 that introduces subtraction with regrouping. The resources comprise a powerpoint with animated base-ten blocks to show what is happening when numbers are subtracted, a template for children to ‘create their own worksheet’ and 2-way differentiated activities that pupils can add to the template to suit their own level of challenge. The worksheets are uploaded as Word documents and are therefore fully editable - please feel free to replace ‘Mr Drakes’ and ‘Mrs Nichols’ with members of staff from your school! There was originally a separate set of resources for different partners within the class (hence the ‘blue’ and ‘yellow’ labels).

A set of 16 ‘top trumps’ cards with three sets of four-digit numbers describing the vital stats of a number of modern cars. Can be used in number of ways when learning about place value with 4-digit numbers: playing the traditional ‘top trumps’ game in pairs as a lesson starter, using one set of numbers (e.g ‘wheelbase’) to order the cards, comparing and ordering the numbers for one particular car, etc. The context is intended to engage those pupils who may not always see the relevance of mathematical concepts - hence the set includes plenty of luxury and sports cars as well as those more modest motors we teachers are likely to be spotted in!

A debate lesson for Y5 English at the beginning of a unit on writing balanced arguments, to complement a geography topic on Global Trade. The motion is ‘globalisation is a force for good in the world’, with eight fictional characters who stand on different sides of the argument. Through hot-seating and diamond four activities, this should help get some in-depth discussion going in your classrooms about the hidden costs of our cheap and plentiful consumer goods in the West, whilst acknowledging that standards of living would probably be worse across the board without worldwide commerce. Happy teaching and please do leave your feedback.

A lesson to introduce the topic of ‘creation stories’ for Y1/2 that focuses on encouraging pupils to see the complexity and variety of nature in comparison to the man-made world and prompting them to think about how it may have been created. This then prepares them to hear various religions’ creation stories in the following weeks as well as the scientific theory. The main activity in the lesson is a chance to leave the classroom and go to the school field/Forest Schools area/nearby park/garden to look for examples of complexity and beauty in nature. This is followed by a ‘follow-up’ activity to evidence the learning in the lesson input, which is differentiated three ways.