Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I've also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, interesting tasks, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in 'Fantastic Mr Fox.' Round 1. The characters in Fantastic Mr Fox Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in Fantastic Mr Fox The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

Based on the popular game show ‘Pointless’, this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I’ve also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, interesting tasks, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in ‘Stone Cold.’ Round 1. The characters in Stone Cold Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in Stone Cold The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

This engaging and informative lesson helps students to understand one of the key themes running throughout Robert Swindells’ Stone Cold: Homelessness. Students use key information, research skills, and extracts from the text to understand how and why homelessness happens and who it can affect, before composing their own arguments about how they believe homelessness should be tackled. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Considering their own views towards homeless people, and thinking about how these were formed; - Researching how and why people become homeless, and who it affects ; - Reading an extract from ‘Stone Cold’ in which Link describes a night on the streets, to better empathise with those who are sleeping rough; - Answering comprehension questions about the extract, considering the writer’s use of language and retrieving textual information to back up their ideas; - Forming their own arguments about how homelessness should be tackled, using their own research and the information gathered throughout the lesson; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts; Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Research Template; - Selected extracts - Stone Cold - Link’s description of a night on the streets; - Writing to Argue Helpsheet; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with a year 8 class, however colleagues have used them for between years 5 and 9 with minimal adaptations. Please note that internet access/ use of research mechanisms is required for the introduction task. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: The Russian Revolution’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ - ‘Orwell’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ - ‘Napoleon’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ - ‘Editing the Text’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: 18th Century Europe’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ - ‘Shelley’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ - ‘Elizabeth’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ - ‘Editing the Text’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This interesting task provides students with an opportunity to track Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship throughout ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ Students first rate Elizabeth and Darcy’s feelings for one another at different points in the text on a 1-10 scale, plotting their rating on the graph. They then justify the rating with an explanation and textual evidence, in the table beneath. It’s great for helping them to see how the relationship develops over the course of the text, and also offers a novel cross-curricular link with maths. Shameless plug - if you like this resource, please take a look at my paid ‘Pride and Prejudice’ resources, available as single lessons or in the lesson bundle. Thanks!

A Russian billionaire, Asman Veryrich, has approached you about setting up a new football club! This exciting, engaging investigation activity allows students to control the direction of their own learning, through speaking, listening, discussing, and reasoning. I initially created these resources to provide something interesting for the students to engage with for their English Speaking and Listening discussions, but it has since been used across Maths, Art and Design, and PSHE departments, as well as by form groups and holiday activity groups, to build teamwork and collaboration skills. Students get involved in all of the fun aspects of designing and setting up a new football club, including selecting a team of players, a manager, a stadium, and a training ground. They also design the team's club badge and football kits. They also need to use their skills of literacy to read and understand key evidence, and skills of numeracy to ensure that they keep their expenses within budget! What is more, groups can compete against one another to create the most successful team in the league, as all of the resources that they choose can help them to acquire valuable league table points! Included in this resource pack are: - Full PowerPoint lesson talking students through the process; - An 8 page team booklet, used to create their designs and calculate their budgets; - A pack of 96 player cards and 12 manager cards to select from (a combination of new and classic footballers are included, to ensure that this will never be outdated); - Budget and recording sheets to track their progress; - An A3 football pitch to strategise and select their team. Considering the time and effort that it took to create these resources, I think that they offer exceptional value. Whenever I have used this activity before, it has taken at least 3-4 lessons, including the introduction, design process, presentations, and evaluation. I originally have used this with mixed ability Year 9 and 10 groups, but colleagues have adapted it easily for students of all key stages. All images have been cited at the end of the PowerPoint presentation and are licensed for commercial use.

In this engaging and interactive lesson, students make the case for who they feel is the greatest sportsperson of all time. Within the lesson they develop skills of: persuasive writing, independent researching, personal and social comprehension, and speaking and listening. By the end of the lesson, students write and present their own case for the world's greatest sportsperson, using individually researched subject matter, structural advice, and understanding of persuasive techniques. The learning follows a logical, bitesize journey, in which students: - Discuss and define the key features of what they think makes a sportsperson 'great'; - Research how their own contender meets the features of greatness, using a well-scaffolded research template; - Understand and exemplify each of the persuasive techniques, useful in convincing others of their case; - Critically analyse the language, subject matter, and structure of a model example of a World's Greatest Sportsperson article; - Write, present, and assess their own article. Included is everything that you need to teach, including: - Comprehensive, well-presented whole-lesson PowerPoint (students are led through the learning journey by an animated Usain Bolt character!); - Research template and completed model example; - Persuasive device cards for the card-sorting activity; - Model example of a completed 'World's Greatest Sportsperson' article; - Lesson plan. This would be perfect as a part of an English persuasive writing or speaking and listening unit, a PSHE/Citizenship study of people and their achievements, or a Cross-Curricular activity for less structured learning time. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the presentation.

This detailed and engaging lesson enables students to gain an understanding of what animal classes are, and which animals belong to the different categories. Furthermore, they learn to categorise animals themselves, using scientific knowledge of the features of each animal class. Students justify their choices using critical thinking skills. Students learn through a number of fun and interactive tasks, which enable them to: - Define each animal class and understand its features; - Exemplify each animal class, justifying their choices; - Use research and investigative skills to categorise animals for whom the class is not immediately obvious; - Evaluate the learning and understanding of themselves and their peers. The resources include: -Visually engaging and comprehensive whole-lesson presentation; -Resources for the card-sorting activity; -A categorising and justifying worksheet (and answer sheet for teacher); -An investigation log; -Step-by-step lesson plan. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final page of the slide.

Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I've also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of different animal classes and types - an important KS1 Science topic within the National Curriculum. Round 1. Reptiles Round 2. Animal Classes Round 3. Anagrams Round Round 4. Birds The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels.

This engaging and detailed lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of the lead protagonist in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein. The lesson places a particular focus upon how Victor fits the role of a tragic hero, and it studies the actions and behaviours that lead to his inevitable demise. Students also analyse how Shelley uses the character of Victor to present key messages about religion, unchecked ambition, and the treatment of the ‘others’ in society. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Defining the role of the tragic hero and exploring how Victor personifies these features; - Understanding prevailing attitudes towards religion, ambition, and appearances, and investigating how Victor would have been received considering these ideas; - Reading and understanding extracts in which Victor’s fatal flaws are evident, and considering how they are relevant; - Analysing how Shelley utilises Victor and his demise to present key messages to readers; - Linking knowledge of time, place, and author, and relating these to specific areas of the text; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including an animated Frankenstein’s monster to guide them through the lesson); - Mood map - to track Victor’s role in the plot and eventual destruction; - ‘Frankenstein’s Actions’ worksheet; - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities.