This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Mildred D. Taylor’s ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS3 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children 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 children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘Context: The Great Depression’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Know the purpose, audience and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension.’ ‘Taylor’s Description - The Police Station’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.’ ‘T.J. Avery’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these.’ ‘Vocabulary Inspector’ - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: ‘Learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 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 lesson enables students to gain a detailed insight into how the social and historical context of post-apartheid South Africa influences J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace. In particular, students learn about how power and patriarchy, two key themes in the novel, are heavily informed by real-life features of South African society. They demonstrate strong communication skills in making clear and sustained links between the features of context and the text. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which students learn through: Defining ‘patriarchy’ and understanding the key features of patriarchal society; Reading and comprehending a key news article outlining the key features of ‘macho’ South African society; Linking their understanding of context to the key elements of the text; Considering how the nature of patriarchal society affects different people in society. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Guardina Newspaper Article (freely available online) Power and Patriarchy worksheet; Teacher guidance/ lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. These resources were originally taught to A Level students, but with subtle adaptations they have also been used with younger (GCSE) students. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students revising knowledge relating to Portugal, as a part of their study of place, human and physical geography. It contains comprehensive sections on: Overview and Maps; Physical Geography; Human Geography; Comparison with the United Kingdom; Portugal Timeline; Key Vocabulary. The organiser is designed to help children to learn the relevant place, human and physical geography knowledge from the KS2 Geography National Curriculum: -‘understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom and a region in a European country’ ‘physical geography, including: climate zones, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes’ -‘human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy.’ The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This interesting session aims to introduce children to some key images of the Buddha, providing them with an opportunity to decode some of the key meanings within pictures and sculptures. Children learn that there are many different representations of the Buddha, aiming to portray different aspects of Siddhartha Gautama’s life and character. Children learn through: -Acting as detectives, inferring and deducing the hidden meanings within pictures; -Considering the key concept of ‘balance’, and understanding how this is a key feature of the Buddhist religion; -Applying some of the key concepts to their own lives. Included is a PowerPoint presentation, differentiated group activity sheets, and a comprehensive lesson plan. Images are cited in the final slide of the presentation. Word documents (in the zip file) are also included in PDF to ensure no issues with formatting between computers.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising knowledge relating to understanding time. It contains comprehensive sections on: Reading the Face of a Clock - including understanding the minute and hour hands; Key Time Facts - understanding the duration of days, weeks, months, years, etc; Roman Numerals - to aid children in telling the time on old-fashioned clocks; Digital and Analogue Times - looking at different ways to express the time using the 12 and 24 hour clocks, using both digital and analogue clocks; Average Time Spent in a Day Timeline The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included). The resource could be adapted for a variety of ages and abilities, but I originally used this with Key Stage 2 children.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the third in a series of lessons in which children develop an in-depth understanding of Ancient Greece. There is a particular focus on the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and how these have influenced the world. In this lesson, children learn about Ancient Greek democracy and law, with a particular focus on Ancient Athens. By the end of the lesson, they: -Understand the difference between monarchies, dictatorships & democracies; -Explain how matters were decided by democracies in Ancient Athens; -Describe the similarities and differences between democracy in Ancient Greece and today. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall of basic history skills and prior facts about the Ancient Greeks; -Understanding key information about different types of leadership (monarchies, dictatorships and democracies) and how they vary; -Understanding that Greek city-states had different forms of leadership and that Athens formed one of the world’s first democracies; -Understanding the different roles and procedures within Ancient Athenian democracy and law; -Comparing and contrasting Greek systems to modern-day democracy, and evaluating to what extent they feel that the Athenian system was fair/ effective; -Demonstrating their knowledge of democracy and law in Ancient Athens through completing a ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ style worksheet, with questions requiring progressively more difficult skills and depth of knowledge; -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (23 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson, and worksheet for the main task (provided in both Word and PDF). In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4), however this was an advanced class and these resources could easily be used with upper KS2. The key learning is aligned with KS2 curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fifth in a series of lessons in which children develop an in-depth understanding of Ancient Greece. There is a particular focus on the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and how these have influenced the world. In this lesson, children learn all about Greek culture and religion. Specifically, they: -Learn and recall key facts about Ancient Greek craftsmanship, theatre, philosophy, discovery and architecture; -Explain what the Greeks believed about various Gods and Goddesses, and how they honoured them; -Describe the key responsibilities, powers and traits of a God or Goddess. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall of history skills and prior facts about the Ancient Greeks; -Understanding of the concept of ‘culture’; -Exploring clues from a range of sources to find out more about the key areas of Ancient Greek culture: craftsmanship, theatre, philosophy, discovery and architecture; -Watching an engaging, age-appropriate video to learn about the main Gods, their roles and what the Greeks believed about them; -Using clear guidance to research a God of their choice and complete a character profile about them; -Understanding how the Greeks’ religious beliefs influenced their achievements; -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (26 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson, the sources for the investigation activity, and the template for the character profile (provided in both Word and PDF). In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4), however this was an advanced class and these resources could easily be used with upper KS2. The key learning is aligned with KS2 curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the first in a series of lessons in which children develop an in-depth understanding of Ancient Greece. There is a particular focus on the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and how these have influenced the world. In this lesson, children learn and understand foundation information about the Ancient Greeks. In particular, they: -Learn when and where the Ancient Greeks lived, and learn basic facts about their civilization; -Understand and order the major Ancient Greek periods chronologically. -Understand and order different significant events in throughout the Ancient Greek era. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall of basic history skills and key terms; -Defining what the Ancient Greek era was, and understanding exactly where and when the Ancient Greeks lived. -Connecting this learning with what was happening across the world at the time; -Considering what enabled the Ancient Greeks to be powerful and successful; -Following clear guidance to understand and order the major Ancient Greek periods. -Placing key events from the Ancient Greek period on their own timelines (again, clear and comprehensive guidance for this is given); -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (23 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson, and the information cards to be stuck onto the timeline -provided in both Word and PDF format. In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4), however this was an advanced class and these resources could easily be used with upper KS2 also. The key learning is aligned with KS2 curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fourth in a series of lessons in which children develop an in-depth understanding of Ancient Greece. There is a particular focus on the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and how these have influenced the world. In this lesson, children learn about the Ancient Olympic games. Specifically, they: -Learn and recall key facts about the Ancient Olympic Games; -Use a range of information to develop their knowledge of Ancient Olympic events and values; -Explain how the ancient games influenced the modern Olympic Games. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall of basic history skills and prior facts about the Ancient Greeks; -Understanding key information about how, when and where the Ancient Olympic games took place; -Watching an interesting, age-appropriate video (hyperlinked) about the different events and values of the games, and demonstrating their understanding of this through comprehension questions; -Understanding how the Ancient Olympic games ended and the Modern Olympic Games started; -Explaining how the Modern Olympic sports and values are influenced by the Ancient Olympic Games; -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (23 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson, and the worksheet for the further research activity (provided in both Word and PDF). In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4), however this was an advanced class and these resources could easily be used with upper KS2. The key learning is aligned with KS2 curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

In this engaging and purposeful lesson, children develop an understanding of the Apollo 11 mission and Neil Armstrong, as a part of their study of significant explorers. In particular, they: -Learn who Armstrong was and what he is best-known for; -Understand how his achievements impacted the world; -Use their researching skills to find out more about Armstrong and his mission. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall of basic history skills, key terms, and the meaning of exploration; -Gaining a background understanding of the Space Race and the drive to put humans on the Moon; -Learning about the risks and difficulties involved with the mission; -Watching an engaging, age-appropriate video to learn key details about the mission; -Using a research template to find out more information about the mission; -Empathising with Armstrong, through a hot-seating activity; -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they believe they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (20 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson. Also included is the template for the research activity. In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4) but they could easily be used with upper KS2 - the key learning is aligned with curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students revising knowledge relating to Oceania, as a part of their study of physical and human geography. It contains comprehensive sections on: Overview and map; Regions and Countries of Oceania; Longest Rivers; Highest Mountains; Human Geography Features; Physical Geography Features. The resource is designed to be printed onto A4 or A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included). The resource is most suitable for students in KS2 or KS3.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’ 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 play ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: ‘Context: Shakespearean Times’ - 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;’ ‘Shakespeare’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ ‘Prospero’ and ‘Miranda’ character profiles- to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ ‘Editing the Play’ - 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 detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Scene by Scene Summary (with quotes); Main Characters; Themes; Dramatic Devices; Features of Tragicomedy. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills whilst reading key extracts from an age-appropriate adaptation of Romeo and Juliet (the pages needed for the lesson are provided). The extract is from the ‘Shakespeare Stories: Romeo and Juliet’ adaptation by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross. The sections of the story that children read are when Romeo and Juliet meet at the ball (Act 1 Scene 5) and the balcony scene (Act 2 Scene 1). The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s VIPERS skills: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, sequencing and summarising. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The text to read is provided in both PDF and Word format. The session is best suited for children across KS2 - the lesson has been tried and tested with children in years 4 to 6. Hope that you find it useful!

This exciting ‘Pointloss’ game 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 ‘Macbeth.’ Round 1. The characters in Macbeth Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Themes Round 4. Deaths in Macbeth 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 whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through reading and interpreting the opening section of Katherine Rundell’s ‘Rooftoppers.’ The resource pack includes the extract needed and a clear and well presented PowerPoint, guiding the teacher and learners through the various activities. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, sequencing and summarising skills. A vocabulary check helps to secure children’s understanding of any new or unfamiliar language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in years 5-6, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This engaging and thought-provoking triple-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 13 to 15 of Katherine Rundell’s 'Rooftoppers.’ The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and explaining; -Sequencing events from the text. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. The lesson also includes an answer key for the retrieval questions, and model answer ideas for the more detailed responses, in addition to a template for the ‘deeper thinking’ character analysis profile task (provided in both Word and PDF). There’s a lot here (21 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two or even three separate lessons. The lessons are suitable for students in either upper KS2 or lower KS3, depending upon the individual context of the school and students. I originally used them with year 5 and 6 children.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to develop a detailed understanding of the leading protagonist in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Prospero. In particular, students make precise interpretations regarding Prospero’s characterisation and involvement in key plot events, before demonstrating a clear perception of his mannerisms, emotions and motivations through progressively more difficult learning activities. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which students learn through: Understanding the roles that betrayal and loyalty play in driving Prospero’s actions; Reading and comprehending key Propsero quotations, using these to infer and interpret key elements of his characterisation; Using textual exploration to discover how Prospero is developed over the course of the play; Completing a range of activities based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to demonstrate understanding of Prospero’s character; Showing empathy for and understanding of Prospero’s character, through a fun hot-seating activity; Self-assessing their learning throughout the lesson; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Quotation Stations Log; Prospero Key Quotes; Extracts from Later Scenes (freely available online); Prospero Bloom’s Taxonomy Activities Worksheet; Comprehensive lesson plan. Resources are provided in PDF (to maintain formatting) and Word (so that they are easily editable - they can be found in the zipfile) The lesson contains opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 10 and 11 classes, however colleagues have used them for between year 9 and year 13 with some adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fourth in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on helping children to create cohesion in their writing, using time connectives and other cohesive devices. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (21 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Time connectives; -Understanding other features that contribute to cohesion in written texts; -Identifying good and bad examples of cohesion in texts; -Improving their earlier written attempts by following steps to improve cohesion; -Following a model example to develop cohesion within the next paragraph of their written compositions (a structure strip is provided, in both PDF and Word format, to help them to organise and sequence this section of their composition); -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the third in a series of lessons that enable children to gradually build towards composing an effective, well-structured recount. This lesson focuses on guiding children towards creating full, interesting sentences to describe their stimulus. By the end of the lesson, they write the opening section of their recount. The eye-catching and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (18 slides) guides teachers and children along the following learning journey: -Knowledge recall - revisiting what children already know about recounts; -SPAG starter: Expanded noun phrases; -Understanding how prepositions can aid us in expanding sentences; -Exploring how expanded noun phrases and prepositions can be used in combination to create interesting, detailed full sentences; -Following a model example to develop effective sentences within the first paragraph (a structure strip is also provided to help the children to formulate this paragraph in an organised manner); -Reflecting on their learning from across the lesson. These lessons were originally created for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4). The focus of the recount in these resources is a ‘journey’, but the resources have been made in a way that they can be easily adapted to your chosen topic/ subject matter.