This July 4th activity for KS3 and KS4 is a great seasonal starter, brain break or exit ticket. Learn about eight different traditions whilst also correcting errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Answer key included.
The slideshow is also accompanied by printable US letter and UK A4 size worksheet versions, and US and UK spellings.
Thirty posters showing key quotations from all three acts of An Inspector Calls. Each poster is in an attractive black and white design, as many of us do not have access to colour printing!
Each poster features a key quotation (along with who said it and when), the associated themes as hashtags, and indicates the tone used by the character.
All 30 posters are A4 size.
A peer assessment carousel not only lightens your workload, but it also allows each student to gain feedback from six different classmates whilst also seeing and evaluating examples of work from their peers.
How it works…
Just print a six-box feedback sheet for every student and staple it to their work. The work and these feedback sheets will be passed around the carousel to collect feedback. Next, group your students equally, according to their strengths. Each student reads a piece of work and fill out the feedback box for their focus, using the student guide sheets for prompts.
When the time is up for reading and giving feedback, each group piles up the work, and the piles are passed on to the next group.
You can use the premade sheets, which works around the concept of six focus groups, or you could make your own with the included blank editable version.
Easily adapted for different tasks, this product will serve you year in, year out! Includes a handy ‘How to Use’ guide.
This Silent Discussion pre-reading activity for Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men prompts students to collaborate on vintage book covers and movie posters with their thoughts, opinions, interpretations and predictions. Resources include two lesson formats with instructive slideshows.
Includes:
10 pages of cover and poster prompts for a seated silent discussion
10 pages of cover and poster prompts for a gallery walk silent discussion
Duplicate of the gallery version in A3 size for ease of writing
Slideshow with instructions for seated silent discussion
Slideshow with instructions for gallery walk silent discussion
This Silent Discussion pre-reading activity for F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel Of The Great Gatsby prompts students to collaborate on vintage book covers images with their thoughts, opinions, interpretations and predictions. Resources include two lesson formats with instructive slideshows.
Includes:
18 pages of cover image prompts for a seated silent discussion
18 pages of cover image prompts for a gallery walk silent discussion
Duplicate of the gallery version in A3 size for ease of writing
Slideshow with instructions for seated silent discussion
Slideshow with instructions for gallery walk silent discussion
Follow up activity - do your students think that any of the covers belong to the same novel? Why?
Prepare to read Sharon M Draper’s timely novel Tears of a Tiger with this printable pre-reading activity. Silent Discussion, Collaborative Predictions, Written Debate… whatever you call it, these image prompts and instructions have you covered!
Simply print and go - includes 15 image prompts connected to the plot. Students move around a gallery of the images or pass the sheets from person to person leaving annotations, comments and observations on every sheet.
Includes:
15 US letter size printable prompt sheets
15 A3 size printable prompt sheets
7 slides of instructions for classroom and lesson use
2 slides of holistic follow-up activities
Everything you need in a single lesson for your students to compare an extract from TS Eliot’s Preludes and Rupert Brooke’s Seaside, resulting in a final essay assignment.
Student read two seemingly different poems, and consider the setting or place of the two texts before comparing details, imagery, and use of figurative language.
Push your students to be accountable for their progress with these print and go accountable feedback sheets!
Stick or staple them to the student work, or hand them out before submission. Students select an improvement area from the checklist, decide a course of action and provide a demonstration sample.
Are they on the right track? You let them know in your response, and they have done most of the work!
Includes…
Worksheets for comprehension, creative writing, essays, and the basic mechanics of writing
Full size, half size and quarter size sheets of all of the above
Full red, full black and mixed color versions of all of the above
…that’s 36 PDF worksheets!
Everything you need for your students to design a persuasive leaflet for a school club of their choice using differentiated, printable worksheets that can also be combined into a booklet!
Students earn their budget in dollars, pounds, or currency of your choice in the starter task, which they then cash in for features to include in their leaflet design and content. Check out the preview for the version featuring dollars!
Includes…
PDF worksheets with budgeting in dollars
PDF worksheets with budgeting in pounds
PDF worksheets with budgeting amounts, but no currency reference
Editable PowerPoint worksheets for you to add your own amounts and currency
…that’s 24 pages total!
These worksheets come in simple black and white format for easy printing.
40 printable book report templates in the style of a bento box!
Student can either write, draw, or glue information or images into the sections to represent their book. Fantastic for creating visual summaries with appealing results!
Four designs each differentiated to multiple levels - with prompts, with four or five sections, with flaps to lift, and totally blank for student organization or for you to instruct on specific content requirements… that’s 48 pages!
11 tasks on four worksheets. Each task focuses on an image within the novel Of Mice and Men. Use individually as bell-ringers, starters, plenaries, brain breaks, or give groups of students different pictures for a more developed discussion lesson.
These worksheets are best printed as a booklet. I have also provided US letter and UK A4 size documents, and Google Apps versions of the resources for you to edit as needed, including a Google Slides set of the images for those of us that don’t have colour printing!
Aimed at KS2 and KS3, use this figurative language worksheet as a starter, main, fast finisher or homework task in October! Use the Halloween theme to build your students’ understanding of alliteration, similes, personification, and onomatopoeia.
This resource comes in US letter and UK A4 size, with a link to a Google Apps editable version. Black and white and colour versions provided.
If you found this helpful, you might also like:
Oracy Mats | Speaking and Listening | Prompts and Sentence Starters
Oracy | Free Choice Talk | Individual Presentation | Planning
Accuracy Passport | Improve Punctuation and Grammar | Literacy
Secondary Grammar Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy
Secondary Punctuation Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy
Ambitious Sentence Structures Mat | Literacy Stretch | Challenge MAT
Ambitious Punctuation Mat | Literacy Stretch | Challenge MAT
Student Newsbites | Introduction Activity | Back to School
Secondary Persuasive Writing Bingo | Any Topic | Differentiated Layouts
Primary Persuasive Writing Bingo | Any Topic | Differentiated Layouts
Primary Grammar Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy
Primary Punctuation Mat | Supporting Writing | Literacy
Guided Practice | Literature Essay Frame
This differentiated art, sketching or drawing task requires students to create an image of the Yellow Spotted Lizard from Louis Sachar’s novel Holes. There are three styles of lizard outline included, and five levels of differentiation:
Outline only
Outline with empty quote boxes
Outline with empty quote boxes and prompt arrows
Outline with pre-populated quote boxes
Quotation boxes only (no outline)
All versions come in both US letter and UK A4 document size.
Coach your students through the close reading and annotation of extracts from the opening chapters of Holes, then instruct them in the use of the differentiated essay frame to challenge and stretch pupils at all levels.
The extract and annotation sheet includes focused extracts and chapter references, and the essay frame shows a clear route of progress with a built-in example and extension column to model development of ideas. Easel version included!
This resource includes US letter and UK A4 size versions, and editable Google Docs version of the essay frame.
Encourage developed sentences in creative writing with this fall/autumn themed worksheet. Using the prompts (what, who, where, when, how, and why) your students start with a single detail and build it into a fully developed, image-filled sentence.
One sentence-building process is modelled for your students, then two prompts are provided, and finally there are three empty spaces for students to create their own idea from scratch.
This worksheet is in graphic organizer format, comes in 2 black and white styles and 2 color styles, and all of these come in both US letter and UK A4 document sizes with appropriate spellings and terminology on each.
This differentiated art, sketching or drawing task requires students to create a reptile species of their own after reading about the Yellow Spotted Lizard from Louis Sachar’s novel Holes.
There are three styles of worksheet included, and a prompt or ideas handout to help you to differentiate the task for your students.
All versions come in both US letter and UK A4 document size.
This resource is a great alternative to ‘First Chapter Friday’ or ‘Taster Tuesday’. Blurbsday tasks focus on the blurb on the back of the book, and encourage students to look at vocabulary, genres and editing skills.
There are three tasks included, increasing in difficulty and length (half page, full page, and double sided), and all worksheets are provided in US letter and UK A4 size document. Editable Google Apps version also included!
Need a creative task that you can use over and over again, with any book? This set of twelve creative worksheets asks students to select evidence from their reading to build an image of a specific character. Set the character for the class, give a selection to choose from, or let your students choose their own! This also works for classes where students are all reading their own novels.
There are three styles to choose from, and the drawing guides are differentiated; simple outlines, realistic outlines, and no outline at all for the really confident ones!
The resource comes in both US and UK document sizes, making this resource 24 pages long.
If you love succulents and cacti, this set of 15 posters is perfect for your themed learning environment! The posters have five background designs and explain 15 different punctuation and grammar rules - perfect for your middle or high school ELA classroom.
The posters are US letter size document and are provided as a high quality PDF file.
This bundle of activities for use alongside study of the novel Holes currently includes 10 tasks.
I am teaching this novel to my students at the time of writing, and will add resources to the bundle as I create, use, and improve them with my classes. Buy this novel companion bundle now, and benefit when I add new resources!