This is a nine slide presentation explaining in simple terms how the past subjunctive is used in such phrases as 'If I were you …" A linked worksheet is available separately.

A good resource for KS2 for the period from October to New Year. The non-fiction text is about the problems caused by fireworks in the period lasting from just before Hallowe’en to just after New Year. It is accompanied by a 20 mark comprehension exercise with a mark sheet. The text would make an excellent starting point for class debate, and for a writing assignment on balance argument or persuasive writing. The 15 slide PowerPoint is on capital letters and covers 14 cases when they should be used. It is accompanied by an extract from the reading text which has been stripped of all capital letters.

This resource consists of lesson plans, a PowerPoint presentation and 7 activity sheets. The material is enough for a unit on poetry lasting a week. It’s great for Hallowe’en, but is not limited to that. It is aligned to the following National Curriculum standard: "Prepare poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience; identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning; learn a wider range of poetry by heart" The focus is The Hag by Robert Herrick, and the week’s work provides an introduction to the analysis of structure, syllable count, metre and rhyme. It also features related work on glossaries and apostrophes for omission. It is linked to music and drama and provides paired and group activities through the week to support the learning of the poem by heart. The fifth session is intended to be an extended one in order to give pupils the opportunity to put together a performance of their work.

Resource consists of a display copy of the poem Hallowe’en by Joel Benton, together with teacher notes with ideas of how to use the text in the classroom. This is a flexible resource - enough for one lesson or a week’s unit of work, depending on how many of the suggestions are explored. More seasonal poetry resources in my shop.

This is a 6 slide presentation on the use of the past subjunctive to express impossible or unrealistic wishes.

Each of the five worksheets in this pack targets a specific problem children (and many adults) have in the use of spoken and written English. At the top of each worksheet, there is a brief explanation of the rules, and then there are 10 fill the gap sentences where pupils have to insert the correct word of a pair or a limited selection. Answer sheets are provided.

This worksheet could be used for classes from KS2 and beyond. Even more useful, perhaps, for staff training. The subjunctive appears on the curriculum nowadays, but there are few adults who are confident in recognising or using it.

The language level of this resource makes it suitable for able KS2 classes and KS3. It comprises an interactive presentation based on a specially written text themed on New Year resolutions. The text and presentation target the following SPaG areas: SPELLING -whose/who’s, loose/lose, choose/chose silent g (gnome, consign, diaphragm ) PUNCTUATION capital letters for festivals and religions ellipsis commas brackets GRAMMAR simple, compound and complex sentences elision of '‘that’ and ‘whom’ in some complex sentences Two slides cover how structure can be manipulated to improve writing. There is an example of how the first paragraph of my New Year text moved from simple to compound and then complex sentences, and finally to ‘hidden’ complex sentences. Plenty of written follow-up work is provided: SPELLING CROSSWORD (silent g) PUNCTUATION WORKSHEET (the unit text (stripped of commas and capital letters) DICTATION : this is a supported activity, where pupils fill the gaps in the text. More able pupils should be expected to write the whole text without the help of the worksheet. TEST (worth 30 marks. The final question is a writing assignment.) The pack would be good to use over a whole week , using the spelling, punctuation and grammar sections over consecutive days (possibly as lesson starters), with the dictation on the fourth lesson, and the test taking up the whole of the final session. If you find this works for you, look in my shop, where you will find several others text-based SPaG resources.

This resource has been written for KS2 and contains enough material for at least one lesson. It consists of a grammar exercise and a creative writing task. On each of 10 slides of the PowerPoint, there is a Hallowe’en themed sentence with the verb in the present tense. The first task is for pupils to change the verb to the past tense and then write it out. The sentences are sequential, and create the beginning of a Hallowe’en story. The writing task is simply to finish the story. Follow-up work could consist of editing and improving the story.

Worksheet on using the past subjunctive and recognising the difference between subjunctive and indicative mood. It’s in the National Curriculum f or KS2 English, but would be equally useful for KS3/4 and for staff training. Linked presentation on the past subjunctive is available separately.

This a a lively look at three versions of the origins of panettone. The comprehension exercise is accompanied by a detailed mark scheme. It should provide enough material for a whole lesson. It’s a great resource for English teachers looking for something that is Christmas themed, but still fits into the curriculum and provides an end of term challenge for pupils.

The resource consists of a copy of the text and a crossword with text-based clues.

Five worksheets targeting words that children often spell or use incorrectly. Some (there,their, they’re) are homophones . Others (who,whom) are used incorrectly because of grammatical difficulties. Good for KS2 and KS3.

The text is the scene where the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to view the episode when his fiancee, Belle, tells him the relationship has to end. The comprehension exercise is accompanied by a mark scheme.

This is a 10 question worksheet where students have to fill the gaps in sentences with subjunctive forms of verbs after an expression of wishing.

Teacher controlled PowerPoint for whole class Look Cover Write Check activity. Words are revealed for reading, then hidden while pupils write them on whiteboards or in books. There are 59 two syllable words in the presentation, including some with medial double letters.

This resource contains a selection of engaging activities for Shrove Tuesday. The interactive quiz consists of a PowerPoint grid where 16 tiles are flipped one by one to reveal a pancake picture. To accompany it is a maths/general knowledge quiz. The answer to each question is a number between 1 and 16. Give out the quiz sheets and let the class work on them for a short time. Pupils then put their hands up to offer answers and come up to interactive board to flip the corresponding tile. The reading text is a recipe for pancakes. This would be a great practical activity in the morning, with the opportunity to eat pancakes at break! The accompanying comprehension questions, worth 20 marks, are accompanied by a mark scheme. For English, there is a further activity - a pancake poem by Christina Rossetti, which can be exploited for teaching/revising imperative verbs. A follow up task could be to find out something about the poet. The maths task consists of five word problems based on the recipe. Some are quite challenging (eg involving scaling the original recipe).

This resource has been updated and extended. There is now a 20 slide presentation (with teacher directed animation) which covers the various permutations of the basic Subject/Verb/Object sentence. It is constructed so that the teacher can work through the slides one by one while the pupils write down answers before they are displayed . The word ‘transitive’ is introduced and explained at the beginning of the presentation. The display slide consists of simple sentences demonstrating how to colour code words and phrases into Subject - Verb - Object. On the accompanying worksheet, the task is to colour code sentences. There is also an extension activity for early finishers - adding subordinate clauses to sentences.

For KS2 classes. A spelling starter covering the rules governing spelling of adverbs ending in -ly. The presentation could be used a slide at a time as short starters over a week, or in one longer session.