Children will need access to Base 10 (or Diennes) and 0-9 dice for this activity. My year 5 class were struggling with decimals so I made up this simple activity, and had quite a lot of success with it - children fed back that it helped their understanding. First children use 0-9 dice to generate a decimal and record it on the sheet. Next, they make the number using Base 10 and draw it on the sheet. Finally, they place their decimal on a 0-9 numberline. They should record it as a fraction and a decimal at this point. Children repeated this activity three or four times until they felt confident with their understanding. It is differentiated so that children can work with tenths, hundredths or thousandths.

I can use the relative pronouns ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘whose’ and ‘that’ to write relative clauses. Specific relative pronouns are used when referring to different nouns. The fun dice game ‘Meet the relatives’ encourages children to think about which relative pronoun is most suitable for the noun in the sentence. The aim of the game is to be the first player to write an embedded relative clause using each of the relative pronouns on the game card. There are three versions of the game, to ensure that all learners are included and appropriately challenged. Enjoy meeting the relatives!

Play this to develop children’s understanding of clauses and to encourage children to vary the number of clauses they include within their sentences. I have tried so many approaches to teaching this, and I have had the most success with this one. Assessment focus I can understand the terms ‘clause’ and ‘conjunction’. I can write sentences with one or more clauses. I can write sentences with many clauses, without confusing the reader. Here you will find three versions of the engaging dice activity ‘Clauses, clauses, clauses’. In its simplest form, children write one or two clause sentences, using a limited number of conjunctions. Other versions go up to six clauses - very tricky! I have also included an extra version (my favourite activity for teaching clauses, conjunctions and multi-clauses sentences) called ‘Clauses, clauses, clauses - scavenger hunt version’. This activity promotes lots of talk around word classes and building multi-clause sentences. I recommend playing this a few times across the school year, as these skills need revisiting many times to build confidence. I hope your class find these activities as useful as mine did. Good luck!

This resource is six activities linked to the text. They are ready for children to pick up and use independently. Defining and reusing tricky words from the text Picking out the key features of a fable from the text (and from ‘The Promise’) Adding fronted adverbials to sentences from the text Grouping synonyms to create a word bank for fable writing I can plan a fable of my own I can write a fable of my own

Included in the zip folder: detailed lesson plan, presentation, four fantastic personification generators (spooky woods, old buildings - inside and outside, creepy caves and majestic mountains). You will need 1-6 dice to use the personification generators. Try them - the combinations really work! Everything is Word/PowerPoint so you can edit and adapt as you wish. This is a carefully planned, fully resourced and differentiated lesson about personification aimed at upper key stage 2 writers. I used this session to create poetry with personification, but it would work equally well with descriptive writing or story settings. The lesson is structured as follows: Warm up What is figurative language? What is personification? Can you personify your noun using one of the prompts on the screen? Shared writing 2 differentiated dice-based personification generator activities - children use these to create stunning examples of personification about spooky woods (one verse) or spooky buildings (two verse: inside/outside writing) - try it! Peer assessment There are two additional personification generators if your class are keen to do more (cave and mountains). Fully road tested - in one session the whole class had written superb personification poems (example included on the ‘woods generator’), and they really enjoyed the spooky theme. I hope your class have the same success.

This is a one week (5 lesson) poetry unit inspired by a Simon Armitage poem. The unit is based on my popular free resource ‘First day back poetry’. I have spent some time developing that activity into five fully resources lessons. I hope your class enjoy it as much as mine did! Everything you need is here. All resources are fully editable (PowerPoint and Word). If you buy this unit, please please open the zip folder, containing lesson-by-lesson sub folders within. The PNG files are just to preview the unit. Lesson 1 Reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension • I can read poem showing understanding through pace, tone and volume • I can discuss a poem and discover its meaning Activity 1 Model expressive reading of a line and then a verse. Activity 2 Partner reading. Activity 3 Discuss the poem and try some comprehension questions Lesson 2 Exploring vocabulary • I can explore the meaning of words (in context) Activity 1 Reusing and defining Activity 2 Sketchnoting Lesson 3 Capturing ideas for poems of our own • I can compose lines for a free verse poem using my own life experiences Activity 1 Connect Activity 2 Enjoy listening to poetry Activity 3 Partner talk Independent task Can you make the ordinary sound amazing? Lesson 4 Arrange and edit for poetic techniques • I can edit my poem for poetic techniques Activity 1 Warm up Activity 2 Listen Activity 3 Arrange Activity 4 Edit for poetic technique Activity 5 Peer assess Lesson 5 Present and perform! • I can prepare a poem to be presented to an audience Activity 1 Read your poem Activity 2 Think of title for your poem Activity 3 Prepare your poem to be read aloud Activity 4 In groups of four, read your poems to each other

Two dice games for KS2: ‘Point or show quantity’ pupils explore the two basic functions of determiners. ‘Introduce the noun’ pupils add determiners to noun phrases and sort determiners into groups. Both games have a competitive element but are tightly focused on the following objectives: I know that determiners have two jobs: ‘pointing’ or ‘showing quantity’ I can use determiners accurately in sentences I can use a wide variety of determiners to introduce nouns I can sort determiners into groups Determiners can get a little confusing for primary school aged children when you get beyond simple ‘a’ or ‘an’ activities. How far you go with your class is best judged by you (of course!). Through the presentation (which you may wish to simplify, depending on how far you wish to go with determiners) and engaging dice games, children will use lots of talk, and really engage with this tricky-to-define but important group of words.

Create stunning descriptive sentences about WW2 settings. During this sentence building activity, young writers describe damaged homes, a pier and a pavilion. You could quickly edit the images and the word banks to match landmarks in your local area. We went on to use the sentences we created in stories set during WW2. Enjoy!

This session teaches children one way of structuring a biography paragraph. Prior to the session, children will need to have gathered some information for the biography they are going to write. Everything else you need is here! You are buying: - a detailed lesson plan; - a 'paragraph party' resource, based on Anne Frank's life; - a presentation, including suggested shared/modelled writing.

A brilliant lesson on homophones and near homophones, suitable for Year 5 and Year 6. Assessment focus: I understand the term ‘homophone’. I can give definitions of many common homophones. I can spell common homophones. You are buying: - a detailed lesson plan; - ‘mistaken identity celebrities’ PowerPoint; - mistaken identity scavenger hunt; - self –assessment tool (on powerpoint); - engaging dice game differentiated 2 ways - plenty of challenge - answer checkers provided; - SEN/low attainers activity; - an extension activity for those who finish. You’ll love this session - a fun way to explore homophones and near homophones.

Do you want your class to learn about the language of explanation whilst also learning how to host parties and start fires in the wild? Try the dice activity ‘Cause and effect’. Assessment focus: I can use causal connectives to extend a sentence or begin a new sentence. When writing explanations, many children find it difficult to discern between conjunctions that join sentences (eg because, so) and adverbs/adverbials that begin a new, closely related sentence or at the very least follow a semi-colon (eg however, as a result of). This activity gives children lots of opportunities to use causal connectives (because, so, so that, however, consequently, this means, this will, this may, as a result of this) orally and in sentences. Most importantly, it helps them to think about whether they are extending a sentence or beginning a new one. This could be used before my other popular resource for explanation writing: ‘Explain yourself’. That activity enables children to develop a full explanation, whereas this narrows the focus to sentence skills.

I couldn't find much out there on KS2 noun phrases. Lots of stuff for KS1, but I feel it still needs pushing in KS2. On top of that, I couldn't find any decent short texts for sci-fi writing... So here is a very exciting - but also brief - sci-fi text. Children have to expand the noun phrases. There are 6 suggested ways they can expand nouns and a detailed word bank to support them. The text could also be used as a model for writing - it would be easy to play with it create something entirely new. Worked for my class.

20 quiz quiz trade cards about Saxons and vikings and instructions on how to use the cards.

Lesson plan and 3 differentiated versions of a fun game to practise spelling words ending words ending –el, -al, -le. Assessment focus I can spell words ending –el, -al, -le Explanation ‘Towel’, critical’ and ‘apple’ all have the same pronunciation at the end. So how do people know which spelling to use? Most words end –le (-al and -el endings are far less common). Also –le endings tend to follow letters with ascenders or descenders. There are no rules that work every time! –el, -al, -le game You will need: a 1-6 dice per pair, a word bank per pair, a recording sheet each

THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO MAKE PARAGRAPHING A FUN AND CONCRETE EXPERIENCE. This is a fun and engaging activity (for groups of four) about organisation within a paragraph. Using a non-fiction context (information about mammoths) pupils go to a paragraph party. They have to work out who is hosting the party (the topic sentence), who is the uninvited guest (information that doesn’t belong) and various other activities. In short, it’s a lively and memorable way of exploring non-fiction paragraphs.

This is whopping 70 slide powerpoint and 16 scratch files to walk you through coding a finished ‘launcher’ style game. The powerpoint gives you everything you need to know and all the code blocks too. You have to launch an animal at its food, and code gravity and obstacles. It’s great fun and will take a class around 5 lessons. It really depends on how much coding they have done and how much further they want to take the game. I have used it across KS2.

Adverbs are one of the trickier word classes, so let's start off with the basics and learn in a playful way. From Year 3 onwards, children are expected to understand the term 'adverb' and use adverbs in sentences. From Year 4 onwards, children are expected to be able to open sentences with adverbs. In this fully resourced lesson (including lots of engaging activities), complete with lesson plan, presentation and a lively dice game, children will learn to understand the term 'adverb' as well as exploring some of the functions of adverbs. They will also have plenty of opportunities to use adverbs in sentences orally - though if desired, they could record their learning as well. There is also more challenging task for your talented writers and I have included the game cards so that you can edit them to match your class text. This lesson would also be an ideal revision tool for the Year 6 Grammar Test.

Your class will enjoy playing: 'Will you or won't you?' This is a brilliant way of motivating children to use modal verbs accurately in sentences. Children have to play against each other. One child is trying to go to a sleepover and the other other is desperately trying to avoid it. Sounds bonkers? Well, maybe a little, but it certainly generates a lot of sentence work and discussion. Children will all know what modal verbs are by the end of the lesson. That's a promise. All instructions and resources included - just add dice and counters.

I can say and write simple, compound or complex sentences If children become confident at using a blend of simple, compound and complex sentence structures, their writing will be varied and accurate. For many young writers, this is not easy to achieve. These sentence skills must be revisited and rehearsed over and over again. Practising sentence skills could get boring! This lively dice game, to be played in pairs, generates lots of purposeful talk about sentences. Children collect game cards to win! If children record their sentences, it also generates plenty of good examples to refer back to during whole class sessions. The activity is differentiated three ways. At its most basic, children generate a mixture of the three sentence types. On track writers try a wider variety of subordinating conjunctions. More able writers are moved on to creating sentences with a greater number of clauses. I used this for myth writing. If you wanted to, the ‘game cards’ and sentence examples on the ‘dice guides’ could be easily changed to match any story or text. It’s a great way of learning or revisiting these three important sentence types. *I have added a version of the game with Beowulf game cards and another version with ‘ough’ words, to demonstrate how the game can be adapted to different texts or spelling patterns.

This is a 3 week English unit on myth writing. If you buy this, just use the zip folder - the other resources are just there to preview. I have used this myth many times and developed it each time. It always gets fantastic writing from children, regardless of their attainment. The model text follows the pattern of a ‘warning story’, and it is flexible enough allow young writers to create their own unique myths. I have adapted it for use in Y4, 5 and 6. I am sure it would work in other year groups too. Within the zip you will find: detailed and creative planning to a high standard; a very short version of the traditional story the Asrai, to be used as a model text; a tool kit (or set of success criteria); planning sheets (differentiated); peer assessment sheets (differentiated); some of my dice grammar games that can be used during the unit; writing prompts; comprehension questions. I am sure you could quickly adapt this for use in your own class - it is ready to be used! I hope your class enjoy writing some incredible myths, using the simple pattern of ‘The Asrai’.