**This 54-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka. ** About the Novel: The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief. One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war. Alice’s estranged daughter, reentering her mother’s life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline. **About the Resource: **This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (flip turns, cracks, internment camps, dementia, Nobel Prize, Rotterdam Study, PET Scans). A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms is available with download.

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. About the Novel: A lyrical and heartfelt collection by an award-winning writer that connects the lives of young people from small towns in Alaska and the American west. Each story is unique, yet universal. In this book, the impact of wildfire, a wayward priest, or a mysterious disappearance ricochet across communities, threading through stories. Here, ordinary actions such as ice skating or going to church reveal hidden truths. One choice threatens a lifelong friendship. Siblings save each other. Rescue and second chances are possible, and so is revenge. On the surface, it seems that nothing ever happens in these towns. But Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock shows that underneath that surface, teenagers’ lives blaze with fury, with secrets, and with love so strong it burns a path to the future. About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (bivalve mollusks, wildfire, pika, fireweed). A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms is available with download.

**This 174-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The pack has been designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6. ** ABOUT THE NOVEL: NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Timesbestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge. ABOUT THE RESOURCE: This pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (French Resistance, Saint-Malo, radio, stormtroopers, blindness, Braille, State Youth, N.P.E.A., Stuka, Dresden Green, H.M.S. Beagle, Foucault’s Pendulum, Jewish star, Operation Typhoon, Invasion of Normandy, sonderkommandos). 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 111-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty. The pack has been designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6. ABOUT THE NOVEL: Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy. In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty—with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight—breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family’s unraveling; a man, while trying to swindle some pot from a dealer, discovers a friend passed out in the woods, his hair frozen into the snow; a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s projects the past onto her grandson; and two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, attempt to rob the tribal museum for valuable root clubs. A collection that examines the consequences and merits of inheritance, Night of the Living Rez is an unforgettable portrayal of an Indigenous community and marks the arrival of a standout talent in contemporary fiction. **ABOUT THE RESOURCE: **This pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (reservation, methadone, four directions, Pioneer 10, sweat lodge, Jesuits, Settlement Act, Penobscot Nation). 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.

Children will research the geography of the Yucatan Peninsula faced by the Conquistadors, before exploring sources to learn about the achievements of the Mayan Civilisation. They will then create a digital presentation to show off what they’ve learned. Children will use chronology to compare how their chosen focus has changed over time (before, during, after contact with the Conquistadors). This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with the objectives of the 2014 National Curriculum of England, but ties are made to the CCSS where appropriate. A digital file for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw 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.

Children will begin by playing different video games online to evaluate what makes them fun and engaging for their audience. They will then analyse the mechanics of the games and then plan a game of their own remixing a game on Scratch based on their criteria. Children will then use conditionals, operators, and variables on Scratch to make their own game. Lesson plans, editable rubrics, and classroom examples from Year 6 are provided, as well as links to additional support on the Scratch website. A digital copy of the file is available for editing and posting on Google Classroom and Seesaw provided with download.

Children will write a narrative text about being pulled inside of a video game. Scaffolds and planning checklists are provided to support children in their writing. Writing objectives from Year 6 are used, pulling from the 2014 National Curriculum of England and the Interim Framework. A digital copy of the file is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw by following the link provided with download.

Children will consider video game controller design before discussing what makes a controller effective. Children will then write an informative text about how a MakeyMakey works, including what they can be used for and what makes them effective. Scaffolds and planning checklists are provided to support children in their writing. Objectives from Year 6 are used, pulled from the 2014 National Curriculum of England and the Interim Framework. Lesson plans, editable rubrics and classroom examples are included. A digital copy of the file for editing and sharing on digital platforms is available with download. ----------- You might also like: Working Scientifically with MakeyMakey in Years 3 & 4 Working Scientifically with MakeyMakey in Years 5 & 6

In this resource, children will diagnose the symptoms of a Conquistador who has scurvy through research of his symptoms. Once this is established, they will do a blind taste test of foods high in Vitamin C, and will create a menu of items that Conquistadors can eat to stave off scurvy on their trip to the New World. 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. A digital file for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available by following the link provided with download.

Children will look at how video game controllers have changed over time, including controllers from Nintendo and Playstation. After plotting changes on a timeline, children will consider what makes the designs effective before designing their own to use and evaluate. In the past, I have used this learning outcome alongside an explanation text and video game design on Scratch (both also available in my shop). A digital copy of the file is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw with download.

This BUNDLE brings together different SIX learning outcomes from the shop related to video games and video game controllers: * DESIGN A VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER USING MAKEYMAKEY * WRITING AN INFORMATION TEXT ABOUT MAKEYMAKEY * EXPLANATION TEXT ABOUT CHANGES IN VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS * DESIGN YOUR OWN VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS * DESIGN YOUR OWN VIDEO GAME ON SCRATCH * NARRATIVE WRITING ABOUT VIDEO GAMES The download is a zip file of the different individual packs, each with digital files for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw.

Children will look at popular avatars from different video games, including Super Mario, Bowser, Link, and Donkey Kong. They will look at how their design has changed over time, and will compare how characters are similar and different. Children will then design their own video game characters; a hero and an enemy. In the past I have used this alongside a unit on designing a video game on Scratch, where the children can include their avatar in their game. To do this, we took photos of the drawn characters and then edited them online before uploading them to the program. A link to digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available with download.

*Updated with new graphics I have used this project with different classes and in different ways. With more able cohorts, the pitch can be adjusted with different parameters on the designs (eg: no adhesives, instead researching different ways to attach boards with latches and folds vs. using tape and glue guns; setting rules for the height of the walls of the maze to use measurement in a meaningful way; only allowing a certain length of board that needs to be cut, etc). Our Year groups used this as an alternative to making periscopes, as it reinforces the same Science objectives about light and the way it travels. In my experience, the children have enjoyed this project more because they’re more in control of the design. A digital copy of the file for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available by following the link provided with download.

**Aligned with the 2014 National Curriculum of England Included are the resources to follow a sequence of sessions where they develop their own ideas before applying them to the style of the model poem. Children are introduced to the poem and decide what they would include in their own magic box. After reviewing poetic devices, children return to their ideas and include poetic devices to make them stronger before drafting their own poems. As a maths and arts link, children can then design and make the nets of their magic boxes before building them into their boxes. Children can then add items and illustrations to their boxes representing the different ideas from their poems. Digital copy 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.

*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 69 page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable Fib by Adam Shaughnessy. ABOUT THE NOVEL: “What is the Unbelievable FIB?” That’s the question eleven-year-old Prudence Potts discovers on a baffling card no one else in Middleton--except ABE, a new kid at school with a knack for solving riddles--seems to see. Then a mysterious man asks for ABE and Pru’s help investigating mythical beings infiltrating the town, and that’s just the first of many things Pru finds hard to believe. Soon Pru and ABE discover another world beneath their quiet town, where Viking gods lurk just out of sight. And when the pair find themselves locked in a battle against a dangerously clever enemy, they must race to secure the Eye of Odin, source of all knowledge--and the key to stopping a war that could destroy both human and immortal realms. 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, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (Thor, Loki, Odin, runes, Vikings). 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: The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable Fib Novel Study + Viking STEAM

This resource is meant to be used by children in Key Stage 2 (English objectives pitched to Years 5 and 6) to investigate the history and significance of the commemorative heads made to honour the Oba of Ancient Benin. Children will first read about the heads through differentiated articles, then investigate the symbolism of different commemorative heads. They will then design their own commemorative head before carving it out of a bar of soap and evaluating their design. Lastly, children will write an explanation text about their commemorative head. Sequence of Sessions: Research Ancient Benin Investigating different examples of art commissioned by Obas of Ancient Benin Investigating the significance of animals in commemorative heads of Ancient Benin Obas Design own Oba head Carve own Oba head Evaluate own Oba head Features of an Explanation Text Write an Explanation Text There is also a digital file included for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw.