Thanks to the wonderful teachers from around the world who have chosen my resources. I care passionately about quality and value and want you to fill your teaching ‘shelf’ with confidence, saving precious time. Hopefully they won’t be staying on the shelf for long as you’ll use them again and again! I’m a Primary Teacher and published writer with an English degree and French A-level. My resources are mostly Primary but some suit Secondary classes too. I hope your students enjoy using them.
Thanks to the wonderful teachers from around the world who have chosen my resources. I care passionately about quality and value and want you to fill your teaching ‘shelf’ with confidence, saving precious time. Hopefully they won’t be staying on the shelf for long as you’ll use them again and again! I’m a Primary Teacher and published writer with an English degree and French A-level. My resources are mostly Primary but some suit Secondary classes too. I hope your students enjoy using them.
This New Year, your students can learn about the Christian Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) or Three Kings Day (El Dia de Los Reyes) with these differentiated January nonfiction reading passages with comprehension questions, cloze procedure task, compare and contrast activity, and fun crossword puzzle were designed for upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7). While using and developing their literacy skills, students will learn about Three Wise Men and their role within the Christmas Story as well as finding out about the significance of Epiphany to Christians and some of the various traditions associated with this religious celebration in different countries. These Epiphany themed close reading tasks and fun puzzle are in a printable non-editable PDF file with 20 pages. An additional US spelling / grammar version is included in the Zip file with a small number of amendments to the UK version.
Also available in this money-saving January Reading Comprehensions BUNDLE.
Most activities are provided at 2 levels of challenge, so will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packs to provide a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year. They feature very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each pack is linked to a particular month but of course you can use them whenever you want! Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you just need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
CONTENTS:
Reading passage (2 levels of difficulty)
Cloze procedure task (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Comprehension questions (2 levels of difficulty) – using same passage
Compare and contrast task – using additional text, where 2 students from different cultures outline their experiences of Christmas and Epiphany / Three Kings Day. A Venn Diagram is then to be filled in with key details to show similarities and differences.
Crossword puzzle - students will be able to answer many clues from having read the texts in this pack but could have internet access to search for the remaining clues.
Full answer keys
Teacher notes
YOU MIGHT LIKE…
Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
Celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day on 25 January with these 2 fun and flexible no prep puzzles about Saint Dwynwen / Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of love and lovers. Although the crossword would need to be printed, the other puzzle can just be displayed on a screen and students can message you the answer.
The zip file contains a True or False Hidden Word Puzzle and a Crossword Puzzle, plus solutions, all in PDF format. These activities work well as follow up work to an assembly, as part of a stand-alone lesson or as part of a longer topic. They could be used as starter tasks (if building on previous learning), as individual or group tasks to focus pupils’ own research, an informal assessment task at the end of a topic or mini-focus, early finisher tasks or engaging homework tasks. These would best suit Upper Key Stage 2 / KS2, early KS3 and other equivalents.
The Hidden Word Puzzle includes 15 statements about St Dwynwen and St Dwynwen’s Day, which is the equivalent of St Valentine’s Day in Wales. Pupils must work out which ones are incorrect and then, using the grid at the bottom, rearrange the letters linked to the incorrect statements to find a word related to the subject of the puzzle. This is a very flexible resource, which works especially well to focus pupils’ own online research. All statements can be checked by looking through the first few websites that come up in internet searches. Children will practise reading comprehension skills and skimming and scanning strategies. They will also practise their digital literacy skills as they check facts, evaluating the reliability of websites used, ensuring they check more than one website etc. The solution to the puzzle, identifying and correcting the relevant statements, is included on a separate page. As versions of Dwynwen’s story can vary, the puzzles focus on details agreed on by several key websites.
The crossword could be used with the same pupils as although there is some overlap between the two puzzles in the information covered, there are also details in each which do not appear in the other.
No preparation is required, other than simply printing and copying. Two previews are provided, with a 4-page PDF document - containing the puzzles and their solutions - in the zip file. I hope your students enjoy using these puzzles. I would be grateful for a review if you get a spare moment.
Thank you for your interest in my resources. Please visit FullShelf Resources for engaging, time-saving printables, activities and presentations to plan Primary (and some Secondary) Literacy / English, Maths / Numeracy and French lessons. I also have a growing collection of puzzles for special events, anniversaries and Social Studies.
6 upper Primary (Upper KS2 - Years 5 and 6 and equivalents) or early Secondary (KS3 - Year 7 and equivalents), reading comprehensions with informational texts, other close reading tasks, grammar, punctuation, and writing activities, plus fun puzzles, perfect for January and the New Year. This BUNDLE includes differentiated packs on New Year’s Resolutions, Epiphany or Three Kings Day, MLK Day / Martin Luther King Day, World Braille Day / Louis Braille, Robert Burns / Burns Night, and Chinese New Year.
Contains over 120 pages, including 6 nonfiction reading comprehensions (all at 2 levels of difficulty), 6 cloze procedure tasks using the same texts (all at 2 levels) and each of the six packs has at least 2 additional tasks linked to each pack, some of which are also differentiated. Also contains all answer keys.
These packs provide Literacy or English activities based around short non-fiction texts with a link to the month. Each pack contains 4 or 5 printable activities in non-editable PDF format. Please check the previews to assess suitability for your students. In addition to the UK versions, US spelling and grammar versions are also included where relevant, meaning they can be used in most English-speaking countries. The majority of tasks are provided at two levels of challenge, therefore they will suit a range of year groups and provide appropriate levels of challenge for different abilities within many classes.
This BUNDLE provides a big discount so that you can pick and choose which texts and activities you wish to use and still make a saving. You’ll be able to use them again and again, starting each new year with plenty of relevant and meaningful Literacy and English tasks. The 6 packs are also available separately if you prefer:
New Year’s Resolutions
Louis Braille / World Braille Day (January 4)
Epiphany / Three Kings Day (January 6)
Martin Luther King / MLK Day (January 15 in 2024)
[Robert Burns / Burns Night](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-11811174 (January 25)
Chinese New Year (included in the January BUNDLE as it varies each year from January 21 to February 20 - in 2024, it is February 10)
I am designing these non-fiction comprehension and activities packs to provide a time-saving bank of flexible themed tasks linked to dates throughout the year, though of course you can use them whenever you want. They feature specially written very short texts (about 250 - 300 words). Each provides comprehension questions, a cloze procedure task and other linked tasks. The other tasks are on aspects of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, writing or reading (this varies across the different packs). Build all activities into your Literacy or English programme, or use for cover lessons, homework, early finisher tasks or for those busy times when you need something low-prep, meaningful, relevant and engaging at the last minute!
Please click on the links to see the individual resources in this bundle, to assess suitability for your students. You will find detailed information and previews for all of them. Many thanks.
YOU MIGHT LIKE…
Winter Creative Writing Story Prompts
Creative Writing Story Prompts
Complex Sentences Activity Cards
Editing SPaG Puzzles Worksheets
Full Stops and Capital Letters Cards
Improving Sentences Writing Worksheets
