KS3 Read & Respond: A 10 lesson, fully planned SOW centered on reading comprehension.
In the bundle are 10 carefully planned lessons that aim to push KS3 students’ reading, comprehension and essay/creative writing skills.
For 10 more fantastic comprehension lessons, be sure to check out the 2023 reciprocal reading bundle.
Each lesson focuses on a unique short story (all selected from the BBC 500 word contest) and includes a host of activities to guide learning, bolstering reading, comprehension and critical thinking/metacognitive skills.
Each lesson follows four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Produce either an essay, creative writing piece or other planned response to the short story.
This SOW includes a detailed lesson plan for each of the 10 lessons, PPT’s full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as a printable version of each short story to read with the class.
This SOW bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives whilst teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses.
A vibrant display poster/cheat-sheet for student desks. It lists the five features of PETER paragraphs and offers a simple explanation beside as a reminder.
An excellent resource for structured writing lessons - gives students a boost of confidence and helps crystalise the PETER technique.
A set of two high resolution posters outlining AQA’s English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 demands.
The posters are colourful and cleanly organised, and include:
Recommended timings for each question
The marks available for each question
A summary of the skills required to tackle each question
A simple reminder graphic to visually anchor the key skills
Posters are designed at A4 size, but will print at larger sizes without a major loss of quality. Print on thick card for a quality classroom display.
KS3 Read & Respond 13 - The Cottage
A bright, detailed and fully planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story. This lesson is perfect for reciprocal reading interventions as it bakes all the core skills (fab 4 reading strategies etc) into each step of the lesson.
Related to this reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Answer an essay style question using quotes from the text to consolidate learning
This lesson focuses on the short story “The Cottage” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
Following the reciprocal reading framework, this scheme of work also teaches crucial GCSE skills, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses.
Teach your English Language students precisely what the AQA assessment objectives expect of them with these three fully planned and prepared lessons.
The lessons can be taught over three to six periods depending on group ability, and they cover the AO5 criteria in a great depth, providing students all the tools necessary to contextualise AQA’s mark scheme and apply it to their own work.
The lessons includes multiple GCSE style AO5 questions for students to tackle, with appropriate frameworks to build them gradually up to the task.
The lessons include a silent starter for settling, a starter to contextualise the learning objective, and then multiple activities, reflections, exemplars and plenaries to get your students learning.
A perfect trio of lessons to quickly instill the necessary skills needed to reach top marks for AO5.
Includes differentiated slides packed with images and key vocabulary so that all students can access the work.
KS3 Read & Respond 07 - The Dream Asylum
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
A part of the reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Answer an series of true or false questions to test comprehension, then respond to an essay style question
This lesson focuses on the short story “The Dream Asylum” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that genre elements have on story, such as the supernatural, suspense, mystery.
KS3 Read & Respond 05 - Find Me
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
A part of the reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Create a plan for a short story, experimenting with the order of events to understand the role of structure in narratives
This lesson focuses on the short story “Find Me” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that structure has on story, and author intent and reader response.
A set of two high resolution posters outlining AQA’s English Literaure Paper 1 and Paper 2 demands.
The posters are colourful and cleanly organised, and include:
Recommended timings for each question
The marks available for each question
A summary of the skills required to tackle each question
Posters are designed at A4 size, but will print at larger sizes without a major loss of quality. Print on thick card for a quality classroom display.
Teach your English Language students precisely what the AQA assessment objectives expect of them with these two fully planned and prepared lessons.
The lessons can be taught over two to four periods depending on group ability, and they cover the AO2criteria in a great depth, providing students all the tools necessary to contextualise AQA’s mark scheme and apply it to their own work.
The lessons includes multiple GCSE style AO2 questions for students to tackle, with appropriate frameworks to build them gradually up to the task.
The lessons include a silent starter for settling, a starter to contextualise the learning objective, and then multiple activities, reflections, exemplars and plenaries to get your students learning.
A perfect pair of lessons to quickly instill the necessary skills needed to reach top marks for AO2.
Includes differentiated slides packed with images and key vocabulary so that all students can access the work.
A PowerPoint presentation packed full of images, word clusters, vocabulary and poetic techniques, designed to help differentiate the poem “Sonnet 29, I Think of Thee!” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1850) for learners who are struggling with the poem.
The presentation breaks the poem down by stanza, illustrating some of the key ideas, moods or themes of each stanza using relatable images.
The presentation then follows with a vocabulary check-list, contextualising some of the more difficult words in each stanza.
There are then two slides designed to aid student understanding of the poem. One slide groups similar words into themed banks (ie, emotive words, sad words, happy words etc) whilst the other slide groups words by poetic technique (Pathetic fallacy etc)
The presentation can be used as a classroom aid to improve whole-group understanding of the poem and as a prompt to get students thinking about the poem in an analytical way.
It slots in seamlessly with any pre-planned lessons.
KS3 Read & Respond 09 - Night Terrors in Cairo
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
A part of the reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Think about the impact of descriptive to create character, use descriptive language to describe a person based on an image prompt
This lesson focuses on the short story “Night Terrors in Cairo” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that descriptive language has on character, and author intent and reader response.
A resource bundle featuring an array of planning mats and revision posters for classroom use/display.
Includes a variety of task planners, PEA and PETER sheets, posters focusing on poetry analysis and exam skills, flash cards for AFOREST and features of poetic language, and various discussion prompt cards for in-class oracy.
KS3 Read & Respond 10 - The Open Window
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Answer an essay style question using quotes from the text to consolidate learning
This lesson focuses on the short story “The Open Window” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the way that structure can be used to build tension in an extract.
KS3 Read & Respond 01 - Moving On
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
A part of the reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Answer an essay style question using quotes from the text to consolidate learning
This lesson focuses on the short story “Moving On” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that structure has on story, and author intent and reader response.
KS3 Read & Respond 04 - White Lies
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Create a 1st Person Diary Entry from the POV of a young soldier during WW1
This lesson focuses on the short story “White Lies” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that narrative POV has on story, and author intent and reader response.
KS2 English Up To Speed Lesson 2 - Prefixes and Suffixes 2
A quick, fun and easy lesson that aims to engage KS2 students, learning and then practicing the difference between different setence types.
Part of a grammar essentials scheme of work. For three FREE example lessons in this scheme of work, be sure to check out
KS2 Synonym catchup
KS2 Adjective catchup
Adverb catchup
The lesson follows 3 steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read and Copy- Read through the material as a group with the help of images, then copy the definition
Practice/produce- Practice skills using a worksheet, then produce an original piece, displaying learning
This lesson includes a quick, printable worksheet, definitions and plenaries to ensure learning.
Works well in 1:1 settings, for differentiated English catchup with older yeargroups, or with groups.
KS2 English Up To Speed 2 - Subordinating Conjunctions
A quick, fun and easy lesson that aims to engage KS2 students, learning and then practicing the difference between different setence types.
Part of a grammar essentials scheme of work. For three FREE example lessons in this scheme of work, be sure to check out
KS2 Synonym catchup
KS2 Adjective catchup
Adverb catchup
The lesson follows 3 steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read and Copy- Read through the material as a group with the help of images, then copy the definition
Practice/produce- Practice skills using a worksheet, then produce an original piece, displaying learning
This lesson includes a quick, printable worksheet, definitions and plenaries to ensure learning.
Works well in 1:1 settings, for differentiated English catchup with older yeargroups, or with groups.
KS2 English Up To Speed 2 - Adverbs
A quick, fun and easy lesson that aims to engage KS2 students, learning and then practicing the difference between different setence types.
Part of a grammar essentials scheme of work. For two more fantastic FREE lessons in this bundle, see [synonym catchup]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12693451) and adjectives catchup.
The lesson follows 3 steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read and Copy- Read through the material as a group with the help of images, then copy the definition
Practice/produce- Practice skills using a worksheet, then produce an original piece, displaying learning
This lesson includes a quick, printable worksheet, definitions and plenaries to ensure learning.
Works well in 1:1 settings, for differentiated English catchup with older yeargroups, or with groups.
KS2 English Up To Speed 2 - Adjectives
A quick, fun and easy lesson that aims to engage KS2 students, learning and then practicing the difference between different setence types.
Part of a grammar essentials scheme of work. For two more fantastic FREE lessons in this bundle, be sure to check out adverb catchup and synonym catchup.
The lesson follows 3 steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read and Copy- Read through the material as a group with the help of images, then copy the definition
Practice/produce- Practice skills using a worksheet, then produce an original piece, displaying learning
This lesson includes a quick, printable worksheet, definitions and plenaries to ensure learning.
Works well in 1:1 settings, for differentiated English catchup with older yeargroups, or with groups.
KS3 Read & Respond 06 - White
A bright, detailed and vividly planned lesson that aims to test KS3 students with their ability to read, comprehend and respond to a stimulating short story.
A part of the reciprocal reading scheme of work. Enjoy two FREE examples of the lessons here and here.
For a great discount on ten more reciprocal reading lessons, be sure to check out the reciprocal reading bundle.
The lesson has four steps:
Starter - Pre-contextualise the material with a fun warmup activity
Read - Read through the material as a group with the help of bold images and vocabulary prompts
Understand - Summarise the material and reflect upon its impact on the reader
Respond - Continue the story, exploring it from various narrative perspectives to understand how the events took place
This lesson focuses on the short story “White” and asks students to evaluate the impact that the story’s twist ending had on the reader, as well as to consider the author’s intent when writing the story.
This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan, a PPT full of images, worksheets, questions and examplars, as well as containing a printable version of the short story itself to read with the class.
It bakes crucial GCSE skills into the plan, preparing students to meet AO objectives, and teaching them to consider the use of quotations to back responses. This lesson focuses on the impact that narrative perspective has on story, and author intent and reader response.