This is a complete literacy unit of 15 lessons aimed at children aged 9 - 12 based on the poem The Listeners by Walter de la Mare. This is an amazingly rich piece of poetry and lends itself to some fantastic thinking, discussion, drama activities and creative writing. The resource contains a three week set of outline lessons plans learning objectives success criteria key teaching points to establish. lesson resources additional suggestions for cross curricular working. This will be of interest to you if you are working with children aged 9 - 12.

This resource aimed at 7 - 11 year olds, provides 8 starting points to investigate next door neighbour numbers or consecutive numbers on a number line. Each one can be used as a separate lesson idea or the different starting points could be given to different groups of children in the same lesson. Answers included!

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 1 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y1 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from Teaching Rainbows on TES Resources.

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 2 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y2 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from Teaching Rainbows on TES Resources.

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 5 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y5 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from Teaching Rainbows on TES Resources.

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 4 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y1 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from Teaching Rainbows on TES Resources.

This resource is to be used with Year 5 and 6 children working on a story writing unit. Contains success criteria and space for self, peer and teacher assessment.

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 3 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y3 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from Teaching Rainbows on TES Resources.

This resource is a series of strategies to build in thinking time in the primary classroom to promote effective, active participation. The strategies suggested are all tried and tested in Key Stage 2 but there are a number of strategies suggested which would work well with younger or older children. This resource is for you if you are working with children in a group setting and want to encourage more children to take an active role in lessons. So often, less confident children will sit back and wait for other children to answer either because they lack confidence or have learned to tale a passive role in lessons. These strategies will ensure that all children have an equal chance to participate.

Wednesday Work was an initiative I introduced with my Year 5/6 Class following a seminar at the Global Leadership Summit led by Patrick Lencioni. He taught a session based on businesses who had increased productivity by allowing their employees 20% of their working week to follow their own lines of enquiry and plan their own time. These goals had to be in line with the companies aims but gave employees ownership of their time and their direction. This had a significant impact on both employee retention, and productivity. In school, we identified 2 hours a week with Years 5 and 6 and within the theme of that half term’s work, gave the children the opportunity to decide what they would like to learn, do or make. The rules were as follows: A full plan had to be submitted showing aims, outline plans, resources, predicted timescales and intended outcomes. This had to be discussed with a member of staff and resources had to have been either collected in school or brought in from home before work could begin. Each child was accountable for working to a high standard and for their progress in each lesson. Once completed, the results had to be shared with the rest of the class. The outcomes were amazing! Children who usually couldn’t wait for break time were asking to stay in to complete their work! The children displayed a variety of skills and talents and their general confidence grew as a result. Children who struggled with academic learning became experts in their own strength zones and were looked up to by the other children. The highlight of these sessions was a termly open afternoon where the children displayed their work and we invited parents into school for the children to present their work. These afternoons were great confidence builders and really showcased the children’s talents. Give it a try – you won’t regret it!

This is a set of maths targets for use with Year 6 children in the first half term of the academic year. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, parents, home schoolers and trainee teachers. Can be used at home or at school to monitor progress, for homework or as a group activity. The full set of Maths Targets for Y6 and for Years 1 - 6 is available from E4MC on TES Resources.