Three quality story openers to stimulate students and create plenty of discussion, leading to improved writing opportunities! All three are semi-spooky, mysterious, thought-provoking resources that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways, but are all certain to capture students' imaginations!

A superb resource for encouraging students to write in the mystery/spooky genre, with the emphasis on discussion, recording, redrafting and improving their work. This resource is more concerned with 'mystery' in its wider sense, not just that of the traditional 'Whodunnit' but more about more mysterious things that might be around us in everyday life. Included are three quality activities with story-starters, two resource sheets and two high-quality videos (approx 3 mins long). Both have the same images and original, atmospheric soundtrack which will be guaranteed to stimulate discussion. The second video has added annotations to encourage those students who are finding it difficult to engage. The videos create a wonderful whole-class introduction - close the curtains, turn up the sound on the IWB and sit back - your students will respond! If you have any questions or would like something specific creating, please get in touch!

Great writing and talking resources for upper KS2/KS3 students, offering a variety of opportunities for writing about exploring - 'Explore' - Weighing anchor in a frozen wasteland in pursuit of a distress call; 'Five Exploration Scenarios' - students need to prioritise their equipment choices for various activities; 'Something Wrong in Space' - a writing activity that could easily be turned into a piece of drama: Astronauts coming home with a massive dilemma - eight hours from earth, with six hours' worth of oxygen left...

A selection of activities (writing, discussion, D&T, Geography) for KS2, focussing on the idea of being stranded on a desert island. Resources include - Desert Story Board: - creating a story from a selection of high quality photographs, involving discussion with a partner; Five Objects for a Desert Trip: - Students choose five objects to take with them to their desert island, having to justify their choices; Living on a Desert Island: - Students have to plan their desert island and how they would organise themselves - shelter, food, water etc. Links to the 'Five Objects for a Desert Trip' above; The Tall Ship: - Open ended creative writing template about a ship that turns up after five years of isolation.

Here we have three great creative writing exercises for upper KS2-lower KS3. 'Fish, Fish, Fish': Asks students to imagine life as a fisherman and to write about a day in the life from a point-of-view perspective; 'Serenity': A beautiful image of the moon over icebergs conjures up a majesty of colour, shapes and feelings for students to describe; 'Sunset': Describe a wonderful Arctic sunset to a blind person.

A fabulous resource with lots of stunning images of the arctic, aimed at upper KS2 and KS3. Aim: Writing development. How: Using powerful imagery, combined with lots of scaffolding support - for able and less able learners, these activities will develop both verbal and written vocabulary. Included: - 'Iceberg': A descriptive writing activity with strong scaffold support to give students a clear idea of what to do when planning a piece of writing; - 'The Boat': Another descriptive writing piece with a more open-ended support sheet, designed to encourage discussion; - 'Storyboard': A set of six pictures to be cut out and rearranged to make a story, based on discussion with a partner. Blank storyboard included to stick pictures onto; - 'Lost': 'SATs' style question with a scene depicted and basic information given and students need to complete the story; - 'ICE' (Support Sheets): Two support sheets that complement all the above activities encouraging students to look and think more deeply - 'What rhetorical questions might you ask?'

A set of resources aimed at KS2 to be used in the classroom for Chinese New Year in January 2017. Activities include - - Information sheet about Chinese New Year (The Rooster); - Chinese Dragons writing sheet: Story starter; - Map of China to be annotated; - A selection of images for display/stimulation; - Chinese Quiz

Here we have several resources aimed at KS3 (but could be used with more able KS2), looking at the incoming President of the USA and what that could mean for the USA and the wider world. Activities are based around discussion (including a class debate), questioning and knowledge. Resources included - - Donald Trump Fact File; - What Donald Trump stands for; - Worksheet - 'What would I ask the President?' which leads onto 'Writing a Letter to the President' - 'Republicans & Democrats' - basic guide to the major differences between the parties - Class Debate - 'Republicans or Democrats' - resource sheets to support both sides of the argument, consolidating understanding of the main differences between the parties

A Christmas resource with a difference - looking at the events at the Western Front, 1914. Aimed at upper KS2 and KS3. Included is a sizeable resource with information, images, questions - all aimed at provoking discussion amongst students about the futility of war, the conditions the soldiers fought in and the irony involved. Included is a story-starter, putting the student in the role of an English Tommy, hearing the tones of 'Silent Night' wafting across No-Man's-Land and the story that unfolds afterwards...

Aimed at KS3 and above, this 5-page resource that explores the concept of 'Love' from a variety of angles - What love means to the individual; How love is perceived by others; How love is relative to time and space; Stereotypical images of love; How love is shown to different people Designed to promote discussion between students, to challenge stereotypes and extend understanding of relationships, this resource is the first in a series looking at complex relationship skills.

Two resources for end-of-term fun! #1 - Christmas Stamp Design: An activity to design commemorative stamps for 2017 with a festive feel. Comes complete with examples and templates; #2 - Gift Tag Design: A D&T activity for students to design a gift tag aimed at family members. Comes complete with examples and templates; #3 - 'Letter to Santa' - a 'Festive Freebie' - great, display friendly resource to support letter writing

Three great resources to encourage upper KS2 and KS3 students to think about the start of the new year & the new term. #1 - New Challenges: A talking/recording exercise designed for students to consider the major challenges they have in their lives and how they might overcome these in the light of the new year; #2 - Same or Change: An activity designed to encourage students to think about the attitudes & thoughts that might hold them back and how these might be changed in the format of 'New Year's Resolutions'; #3 - New Year - New Start: Students working in pairs consider the pros and cons of the previous year, with a view to focussing on the positives for the forthcoming term.

Four fab resources that will have children enthused about writing as they are all connected with the festive period! 'Naughty and Nice' - Children have to choose who they would put on each list - friends not allowed! - giving three good reasons why they would do so. Aimed to encourage children to think about the wider world and some of the characters that inhabit it. This resource comes with a 'Naughty and Nice' synonym recorder to encourage language development and discourage repetition. 'Santa's Year' - fun images suggesting that Santa might have an 'ordinary' life outside of making toys! Children encouraged to think 'outside the box' and create some diary entries for Santa during the year! Complete with display-friendly pages for children's written work. 'SOS Santa' - Santa's in trouble and he needs YOUR help! What's happened to him and how can YOU help? This resource will develop children's discussion and writing skills while having fun at the same time! 'The Talking Snowman' - begins with the first part of a story about children building a snowman and then leaves them with a cliff-hanger that they have to continue.

Your end of term classwork is creative, festive and worthwhile with this bumper Christmas miscellany! A huge resource that includes - - Surviving Christmas - create a guide for users; - What's Your Favourite Christmas Movie? - review - Christmas Movies Maths Activity - Data Collection/Graphs - Christmas Wishes - What would YOU choose? - Christmas Crackers - Fantasy writing genre - What's the True Meaning of Christmas? - Your Favourite Christmas Movie Script? - The Christmas Fox - Creative Writing - The Winter Road - Creative Writing - Creative Writing Planning Sheet And more!

Three challenging resources to encourage quality discussion and debate with KS3+ students. All three tackling the social issue of homelessness and the concept of Christmas being a time for giving, these resources will undoubtedly promote lively discourse in your class. Areas covered - sleeping rough and the repercussions of such, the causes of homelessness and the public perception of these issues.

Three brilliant story starts for upper KS2/3 focussing on the 'Mystery' genre. Each includes an evocative image to stir students' imaginations, encouraging discussion and writing. All three are easily differentiated by outcome or support. Included in the pack is a 'Writer's Checklist' - a resource designed for students to self-assess or peer-assess their work. Please leave feedback if you've enjoyed using my resources. Thanks!

A comprehensive activity that focusses on creating a newspaper front page, with a walk-through guide for students to follow and discuss. Also included is a sheet that explores the use of puns and alliteration in newspapers. A worksheet aimed at elementary advertising is also included, as is an A4 newspaper template.

A resource aimed at encouraging younger children to think about their emotions - and those of others, to develop a sense of empathy. Three different activities, showing a young girl being sad, happy and worried, with discussion points designed to challenge young childrens' perceptions. Each activity has discussion points to develop language and discussion skills.