This resource is meant to be used by children in Key Stage 2 (English objectives pitched to Years 5 and 6) to investigate instruments used by traditional societies in West Africa. After listening to music and investigating different instruments used and how they are designed and used, children will design their own thumb piano (mbira) before making it and evaluating it. Alternatively, after researching different instruments from West Africa, children can choose to make a different one instead of a thumb piano. The design, make, and evaluate sheets have been made as generic as possible to allow for this. A digital copy for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is provided with download.

This 49-page resource has been designed to use alongside Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, but can also be done independently of the novel study. Children will research different flora and fauna existing on an island in the South Pacific, using art skills to make a field guide. Science curriculum is threaded through the Outcome, with children classifying organisms in different ways and learning about how water and nutrients are transported within organisms, including sea stars, sea sponges, and coral. The pack includes different graphic organisers, resources for lower ability pupils, as well as lesson plans and rubrics. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England and has links to the Common Core. Digital copies of the files for editing and sharing on digital platforms are available with download.

**Updated with new graphics This 21-page resource has been designed as an introduction to a study of a Mission to Mars. Children will research different mission badges before designing, making, and evaluating their own. This Outcome uses Lilypad e-textiles, but the same curriculum objectives can be covered with the use of littleBits, circuit stickers (Chibitronics) or with twinkle lights that have been cut and joined to copper tape and powered with a low-voltage battery. Digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

This resource has been made to use alongside the other Honey Bee Study packs, which teach children about evolution and adaptations. In this pack, children will take a closer look at the Maths used by bees in their honeycomb, before designing their own honeycomb in Scratch using Pens and Loops. An editable copy of resources is available for sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is provided with download. -------- You might also like: Honeycomb and Honey Bee Printing 'Pimp my Insect' Explanation Text FREEBIE! Colony Collapse Disorder - Persuasion Text Insect Study - Evolution & Inheritance Insect Study - Adapted Insect Forms

Children will participate in a short study of the importance of music in Ancient Sumer as well as the instruments used. Children will have opportunities to look at instruments uncovered by archaeologists studying the area and will learn about the science of sound before designing, making, and evaluating their own instruments. All learning objectives are aligned with the 2014 National Curriculum of England. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is provided with download.

Children will look at how sports team logos have changed over time before designing a team logo of their own. Children then repeat the same structure, this time looking at team jerseys. Last, they will write an explanation text of how logos or jerseys have changed over time. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England. Links to the Common Core State Standards are also outlined, where appropriate. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is available by following the link provided at the time of download.

In this resource, children will research different Valentine’s cards before creating one that uses a circuit, making it interactive. They will also taste test, prototype, design, make, and evaluate Valentine’s candies to include in their candy gram. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, templates, and scaffolds to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is available with download.

In this resource, children will participate in activities as they learn about the circulatory system and the heart in a hands-on and meaningful way before building an anatomical heart. In the past, I have taught these sessions in a carousel over several days, but they could be taught whole-class as well. A digital file for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available with download.

*Updated with new graphics Children will participate in a science investigation about pupil dilation before doing a study of how light affects how we see. Children will write an explanation text about how the eye works, including diagrams, with scaffolds provided. This pack can be used alongside the pack for drawing an eye, which has an art focus as opposed to an English focus. A digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw by following the link provided with download.

*Updated with new graphics To introduce this Learning Outcome, we took the children outside with different materials to make shadow art. Some were given challenges, and some were left to explore. Children are then exposed to how shadow is moved to create fear in horror films before being challenged to design a movie trailer of their own. We used iMovie’s Trailer option, but the same project could be done with a variety of different software options. At the end, we invited parents in to school and served popcorn as we all watched the horror trailers made by the children in the year group. A digital copy of the outcome for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available by following the link provided with download.

This 66-page resource has been designed to use alongside Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, but can also be done independently of the novel study. Children will read about different survival inventions before building one and writing an explanation text about how they work. Alternatively, children can design, make, and evaluate their own survival invention before explaining how it works. The pack includes different graphic organisers, resources for lower ability pupils, as well as lesson plans and rubrics. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England and has links to the Common Core. Digital copies of the files for editing and sharing on digital platforms are available with download.

Great to tie in with the 2018 Olympic Games! Children will look at how sports equipment has changed over time before making a modification of their own. Children will follow the DT process outlined in the 2014 National Curriculum of England, designing their own prototype, making their prototype, and then participating in peer- and self- evaluation of their prototype. When finished the design process, there are also resources included for writing an explanation text (of how their sports equipment has changed over time or how their new sports equipment modifications will work); and writing a persuasive text including an advert about their product. A link to digital files for editing and sharing on Google Classroom or Seesaw is available with download. ------------ You might also like: Teams & Athletes: Design a Team Jersey (with Explanation Text) Teams & Athletes: Design a Team Jersey (with Explanation Text)

This resource is a BUNDLE (79 pages total) of the STEAM packs that I have put together for Key Stage 1, all following objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England. Some are pulled from other thematic packs, while others are sold as stand alone packs in the Connecting Curriculum shops. You can check out all resources offered in my catalogue here: Connecting Curriculum Catalogue You might also like the packs sold separately: Working Scientifically I can Statements for Years 1 & 2 Working Scientifically with Crayons for Years 1 & 2 - STEAM Unit Working Scientifically with Slime for Years 1 & 2 Design Your Own Ice Cream STEAM

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Lie Tree Novel Study by Frances Hardinge with a STEAM extension about designing and making an adapted organism. ABOUT THE NOVEL: Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy—a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men—but inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist a mystery: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She also knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. For one, she knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, she knows that he was murdered. In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father’s possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it, and when that fruit is eaten, it delivers a hidden truth. But while the tree might hold the key to her father’s murder, it could also lure his murderer directly to Faith. **ABOUT THE RESOURCE: **Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (fossils, sea caves, The Origin of the Species, mermaids), and a STEAM enrichment activity where children design, make, and evaluate their own adapted insect according to Key Stage 2 Science, Art and Design, and Design Technology objectives. Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

This updated resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Pax by Sara Pennypacker. It bundles Pax Novel Study with a STEAM pack about designing and making a marionette. ABOUT THE NOVEL: From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come. Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather’s house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn’t where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . . ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (baseball, foxes, marionettes, coyotes), and STEAM enrichment activity where children investigate, design, make, and evaluate their own marionette according to Key Stage 2 Design Technology and Art and Design objectives. Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Book of Dust (Vol. 1) by Philip Pullman. It bundles The Book of Dust Novel Study with a STEAM pack about designing and making a book. ABOUT THE NOVEL: Malcolm Polstead is the kind of boy who notices everything but is not much noticed himself. And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy… Malcolm’s parents run an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his daemon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, but during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm catches wind of something new: intrigue. He finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust—and the spy it was intended for finds him. When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, he sees suspicious characters everywhere: the explorer Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl—just a baby—named Lyra. Lyra is the kind of person who draws people in like magnets. And Malcolm will brave any danger, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through the storm. ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Background information on the novel (about the setting, about daemons), Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (daemons, spies, Aurora, priory), and a STEAM enrichment activity where children investigate, design, make, and evaluate their own books according to Key Stage 2 Design Technology objectives. Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge. It bundles A Skinful of Shadows Novel Study with a STEAM pack about designing and making a horror movie trailer using light and shadow. Updated for deeper learning with additional tasks for character analysis, literary motifs, themes, and extracts from the text. ABOUT THE NOVEL: A Skinful of Shadows is a dark YA historical fantasy set in the early part of the English Civil War. Makepeace is an illegitimate daughter of the aristocratic Fellmotte family, and as such, she shares their unique hereditary gift: the capacity to be possessed by ghosts. Reluctant to accept her appointed destiny as vessel for a coterie of her ancestors, she escapes. As she flees the pursuing Fellmottes across war-torn England, she accumulates a motley crew of her own allies, including outcasts, misfits, criminals, and one extremely angry dead bear. ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Background information on the historical context (English Civil War), Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (Puritans, King Charles, Lambeth Palace, Traitor’s Gate, witchcraft), and a STEAM enrichment activity where children investigate, design, make, and evaluate their own books according to Key Stage 2 Design Technology and Science objectives. Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download. You might also like: <a title=“Francis Hardinge Novel Study BUNDLE (The Lie Tree & A Skinful of Shadows)” href=“https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/francis-hardinge-novel-study-bundle-the-lie-tree-and-a-skinful-of-shadows-11853358”>Francis Hardinge Novel Study BUNDLE (The Lie Tree & A Skinful of Shadows)</a>

*Updated with new graphics This resource has been planned for a 6-week Half-Term. It connects the curriculums for Design Technology, Science, Art, English, and History. Children investigate light and how it travels while also studying the eye and the history of cinema, with a focus on special effects. A zip file with PDF units and links to digital files for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available with download.

This 198-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill. It bundles Iron Hearted Violet Novel Study with STEAM packs about researching and creating an anatomical model of a heart and creating a dragon eye using art skills focusing on shade and tone. ABOUT THE NOVEL: Newbery Medal winner Kelly Barnhill spins a wondrously different kind of fairy-tale: In most fairy tales, princesses are beautiful, dragons are terrifying, and stories are harmless. But this isn’t most fairy tales… Princess Violet is plain, reckless, and quite possibly too clever for her own good. Particularly when it comes to telling stories. One day she and her best friend, Demetrius, stumble upon a hidden room and find a peculiar book. Aforbiddenbook. It tells a story of an evil being, called the Nybbas, imprisoned in their world. The story cannot be true–not really. But then the whispers start. Violet and Demetrius, along with an ancient, scarred dragon-the last dragon in existence, in fact-may hold the key to the Nybbas’s triumph or its demise. It all depends on how they tell the story. After all, stories make their own rules. Iron Hearted Violet is a story about the power of stories, our belief in them, and how one enchanted tale changed the course of an entire kingdom. ABOUT THE RESOURCE: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (Storytellers, Dragon, Archery, Insect Strength, The Heart), and and STEAM enrichment activities where children investigate, design, make, and evaluate an anatomical heart and dragon eye according to Key Stage 2 Design Technology and Art and Design objectives. Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download. You might also like: Iron Hearted Violet Novel Study