Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students create Worlds with various challenges. As each challenge is overcome, a new one appears, leading finally to a second world opening up, full of new challenges. 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: 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 the topic Creating a Class Wiki but is also useful as a one-off lesson to help students learn basic formatting skills.

The Scratch 3 version is here. Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students use the mouse to move a target across the screen to shoot ghosts. The coding makes it easy to add any number of ghosts, varying their size and speed, 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.

The Scratch 3 version is here. Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students create a question and answer quiz using different backdrops for each question. 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.

Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students create a toy bear, using sprites to simulate “touch pads” -making the bear smile, blink, change colour, etc. Enhancements include using the keyboard instead of sprites, and adding sound. 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

Having been a substitute teacher in over 200 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. Let me know if you have any questions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be).

This PowerPoint illustrates the fairly well known "Stroop Effect". Slides show color-words written in different colors and the task is to first read the word, and then to say the color. 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: 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

This set of varied worksheets provides a comprehensive set of fun exercises to give pupils practice with the alphabet. For children who are already totally familiar with the alphabet, the exercises will provide a great challenge to test their knowledge. For children in need of further consolidation, the exercises will improve their grasp through repetitive exposure to the alphabet in a variety of fun ways. My experience is that children love these exercises in the same way as they love crosswords or Sudoku - they are focused, self-contained and personally challenging.

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

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

A variety of exercises to give children practice at using prepositions. 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, prepositions, pronouns, worksheets

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

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.

Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, waves of cloned alien spacecraft appear at any edge of the screen and attack the base. The player must defend their base as long as possible and destroy the aliens. Enhancements allow, for example, attack craft to appear when energy levels reach a threshold. 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 a series of 12 by 30-minute lessons looking at the topic "Getting on and Falling out". The lessons cover: - what is friendship - types of friends - being a friend - conflict - resolving conflict - what is anger - levels of anger - managing anger Each lesson is presented through a colourful and stimulating PowerPoint presentation, with clearly defined Learning Objectives and embedded videos and is accompanied with worksheets. 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: epr, friends, friendship, conflict, anger

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").