Display these synonym posters for over-used, everyday words to support your students in enriching their vocabulary. There are 12 separate posters for your display board and/or a table top page containing all 12 posters on one page for use on tables.

8 session Year 2 English creative writing unit of work that can be easily adapted for other year groups. There is a focus on correctly sequencing a story and the use of adjectives and expanded noun phrases to describe and specify. The planning is based around ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson but can be tweaked to apply to an adventure story of your choice. Cutaways are suggested within the planning for a variety of groups of children. This resource includes: - 8 sessions of planning - sentence opener and suffix scaffold cards for children requiring additional support - ‘think about it’ prompt cards for more able writers - lesson starter activities - suffixes presentation (also available separately) - emotions graph template - planning frame and vocabulary gathering extension sheet

Have a bit of fun and keep the children busy with these classic logic puzzles. Children can practise their reading and reasoning in an engaging and different way! Read the clues and eliminate possibilities to crack the puzzle. Children can draw pictures or use the grids provided to logically reason which pirate captains each ship. There are 3 differentiated puzzles and answers are provided with this resource. If you’ve enjoyed the pirates puzzle, why not try another logic puzzle: Who’s Who

Children can practise consonant blends as games with these sets of cards and create their own words by mixing and matching cards. Great preparation for the phonics check if you have identified consonant blends as a sticking point for a pupil. I find that even simple final consonant blends can trip up children, e.g. reading ulb as lub. There are two files included in this download: - initial consonant blends practise, e.g. fl, br, st - final consonant blends practise, e.g. lb, rt, sp, lm

Lots of practise reading and writing the split digraphs a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e and u-e! This resource includes: - poster cards for each split digraph - alien words using all 5 digraphs - real words using all 5 digraphs -split digraph writing frames (for all 5 digraphs) - empty split digraph writing frames You might like to use my free split digraphs presentations as well: Presentations for teaching split digraphs

Reading comprehensions on the UK government, general election and democracy. There are three differentiated versions that could be used for Year 2 and upwards. My more able Year 1s had a go at the comprehension sheet in the middle of the file and did pretty well, it was a good challenge for them - I'm amused that they would build more chocolate factories if they ran the government! Questions include multiple choice, short written and longer written answers. The highest level also contains a true/false table with statements to be ticked as appropriate.

11 session unit of work with a grammar focus of question marks and exclamation marks based on Julia Donaldson's 'Room on the Broom'. Children make their own character puppets and perform a play, generating lots of talk for writing. The planning was created for the Year 1 curriculum but is equally valid for Year 2 work on exclamations, questions and statements. This resource includes: - A comprehensive planning document including suggestions for cutaways, pullbacks, guided reading activities and differentiation. - Room on the Broom planning resources pdf containing writing frames, word mat, introductory activities and keep up activity ideas (all referenced in the planning document). - Sentence identification activities used in the planning as assessment for learning opportunities. My class loved making the puppets and doing the puppet show. We performed our shows to small groups of Year R and got feedback from the Year R kids which was lovely. I hope your class enjoy it too!

Perfect for practising segmenting for spelling using a tablet or PC with early writers! No printing is required - all you’ll need is a device that has PowerPoint, or access to Google Slides via the internet, a piece of paper and a pencil or pen. The digital worksheets begin with simple CVC (consonant sound, vowel sound, consonant sound) words such as pig, hat, etc. with the middle sound provided. Children sound out (segment) the word, using the image and given letter for support and then write the word on their piece of paper. Answers are provided on the penultimate slide so they can even mark their own work. Once they have mastered level 1, they can “unlock” the next level and so on, building up their segmenting for spelling skills progressively and systematically. I’ve used these digital worksheets with children 4 years old and upwards. Most children are able to use them independently once they’ve been shown what to do and the slide show is presented. They occasionally come out of the slide show by accident but show children how to press the slide show/present button and they can often handle that by themselves too - great for their computing skills! What’s included? A zipped file which contains all of the PowerPoints as follows: CVC single grapheme words (scaffolded) CVC single grapheme words CVC digraph words CCVC single grapheme words CVCC single grapheme words CCVC words with digraphs CVCC words with digraphs

Planning and resources for the Year 3 and 4 English national curriculum based around Satoshi Kitamura’s story, Stone Age Boy. Eight literacy sessions are planned for children to plan, draft and write, evaluate and edit their own adventure story using the structure, vocabulary and grammar of the Stone Age Boy story as a ‘master’ example. The planning covers the following objectives from the English national curriculum: to identify themes in stories to participate in discussions about books, taking turns and listening to what others say to discuss and record ideas to organise paragraphs around a theme to use simple organisational devices to use vocabulary and grammar from a story when writing to assess the effectiveness of my own and others writing and suggest improvements. This resource is also available as part of a Stone Age bundle which also contains a DT textiles unit of work for the same topic, saving you 20% of the total cost.

Track errors, diagnose areas of development and organise groups and interventions to prepare your class for the Year 1 phonics screening check. This document contains a set of instructions, the diagnostic tool, a worked example for an individual pupil and whole class with a follow-up breakdown. This should help you complete the diagnostic tool and see how you can use the information it provides to plan your priorities for teaching whole class, small groups and/or 1:1 interventions. This really worked for me last year, I used it within my own class where I achieved a 90% pass rate for the screening check, and as year leader across Year 1 to inform the teachers of phonics sets, where we achieved an 84% pass rate collectively.

Posters to encourage children to use a variety of conjunctions (and spell them correctly!) in their writing. 2016 interim assessment framework: using co-ordination (or / and / but) and some subordination (when / if / that / because). I got a bit carried away playing around with colours, hopefully you'll find one to suit you! If there's a colour you'd prefer, drop me a message and I'll see if I can do it for you. 2013 National Curriculum Key Stage 1 English programme of study (Year 2): Pupils should be taught to learn how to use subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but).

Words containing Phase 3 graphemes for reading practise. I made this resource this term for my Year 1 class and they love it! The red herrings are a bit random, but the children love looking out for them (they are words in the powerpoint that don’t contain the featured grapheme). When they arrive the children put their hands together, make a fishy movement and call out ‘red herring!’ They generally fall about laughing too. I don’t know why it’s so funny but I’m happy to go with it because they are engaged, they’re paying attention to the graphemes and best of all they’re having fun! I also use the slides to teach silent blending and how to break down longer words for reading. Handy for preparing for the Year 1 phonics screening check and I’ve really noticed their reading coming along. It’s not entirely down to the red herring powerpoints, they’re only one aspect of what we do, but I think they’re a solid part of it. I don’t use them every day because I don’t want the concept to get boring but I always get a ‘yessss!’ when I do. I’ve included the graphemes are, ore and ear (as in pear) in the trigraphs powerpoint as they’re in the Year 1 curriculum (although not in letters and sounds). I thought they would fit most conveniently in the trigraphs powerpoint. I also took out ‘ure’ as it doesn’t appear in the curriculum until Year 2 but you can easily add it back in by editing the powerpoint if you would like to use it. Many of the graphemes are also appropriate for Year R. I hope your class enjoy using this as much as mine do!

Another set of red herring slides for my Year 1 class! Handy for the Year 1 phonics screening check, Year 2 revision and even end of Year R. The red herrings are a bit random, but the children love looking out for them. The ‘red herrings’ are slides within the powerpoint that don’t contain the featured grapheme, e.g. in a set of words for ‘ea’, a slide will pop up saying ‘shirt’ - a red herring. When they arrive the children put their hands together, make a fishy movement and call out ‘red herring!’ For some reason, they think it’s hysterical and I’m happy to go with it because they are engaged, they’re paying attention to the graphemes and best of all they’re having fun - I love hearing their cheeky giggles! I also use the slides to teach silent blending, how to break down longer words for reading and spelling patterns we’ve practised, e.g. words ending in ‘ed’ or ‘y’. I’ve really noticed their reading coming along and although it’s not entirely down to the red herring powerpoints as we do lots of stuff, I think they’re a solid part of it. I don’t use them every day because I don’t want the concept to get boring but I always get a ‘yessss!’ when I do. I’ve checked Letters and Sounds carefully against the National Curriculum and believe that all of the digraphs and trigraphs listed are included (between this set of powerpoints and the Phase 3 set) but if you spot any discrepancies, please get in touch and I’ll update the slides. I hope your class enjoy using this as much as mine do!

Children choose the course of the story in this dynamic story-telling PowerPoint. I originally wrote this for an assembly in National Storytelling Week and had huge fun with the whole school choosing which characters, setting and plot developments to follow. The children showed me via hands on heads or crossed arms which options they wanted to pick. The children were incredibly excited and engaged; I really enjoyed the assembly. If you miss off the first two slides about National Storytelling Week, this resource could also be used in an English lesson to look at story structure, character, setting and/or the use of descriptive language, e.g. adjectives and similes. Or simply use it in class as an enjoyable story to revisit and retell, allowing the children to make different choices to build a different story. I’ve tested the PowerPoint thoroughly (including in assembly and at home with my own daughter!) as there are a lot of action buttons to click on that lead you to the next slide in the chosen story. However, if I’ve missed anything, please do contact me via TES conversations and I will straighten it out asap. PS The fonts don’t look very good on the preview pane on the TES website, but should be fine when downloaded. I created the resource using PowerPoint 2016.

Unit of work including power points, activity cards and writing frame for teaching command sentences. Based on the Fire of London and the commands that King Charles II gave during and after the fire, pupils role play the part of King Charles and l. earn how to write commands using imperative verbs. Our Year 2s loved this unit, in particular the role play element. In hindsight, I would have split session 3 into two sessions as the children enjoyed the acting so much. The whole class, even the less able, were able to identify a command sentence with confidence following this unit - even many months afterwards. Most were able to write commands independently in a variety of contexts. This resource contains: - the planning document (4-5 lessons) - powerpoints to support teaching of the unit - activity cards to support less able and whole class improvement of speaking and listening - speaking and listening learning journeys to share with pupils - a writing template

Three differentiated classic logic puzzles. I can remember doing these as a child and loving them! There are lists of clues and children can either draw pictures or use the grids provided to logically reason who lives in which house. The answers are provided with this resource.

Looking for some fun Valentine’s Day literacy activities for your early readers and writers? Try these independent activities for early phonics skills and Valentine’s Day cards and postcards for writing practise. Included with this resource are: Initial sound clip cards CVC clip cards Valentine’s day postcards Valentine’s day foldable cards Rhyming hearts matching activity Valentine’s Race dice game board All of these activities are provided in colour and black & white. Looking for more Valentine’s Day themed activities? Check out these Valentine’s maths activity mats: Varied number representations - Valentine’s Day Don’t forget to leave feedback so I can improve what I do - or make more of what you like! Follow me to be notified when new products are uploaded. Happy teaching! Katharine7

These castle themed digital phonics worksheets are perfect for practising early spelling using a tablet or PC with young writers! No printing is required - all you’ll need is a device that has PowerPoint, or access to Google Slides via the internet, a piece of paper and a pencil or pen. The digital worksheets begin with simple CVC (consonant sound, vowel sound, consonant sound) words such as pig, hat, etc. with the middle sound provided. Children sound out (segment) the word, using the image and given letter for support and then write the word on their piece of paper. Answers are provided on the penultimate slide so they can even mark their own work. Once they have mastered level 1, they can “unlock” the next level and so on, building up their segmenting for spelling skills progressively and systematically. What’s included? A zipped file which contains all of the PowerPoints as follows: CVC single grapheme words (scaffolded) CVC single grapheme words CVC digraph words CCVC single grapheme words CVCC single grapheme words CCVC words with digraphs CVCC words with digraphs The first worksheets use Phase 2 sounds from Letters and Sounds / Set 1 sounds from Read Write Inc. They progress to Phase 3 / Set 2 as digraphs are introduced and the final two PowerPoints contain some Phase 5 / Set 3 digraphs. I’ve used these digital worksheets with children 4 years old and upwards. Most children are able to use them independently once they’ve been shown what to do and the slide show is presented. In my experience, children occasionally come out of the slide show by accident but if you show them how to press the slide show/present button, they can often handle that by themselves too - great for their computing skills! If you’ve enjoyed this resource, you can find a similar resource here: Digital phonics worksheets