Create poetry on any subject using this engaging dice activity. Why not kick your next topic or writing project off with a some poetry? This works well as a stand alone activity or as part of a writing unit, to develop adventurous language. Assessment focus: I can use figurative language and word play I can assess another writer’s work (peer assessment) I can draft, edit and publish my own free verse Follow the steps of this fun two part lesson (approximately 2 hours needed) and pupils will be able to create poetry on any subject. Simply give pupils a picture they can write on, and let the activity do the rest. What’s included? A detailed explanation of the activity, with real classroom examples Resources to try the activity with an image of a Viking archer (but you could replace the image with anything you like - the activity will work just as well!) Differentiated activity sheets, with many examples of short lines, verbs, prepositions, personification, alliteration, metaphor and simile Peer assessment prompt sheet I use this approach a lot, often with great success. Give it a try!

Create stunning descriptive sentences about WW2 settings. During this sentence building activity, young writers describe damaged homes, a pier and a pavilion. You could quickly edit the images and the word banks to match landmarks in your local area. We went on to use the sentences we created in stories set during WW2. Enjoy!

Dice game! Warm up! Presentation! Missing dashes activity! I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about how to teach young writers to understand dashes and to use them creatively. The end result is a dice activity which teaches children six simple ways of using dashes effectively. Children who take part in this writing activity will learn six different (and fool proof!) ways of dropping in extra thoughts and ideas between dashes. It is surprising the depth this can add to fiction writing. *As well as the dice activity, I have also included a 15 slide PowerPoint. This explains how dashes can be used, and it has extension activities. *I have also included a warm up activity that always leads to some useful discussion. *I have also included a ‘add the missing dashes’ activity Teachers, if you swap the sentences in this activity to match your own writing projects, children can generate superb sentences to add to their own compositions.

Use this to develop children’s understanding of clauses, and to encourage children to vary the number of clauses they include within their sentences. Assessment focus I can understand the terms ‘clause’ and ‘conjunction’. I can say sentences with one or more clauses. I can write sentences with many clauses, without confusing the reader. This activity promotes lots of talk around word classes and building multi-clause sentences.

I couldn't find much out there on KS2 noun phrases. Lots of stuff for KS1, but I feel it still needs pushing in KS2. On top of that, I couldn't find any decent short texts for sci-fi writing... So here is a very exciting - but also brief - sci-fi text. Children have to expand the noun phrases. There are 6 suggested ways they can expand nouns and a detailed word bank to support them. The text could also be used as a model for writing - it would be easy to play with it create something entirely new. Worked for my class.

Included in the zip folder: detailed lesson plan, presentation, four fantastic personification generators (spooky woods, old buildings - inside and outside, creepy caves and majestic mountains). You will need 1-6 dice to use the personification generators. Try them - the combinations really work! Everything is Word/PowerPoint so you can edit and adapt as you wish. This is a carefully planned, fully resourced and differentiated lesson about personification aimed at upper key stage 2 writers. I used this session to create poetry with personification, but it would work equally well with descriptive writing or story settings. The lesson is structured as follows: Warm up What is figurative language? What is personification? Can you personify your noun using one of the prompts on the screen? Shared writing 2 differentiated dice-based personification generator activities - children use these to create stunning examples of personification about spooky woods (one verse) or spooky buildings (two verse: inside/outside writing) - try it! Peer assessment There are two additional personification generators if your class are keen to do more (cave and mountains). Fully road tested - in one session the whole class had written superb personification poems (example included on the ‘woods generator’), and they really enjoyed the spooky theme. I hope your class have the same success.

Use the presentation to explore ary, ory and ery word endings. Play the fun two player game with built in self assessment - Word race: ‘ary’, ‘ery’, ‘ory’ Challenge and support activities are included. Challenge: Try the ary ory ery riddles included (‘challenge activity’). Support: Match the word cards and sentence cards and write the sentences down.

Put your children in pairs to play the fun spelling game ‘VictoriOUS’. It’s a two player dice game that enables children to learn these four rules for adding the suffix ‘ous’: Some root word do not change – just add ‘ous’ For many root words that end in e, take off the ‘e’ and add ‘ous’ If the root word ends ‘-ge’, keep the ‘e’ and add ‘ous’ Change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and add ‘ous’ How about words that can’t have the ‘ous’ suffix? Peer assessment is built in. Everything that you need is here - just add 1-6 dice!

Two model information texts (one about Celts and one about Romans) for use in KS2

Here is a fun 2 player dice game to liven-up exploring silent letters. There is also a PowerPoint with plenty of activities and questions to get the session started. There is an extension task for speedy players who finish games quickly.

Lesson plan and 3 differentiated versions of a fun game to practise spelling words ending words ending –el, -al, -le. Assessment focus I can spell words ending –el, -al, -le Explanation ‘Towel’, critical’ and ‘apple’ all have the same pronunciation at the end. So how do people know which spelling to use? Most words end –le (-al and -el endings are far less common). Also –le endings tend to follow letters with ascenders or descenders. There are no rules that work every time! –el, -al, -le game You will need: a 1-6 dice per pair, a word bank per pair, a recording sheet each

Contractions come up in Year 2, but I have made these resources for KS2, as children still need to practise accurate use of apostrophes. Included are two engaing dice games (‘Contraction Creator’ and ‘The Memory Test’). Both are far more memorable and fun than dull worksheets. There is also a support activity and a presentation. Enjoy!

This is a one day greater depth writing workshop aimed at upper KS2. There are 13 resources attached and a detailed plan of the day. Children have a complete piece of writing by the end of the workshop. Here is a brief summary of the day: Part 1 Get to know the model Reading as reader: How did the story make you feel? Reading as writer: How did the author do that? Drama (pairs) – bring the text off the page Part 2 Know your animal! Part 3 Know your mysterious object! Part 4 Quick plan Part 5 Parentheses activity Part 6 Extended writing time Success criteria for extended writing I can organise my story creatively and keep the reader in suspense (withholding vital information and using flashbacks) I can create suspense using modal verbs and rhetorical questions I can interrupt my sentences using ‘dramatic dashes’ (parentheses) I can use technical language appropriately in my creative writing (precise language around my animal’s physical features, habitat, behaviour and offspring) I can use figurative language

Simple and fun dice game to get children talking (and writing) about how to add suffixes to words that end consonant y. Additional activity included.

Here is a short science fiction/suspense model for Year 5 or Year 6. I have also included an annotated version with teacher notes showing all of the key grammatical features, the way the text is structured and some suggested activities. How is this text organised? Are you good at hiding? Do you ever keep secrets? Can you keep secrets from your reader? This story is all about keeping secrets, and causing confusion, uncertainty and suspense! Can you keep the identity of your man character (a cat in the model text) hidden until the end and let the reader try and work out what they are? Can you keep the danger unknown until right at the end? Can you finish on a cliff hanger? So many questions… Build your own story from here. Scatter clues about the identity of your main character and keep the danger hidden. Here are the themes of each part of the story: Setting, fear, an unknown thing coming Flashback 1: unclear warnings and rhetorical questions Sustaining injuries: main character stops what she is doing and runs for home, but it is treacherous Home and family: How is the character motivated to survive? Her den and cubs! Flashback 2: she remembers more warnings, but the threat remains uncertain and confusing Main character finds a familiar place – nearly home? – nearly safe? A mysterious object finally appears – everything scatters – character’s identity revealed Fear changes to hunger – prey becomes predator… cliff hanger!

This is whopping 70 slide powerpoint and 16 scratch files to walk you through coding a finished ‘launcher’ style game. The powerpoint gives you everything you need to know and all the code blocks too. You have to launch an animal at its food, and code gravity and obstacles. It’s great fun and will take a class around 5 lessons. It really depends on how much coding they have done and how much further they want to take the game. I have used it across KS2.

This resource is six activities linked to the text. They are ready for children to pick up and use independently. Defining and reusing tricky words from the text Picking out the key features of a fable from the text (and from ‘The Promise’) Adding fronted adverbials to sentences from the text Grouping synonyms to create a word bank for fable writing I can plan a fable of my own I can write a fable of my own