This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write a historical diary entry from the perspective of a person who has witnessed a famous event in history. There is a planning exercise which pupils can use to think about the key events they wish to describe and how the writer felt about them. This is followed by differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). There are also some example texts and writing frames so pupils can see how the writing frame is used to create the text and how to write to a higher level. Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their historical diary entry. This resource can be used in English or history lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.

This resource consists of a powerpoint presentation and some worksheets to use with Chapter 10 of Michael Morpurpo’s ‘Private Peaceful’. The main activity is for pupils to plan and write a persuasive text in which they attempt to persuade others that a character in the story is a good or a bad leader. Some additional time could be used to turn these written texts into spoken presentations in which the pupils attempt to persuade the class. The powerpoint helps to organise the lesson, checking pupils’ understanding of the chapter and setting up class/group discussions. The worksheets consist of a writing plan for pupils to complete, lined paper for the writing activity and an extension activity in which pupils use a thesaurus to find as many suitable adjectives as they can to describe famous leaders from history. They may also research these leaders if they have time, although they should be familiar with them. This resource can last for between 2 and 6 hours depending on how much time you allow for each activity. This is the lesson plan: • Pre-Reading Discussion: *Discuss what you already know about World War 1 and what life was like for the soldiers in it. • Listen to/read the 9th chapter of the novel. Check your comprehension of the story by describing what happened using the images on the lesson powerpoint. • Class Discussion: Leaders Discuss what makes a good leader Which characters in the story take on the role of a leader? • Lesson Activity: Plan and write a persuasive text in which you attempt to convince others that a character in the story is or is not a good leader. • Extension Work: Adjectives For Famous Leaders Using a thesaurus, find as many different, but suitable adjectives to describe the famous leaders pictured. Please check out our other ‘Private Peaceful’ resources.

These four resources are used to help students to use different types of punctuation. There a variety of activities for using question marks, commas in a list, exclamation marks and for punctuating speech. Pupils are also encouraged to use capital letters and full stops correctly. These resources can be used as class activities, as extension work or as homework.

In these three resources, pupils are move from being given a lot of support in using ‘and’ in written sentences to writing short texts independently including the word ‘and’. In the first resource, pupils are given visuals and some words and are asked to use them to create a simple sentence including the word ‘and’. They are expected to use capital letters and full stops correctly and to choose additional High Frequency words and spell them independently. They are asked to repeat this process with different visuals and words a variety of times. In the next two resources, the pupils are given two images and are asked to make a sentence about these images including the word ‘and’. This process is repeated a variety of times until the pupil is asked to complete a piece of writing (including the word ‘and’) without any visual aids. In the second resource, this extended piece of writing is to be about themselves. In the third it is about another person of their choice. When using the 3 resources, pupils move from being heavily supported to writing independently. These resources can be used as a class activity, as extension work or as homework.

There are six writing resources in the pack that are aimed at helping pupils to punctuate sentences correctly using capital letters and full stops. It ranges from them being giving simple sentences with no punctuation that they have to edit, to the pupils writing a short well punctuated paragraph independently. The resources include strong visual images that provide a stimulus for all pupils and are also especially beneficial for more visual learners. These resources can be used as class activities, as extension work or as homework.

This resource consists of a powerpoint presentation and a collection of worksheets on the topic of who pupils would choose to treat to a special Christmas dinner. Pupils complete a series of speaking and reading activities that help to prepare them for their own written text regarding who they would treat to a special Christmas dinner. Using the lesson powerpoint, discuss which of the famous people the pupils would choose to treat to a special Christmas dinner and why. The pupils read a text about who a person has chosen to treat to a special Christmas dinner and complete the profile worksheet about them. (Choose which of the five texts to give each pupil depending on their ability) Using the lesson powerpoint, the pupils’ understanding of these texts is assessed as pupils tell the class what they have learned about the characters that they have studied using the images and words on the slide to help them. Using the powerpoint, the class discusses who they would treat to a special dinner if they could invite anybody in the world (in history). The pupils make the writing plan to describe the person that they would treat to a special Christmas dinner, what they would eat and do and why they would choose them. The pupils use their writing plan to write a text about who they would treat to a special Christmas dinner. This resource normally takes two full lessons to complete, but could last longer depending on the speaking and listening exercises. If there are pupils who do not celebrate Christmas in your class, the lesson can be adapted to be about treating people to a special dinner instead.

This presentation is to be used when delivering a session to the whole school on how to mark written work. It explains the value of good marking and feedback. It presents different forms of marking and feedback and it explains what is required to make marking effective. Advice is given on what to mark on a written text and what not to mark, so that marking is effective and does not demotivate the student. It then introduces ‘live’ marking and explains how staff can do this successfully in lessons. This then leads to a marking activity where staff put these ideas into practice while marking four examples of pupils’ work. After this activity, the texts are displayed on the presentation for a feedback session. The final part of the presentation is about what should happen after marking, with advice given on how to follow up ‘Next Steps’ and ‘Literacy Targets’ by giving the pupils ownership of their own progress. This presentation can be adapted to include your own school’s writing marking code and policy.

This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write an essay about an artist. There is an information gathering exercise which pupils can use to research and learn more about a chosen artist. This is followed by differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their text about an artist. This resource can be used in English or art lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.

In these resources, pupils are given visuals and some words and are asked to use them to create a simple sentence using a conjunction/connective. They are expected to use capital letters and full stops correctly and to choose additional High Frequency words and spell them independently. They are asked to repeat this process with different visuals and words a variety of times. This is the first step in preparing pupils to write sentences while using conjunctions/connectives. The images help more visual learners and the given words provide ideas for what to write about and structure. These resources can be used as a class activity, as extension work or as homework. There are five resources to use when you choose this download. The conjunctions/connectives included are and, when, but, so, + because.

This presentation is used to introduce similes and metaphors to pupils while also giving them a series of activities to complete that help them to understand them. These activities are either completed verbally, on an interactive white board or on paper. It is normally used in a series of lessons, lasting between three and four hours. The first part of the presentation deals with similes and concludes with pupils making a similes poem that describes a beast. The second part introduces metaphors and concludes with the pupils describing themselves using metaphors.

In these resources, pupils are given visuals and some words and are asked to use them to create a simple sentence. They are expected to use capital letters and full stops correctly and to choose additional High Frequency words and spell them independently. They are asked to repeat this process with different visuals and words a variety of times. This is the first step in preparing pupils to write sentences. The images help more visual learners and the given words provide ideas for what to write about and structure. These resources can be used as a class activity, as extension work or as homework. There are two resources to use when you choose this download.

This is a resource that helps pupils to learn how to read and spell the months of the year using a collection of auditory, visual and kinaesthetic activities. The powerpoint introduces the words with a series of slides that include the word for each month of the year and a selection of images that represent that month. These images include special events that take place in that month. The pupils can therefore also learn about these events and they will associate these images with the month. The teacher can say these words as they flick through the slides and get the pupils to repeat them to induce a rote style of learning. They can also flick quickly through the slides and when they stop, ask certain pupils to read the word. This is good for differentiation as teachers can stop suited to the targets of the individual pupils who they question. After this there are some kinaesthetic activities/games that can be used to reinforce the pupils recall of these words. This includes a team game where pupils have to say the words quickly to win points and a ball game where pupils have to throw the ball to hit the correct word. the ball game can be a team game or a more individual challenge. The rules of these games are explained further in the powerpoint itself. The final part of this resource is the spelling challenge. There are two options for the teaching of this challenge. ,In the first option pupils complete a powerpoint which includes the images associated with the months by typing the correctly spelled word for the month into the slide. The second option is a worksheet which includes the images associated with the months. In this, the pupils simply write the correctly spelled words for the month in the box next to these images. This resource can be edited to fit any selection of words. When the pupils become familiar with this way of learning, they can make their own spelling challenges with images to learn to spell new words themselves and to test their classmates.

In Literacy Poker pupils play a poker type card game with some hands being more valuable than others. However, they have to use their English skills for their points to count, making sentences to match the cards. Card Types: Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs *Noun *Verb Conjunction Adjective Varied Sentence Opening Adverb This is a great resource to help students to relax while reinforcing what they have learned at the same time.

There two resources are to help pupils to learn the skill of picking out different literary techniques in a text and then to build an understanding of why the writer has used them. The first resource asks pupils to make a list of different literary techniques that they can find in a text and to note down the example(s) of this that they have highlighted. After the pupils have practiced this skill they can attempt the 2nd activity. in this, pupils are again asked to pick out different literary techniques used, but also to explain why the writer has used the examples they have highlighted of these techniques. These resources are designed so that they can be used with any text. This means that you can use them again and again. Furthermore, it gives pupils some independence by allowing them to choose their own passages in texts to use with these resources and they can therefore be a good homework activity.

This presentation can be used as an assembly or as a class activity. It can be used to introduce the teaching of any of his novels. It is about his works and his life. Both of these elements are presented in the form of a quiz which can be used as a speaking and listening activity or with the pupils writing the answers. It contains a nice mixture of facts, fun and nonsense.

This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write about a practical or a project that they have completed in a design technology lesson. There are differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their text about what they have achieved in their practical/project. This resource can be used in English or design technology lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.

This is a reading for pleasure assembly best used to promote reading in your school.

This is an Entry Level English reading test for Understanding A Non-Fiction text. It can be used as a revision exercise, but is designed to be taught with Romeo and Juliet. It is best taught after Romeo is banished from Verona as the text is about banishment.

This is a literary text describing the day Juliet meets Paris. It is an Entry Level English: Understanding a literary text - reading test. It can be used as a revision activity or when teaching Romeo and Juliet.