Useful information and planning tools for a Greek Myth.

Base 10 equipment is so useful! I have used this for simple place value with younger children and taught older children how to subtract with 'borrowing&' on this. We also use the equipmnet itself - priceless! Could be adapted to show decimal place value.

I have used this in Year 4 to teach about using and creating information texts, as well as capturing their interest with very cute creatures! Google National Geographic Kids/ polar bear video

This was written for a year group assembly. Hope it is useful!

Useful for Dramatic Conventions or for script writing.

In pairs the children cut out all the boxes. A white board is useful to use to lay them out on, so the children can add in any extra words or ideas with a whiteboard pen. The children build a simple sentence with two boxes, then they 'drop in' a clause with some extra information. This allows you to teach them to add in the commas and to decide whether you need a &'who&'; or a 'which&' for the subject of the sentence. This kept my Year 5s very busy for over an hour and progress and understanding was quick. (Sorry deleted by accident!)

This was written for a year group assembly - enough parts for two classes. Hope it is useful.

Report the incidents in the poem in a newspaper format. Whiteboard example. Two versions of the newspaper, one with headlines, one without.

I have revived this approach to shared and partner reading in my class, usually referred to as ERIC. It focuses the children on the task and makes it reading with a purpose. I can pair children of a similar level or a more able with a less able as necessary. This approach does help with getting the children to talk about what they have read and to self assess their reading.

Examples of the 'Sword in the Stone&' episode to compare and discuss. Cartoon worksheet from Gareth Pritchard&';s website. Task is to write part of this episode either as a narration or from a character's point of view.

Fun activity for a plenary or spare 10 minutes.

Fabulous book, much loved in my school, as is the sequel. We performed this play with song and dance very successfully but didn't give away the secret about the two Gentleman's cats at the end.

This worked very well getting the children to focus on 5Ws and H features of recounts. There is a resource for looking at examples of recounts of an accident for discussion; an activity where accidents are watched and children write a recount (not as gruesome as it sounds!) - clips 3 and 5 are good for this. There is also a sheet of recounts of accidents I collected from the internet to amuse your class with.

Using the link to Polar Bears on National Geographic Kids we used note taking and information sheets to organise and write a text about these creatures in Year 4.

an activity where everyday idioms have to be 'translated&' into proper english.

PowerPoint booklet with instructions on making a simple Pacman style game. Introduces the idea of a sprite not being able to touch a specified colour. Uses older version of Scratch.

A sheet of ideas for the main ingredients for a narrative story for children to select from and structure their story.

Simple way of comparing fractions to see if they have same value. Useful for Lower Key Stage 2.

A PowerPoint booklet on creating a simple racing track game with two cars, suitable for two people to play. I print this off into a double sided booklet for the children to work from. Uses older version of Scratch.

In pairs the children have to allocate an award to each child in class based on the positive aspects on the awards sheet. All very top secret! Then they play postman and all the children deliver their awards to the desks of the children. Each child then is given a sheet of paper or card in which to stick their awards and to decorate at the front with their name and a suitable title. Great fun, very affirming and appreciated by parents too!

I found a version of this on an American website and adapted it for use in my school. When a child has misbehaved they fill out this form. They have to record what they did but also evaluate why they did it and its consequences. The forms can be filed easily and kept for monitoring.