A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
Great writing tasks - (story, newspaper, persuasive task) on Ancient Egypt.
Differentiated writing tasks with, for example, model texts, planners and teaching notes. A fun Egyptian holiday brochure, a Tutankhamun newspaper and story about 'Night in an Egyptian Museum'.
Pupils are given the opening of Secret Garden and a grid giving clues to techniques used to show character.
An example of the grid is below:
Point - We find out about Mary Lennox’s character from what the narrator tells us directly about her. Evidence – I know this because it says… Explanation – This shows that…
Working with the word document, pupils have to copy quotations from the text that prove the character points listed and paste them into the grid table. Next they fill in the table by explaining how their quotation proves the point.
There are three sheets, differentiated for different abilities, requiring children who need more support to just fill in the section explaining how their quotation proves their point.
There is a worksheet to show pupils how to work out clues to a character and an explanation of PEE (point, evidence, explain)
the task can also be done on paper without a computer using the text. I asked the children to use three colours for the point, evidence, explanation.
An easy simile poem idea that can deliver some surprisingly creative ideas There's an example, ideas sheet and scaffold. I found an example of a 'If my Thoughts Took Shape' poem years ago and recently made the scaffold and ideas sheet to structure and support pupils.
There is an example of a holiday brochure tour of Egypt to demonstrate persuasive techniques, including the use of Imperative verbs and adjectives. Children then use the text and the planning worksheet to write their own holiday tour of Egypt. Pupils can use their own knowledge of places from their work on Ancient Egypt, but they don't need to, because places are mentioned in the example holiday brochure for them to use.
Extension task - there is an example of an Egyptian holiday brochure, again written to demonstrate genre features and persuasive techniques. There is a scaffold frame, so pupils can produce their own realistic hotel brochures. There are also images included for pupils to add images to make their persuasive holiday work look authentic.
These pictures help pupils to see the imagery used by Dahl to describe Miss Trunchbull. The worksheet requires pupils to find the connotations, for example, in what way is Miss Trunchbull like an 'enraged rhinocerous'?
KS2 convert simple sentences to complex (telling myth of Osiris) & PPTX on complex sentences.
Ideal for topic on Ancient Egypt! Aimed at Upper Key Stage 2.
The Tutankhamun newspaper is written to demonstrate newspaper genre features such as, lead line telling the 5Ws, embedded clauses , synonyms, columns and quotations.
There are detailed teaching notes and differentiated support planners to scaffold the writing to get good understanding of the newspaper genre and a good piece of writing.
Writing and responding to the painting ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’ by Mondrian. It would be useful to look at a version of the image on the whiteboard in class, so that there is better quality of image for discussion, than the image on the worksheet.
Visual literacy questions to prompt discussion or writing. There is another TES resource available linked to this, so please check out my other Mondrian resource. There are more resources available at .
This activity gives pupils a clear structure for writing a newspaper about Mrs Pretty’s donation of the Sutton Hoo finds to the British Museum. It also provides all the facts they need to write a really good newspaper article.
A task for able upperKS2, and KS3 historians.
A Star Wars persuasive writing task, with differentiated planners, teaching notes and model text. Also learning mat offering questions for any persuasive text and a PowerPoint using animation to teach persuasive techniques.
This is a sports car advert written to demonstrate persuasive techniques, such as, blinding with science and deliberate ambiguity. There are detailed teaching notes on the text and on the follow up writing task. There is scaffold frame to support pupils with independent writing and a blank template for pupils to produce their own car advert having discussed the advert provided. There is a connotations worksheet, looking at the use of animal names with powerful connotations used for car names. There is also a list of demonstration slogans from car companies. There are seven resources in all, including the advert written with a white background for improved printing. It is a comprehensive and fun way to teach persuasive writing. theer is also a PowerPoint of persuasive techniques.
Fun task for summer and pupils can produce good written work! Pupils write instructions for a favourite ice cream and an advert for an ice cream or ice cream shop. There is a wordbank to support pupils who need support, taken from collecting ideas of favourite flavours and toppings from pupils. There are also instructions establishing how to write instructions to make an ice cream sundae. Next, there is a PowerPoint about how to write an ice cream advert. There is a worksheet for children requiring additional support on naming and adding adjectives to ice creams. Children can produce their own advert (either for an ice cream cafe or an individual ice cream) and there are a choice of sheets with a pictures of ice cream provided, if you want to use that for pupils to present their work.
This is a sports car advert, aimed at Upper Key Stage 2, written to demonstrate persuasive techniques, such as, imperative verbs and blinding with science. There are detailed teaching notes on the text and follow up writing task and a PowerPoint of persuasive techniques. There is a scaffold frame to support pupils with independent writing and a blank template for pupils to produce their own car advert, having discussed the advert provided. There is a connotations worksheet, looking at the use of animal names with powerful connotations used for car names. There is also a list of demonstration slogans from car companies. There are seven resources in all, including the advert written with a white background for improved printing. It is a comprehensive and fun way to teach persuasive writing.
This fun PowerPoint teaches children about persuasive techniques, using images and animations to make the ideas memorable and easy to remember. It aids pupils’ persuasive writing, but also gives pupils a new set of glasses with which they can make them more aware of the techniques used in persuasive media. It covers the use of persuasive techniques like appealing adjectives, catchy slogans, second person, imperative verbs, positive connotations and blinding with science. It is an ideal preparation for writing adverts, or brochures. It teaches that persuasive texts are consciously put together and constructed to achieve a purpose.
Learning outcomes - children learn about global warming and by using the model text, teaching notes and scaffold are able to write their own persuasive and informative texts on global warming.
A model global warming persuasive information text provides lots of information, so children will learn about global warming. Teaching notes provide guidance on the features of the text type. Teaching notes also guide discussion of how the writer manages to persuade and inform. This builds the children’s understanding of the text type in order to help pupils write their own persuasive and informative texts on global warming. There is a scaffold frame that can also be used to support independent writing on global warming.
