A lesson for KS1 about the importance of stewardship of the world and what some of the major world religions say about looking after the planet. Includes two videos. Activity (to produce poster about what we should and should not do to be good stewards of the world) is differentiated three ways.

An assembly to last approximately 15-20 minutes on mental awareness. The ‘way in’ is via a focus on loneliness, which was the theme of 2022’s Mental Health Awareness Week. However, this could be changed according to your specidic requirements. The format is designed to allow for two pupil volunteers to assist but this could be changed to allow for one single presenter. The assembly includes a story ‘Lionel the Lonely Monster’ and an introduction to the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’.

A lesson for Y5/6 that takes some of the themes of the final sections of The Journey , e.g refugees arriving in a new and strange country, and uses them as the inspiration for writing haikus. The lesson begins with a ‘diamond 9’ activity to get children discussing the feelings that a refugee finally stepping into safety might experience. There is then a brief recap on syllables using a fun paired game. Pupils are then introduced to haiku as a form and, through good and ‘not so good’ examples, draw out the success criteria themselves. For teachers less confident with spontaneous shared writing, there is a ‘crib sheet’ with key questions and ‘think out loud’ points. For the independent activity, pupils can select an image to write a haiku about and the help sheet has examples for each image which pupils can use to base theirs on if needed.

An assembly that I used during an assessment day for an deputy head position (I got the job!) This is a presentation with some embedded videos (links to YouTube - please check that they work with your school’s firewall/intranet before using) that starts with the famous ‘marshmallow test’ before exploring the life stories of three very different ‘geniuses’ (Einstein, Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs) and relating their successes and struggles to the growth mindset. Pupils are then confronted with three scenarios and asked to think what a person with a growth mindset would do and what a person with a fixed mindset would do in each of them.

A lesson for KS1 on the five pillars of Islam, with three differentiated activities for pupils to choose between and a quiz for the plenary.

A lesson prompting pupils to reflect on the messages in two important stories about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): Muhammad and the Old Woman The Rich Man and the Poor Man The main task prompts pupils to think about how to apply the lessons in these stories to their own lives. There is an extension for those who require a further challenge.

A complete lesson for Y4-6 (adaptable for Y3) about how to identify and write effective similes. This lesson is intended to take pupils right back to what the point of similes is: to create vivid imagery in the reader’s mind. From there, various ‘good’ and ‘not so good’ examples show pupils how to build that imagery most effectively. Pupils then generate the ‘success criteria’ for effective similes (the powerpoint refines these down to 3 ‘golden guidelines’). Finally, there are 3 differentiated activities ranging from quite heavily scaffolded (‘Challenge 1’) to freer writing. For higher year groups, you could make ‘Challenge 2’ the easiest and then challenge your most able writers to apply the ‘golden guidelines’ in their own similes ‘from scratch’. Please note: this lesson frames similes through the context of writing descriptive settings of a forest. You can of course edit the powerpoint directly and copy/paste, then edit the wording from the activities.

A writing lesson for Y3/4 giving pupils an opportunity to write a section of an adventure story with a polar/Arctic/Canadian/Inuit theme. The pupils are challenged to write the ending to a story they are introduced to (‘Nukilik and the Bear’) about an Inuit boy and an orphaned polar bear. This lesson can be used as an assessment piece at the start or end of a unit on adventure story writing. The resources comprise: a planning template, wordbank, story introduction to follow on from and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils complete an assessed written piece to either begin or end a unit on myths (of the Roman or Greek type). The piece is a re-telling of the Athena and Poseidon myth (how Athens got its name). The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, ‘bare bones’ and a step-by-step powerpoint.

This is a complete writing lesson for lower KS2 during which pupils will write a biography of Harry Potter. It is structured as an assessment piece that could take place either before the start or at the end of a unit on biographies. However, it is adaptable if you wish to use it in another way. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint with embedded videos, a list of the major facts in Harry’s life (for pupils to order), an example text (WAGOLL) and a word bank to assist pupils’ writing.

This is a topic introduction day (‘wow’ day/‘launch’ day) for a Y3 or 4 pupils who are about to start a topic on rivers and the water cycle. The morning involves lots of new learning - including an introduction to the key content of the topic. There are two practical experiments (obviously you will need to source the items for these beforehand) - one a simple evaporation/condensation demonstration and the other is the well-known ‘shaving foam cloud’ experiment! The afternoon is more art/music based, featuring a look at the inspiration French impressionists took from rivers/water and the inspiration many classical composers took from this topic. Finally, if you have a copy of Wind in the Willows to hand, this is an ideal topic-themed way to round the day off. Alternatively, show them the 1983 screen adaptation (available on various online platforms).

These differentiated resources are ideal for lower KS2 children when you are teaching how to apply knowledge of rounding and using the inverse to check calculations. For each question, the numbers involved are represented pictorially and the line between green and yellow backgrounds helps pupils to see if they need to round up or down. Each question has these steps: Round the two numbers to the nearest 10 Add/subtract these rounded numbers in the space below (‘estimate’) Do the calculation using the actual numbers and see if the estimate was close Put the three numbers in the calculation into the ‘Singapore bar’ template in the third cell (largest number in the top cell). Do an inverse calculation to check For the ‘2 Chillies’ resource, there is no scaffolding for the children’s calculations.

An ideal end-of-unit quiz for upper KS2 to put their knowledge of the Muslim religion to the test in a fun and accessible way. No need to print anything - just put the slides on-screen and click through! Note: the combination of questions and answers takes approximately 1 hour to work through with a class.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 to help teach atlas skills and develop pupils’ knowledge of the larger countries of Europe and their capital cities. You will need a class set of atlases to teach this lesson, though there is a simple political map of Europe included with all of the key information as well. The main task is differentiated three ways, with a challenge for fast finishers.

This resource works best when enlarged to A3 and/or printed on card rather than paper. You then cut along the lines (or ask your TA very nicely!) to create a reasoning puzzle for your pupils. This puzzle can be done in mixed ability pairs or set as an extension. A great way to assess your pupils’ grasp of fraction-related content near the end of a unit, I’ve found tarsia puzzles to be great for engagement - and for those who complete it, perhaps they can create their own!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 on recognising and describing unit fractions. The starter is based on using ‘playdough’ to give pupils a concrete reference for a ‘whole’ object and how dividing it into parts gives rise to fractions. If, however, you have access to other concrete manipulatives for teaching fractions you may prefer these as a way to keep mess to a minimum! The worksheets are differentiated two ways and both have an additional challenge for ‘fast finishers’. The plenary is discussion based and is an AfL opportunity to see how well your pupils understand that fractions must be equally-sized parts of a whole.

This differentiated resource is intended for lower KS2 children learning about parallel and perpendicular lines. There is a template that starts pupils off at the ‘1 chilli’ (i.e. easiest) level and allows them to choose how their level of challenge progresses from there. Ask your TA to trim the activities along the black lines into rectangles and pupils can come up to collect the one they want when ready!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 to introduce the concept of multiplication and represent it as repeated addition using examples based on everyday objects. The resources comprise both a step-by-step powerpoint and 2-way differentiated worksheets (in the ‘make your own’ worksheet format). The latter are word documents are therefore editable should the format/style/sizes not suit you. In terms of strategy, the worked examples are calculated using ‘grouping’, which pupils can then apply themselves either with concrete manipulatives or jottings on a whiteboard. The worksheets allow for the calculations to be represented in the ‘bar method’ format as well if you require this.

A lesson for KS1 (best suited to Y2) to introduce the topic of Islam. Covers the story of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the revelations of the Angel Gabriel (Jibril) that were given to him, which later became the writings in the Quran.

A tarsia puzzle for practice with mentally adding/subtracting multiples of 1, 10, 100 and 1000. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems?