A teacher and tutor with more than thirty years' experience working in both mainstream and independent schools. I have an Honours degree in English Literature and Linguistics from UEA and have written a dissertation about encouraging children to write. I am a mother of three and interested in all things green. I am in the process of setting up my TES shop and hope to launch my "Spagbag" resources which are suitable for both Primary and Secondary aged pupils.
A teacher and tutor with more than thirty years' experience working in both mainstream and independent schools. I have an Honours degree in English Literature and Linguistics from UEA and have written a dissertation about encouraging children to write. I am a mother of three and interested in all things green. I am in the process of setting up my TES shop and hope to launch my "Spagbag" resources which are suitable for both Primary and Secondary aged pupils.
This Power point resource asks pupils to change both nouns and pronouns into plurals and to insert apostrophes to show belonging and also in contractions. Choosing the correct pronoun I or me is also tested. I include a general spelling, punctuation and grammar quiz, one of several which can be found in my shop. All answers included.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+ and would be ideal when revising grammar and punctuation. Answers are included.
This animated power point looks at the difference between concrete and abstract nouns and asks students to identify both kinds within sentences. Pupils are required to sort out abstract nouns into two groups: emotions and things we understand. They are invited to discuss why certain abstract nouns do not fall into either category.
This resource will be useful when revising nouns of all sorts. I include a general spelling, punctuation and grammar quiz in which abstract nouns feature in one section. All answers included.
Suitable for ages 10+
This power point takes a look at verbs and requires students to identify verbs, change verbs into the past tense and also to select the correct verbs to make a passage make sense.
This resource will be useful when revising verbs and tenses.
I include a more general quiz on spelling, punctuation and grammar where verbs feature in one section. All answers are provided.
Suitable for ages 8+
This animated power point collates ten facts about Guy Fawkes and his part in the Gunpowder Plot that are not widely known.
I include information about the drama series in which the Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington plays Robert Catesby, the brains behind the Gunpowder plot. Harington reveals there is a family connection which prompted him to get involved in the screenplay.There is a comprehension related to this article and opportunities provided for further writing and research such as a biography, a story board and a comparison of crime and punishment then and now. All answers are provided to the comprehension for ease of marking.
This resource would prove useful as a lesson starter or as a means of starting a discussion about this infamous historical figure. Was he really a bad guy? Why is it that we know Guy Fawkes' name and yet Robert Catesby's name is less well known today.
The resource is suitable for ages 10+
This power point presentation looks particularly at the letter received by Lord Monteagle on November 4th 1605 and asks students to consider the implications and explore the inferences within. Questions are asked about the morality of the situation and the audience is asked to put themselves in the position of having a relative in Parliament and knowing full well something bad is going to happen. Students are required to reorganise the major events of the Gunpowder Plot into a cartoon strip to reinforce chronology. Background information is given about Guy Fawkes and we are asked to question why it is only his name we remember all these years later.
I enclose information about the forthcoming three part screenplay entitled Gunpowder in which Kit Harington plays Robert Catesby and reveals he is related to him.There is a comprehension related to this article and opportunties for further research into Kit Harington's biography, a story board of the major events of the Gunpowder Plot or a comparison of crime and punishment then and now.
Answers are provided to the questions.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+
This animated power point is an informative profile about bats with related questions. It includes a short poem which highlights why some people find bats scary creatures.
This resource would suit a younger audience and would be ideal to use around Halloween. Hopefully the audience will realise there is nothing to be scared of at all.
Suitable for ages 5-7
This animated power point presentation identifies ten key themes in Victorian literature and provides a broad brush stroke to context related questions. Big ideas are explained simply and pictorially to provide students with a starting point when studying Dickens et al.
This resource will prove useful when discussing historical background and context questions with any Victorian novelist or poet.
Suitable for audiences of 14 years+
This animated power point outlines in a simplistic way the features of a Gothic novel and explains the use of pathetic fallacy as a tool used by the author to create unease. An extract from Susan Hill's ghost story Woman in Black is used as a starting point for discussion about literary techniques to create a sense of immediacy and of being enveloped by the landscape.
I include a further resource where pupils can discuss and highlight examples of pathetic fallacy within extracts taken from Woman in Black, A Monster Calls and Frankenstein.
This resource is suitable for ages 11-16.
This animated power point presentation is of a poem written by a 15 year old about remembrance. November is the time of year to remember lives lost in war and this poem compares late autumn to this sense of loss in a very poignant way. The audience is asked to focus on particular words and phrases which the poet uses to compare the decaying leaves and the perforated bodies of the battleground. Pupils are also asked to consider the symbolic significance of poppies.
This resource would be ideal to use when studying war poetry or reflecting on Remembrance Sunday.
This resource is suitable for students aged 11 to 16 years.
I include puzzles which will aid the revision of poetry such as Keats' ode to Autumn as well as Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade.
This animated power point presentation demonstrates how to separate ideas into paragraphs. The pupils are given the opening line of each paragraph and a series of questions to get them thinking about what each paragraph might include. There are six paragraphs in total which will result in the student writing a mystery story. The completed story might be scary or funny depending on the choices they make along the way.
This is an ideal resource to use at this time of year as it entails a walk through a wood and would complement work done on the changing seasons and shortening day-light hours.
This resource is intended for those students who need to add structure and order to their writing and will help them organise their ideas into a given framework. Suitable for ages 7 to 10.
This Power- Point presentation takes Scrooge as its initial focus and then questions our notion of Christmas and how it has changed from the idyllic view of the Victorian era to the modern day commercial excesses. With reference to the migrant crisis and the quest to feed the world in challenging circumstances this presentation will make audiences think about the true meaning of Christmas and what issues should really be at the forefront of our minds at this time of year. The Australian bush fires are brought to mind with flaming imagery.
This resource could be used as an assembly piece or to initiate a debate or discussion with the audience. This would be particularly useful for those students who are studying Dickens or other Victorian novelists. Global warming as an issue that affects us all, both rich and poor, at this time of year.
Suitable for ages 7+
This bundle comprises three related presentations:
The Waverley Manor Mystery which is an episodic story set in Victorian times. Getting to grips with grammar which takes each chapter and analyses each episode to focus on such things as adjectives, proper nouns, modal verbs etc. Describing a scene is a stand alone presentation and could be used in isolation or, to support The Waverley Manor Mystery. This bundle would make a very comprehensive revision tool for all things grammatical !
Three Power Point presentations bundled together on how to write a persuasive speech, Martin Luther King's " I have a dream" speech and biography and how to write for different audiences.
This bundle of resources will prove a useful revision tool and will suit pupils aged 11 to 16
Four presentations on Nouns and Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and Verbs.
A very useful tool for revision purposes and activities that can be easily differentiated according to ability.
Suitable for ages 7 to 14
This powerpoint tells the story of six blind men and an elephant. Each man believes he knows best about what an elephant is like, however they end up in an argument. A wise woman explains to them that they each encountered a small part of the creature in the cave and that they need to learn to see the bigger picture and listen better to one another.
A useful resource to use in assembly . Suitable for audiences of 5 to 10 years of age.
This animated Power point showcases the features of persuasive writing and then provides advice on how to use the powers of persuasion to win an audience over. The features are recorded in a way which will make the techniques memorable. The students are asked to put their writing skills to the test by choosing to write a leaflet about the dangers of smoking or, alternatively, writing a speech about taking up a new hobby which does not involve a screen.
I include a resource which explains how to build a speech rather like building a sandwich and has an activity where students need to identify rhetorical devices within a short passage; ideal for homework or revision purposes.
This resource is suitable for pupils aged between 11 and 16.
This animated Powerpoint showcases three topical news items which contain deliberate spelling errors . The pupils have to identify these errors and then are faced with a report about school gym facilities which is riddled with mistakes. The pupils are requested to re-write the report correctly. The homophone errors in the final report are ones such as there/their, too/two, your/you’re which are commonly made and require a grammatical understanding of the text.
I include a resource about the problems of policing groups of teens who gather in public spaces and become labelled as hoodies or chavs. Pupils are required to answer questions related to the newspaper article and to respond with an article of their own. Also included are two articles, one about da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, an oil painting which achieved the highest auction price for any work of art and the other about space exploration and how this has become the playground of rich men.
These articles are intended to inspire debate and further discussion.
This resource is suitable for use with pupils aged 10 to 14 years.
This Powerpoint presentation details the life of Martin Luther King and focuses particularly on extracts from his I have a dream speech.
This resource will be particularly useful during Black History month when focusing on persuasive writing and speeches that had the power to change the world. The resource includes a brief biography, a timeline of major events in MLK's life as well as a transcript of Obama's Yes We Can speech.
The resource is intended to inspire pupils and make them think about how they can become better citizens by learning about Martin Luther King as a positive role model. Included is an extract from Barack Obama's Yes We Can speech so that pupils can see how King became a role model for future Presidents who utilised their powers of speech in a public arena. Echoes of Martin Luther King can be heard in Obama's words.
Suitable for all ages.
This animated Powerpoint gives advice on how to make a persuasive speech by following five simple steps. The AFOREST acronym is used to remind students of the features of persuasive writing.Pupils are required to write speeches of their own , putting themselves forward for election as head boy or head girl in the form of Ronald Dump who wants to build a wall in the school gym or , alternatively, as Angela Smirkle who advocates an open door policy.
This resource is ideal for revising persuasive writing techniques in light of the current political shananigans and is suitable for students aged 11 to 16.
This powerpoint comprises ten slides reminding pupils how to write a formal letter. It has some multiple choice questions regarding maintaining a formal tone and gives comparisons between informal and formal styles of writing. Pupils are required to set out their own formal letter and are given two options to choose from: a letter to the head teacher complaining about litter or a letter to a local restaurant owner complaining about poor service.
This resource is suitable for use with pupils aged 10 to 14 years.