This is a series of 10 by 30-45 minute lessons looking at the inspiring and self-examining topic "Identity, Diversity, Stereotypes and Discrimination". The lessons cover: UNIT 1 1. Who am I 2. The physical me - how my body influences who I am 3. My personality - how my characteristics influence who I am 4. The social me - how my physical environment influences who I am 5. The social me - how the people around me influence who I am (including peer pressure) UNIT 2 6. Similarities and differences 7. Diversity - what is it 8. Diversity - appreciating and embracing UNIT 3 9. Stereotypes 10. Discrimination Review Each lesson is presented through colorful and stimulating PowerPoint presentations, with clearly defined Learning Objectives, and is accompanied with worksheets and videos. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY "classroom-tested" - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Fractions - love them or hate them, they're part of life!! This resource uses the Tangram shapes to explore fractions and equivalence in a fun (yes!) and visual way. It can be used an an exploratory introduction to your fractions module. Included is a Word document with 5 pages of investigations, an answer grid, a PowerPoint with various resources for you to adapt, and a downloaded youtube video ("A Sage's Journey The Story of Tangrams").

Having been a substitute teacher in over 100 different classes in countless schools, I have learned a thing or two over the years - really! The absolute most important is - establish your expectations right at the start. The day is then productive and enjoyable for both you and the children. I use this PowerPoint EVERY time I teach a class for the FIRST time, or as a reminder if I am returning to a class after a period. It guides me and the class through the critical first 30 minutes of the day. Slides are accompanied with detailed Notes where appropriate to explain how the slide is best used. ALL my postings are FULLY "classroom-tested". Before I publish, my lessons are tested in the classroom by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness.

These exercises challenge students to find better alternatives for the often over-used and unimaginative words: "very", "nice" and "said".

A variety of exercises to give children practice at using pronouns. See Prepositions and Pronouns for a package on both Prepositions and Pronouns. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY "classroom-tested" - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Search words: literacy, grammar, pronouns, worksheets

Rock Paper Scissors provides the theme for this lesson on game playing, game designing and strategies. The lesson really brings this (hitherto) simple game to life and pushes it to the very limit. Children (and adults) love it! Driven by a PowerPoint full of illustrations and animations, and even links to videos (!), this lesson introduces children to the game, and then challenges them to play it as a class game in a very unusual and stimulating way. Even as an adult, I find this a real mental challenge, but great fun. Following on from this, there is analysis of the game, and opportunities to extend the game, devising rules and tables of outcomes. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY "classroom-tested" - before I publish on TpT, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness - but there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Search words: games, paper, rock, scissors, lizard, Spock, challenge, brain, fun, mental, class, strategies

see FREE INTRODUCTION - the first of 10 lessons We all ask and expect our students to learn things, and this requires MEMORY. Memory IS learning. Without memory, there can be no learning. BUT - do we ever give our students an understanding of what memory is, and more importantly, strategies for improving their memory? “Learn your multiplication tables”… sure, but HOW? This series of 10 lessons is designed with this in mind. Session 1: Introduction to memory Session 2: Types of memory - short and long term memory Session 3: Strategies 1 - linking and stories Session 4: Strategies 2 - mnemonics Session 5: Strategies 3 - names and faces Session 6: Strategies 4 - lists Session 7: Strategies 5 - numbers Session 8: Strategies 6 - using routes and locations Session 9: Strategies 7 - misc. Session 10: Memory IS us - the consequences of losing memory Each session comprises: a fully animated, stimulating PowerPoint loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: games, challenge, memory, strategies, brain, numbers, linking, mnemonic, neuron**

Paint .NET is image and photo editing software that features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. My view…in the era of digital photography, every photo taken should be seen as a “draft” to be edited (or deleted!). These 3 lessons for absolute beginners look at what is paint .net and photo editing selecting and cropping colouring and recolouring image effects image adjustments correcting image exposure using curves and levels The lessons comprise: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides and tasks images files to match the tasks Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Grammar covered: The 8 Word Classes Nouns Pronouns Crossword - Pronouns Verbs Crossword - Irregular verbs Active and Passive verbs Verbs – “said” Adjectives Adjectives – “nice” Crossword - Adjectives Adverbs Crossword – Adjectives and Adverbs Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs Prepositions Crossword - Prepositions Conjunctions Determiners Phrases Clauses Phrases and Clauses (mixed) Sentences Sentence Challenge Having seen so, so many worksheets on grammar, I finally decided to create this pack - based on cherry picking the best ideas from countless text books and worksheets and adapting. It covers a range of the grammar used up to Year 6 and provides succinct definitions and plenty of varied practice for each topic. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

Whilst I was creating my Memory resources, I thought that memorising a set of Christmas images would make a great game to play with the class as Christmas approaches. The children are shown a slide with a number of Christmas images which they need to try and remember. Then, the same slide is shown but with one or more images missing. They have to write down what the missing image or images are on their whiteboards - ideal as a CLASS ACTIVITY. This is then repeated several times with different images removed. ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness - but there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

So much of mathematics benefits significantly from a knowledge of tables – addition, multiplication, division, equivalent fractions, area, perimeter, time, money, ratio, proportion, percentage, …. And yet, so little time is devoted to what may be deemed the old school approach of memorizing tables. Whilst time is undoubtedly at a premium in today’s expanding curriculum, spending time to learn tables ensures that all subsequent areas of mathematics can be learnt more quickly and efficiently, saving time in the long run. Typically, too many students answer the question “what is 6 x 4” with strategies such as using repeated addition on their fingers to go from 4 to 8 to 12 to 16 to 20 to 24, or by doubling 3 x 4. Whilst these are admirable and acceptable ways of working out the answer, they are overly time consuming and prove that the student has NOT memorized their table. Since instant recall of tables facts is so beneficial, the goal should be for the student to have cast the entire table to memory and to then be able to state the answer instantly, and without any hesitation. These sheets are designed with this in mind - to help students MEMORIZE the multiplication tables. As students progress from column 1 through to column 5 for each table, they are continually repeating the table and thereby gaining greater exposure to it, and in most cases, this is in itself part of the memorizing process.

The Scratch 3 version is here. Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, the player must move a sprite through the maze using the keyboard. Timers, obstacles (floating sprites) and a more difficult maze can be added as enhancements . There are many sites offering Scratch Projects. However, many tend to be like recipes - students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, without learning a lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, and at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. I use the following approach: - break the project into manageable chunks - present “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with instructions 2. a Word document with the instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch files for teachers that match each stage of the project ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so please provide constructive feedback.

This is part of a set of top rated, “turbo-charged” (just take a look), self-contained (what every teacher craves), stimulating (genuinely loved by students and also great for VERY high ability students) morning starters, each with a main task, plus an extension for those who solve the challenge more quickly (this should avoid the question… “I’ve finished… what should I do now?”). Each challenge is self-explanatory, and should take approx. 15 - 30 minutes to investigate/solve. The tasks are presented in a visually exciting PowerPoint (which I loved creating), with a logical progression of clues guiding students towards the solution. The slides are animated where appropriate to provide clearer explanations and are designed to encourage students to adopt a “mathematical brain” (no sledgehammers allowed! - a slogan my students now associate with me!). Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: math, numeracy, numbers, arithmetic, starters, challenge, brain, stimulate, problem, mental, thinking, abstract

This is part of a set of top rated, “turbo-charged” (just take a look), self-contained (what every teacher craves), stimulating (genuinely loved by students and also great for VERY high ability students) morning starters, each with a main task, plus an extension for those who solve the challenge more quickly (this should avoid the question… “I’ve finished… what should I do now?”). Each challenge is self-explanatory, and should take approx. 15 - 30 minutes to investigate/solve. The tasks are presented in a visually exciting PowerPoint (which I loved creating), with a logical progression of clues guiding students towards the solution. The slides are animated where appropriate to provide clearer explanations and are designed to encourage students to adopt a “mathematical brain” (no sledgehammers allowed! - a slogan my students now associate with me!). Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: math, numeracy, numbers, arithmetic, starters, challenge, brain, stimulate, problem, mental, thinking, abstract

*** NEWLY UPDATED *** Punctuation covered: Capital letters and proper nouns Capital letters and full stops (periods)* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Sentence endings: exclamation marks and question marks Commas* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Apostrophes for contraction and omission* Apostrophes for possession Apostrophes - its and it’s Direct speech - sentences Direct speech - paragraphs Indirect speech - sentences Indirect speech - paragraphs Parentheses - brackets* Parentheses - dashes* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Hyphens* Semi colons* Colons Comma splices - Punctuation - consolidation exercises *includes entertaining video files Having seen so, so many worksheets on punctuation, I finally decided to create this 25 page pack - based on cherry picking and then adapting the best ideas from countless text books and worksheets. It covers a range of the punctuation used up to Year 6 and provides succinct definitions and plenty of varied practice for each topic. Mastering punctuation is essentially practice, practice, practice… we all have able Year 6 children who simply forget basic capital letters and full stops (periods)! So these worksheets, a real labor of love, are designed to provide this essential practice. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Keywords: punctuation capital letters proper nouns periods exclamation marks question marks commas apostrophes contraction omission possession direct speech indirect speech parentheses brackets dashes hyphens semi-colon colon its it’s

Machine Learning and AI are terms we all hear a lot about every day. They affect our lives profoundly and yet, we know so little about either. Producing this presentation in what I hope is an easy to understand form, was hugely challenging and immensely rewarding, and I hope it can benefit you and your students. We all need at least a basic understanding of what is happening in the world of AI. This lesson for absolute beginners looks at what is intelligence (easy start!!) what is machine learning how AI is related to machine learning the ethical concerns of bias The lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides inspiring embedded videos (if you need to extract, click here) Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

I’ve created and delivered a series of lessons for Junior students this year, and the response was overwhelming. Students loved learning about 3D graphics and went on to produce some amazing creations of their own. While I thought it might be too advanced, students as young as 8 have grasped and loved using it. 3D GRAPHICS REALLY IS A USEFUL SKILL FOR THE DIGITAL FUTURE. The lessons assume absolutely no knowledge and build up in a gradual way Lessons 1-2 (FREE) What is Blender The Blender interface Navigating the 3D view port Lessons 3-5 Transforming objects Creating, selecting and duplicating objects Project: create a snowman Lessons 6-9 Rendering, colours and lighting Editing objects Project: create a donut Lessons 10-13 3D Text Box modelling - extruding, loop cuts, insets, bevels Project: create a Treasure Chest Lessons 14-15 Animations using Timeframes Animations using Rigid Bodies Each lesson is delivered via an animated PowerPoint with an accompanying Workbook, and follows a similar format: A short video to inspire (embedded in the PowerPoint) Explanations about any new concepts and skills A demo of what will be covered (Blender demo files included) Working together trying out these new concepts and skills (Workbook and Blender exercise files are provided) Free exploration A project bringing it all together (a finished Blender file is provided) Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

There are many sites offering Scratch Projects. However, many tend to be like recipes - students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, without learning a lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, and at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. I use the following approach: - break the project into manageable chunks - present “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with instructions 2. a Word document with the instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch files for teachers that match each stage of the project Lessons in the series: FREE introduction to Scratch. Moving a sprite through a maze. A question and answer type quiz. A game where students move a sight with the mouse to shoot ghosts. A Music Player with layers of menus. Simulates a toy bear with touch pads. Drawing shapes and repeating patterns. Alien spacecraft attack a base that must be defended. An Octopus must swim through walls of hungry sharks. Navigate through different worlds Bundle I-III Bundle IV-VI Bundle VII-IX Bundle I-IX ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so please provide constructive feedback.