English consultant. Former Head of Faculty, and author of five texts for Pearson Education. Current examiner and team leader for two examination boards.
English consultant. Former Head of Faculty, and author of five texts for Pearson Education. Current examiner and team leader for two examination boards.
The 'Big Non-Fiction Writing Bundle' contains four full schemes of work for 20-25 hours of classroom activities! The four units of work contain everything you need: professionally produced PowerPoint presentations, student worksheets, materials for effective differentiation, peer assessment materials, and of course, detailed teachers' notes. Not only this, but each unit also contains a supportive homework presentation for you to place on your school's VLE, or to use as further extension activities in class.
'Letter Writing' (Audience and Purpose) is a fun unit that takes in 'Harry Potter' and 'The Three Little Pigs', while developing students' skills in producing clear, coherent, formal and informal letters.
'The Real Dickensians' and 'The Iceman' are both investigative units of work that contain a wealth of supportive frameworks to enable you to differentiate your lessons easily - writing frames, placemats, sentence starters, etc., and to enable your students to write cohesive, informative texts.
In 'The School Play', students work on planning and delivering a magazine report of a school production, while the teacher (as the magazine's editor) gradually drops in various suggestions that cause writing teams to reconsider their plans and redraft their reports.
Separately, the units of work would cost £20, so at £12, the bundle is great value for money as well. I hope it proves to be a really useful addition to your classroom resources.
Total: 272 pages / slides
This unit of work enables students to improve their skills in developing 'setting' in narrative writing.
A homework unit for your school's VLE accompanies the classroom presentation, focusing on the use of ' the senses' in creating an effective setting.
The unit concludes with an optional assessment activity and provides materials for peer assessment, fulfilling the OFSTED 'Outstanding' requirement that teachers demonstrate 'systematic approaches to marking, target setting and feedback'.
Contents: (3-5 lesson scheme of work, full resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
VLE Homework presentation
6 page workbook
Peer assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially.
The unit aims to enable students to improve their skills in developing 'character' in narrative writing. Students analyse 'good' and 'bad' models of writing, before moving through short burst writing activities towards sustained, independent writing.
Two homework units for your school's VLE accompany the classroom presentation, focusing on using adjectives and 'working verbs'.
The unit concludes with an optional assessment activity, and provides materials for peer assessment, fulfilling the OFSTED 'Outstanding' requirement that teachers demonstrate 'systematic approaches to marking, target setting and feedback'.
Contents (4-6 lesson scheme of work, full resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
6 page workbook
2 VLE homework presentations
Peer assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially.
A series of twelve starter activities covering some of the most common errors that we, as teachers, see in our students' writing.
Each starter begins with an 'error' slide, where students are asked to spot the error that the slide illustrates.
There follows an explanation of the error and how to correct it, the penultimate slide in each starter unit being designed so that it can be laminated for permanent classroom display.
Each presentation is supported by activities in the accompanying workbook, for individual, pair or group work.
Contents:
12 'Common Error' presentations
12 'Common Error' Activity Sheets
Note: All images are free to use commercially.
A flexible resource that builds into a flexible series of resources. 'High Fives - Proper Nouns' is a series of five worksheets that can be used as daily lesson starters, or for literacy tutorials, or as homework activities.
They are suitable for primary and secondary schools.
Each page has an identical layout, the first box explaining the teaching point, the second and third boxes offering words, phrases and sentences for correction, and the final box giving an opportunity for independent writing.
Each week, further 'high fives' packages will be added.
High Fives Punctuation Series (in preparation):
Proper nouns
Using Commas
Sentences
Apostrophes for possession
Apostrophes for omission
Speech marks
Colons
Semi colons
This unit provides activities on imagery, word sounds, onomatopoeia and alliteration, extended imagery and personification. After each segment, students write a response in which they use the techniques that have been modelled and developed in the lesson. At the end of the unit, students assemble their poetry anthologies and choose two pieces for display and assessment.
Writing frames, sentence starters and students' own 'word bags' offer support to students at all stages.
Two homework units further reinforce all aspects of the work covered in the classroom unit.
Contents: (6-8 lesson scheme of work, full resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
Two VLE homework presentations
11 page workbook
Peer assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially.
Students investigate the sinking of the Titanic by studying route charts, casualty figures, the lifeboat launch log, diagrams of the ship and testimonies of passengers, crew and expert witnesses.
Opportunities are provided for drama activities and for group and class discussions, while developing skills in inference and deduction.
A homework presentation and resource book is included for your school's VLE platform, and the pack also contains optional assessment and peer assessment materials and comprehensive teachers' notes.
Contents: (6-8 lesson scheme of work, full resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
6 page workbook
12 page testimonies booklet
Route chart
Lifeboat launch log
VLE homework presentation
Homework resource
Placemat
Assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially
The 'Getting it Right' series is appropriate for both KS2 and KS3.
Each unit comprises an interactive presentation that can be loaded onto your school network.
The 'Sentences and Connectives' unit is supported by a workbook of activities, an assessment activity to check students' understanding, and a quiz package that remind students of the key points of the lessons and stimulates focused discussion, enabling students to articulate and embed their learning.
All images are free for use commercially.
Contents:
Teacher presentations (2)
Workbook (including assessment activity)
Quiz presentations (2)
A comprehensive GCSE exam preparation package, focusing on argumentative and persuasive writing. The package contains exemplar responses, examination criteria, examiners' comments, placemats, etc., to help students to revise and develop their skills and knowledge.
Opportunities are given for analysis and discussion, for short burst writing tasks and for full practice tasks.
Two VLE units are included in the pack, to further embed your students' understanding.
Full lesson plans included.
All images are free for commercial use.
‘Never a Crossed Word’ is a fun package for all ages. It is said that if students can’t say it, they can’t write it, and this resource focuses on developing students’ speaking and listening skills, giving them opportunities to describe and explain in a highly structured, fast paced game format.
The pictures are not mere decoration. They give students clues and ‘entrances’ to the word that they are trying to describe, and as such, are integral to the game. The resource can be used as a lesson starter, as an end of term activity, or as a literacy activity for tutor groups etc., allowing those students who may be reluctant to express themselves the opportunity to do so in a fun way.
This resource provides sixty games (sixty slides – two levels of difficulty), all focused on nouns, and contains a built in timer to enhance the excitement of the game!
Contents: PowerPoint games
Rules of the game
All images are free to use commercially.
‘Never a Crossed Word’ is a fun package for all ages. It is said that if students can’t say it, they can’t write it, and this resource focuses on developing students’ speaking and listening skills, giving them opportunities to describe and explain in a highly structured, fast paced game format.
The pictures are not mere decoration. They give students clues and ‘entrances’ to the word that they are trying to describe, and as such, are integral to the game. The resource can be used as a lesson starter, as an end of term activity, or as a literacy activity for tutor groups etc., allowing those students who may be reluctant to express themselves the opportunity to do so in a fun way.
This resource provides sixty games (sixty slides – two levels of difficulty), all focused on verbs, and contains a built in timer to enhance the excitement of the game!
Contents: PowerPoint games
Rules of the game
All images are free to use commercially.
A unit of work that contains an abundance of pictures, anecdotes and reports based on the 'Scriven Report', which investigated the working conditions in the factories of 'The Potteries' in the mid 1800s.
Students use grids, writing frames and summarising placemats to investigate and report on the working lives of young children, and to develop their ability to organise non-fiction writing.
The VLE homework unit develops and embeds students' understanding of 'main idea' and 'supporting details' by using further extracts from the report.
Contents: (4-6 lesson scheme of work, full resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
6 page workbook
VLE homework presentation
Grid for note-taking
Writing frame
Summarising placemat
Peer assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially.
‘Never a Crossed Word’ is a fun package for all ages. It is said that if students can’t say it, they can’t write it, and this resource focuses on developing students’ speaking and listening skills, giving them opportunities to describe and explain in a highly structured, fast paced game format.
The pictures are not mere decoration. They give students clues and ‘entrances’ to the word that they are trying to describe, and as such, are integral to the game. The resource can be used as a lesson starter, as an end of term activity, or as a literacy activity for tutor groups etc., allowing those students who may be reluctant to express themselves the opportunity to do so in a fun way.
This resource provides sixty games (sixty slides – two levels of difficulty), all focused on verbs, and contains a built in timer to enhance the excitement of the game!
Contents: PowerPoint games
Rules of the game
All images are free to use commercially.
‘Never a Crossed Word’ is a fun package for all ages. It is said that if students can’t say it, they can’t write it, and this resource focuses on developing students’ speaking and listening skills, giving them opportunities to describe and explain in a highly structured, fast paced game format.
The pictures are not mere decoration. They give students clues and ‘entrances’ to the word that they are trying to describe, and as such, are integral to the game. The resource can be used as a lesson starter, as an end of term activity, or as a literacy activity for tutor groups etc., allowing those students who may be reluctant to express themselves the opportunity to do so in a fun way.
This resource provides sixty games (sixty slides – two levels of difficulty), all focused on nouns, and contains a built in timer to enhance the excitement of the game!
Contents: PowerPoint games
Rules of the game
All images are free to use commercially.
Spellpics 1 and 2 comprises 20 spelling activities that are great fun, while at the same time providing a learning structure to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling strategies.
Each activity provides 5 PowerPoint game slides - sixteen pictures linked to sixteen words focusing on different spelling rules, such as the 'i before e' rule, split digraph rule, 'tion' suffix rule, etc.
Students are shown the pictures, the spelling strategy is indicated, and they have to guess the word that is suggested in each case, before the teacher reveals the answers.
Each game is supported by an extension activity to underline and embed the learning strategy, and the final slide of each game displays the key learning points of the game, that can be laminated for classroom display.
Please browse the preview to discover 'Spellpics'.
All images are free to use commercially.
Spellpics 1 and 2 comprises 20 spelling activities that are great fun, while at the same time providing a learning structure to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling strategies.
Each activity provides 5 PowerPoint game slides - sixteen pictures linked to sixteen words focusing on different spelling rules, such as the 'i before e' rule, split digraph rule, 'tion' suffix rule, etc.
Students are shown the pictures, the spelling strategy is indicated, and they have to guess the word that is suggested in each case, before the teacher reveals the answers.
Each game is supported by an extension activity to underline and embed the learning strategy, and the final slide of each game displays the key learning points of the game, that can be laminated for classroom display.
Please browse the preview to discover 'Spellpics'.
All images are free to use commercially.
A resource based on the discovery of a 5,000 year old corpse in the Otzal Alps in 1991.
By considering the available scientific and forensic evidence, students investigate how 'The Iceman' lived, when he died and the circumstances of his death.
In completing the activities, students learn how to control, shape and organise their writing.
Packed with a selection of materials for differentiation, the resource comes complete with optional assessment and peer assessment materials and a linked homework presentation for your school's VLE.
Contents: ( 6-8 lesson scheme of work, resources and lesson plans)
Classroom presentations
VLE Homework presentation
Sorting activity
Sequencing activity
Fact finders (classwork and homework)
Writing frames (classwork and homework)
Peer assessment resource
Full lesson plans
Note: All images are free for use commercially.
Spellpics 1 and 2 comprises 20 spelling activities that are great fun, while at the same time providing a learning structure to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling strategies.
Each activity provides 5 PowerPoint game slides - sixteen pictures linked to sixteen words focusing on different spelling rules, such as the 'i before e' rule, split digraph rule, 'tion' suffix rule, etc.
Students are shown the pictures, the spelling strategy is indicated, and they have to guess the word that is suggested in each case, before the teacher reveals the answers.
Each game is supported by an extension activity to underline and embed the learning strategy, and the final slide of each game displays the key learning points of the game, that can be laminated for classroom display.
Please browse the preview to discover 'Spellpics'.
All images are free to use commercially.
Spellpics 1 and 2 comprises 20 spelling activities that are great fun, while at the same time providing a learning structure to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling strategies.
Each activity provides 5 PowerPoint game slides - sixteen pictures linked to sixteen words focusing on different spelling rules, such as the 'i before e' rule, split digraph rule, 'tion' suffix rule, etc.
Students are shown the pictures, the spelling strategy is indicated, and they have to guess the word that is suggested in each case, before the teacher reveals the answers.
Each game is supported by an extension activity to underline and embed the learning strategy, and the final slide of each game displays the key learning points of the game, that can be laminated for classroom display.
Please browse the preview to discover 'Spellpics'.
All images are free to use commercially.
50 Settlers and Starters
A pack of 50 progressive activity sheets, developing students' understanding and skills, and covering such topics as:
Punctuation and Sentences - proper nouns, apostrophes, punctuation of speech, commas, sentence structure, main and subordinate clauses, embedded clauses, etc.
Spelling Outburst - consonant digraphs, vowel / consonant digraphs, split digraphs, consonant doubling, common errors such as their/ there/ they're, prefixes and suffixes, homophones etc.
Grammar Slammer - nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, modal verbs, past tense and present tense, past progressive, present progressive etc.
Vocab Lab - a new word for every lesson.
Great for settling students down at the beginning of the lesson with focused, meaningful SPaG work, building the contexts for SPaG over a period of time.
The resource also enables teachers to pick up any problems as the series progresses, and will ensure that there is a reference to clear accurate English at the beginning of every lesson.
Avoiding Common Errors
A series of twelve starter activities covering some of the most common errors that we, as teachers, see in our students' writing.
Each starter begins with an 'error' slide, where students are asked to spot the error that the slide illustrates.
There follows an explanation of the error and how to correct it, the penultimate slide in each starter unit being designed so that it can be laminated for permanent classroom display.
Each presentation is supported by activities in the accompanying workbook, for individual, pair or group work.
Sentence Power
A series of fifteen starter activities designed to give students opportunities in experimenting with a variety of sentence forms in a variety of contexts.
For instance, students may be asked to begin sentences with adverbs, participles, imperative verbs or abstract nouns; they may be asked to use rhetorical questions, repetition or rule of three within their sentences; they may be required to write a sentence in 15-20 words, or only five words, or end the sentence with an exclamation.
Crucially though, students are asked to experiment with their sentence types in the context of different pieces of writing, such as an extract from a thriller, from a romantic novel, or a horror story; other contexts offered are advertisements, letters of complaint, diaries, reviews, instructions, etc.
Spellpics 1 and 2
This comprises 20 spelling activities that are great fun, while at the same time providing a learning structure to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling strategies.
Each activity provides 5 PowerPoint game slides - sixteen pictures linked to sixteen words focusing on different spelling rules, such as the 'i before e' rule, split digraph rule, 'tion' suffix rule, etc.
Each game is supported by an extension activity to underline and embed the learning strategy, and the final slide of each game displays the key learning points of the game, that can be laminated for classroom display.