Character based inference activity aimed at KS2/3 that helps pupils develop their understanding of inference, which lots of pupils find a difficult concept. The activity starts by encouraging pupils to make observations about an image, which they then use to ‘infer’ details about the character image. Examples are given as guidance.

An abridged version of Children of the New Forest (chapter one). Having looked for suitable books when teaching the English Civil War to KS2 pupils I found that there was little to choose from. Although Children of the New Forest is a fantastic story, the lengthy nature of Victorian writing meant that it was a challenge to enable the pupils to both understand the language itself, and read sufficient of the story to gain enough from the plot. Therefore, as the book is in the public domain and not subject to copyright laws, I have abridged the first chapter, with the intention of looking at the whole book. Comprehension and reading activities to accompany this book will follow. In this chapter I have highlighted certain words that teachers may wish to use for dictionary work, or pause to discuss (a resource for this will follow). I hope that this will prove useful to someone and would value any feedback.

A sequence of lessons uses The Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat. This book was used as it tied in with topic work on the English Civil War. This unit focuses on looking at characters within the book and using them to develop dialogue. This resource is available as part of a bundle with additional resources, including smart board.

Smart board to accompany planning (also available as part of a bundle) on story writing using The Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat. This unit was part of a topic on the English Civil War.

This resource is to accompany a four session unit on biography writing. it includes national curriculum objectives and talking opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of biography writing and purpose.

Four sessions are included to aid pupils in producing a biography on King Charles I (smart board and resources are available as a bundle or individually to accompany this planning). Additional biography examples will be needed for comparison and identification of features. This unit also refers to the book Children of the New Forest.

A sequence of four lessons, using the Children of the New Forest as stimulus, looking at historical settings. This planning focuses on the part of the story where the children have lost their home, Arnwood, to a fire set by the parliamentarian soldiers. Pupils have the opportunity to think about how the different characters might have felt about the fire and demonstrate how they might continue to write as if they are the character. This sequence has been written with year 4 in mind but would be suitable with year 3 pupils or older. A smart board to accompany the lesson is also available.