This short novel is riveting, so ideal for a boy-heavy class or those not too keep on reading. The lesson begins with a true or false starter dressed up as 'Would I Lie to You': depending on the group you could invite students to come up with their own facts, perhaps researched for homework and present them with more spin, or divide the group into two opposing teams. These facts are chosen for their general relevance to the story. The next phase is looking at the opening of the novel to notice how succinctly so much is said - a good exercise in inference. The PP takes students through the thinking process and the handout sheet enables them to annotate the text without re-writing the sentences. The lesson ends with a writing exercise in which they try to emulate Sedgwick's concentrated writing in 75 words. These extracts could also be used to supplement a unit on 'survival', or a focus on reading: 'how does the writer use language to...'

Designed as a way of preparing y9s for the new GCSE, these resources may also suit some exam GCSE boards. Here 'The Diamond Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant introduces students to the concepts they will be studying at GCSE: context & structure. The 'Recipe for success' gives links to the text as well as a reading of the story and has various teaching suggestions. The Power Points outline whole lessons with handouts that allow for differentiation. The 'extend' PP introduces more able students to the idea of a 'context of production' and a 'context of reception' in a simple way.

These starters feel like games, right from the choice of icon [let students pick as a reward], which is hyper-linked to the task. From making words to choosing the most apt word, the aim is to make students more aware of the vast array of words available to them. There are 7 starters with answers, making self- and peer-assessment quick and easy. Two of the tasks have paper texts to help weaker students or speed-up the task.

The recipe for success describes lessons 1 and 2, introducing students to the contextual differences that make up the 19th Century world. In lesson 2, for which PP and extracts are provided here, the idea is to get students noticing the writers’ choices by changing them and thinking of their own choices. Short extracts from a range of writers are given on the extract sheet for analysis and /or changing. Instructions and a brief extract as model are given on the PP. PS The title 'Fiction and non-fiction' refers to the UNIT or COMPONENT of the syllabus, rather than this particular resource. However, a non-fiction extract has been added to extend the scope of the lesson.

Here's a little something to challenge your top students: persuasion the classical way. The Ancient Greeks worked out how a persuasive speech should be structured to make it effective, Shakespeare played around with the form in many of his most famous speeches and even Barack Obama's speech writers follow the formula. Along with their connectives and persuasive devices, give your most able a tried and tested structure to lift their persuasive writing above the ordinary. There's a handout explaining the structure, a PP to test it's been understood and a worksheet to guide preparation for students to write their own speeches.

All these starters are designed to build students' vocabulary, familiarising them with words, getting them to build words and helping them to choose apt vocabulary: the right word in the right place. All are self-check, with clear answers that enable self- and peer assessment, minimising your workload. All have an element of differentiation in a worksheet option. Each is available separately as part of the 'Word-hoard series 1' starters, but as a bonus, all 6 are available here, so you get one free!

This is a self-check starter that could develop into a full lesson by letting students find their own words to build. The PP begins with a definition of both prefix and suffix, goes on to list common prefixes and suffixes, which students then use to build up words. To help students get the hang of it, 'source' is one you can do together, beginning with 'resource'! Create a more competitive atmosphere by setting time limits and letting students work in teams. While they don't need to copy all the answers, they should write a few they didn't get because the whole exercise is to widen their vocabulary. The work sheet supports the PP task for weaker or slower students. The spelling test included for extension work doesn't focus on word building specifically, but provides a less threatening way of helping poor spellers focus on accuracy.

While a Thesaurus can be a useful tool, it is a blunt instrument when used without understanding of the subtle differences in meaning of synonyms. The PP explores how things can go wrong, using words that could easily become part of each student’s word-hoard. Differentiated for slow writers or to speed the whole class up, the worksheet supports the PP in this longer self-check starter, designed to develop apt vocabulary that takes context into account. This starter could easily be developed into a whole lesson by inviting students to create their own muddles which other groups mend, using the PP sentences as a model.

Each game is a 9-letter word for students to find and then use to make 4-or more- letter words from. Vocabulary is a vital – and these 3 games are can be used as a starter or reward that focuses attention on their word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better. Each PP has a last slide with possible answer, so students can check their own or each other's work and you won't have to do a thing!

If you're sick of suggesting alternatives to 'weird', this is the starter you need! Everyday 'bland' words are given synonyms in a sort activity. To differentiate - or speed things up - there's a handout version to highlight. This series of starters focuses on building up the student's word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better.

With language becoming an even higher priority in the new Specs, vocabulary is a vital – but difficult to teach- component to preparing KS3 students for the years ahead. This series of starters focuses on building up their word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better. ‘Odd one out’ is a quick self-check starter with a handout version for weaker students. Reasons can be given verbally or in writing and any reasonable response is acceptable. This is probably a good place to begin the series as it is quick, easy, and introduces a range of words that can be used as synonyms.

Help more able students develop their powers of description with this exercise; although it uses colour to create mood and atmosphere, the technique can be transferred to sustaining metaphors or similes, skills top marks are made of. The PP begins with a hyperlink[click on ‘colours’] to a song, Donovan’s ‘Colours’ [you may want to move to slide 2 on the musical interlude, as by then the link between colours and mood has been made] and takes students through the steps of choosing a colour while also making useful notes on the technique by looking at quotes and extracts. In the end, their task is to describe something, weaving colour imagery and mood words through the description. This could be set as a homework – or a next lesson. Linking this task to the opening lines descriptive writing task as a follow up lesson works well.

Students draw a postcard, with a given scenario, and write a message in the voice of the given writer to the given recipient - here they practice writing succinctly in a voice they take on. As an extra challenge, to practise tone, students can draw an emoticon to include that emotion in their message. The second phase of the task is to swap the postcards and then for students to write a reply to the postcard they receive in the voice of the given recipient, in either the tone appropriate to the postcard, or using an emoticon to suggest another tone. Lastly, both the sent and received postcards could be used to stimulate a longer piece of either narrative or descriptive writing. To make the teacher's life easier, the PP provides step by step instructions, the recipe for success gives the teacher tips and the tasks come either on the postcards or as strips. The emoticons can be printed in colour, laminated and used again to add extra challenge to several other tasks.

This quiz is foremost about remembering key quotes by remembering the covered word. Students discuss the relevance of the quote and what points it could evidence as well as which story it belongs to. In this way it could be used as a starter. To build on this, students could create their own quote quiz, perhaps working in groups and focusing on a particular story. An alternative strategy is to give students the fill-in sheet to do first, in pairs or groups, thus making the feedback ‘quiz’ session livelier (recommended with a weaker group). If there isn’t time for students to make their own quizzes as a plenary, they can at least find one more quote to share with the class. Having a filled in sheet (corrected) gives students handy notes for revision. However, don’t despair if paper use / printing/copying is limited: so that each student can be given a different slide [or slides] to prepare, the page is arranged to make cutting it into strips do-able.

A wordsearch with a difference - find the synonyms in the text, write them down and find both clue and answer in the wordsearch. 'The Undoor' is a short story in Chris Priestley's 'Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. This task promotes literacy and could be a homework activity. The answers are on p2 and can be projected or handed out. A useful starter activity could be a quick re-cap of synonyms and antonyms, using some of the words from the wordsearch [don't tell them thhe words are coming up, but do link them to the story; that way the alert students feel rewarded when they notice some work has already been done for them] Apart from the activity given on slide 2, students could make a note of the definitions on slide 1 for future reference.

The lesson starter can easily become a discussion lesson with an enthusiastic class, but a 'one-liner' mumble if the class isn't interested: either have a discussio topic on each desk as students enter or put them in a hat for pairs to pick out. This gets them thinking about the themes covered by the collection of short stories. The lesson consists of short extracts promoting close reading in order to infer and deduce information about the characters and the setting. This is an important skill and if students say they didn't find the stories frightening, ask them whether they are just reading words or actually infering and deducing - I liken the difference to a balloon with and without the breath that blows it up. This is all about making reading a 3-D experience!

One of the unusual things about this novel is that author David Almond not only speaks to the reader in various places, but also invites them to mention how the strands of the story end. Here students are invited to imagine - and then write in 3 -5 paragraphs - what happens to Clarence P. Clapp. Before they do, they create success criteria for themselves [pitch to class ability - 'Begin every sentence with a capital letter' to 'Use a wide range of punctuation for effect': you know what your class needs to work on] and collect useful words and imagery from the text - the foundations of 'close reading'! As an additional challenge or homework, students can find more information on websites given and a PP slide allows the teacher to project the information. This also makes it easier to go to the sites as a class if preferred.

The thing for teachers to emphasise in preparing students for this task is that alliteration works by sound, not letter - so 'cough' and 'kill' have the same sound. The advert draws on specific descriptions in David Almond's novel and chapter and page numbers are given for the 2012 Walker Books edition. Some students like to get on and read the book in one go after the initial chapters, so let them do the more creative tasks when they've completed the story. Best pieces can be displayed - encourage students to be creative as well as to use slogans, alliteration, rule of three etc.

The most challenging wordsearch ever! Students have to find synonyms in the text for the listed words then find the synonyms, not the given words, so no mindless highlighting of any recognisable words. To make it slightly easier, two words are given for every word in the text and the chapter and page number are given too. Page 2 has the answers - the list of words to find and where they are in the grid. Do reward students who haven't fallen into the trap of highlighting any recognisable word rather than only the synonyms from the text.

The focus of this exercise is the contrast in feeling between Ernie and Stan. Some of the words appear in the chapter, some are inferred. This task could be done as a plenary after reading the chapter or as a simple homework. Page 2 gives the answers and sets an extra challenge as extension work. This novel by David Almond is published by Walker Books and is suitable for KS2 & KS3 reluctant readers. The starter, which could be be done as a way of introducing the homework or as a starter when the homework/ plenary is being marked. Suitable for using individual white-boards as well as for exercise books.