I completed my PGCE at The Institute of Education in 2011, staying in London to start my career at a primary school in Hackney. I taught across KS2 in four years, while also co-ordinating Spanish and Science and receiving brilliant CPD training across a range of specialisms. In 2016 I moved to Lancashire, where I have been supply teacher for a range of local schools. I love creating engaging & purposeful resources to bring education to life and to give teachers their weekends back!
I completed my PGCE at The Institute of Education in 2011, staying in London to start my career at a primary school in Hackney. I taught across KS2 in four years, while also co-ordinating Spanish and Science and receiving brilliant CPD training across a range of specialisms. In 2016 I moved to Lancashire, where I have been supply teacher for a range of local schools. I love creating engaging & purposeful resources to bring education to life and to give teachers their weekends back!
Having taught in an East London primary school, it was great to see Stratford change right in front of our eyes when the Olympic site and surrounding parkland was changed. Therefore, I wanted to use this experience in the teaching of human geography - comparing how East London changed before to after the 2012 Olympic Games through different photographs.
I hope this resource can be enjoyed by classes all over the country - not just in London!
This activity gets children to practically investigate the permeability of rocks. To do this, they need to understand what ‘permeable’ and ‘impermeable’ means, predict whether rocks will be permeable or impermeable, support their predictions with explanations, observe rocks closely to investigate their permeability and write a conclusion based on the outcome of the investigation.
The worksheet suggests that 3 rocks are used to test, and includes space to write/draw the rocks and to show their understanding and outcomes from the investigation.
UPDATED 22/11/2016 to include whole lesson presentation flip/notebook! Woo!
After years and years of finding the monitoring of children's progress in subjects such as Science, PE and ICT to be difficult both in terms of practicality and time, I was made Science coordinator at my school, and therefore had the opportunity to face the conundrum head on. I was determined, especially after "assessment without levels" came in, to find a more time manageable, yet effective and clear, method of tracking pupils progress outside of the big three.
Therefore I came up with this; an easily adaptable tracking sheet which allows teachers for each class to simply input their register and planned Science objectives for the half term. Tracking then works like a traffic-light system - if under the first objective some children displayed really good or even advanced understanding, I put a red dot in the first column by their name. If some children really took to the learning well and came away with a good understanding from the lesson, I gave them a green dot to show they were on track. And if children seemed to struggle with an objective and didn't come away with a clear understanding, I gave them a yellow dot. (FYI - this was tracked discreetly during and after the lesson).
ADDITIONALLY - during the next lesson, I would look to start by recapping from the previous week's objective, targeting children on yellow and green with my questioning. If a child I had previously dotted yellow seemed to show a good recollection of key ideas and facts then I would add a green dot next to their original yellow dot to override it.
All the above instructions are at the top of the tracking sheet. Additionally, this assessment tool allows teachers to monitor what Science objectives they have taught through the year, to ensure expected coverage, and can help coordinators ensure that classes across the school have good coverage of the curriculum and are not repeating the same topics unnecessarily.
These two worksheets can expand to form a Science topic over four to five lessons.
Using their prior knowledge of materials and wind power, children independently design their own boat powered by wind either on paper or in their Science books. Existing examples could be shown.
Then, at the start of the next lesson, children would use the first worksheet in this resource to evaluate each others designs using the following criteria:
• Shape – How will this affect how it moves and balances on the water?
• Size – How will this affect how the boat floats and balances?
• Materials – Are they waterproof? How will you join them securely?
• Sail – How will it steadily stay up and move the boat forwards?
Following this, either in the same or next lesson, groups would then choose the best design or combination of design ideas from those on their table, to form a final group design of a boat with a sail.
On the second sheet in this resource, they would then work together to plan their final design, using the following criteria:
* I can consider the effect of water resistance in my boat design
* I can make a sail that will catch wind
* I can consider suitable materials to make my boat
* I can annotate my design to explain material and shape choices
Each group would draw their final boat design and list the materials needed to make it, before going on to make their boat in the following lesson, and then test them the lesson after that in a suitable outdoor location! (...we used a paddling pool!)
This lesson gets children to investigate rocks practically - either in or outside of the classroom!
It involves them comparing rocks by their size, shape, texture, durability, and many other factors, while also extending to thinking about why rocks are different.
This is a cross-curricular lesson which links nicely with Maths, as it requires children to sort different rocks using a Venn Diagram. Included is a lesson presentation notebook and a worksheet and photographs from when I continued this lesson outside of the classroom on Hampstead Heath!
Easily adaptable for a range of KS2 classes. Enjoy!
This worksheet develops children's understanding of maps and atlases by addressing the following criteria:
• I can explain what ‘latitude’ is
• I can explain what ‘longitude’ is
• I know why we use latitudinal and longitudinal lines on maps/atlases
• I can estimate the latitudinal/longitudinal points of a location
• I can use given latitudinal/longitudinal numbers to find a point on a map
It would be most suitable for KS2 classes and is differentiated to suit different learners.
This resource is a class assembly that I did with my Year 3 and 4 classes about our cross-curricular topic for the term: Light.
To make the script I split the class into five groups, and gave each group a question to research with helpful bullet points. They went away and did this over a lesson, making the notes from which I made a class assembly script! The script can easily be adapted to change children's names or to add or take away parts. The script also includes visual activities or objects that groups can be showing to support their part of the assembly.
Group topics include:
What is light?
Sources of light
Darkness
Shadows
Reflections
It is designed to be an informative assembly, but fun and easily for an audience to follow. Enjoy!
This lesson models to children how to convert times between the 12 and 24 hour clocks using the following Success Criteria:
* I know that there are 24 hours in a day
* I know morning = am / afternoon = pm
* I label an analogue clock using 24 hour times
* I can use my clock to tell the time across 24 hours
Challenge: I can tell the time to the nearest minute
It is contains a balanced mixture of partner talk questions, teacher modelling and independent activities, along with helpful links to resources to support the objective. It even has a challenge plenary at the end, asking pupils to write 24 hour times on a blank analogue clock.
I've included a short lesson activity for this lesson, but I cannot include worksheets for this lesson as I would be copyrighting other people's resources, but I have included links on one page to analogue clock resources. Enjoy!
This lesson models to children how to add and subtract time using the following Success Criteria:
* I know that there are 60 seconds in a minute
* I know that there are 60 minutes in an hour
* I can add and subtract minutes from a given time
Challenge: I can carry across the hour
It is contains a balanced mixture of partner talk questions, teacher modelling and independent activities, along with helpful links to resources to support the objective. It even has a challenge plenary at the end.
I cannot include worksheets for this lesson as I would be copyrighting other people's resources, but they are easily available via Primary Resources or a quick Google!
This lesson models to children how to write the time on an analogue clock using the following Success Criteria:
* I know the big hand represents minutes
* I know that the small hand represents the current hour
* I know the minutes that each number on a clock face represents
* I can move the hour hand according to the number of minutes past
Challenge: I can present the 24 hour clock in analogue form
It is contains a balanced mixture of partner talk questions, teacher modelling and independent activities, along with helpful links to resources to support the objective.
I cannot include worksheets for this lesson as I would be copyrighting other people's resources, but I have included links on one page to analogue clock resources. Or you could just Google it - plenty of free ones come up! Enjoy!
Through my career I found it easier for children to understand the difference between area and perimeter by linking perimeter with addition practice and area with multiplication practice.
Therefore this resource consists of four lessons:
Day 1 - Revising multiplication (my lesson focuses on the array method with HA being challenged to try grid method)
Day 2 - Understanding 'area' by learning that it is the space inside a 2D shape, it is a form of measure, that area can be found by counting cm squares with appropriate unit of measure in the answer.
Day 3 - Linking day 2's learning by introducing the concept of length x width to calculate area, but still using cm square paper to make the transition easily differentiable
Day 4 - Calculating area using length x width by being able to identify the length and width of a quadrilateral, showing their calculations linking back to Day 1 and including appropriate unit of measurement in their answer. HA can be challenged with compound shapes.
I used this lesson with a mixed ability Year 3 class, but it can be easily adaptable for higher KS1 or KS2. I cannot include downloadable worksheets in the resource pack due to copyright, but I have included small screenshots of the resources I used for different abilities on each task page so you get an idea of appropriate resources for each day. Most are easily findable using a simple search on Google images or good education websites.
These three lessons, designed for KS2, help children to understand sound, how it travels, how sound can be different and what materials can block sound. The objectives are as follows:
Lesson 1 - Objective: To understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate
Success Criteria:
I can understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate.
I can compare how sounds travel through gases, liquids and solids
I can investigate how sounds travel through different objects
I can explain the results of my investigation using scientific diagrams/language
The lesson poses various questions to children throughout the notebook presentation about what sound is, how we hear, how sound might travel differently, to allow them to demonstrate their prior knowledge or ideas. It also includes useful links which help to embed given facts, mini tasks to engage the class, and best of all, a creative main activity where children investigate whether sound travels through string telephones! The differentiated plenary is a 'fill-the-gaps' activity which assesses children's understanding from the lesson.
Lesson 2 - Objective: To investigate how the pitch and volume of instruments can be changed
Success Criteria:
I can understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate.
I can explain what is meant by the 'pitch' of sound
I can explain what is meant by the 'volume' of sound
I can make predictions
I can alter the pitch and volume of various musical instruments
Children meet this objective by first recapping what they have already learnt about sound, by learning the difference between 'pitch' and 'volume' using different links in the notebook and then by investigating pitch and volume using an online BBC Bitesize activity, noting their predictions and conclusions in their books. Musical instruments could be used in the lesson as well!
Lesson 3 - LI: To investigate whether materials effect the movement of soundwaves
SC:
I can identify the properties of different materials
I understand how sound travels through solids, liquids and gases
I can make predictions
I can identify whether an experiment is a fair test
I can explain the results of an experiment
The lesson starts by recapping previous learning, before brainstorming in what scenarios we might want sound to be blocked. Children then conduct an experiment, comparing which materials would be best to block sound.
This lesson comprises of three mini activities which together will help children to understand and empathise with families experiences of evacuation during World War 2.
The Notebook presentation gets children includes reading and discussing a personal recount, choosing and justifying one object they would put in their small evacuation suitcase and inferring what people are thinking and feeling in photographs taken from the evacuation process using thought bubbles.
There are lots more WWII resources in my shop too if you want to link further lessons. Enjoy!
This is a great lesson to introduce a World War II topic. Using a Notebook presentation, it involves a range of discussion and activities helping children to understand what a world war is, why WWII started, what the two main sides were and why these alliances were formed. The lesson follows the objective and criteria:
Objective: To be able to locate the Allies and Axis powers
* I know the meaning of Allies and Axis
* I can use an atlas to locate countries involved in WWII
* I can identify which countries were Allied or Axis
* I can explain why countries may have formed alliances
The main lesson activity involves children using atlases to identify countries in Europe, and then either independently or as a class understanding and marking whether each country was Allied or Axis.
Having taught in an East London primary school, I wanted to end the class WWII topic by linking it to their own community. East London was a huge target during the Blitz, therefore was devastated during the war, which children in the area might not realise given the infrastructure around them. However, the lesson mainly compares WWII problems with modern day life in East London - positive and negative. It gets children to examine their own community, identify what is good, and what could be improved, and what they imagine it will be like in the future. The lesson activity is continuous through the lesson; making notes about what they think Hackney is like, and then develops to the children using their notes to write a poem (using my teacher example).
Although this resource is focused on East London, it could be adapted to focus on area of London or the UK that was particularly affected by the Blitz. Resources include a Notebook lesson presentation, a worksheet for making notes, a presentation page for children to write their best copy of their poem and lots of picture resources.
This lesson explains to children the importance of women during WWII - how they kept the country running while men were away fighting, taking on jobs in industries that women previously did not work in and therefore changing their role and status in society.
The notebook presentation explores how women's roles changed, their pay and what that would compare to today, and how the government used posters to encourage women into industrial work in factories and on farms.
The lesson activity is in three parts: 1) studying the posters and annotating observations towards use of colour, illustrations and text 2) Answering questions based on class discussion about women's role during WWII 3) Using the internet to explore given articles about women in WWII, understanding how it is still celebrated today
This resource nicely extends children learning about World War II by comparing London's post-war infrastructure to modern day.
It compares various images from post-war to modern day (which children find particularly intriguing!) and uses engaging BBC short video clips to examine how housing infrastructure has changed since the war.
As the main activity, children will identify key London landmarks by their pictures, stick and label them in their books, read an information text about how London has changed since WWII and see if they can find any information about their landmarks, noting facts next to the relevant pictures.
The resource includes a full lesson Notebook presentation, the full information text, the images comparing post-war and modern day London, along with the activity resource sheet and instructions. Enjoy!
This lesson pack includes a Notebook presentation and linking worksheets, getting children to investigate how different materials can affect the movement of an object. First, they recap what forces are, such as push/pulls, then move on to understanding gravity.
A push force is not needed to make a car go down a ramp, because gravity acts upon the car, moving it to the flat surface. However the material on the flat surface can affect how far the car travels, and therefore affects the force upon the car. The children will investigate which materials will impact most on the force of the car (i.e. which material will allow the car to go furthest/not as far) using the following objective and criteria:
Objective: To investigate how materials affect forces
Success Criteria
I can make predictions using prior knowledge
I can carry out an enquiry to test a prediction
I can take and record accurate measurements
I can use my results to draw simple conclusions
This lesson explains why gas masks were used during World War 2, including video clips from the 1930s reminding people to carry their masks with them at all times and to practise wearing them once a week.
The lesson brainstorms what they were made from and their effectiveness, before comparing adult and child gas masks. The lesson objective is for children to make a gas mask using given materials, considering comfort, effectiveness to keep out gas, and appeal for children to wear them.
There are lots more WWII resources in my shop too if you want to link further lessons. Enjoy!
A range of lessons that will bring your class’ WWII topic to life, learning about everything from why the war started and who was involved, to evacuation and how events were broadcast, to the social changes brought into effect from the conflict, from the role of women to economic and industrial changes.