this is the installment in a series of stories for children both Junior and early Seniors.It is based around a young dog born into the role of being a Sheep Dog, no less , no more.His entire world is the farm and the expectations put upon him are simple and clear.He has a role to fulfill as a working dog just like every sheep dog before him and those to come. He does not the skills or inclination unlike his dashing brothers, Thor and Loki who are exemplars of sheep dog perfection. Sheep ignore him entirely and he seems unable to draw from within himself the gift of every sheep dog, “THE EYE”.Without this exceptional skill he has no hope of fulfilling his role.The story charts his feelings of disappointment and his sense of self esteem.However, Billy is as sharp as a tack and soon discovers his path forward, and it is not on the farm. The following Installment to follow charts his attempts to carve out a life as a family pet, and it is not all plain sailing

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 poetry book covers a wide range of subject matter and topics and is illustrated in a lively professional cartoon style both in colour and monochrome.Subjects range from personal concerns of childhood such as ownership, bullying,ant- bullying self esteem, family issues, school experiences, coping with loss , the pains and joys of growing up , imaginary friends and Super Heroes to wider concerns such as the environment, plastic pollution and our choices of faith. The poems themselves range from performance based raps and chanting to longer narrative style pieces. “What’s that ll about then?” is written with humour but often has a serious message to convey.These stories, back stories and poems are intended as a creative platform to encourage meaningful creative writing in class by encouraging pupils to share their everyday experiences and to assist them in choosing form and content that relates to their own lives The poems and attendant stories make great springboards for PHSE , Topic based learning and Literacy.Alongside the books in my shop you will find cartoon style plans and idea sheets that link directly to the book and specific poems , these explore everyday life and happiness and sorrows it can bring.This book has been well tested in the classroom and pupils have found the poems and stories funny, relevant and are able to identify and are encouraged to write and perform their own creative writing, poetry and prose. Hard copies are available to purchase , just contact me through my public Face Book page, “Every day heroes and the odd villain”. I also provide lively and engaging workshops in schools on Art /Poetry for very reasonable costs.Use my FB page to arrange this.(Everyday heroes and the odd villain) Please do consider spending a moment to leave a breif view if you download ,as this completely free resource as a fully illustrated book is a considerable amount of work over quite an extended period of time an represets a great of fun, but hard work. REVIEWS are helpful to all parties and will help to popularize this entirely free resource and attendant support materials, thank you , TERRY

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 collection of some of the internal pages and content of my book, WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT THEN?.a written summary can be found in the info pack in my shop under resources.I ALSO HAVE A FULL PDF file in my shop of the book in its entirety as a free downloadable resource. There are link to my FB PAGE and contact details in my info. pack should you wish to purchase a hard copy.The quality of the book is high with clean white good weight paper and glorious colour reproductions of my illustrations. The book sells for £9.50 a copy plus £2.50 postage UK the very same book is available in my shop as a pdf book, at 118 pages long and brimming with creative writing , art and cross curricular ontent to using as a prompt toPHSE discussions and more it is real bargain at £3.00.GRAB A COPY! please consider leaving a review if you download the free resource copy(pdf) available in my shop as a 120 paged fully illustrated book is a considerable amount of work over quite an extended period of time. REVIEWS are helpful to all parties and will help to popularize this entirely free resource and attendant support materials, thank you , TERRY

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

This info pack gives an over view of my book for Junior age children, specifying content, illustrating example excerpts and discusses the book’s links to creative writing and Art in the classroom.It also details my own views and gives details of just what I offer in workshops.The book can be used in the classroom as there are many prompts and springboards to discussion across a wide range of childhood issues and interests.The book is written in a humorous way but does address some serious issues.