Thanks for stopping by my shop. I am an experienced chartered primary teacher who has taught predominantly in Scotland. I also taught in England, Australia and in the Middle East. I produce a range of quality resources that provide depth and breadth. These resources should enhance the learning experience of pupils. There are many opportunities for active learning as well as structured tasks that consolidate and reinforce knowledge and application. Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by my shop. I am an experienced chartered primary teacher who has taught predominantly in Scotland. I also taught in England, Australia and in the Middle East. I produce a range of quality resources that provide depth and breadth. These resources should enhance the learning experience of pupils. There are many opportunities for active learning as well as structured tasks that consolidate and reinforce knowledge and application. Enjoy!
This pack contains a comprehensive presentation of the narrative/legend 'The Pied Piper'. I have included thumbnails that show some of the tasks included as well as the complete presentation.
It details the complete story with illustrations and teaching notes provided for each slide. It has sound effects as an additional feature.
Within the presentation there are a variety of literacy 'follow on' tasks that learners could complete after familiarisation with the story and related vocabulary. The tasks are varied with active learning ,some written outcomes as well as speaking and listening outcomes. This story is like most fairy tales a wonderful experience for children to revisit the past and has magic and mystery within. My learners have always thoroughly enjoyed it and it is wonderful for discussion because of the unique and unexpected ending. Whiteboard 'quick fire' tasks are within the PowerPoint as well as some online links for further exploration.
This unit contains a series of writing pictorial prompts with accompanying word walls. It also has several accompanying written responses that can be analysed and serve as reminders to the children to:
vary their sentence starts
vary the length of their sentences
use the word wall when composing sentences about the picture
use capitals at the beginning of each sentence
use full stops, exclamation marks and question marks as appropriate
Connectives or 'joining' words are provided on each slide to encourage more complex sentences.
I use it on a weekly basis to provide a 'short burst' writing task which helps the children to produce 3-5 sentences. I vary the task by asking the children to respond to the prompt on their white boards as well as within their jotters. The pictures are clear, colourful and stimulate discussion before writing and can be easily edited and changed to reflect current topic etc. The models are provided so that the teacher can easily prompt the children to notice a variety of starters , use of connectives and adjectives. I colour code the sentences - green at the start of each sentence and red for full stops, question marks and exclamation marks at the end. The unit is an additional writing resource that requires little preparation and complements longer writing tasks.
This presentation helps children to structure simple sentences about winter.
The initial slides ask the children to read a simple sentence with pictorial prompt.
Then they trace over the sentence and write the sentence within handwriting lines.
Lastly, they cut out each word, order them and glue them on the sentence strip. Ideal for early writers.
Further tasks ask the children to look at 3 winter pictorial prompts.
They then 'turn and talk' to a writing partner to aid sentence composition.
The children 'have a go' and write 3 simple sentences to match each picture.
Each slide can be displayed on a smart board for a 'talk for writing' session. Children can also compose on whiteboards before recording on task sheet.
Finally, some slides ask more confident writers to compose 2 sentences independently using connectives,
An additional coloring task is provided with a writing opportunity.
This pack composes of 2 colourful and engaging presentations about Robert Burns - Scotland’s treasured poet.
The first presentation deals with his life from boyhood to man. The visuals provided for each slide enhance and encourage class/group discussion. There are also some online links provided to add to the lesson. It is ideal as an introductory experience/lesson for learners in preparation for a study of Robert Burns’ life and the celebration of 25th January each year.
The second presentation is a quiz about his life and times. I have provided questions about his life and poetry. Each slide is followed by an ‘answer’ slide to provide learners with immediate recall. It is intended as an active learning experience for a group or a whole class.
I would welcome feedback and hope your learners enjoy and engage with these resources.
How to make a Salad and How to make Porridge
This pack of resources introduces the writing genre- instructions in a 'child friendly' manner. The food presentations are colorful and clearly set out the 'signposts' of the genre:
a) 'How to... ' title for instructions
b) What you need:
c) Pictures to aid meaning for the reader
d) What you do: or Method:
e) Numbering each instruction
This ensures that the children experience and engage with models before attempting independent writing tasks.
The 'cut and stick' activities resources match the initial presentations and provide a scaffold for the children to read , understand, label and order instructions in an active manner. I have also included larger pictures that would be ideal when working with a smaller group who need more support. These should be laminated if possible. The teacher can easily demonstrate the layout 'step by step' for children who need more direct teaching. I have also included the learning intentions and success criteria for the tasks.
The last presentation is a fun recipe version based on summer time . It can be read, explored and enjoyed before the children attempt to write similar instructions using a support mat provided on the presentation. There are two versions , colour background for smart board use and white background to save costs when printing. This presentation can be adapted for use with other seasons : Spring, Autumn and Winter.
This clear, concise and colorful presentation leads the learners step by step through the composition of a list poem based on a 'magic purse' theme. There is a grammar element throughout with an emphasis on nouns, adjectives and 'ing' verbs.
I have found a poetry context an effective way to embed incidental grammar teaching.
Although the outcome is a simple list poem, it can easily be differentiated for older learners. This would involve extending each line using e.g. adverbs or an additional clause. I have included the extension task for older learners on the latter part of the presentation . I have also provided pro formas for the children to use for their initial draft before they revise and improve.
This pack introduces children to basic sentence construction using an autumn theme. The ' Let's write about Autumn' presentation allows the teacher to model basic sentence construction on a smart board. Then the teacher has the option to scaffold two sentences from the visual prompt on following slide. Alternatively, the children can actively 'share the pen' with the teacher and write on whiteboard using visual prompt. I have also included a printer friendly version where children can record sentences on sheets, They could also record on whiteboards after
teacher has modelled using simple word wall provided.
The ' Autumn Scarecrows' presentation provides simple information in a clear and engaging way. It is followed by a factual writing task, a 'cut and stick' activity with background provided, a colour coded scarecrow task and a symmetrical task. There is also an online link provided for a 'scarecrow' action song. This is particularly suited as a cross curricular link for Autumn.
These resources support the persuasive writing genre.
The tasks involve designing a poster to advertise:
a fireworks sale
a cauldron shop
a magic wand shop
and can easily be adapted to include : a broomstick shop/sale or spell shop.
Both presentations detail the signposts of persuasion - 'catchy phrases', 'bold slogans' etc.
I have included a homework task which could be used as a warm up before a 'Big Writing' class session.
The word wall activity promotes independent dictionary referencing or thesaurus work.
The word mat supports composition for children who need more support and helps with illustrations - a key feature of a persuasive poster.
A very enjoyable task which engages the learners and particularly relevant in this season.
Two presentations that contain a variety of literacy tasks based on a Winter/ Arctic theme.
The first presentation contains:
winter word walls
winter handwriting
winter writing tasks
winter drawing and labelling tasks
winter key words task ( mini whiteboards)
'Jack Frost' poem , drawing and writing task
Winter weather cut and stick task
Winter clothes drawing and labelling task
The second presentation has literacy tasks based on animals of the Arctic.
It contains:
Factual passages about 4 Arctic creatures - Snowy Owl, Arctic Fox, Polar Bear and Arctic Wolf
Grammar tasks about each creature
Writing tasks about each creature
All of these resources are ideal for a winter themed topic. I have included simple tasks for learners who need more support as well as more demanding tasks for learners that enjoy challenge.
These presentations provide a comprehensive pack of writing comments based on Assessment for Learning principles. The comments describe the positive features in relation to the learning objective and clarity of the writing. For some children, it is advisable to give one positive comment and one suggestion for improvement. The comments remind children about the learning objectives and allow group, class or individual feedback to ensue easily. They deal with the children’s writing performance (both strengths and weaknesses). In addition they observe and recommend a strategy that would improve their writing. They are mostly genre specific but also include comments about technical skills and punctuation.
PRINTING THE LABELS (L 7162 & L7163)
It is easy to download Avery Wizard (free).
It will appear on your top menu bar.
Open one of my PowerPoint presentation with comments - strengths /how to improve
Open a blank Word document
Click on Avery Wizard
Choose either code (L 7162 & L7163)
Select comment from PowerPoint presentation
Paste onto Avery label and follow instructions to finish
Page of labels ( 16 or 14) will appear on word document - just like that!
I have included several documents that are already transferred to Avery label format for easy printing - Code L7162 ( 16 labels to a page) & Code L7163 ( 14 labels to a page). If you are looking for a range of writing comments to scaffold and suggest improvements- this should do the trick.
Writing Complex Sentences and Extending Simple Sentences - suitable from Primary 2/3/4( Scotland) onwards and Year 1/2/3( England) onwards as well as a support for children experiencing barriers to their learning.
Learning Intentions include:
To write complex sentences
To order complex sentences
To extend complex sentences with connectives**
This resource pack consists of:
a colourful , comprehensive and concise PPT presentation which provides a scaffolded approach to sentence construction plus word documents that provide follow on activities
engaging visuals that promote composition of complex and extended sentences (interactive white board pupil activities)
straightfoward tasks that allow children to learn about sentence construction and build writing skills ( writing tasks)
precise instruction in extending complex sentences using connectives (interactive white board pupil activities)
explicit instruction on adding sentence starters to enhance simple sentences
opportunities to order complex sentences (interactive white board pupil activities)
scaffolded tasks that require children to compose sentences (visuals provided and sentence stems to support learners)
written tasks on word documents for completion ( word bank provided to support learners)
slides and word documents are editable so that teachers can personalise the visuals and sentences e.g. to correspond with topic or PSE etc.
I have included several images in the preview so that teachers can see the quality of the resources offered and my efforts to make the literacy activities as engaging as possible.
The font I have chosen is one which is installed in most systems- Bradley Hand. However, when uploading the preview shots to the site , the TES system sometimes changes it -not sure why! Be assured that within the presentation and word documents provided within the pack, the font is the same throughout.
I welcome feedback and reviews from fellow teachers and hope that their learners enjoy the unit of work on sentence construction as much as my classes. Enjoy!
4 sets of resources that cover the transition from autumn to winter.
Lots of opportunities to gain insight about these wonderful seasons.
Resources include:
relevant facts to enjoy
cut and stick activities
matching tasks
early sentence construction relating to the seasons
online links to relevant seasonal stories
poems to share and enjoy
drawing tasks
introduction of seasonal vocabulary
active learning
winter word walls, handwriting,winter writing tasks
winter key words task ( mini whiteboards),
‘Jack Frost’ poem ,
winter weather cut and stick task,
winter clothes drawing and labelling task,
Further literacy tasks based on animals of the Arctic.
It contains:
factual passages about 4 Arctic creatures -
Snowy Owl
Arctic Fox,
Polar Bear
Arctic Wolf
There are:
grammar tasks about each creature,
writing tasks about each creature.
All of these resources are ideal for a winter themed topic.
I have included simple tasks for learners who need more support as well as more demanding tasks for learners that enjoy challenge.
Enjoy!