Esoteric Eric is aimed at upper junior and lower senior pupils.It tells the story of a hermit rabbit named Eric who travelers seek out to ask the big question.We follow a curious frog looking for meaning in his life as he seeks then finds Eric in his small dwelling. the story is written in poetic form and accompanied by lively cartoon style illustrations that encourage discourse and discussion. It is an accessible and amusing story created to encourage philosophical thought and talk.

This is an upper KS 2 /LOWER KS 3 activity as it requires some skills in introspection and self investigation more suited to this age group.The lesson is based around my own back story , poem and illustration called the Hide Behind.It is lesson that needs to be dealt with sensitively as students are asked to share aspects of their characters and personalities with others in discussion.At no time should anyone be pressured to share anything they do not wish, keep it light, based around common childhood concerns and collect these in a shared bank of ideas and examples.The students are to read the poem and report back on what they think the meaning/intention is and to dig out any sub text they may feel underlies the words and phrases.A look at some of the literary devices is suggested.Students create their own character which is essentially an extension of themselves made into a fantasy invisible counterpart. Once armed with a finished character the poem creation will be a great deal easier as it acts as a concrete stimulus upon which to build their poem.The lesson plan asks that they include a repeated and adapted refrain to build up a sense of expectation and mood.This task addresses personal and social issues, art and literature and makes a great classroom display too.

This is a lesson that I have run so many times and refined, it can be run with any year group in juniors just adapt it to suit.It makes a great"Let’s get to know one another" intro/task as the teacher has to"GO First" and discuss their own characteristics and personality traits before the class do.Basically the task uses imagery and language , specifically Metaphor and Simile to create an imaginary burger, it can be other things , a cake , a sandwich but edible options seem to be popular, and the ingredients are used to show who you are or aspects of who you are , likes , dislikes, hobbies, appearance or just about anything really.The fun part is mutual sharing and the ingenious solutions and ingredients the pupils come up with.Whilst the class are at the task it is good to share clever and innovative ideas and also get up on that display board and create a large but empty central burger for each"finisher" to select a filling of their own burger to add to the collective class burger, yours in their too please! Range the individual works around the main piece and discuss various things , commonalities , differences , surprises etc. Have fun with this one , the class will love it , after all everyone likes talking about themselves!

This is a quirky lesson that I have delivered countless times and fine tuned to its best.It comes to you straight from my sketch pad, hand written and drawn to reflect its content and aims.There is great art in here , brilliant and and meaningful speaking and listening and some expressive poetry around phrases using nouns and adjectives.It is a very popular lesson and will probably take up the bulk of a morning or all afternoon as it is quite a process to follow.However the results for display are super and speak loudly for themselves.There are opportunities to perform and share the results and the characters produced can be put into common resource file for pupils to select characters from and include in fictional stories( With the individual pupil’s permission) This can lead to great creative writing where the characters are owned by your class and those characters can populate linked stories.This one can go a long way once you and yours engage your imaginations , comics, graphic novels and so on all unique to your class, go on give it a go For lots more great creative ideas check out my book in my store available at a very reasonable cost as a pdf or paperback