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 Powerpoint explains how adverbs are used. Adverbs of time , manner and place are explored and there are plenty of exercises along the way. Animation is used to add humour to the subject.
This presentation could be used to introduce adverbs or for revision purposes.
Other presentations include adjectives and nouns and pronouns which are presented in a similar fashion. This resource is aimed at pupils aged between 10 and 14.
This animated powerpoint consists of twelve slides exploring different audiences and appropriate ways of addressing them. Different openings and closings of letters are considered and the pupils are asked to match the correct ones. Two opportunities are given to write for very different audiences. One is a letter of complaint to the council, the other is an advertisement for an upcoming musical event. This resource could be used to introduce the concept of audience or for revision purposes. It is aimed at pupils aged 12 to 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 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 showcases some famous Victorians such as Faraday and Darwin, engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and authors such as Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens. The presentation also includes an infamous Victorian: Jack the Ripper and the people who were suspected of being this notorious serial killer.
Brief biographical details are given and an overview of major achievements/incidents given.
Suitable for ages10+
This Power Point resource looks at literary techniques and presentational devices. Pupils are asked to consider the tools a writer has at his or her disposal to create an effect. Pupils are asked to write definitions of various techniques and to provide their own examples. They will also need to sort terms into groups: linguistic feature or presentational device? Finally students are required to use their knowledge to create a leaflet or write a film review.
It would be useful to provide each group with an array of printed materials such as magazines, newspapers, promotional leaflets etc so that students can hunt for examples to match the terminology. Students need to be already familiar with an array of different terminology such as oxymoron, hyperbole, juxtaposition and more besides.
This resource is intended as a revision tool and is suitable for ages 12+
This animated Power Point presents pupils with five extracts taken from J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and asks them to provide the missing punctuation. The extracts selected will test knowledge of proper nouns, speech-marks, colloquialisms and colons in particular. The extracts will also require knowledge of how to write a formal letter and how to compose an advertisement. Pupils can be divided into Hogwarts' Houses and answer questions from each extract. Answers will magically appear. Finally, students are challenged to write their own advertisement for a super-charged broom of their own invention.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+ and is intended to test knowledge of punctuation as well as comprehension . Moreover, it will encourage further reading and develop writing skills.
This animated Power Point gives a brief history of the newspaper and its evolution to the present day. Students are alerted to the tricks that publishers resort to in order to maintain their readership. The freedom of the press is something we need to preserve in this day and age and pupils are asked to compare tabloids and broadsheets to note their differences in style and content. User generated content is referenced as modern technology enables us all to act as journalists and report news as it happens. Students are asked to match ten definitions to key terms such as byline and exclusive. Finally, students are given the opportunity to put what they have learned into practice and write their own newspaper article, either about the stabbing of a teenager in a local fast food outlet, or an international affairs event which sees Trump and Putin arm wrestle for ownership of the Arctic Circle.
This resource is suitable for ages 12+ and it would be useful for students to have copies of tabloid/broadsheet newspapers to investigate along with highlighter pens to identify features.
Another in the series of quizzes to aid revision of spelling and grammar. This one looks at proper nouns and apostrophes, matching verbs with appropriate adverbs, adding prefixes to form opposites and paraphrasing well known similes. Another weirdly worded passage concerning the hapless Joe is included for good measure for pupils to decipher.
I include resources to encourage the use of a wider range of punctuation and opportunities for descriptive writing concerning people and animals.
All answers are provided for ease of marking.
Suitable for ages 10+
This animated Power Point asks pupils to identify adjectives and nouns, adverbs and abstract nouns. Pupils are given colour synonyms to sort into groups according to blue, green , yellow or red. They are given a poem about the sea to consider and also a poem about a lawn mower. Pupils are required to write their own descriptive passages or poems using techniques such as personification and alliteration.
Pupils are given a variety of scenes to describe such as an erupting volcano, a misty graveyard or a bat-infested cave. Finally, students are required to use literary devices to describe inanimate objects such as a kettle, washing machine, sewing machine, printer or phone.
I also include a resource which allows pupils to demonstrate their knowledge of punctuation by inserting a wide variety into lengthier paragraphs.This leads to an opportunity to write descriptively about a person they admire.
These resources will be useful when revising descriptive techniques and offer students plenty of ideas and opportunities to hone their writing skills.
Suitable for ages 10+
This Power Point will test knowledge of plurals, capitals, prefixes, alphabetical ordering, apostrophes, verbs and adverbs, common spelling errors and much more. There are deliberate spelling mistakes to identify and correct as well as a weirdly worded passage to decipher featuring Joe who is busy revising for his egzams! This resource is intended for revision on the run up to SATS and assessment weeks and can be dropped into lessons intended for exam preparation in general.
All answers are provided allowing pupils to quickly identify where extra revision is needed.
I include a resource to promote informal letter writing.
Suitable for ages 10+
This animated powerpoint comprises eight slides celebrating the spooky spectacle of Halloween.
There are plenty of exercises involving adjectives, adverbs, fronted adverbials and apostrophes as well as poetry which could be used as a starting point for creative writing.
This resource would be ideal to use on the run up to half term as a means of revision or as inspiration for writing when trying to conjure up a spooky atmosphere.
This resource is intended to be used with pupils from 7 to 14 years.
This animated Power Point tests knowledge of adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Students are asked to supply suitable adjectives to describe Spring and are required to describe their own favourite season. They have anagrams to solve and adjectives to identify. In a playground scene, students are asked to supply relevant adjectives, adverbs and verbs to complete the description. Students are required to sort colour synonyms for green and yellow. I include a word document on the use of adjectives and adverbs which could be used as an extension task.
This resource is ideal for revising adjectives, adverbs and verbs as well as descriptive writing about settings.
This resource would be ideal to be used for revision purposes during the Spring term.
Suitable for ages 10+
This Powerpoint resource is intended to be used to improve spelling throughout years 9 to 11. It includes 60 words most commonly misspelt by students and various tips on how to learn them such as look, say, cover, write and check. Students are encouraged to look for smaller words within the longest spellings and to break them down into parts as well as other tips for specific words. Exercises are given where students have to complete sentences, solve anagrams and invent their own sentences using three given words from the set.
A word document containing the words split into five sets of twelve words can be used to enable ease of learning and repeated practice.
I include one of my popular spelling, punctuation and grammar quizzes which includes answers for ease of marking.
This resource is intended for use by students aged 12+
This animated Power Point resource looks at anxiety issues facing young teenagers today and shares tips on how to cope. Mindfulness is one tool to cope with anxiety as are talking therapies and artistic pursuits . A poem called “the room inside” is displayed which could be used as a starting point to a discussion about mental health. Students are asked to consider volunteering and doing something positive with their time once exams are over. An extract from Eleanor Morgan’s book “Anxiety for Beginners” is given and six plot ideas are given which relate to anxiety. Pupils are asked to select one of these to write about. Students are asked to think about the saying “every cloud has a silver lining” and to share strategies for developing resilience.
A Power Point on mindfulness and how to deal with difficult and troubling emotions is included which could be used when problems and anxieties surface within a group situation. Especially useful at this time of year when the pressure of exams on the horizon is beginning to mount.
Suitable for ages 12+
This animated Power Point has ten questions based on Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. The pupils choose between two possible answers. If they select the wrong answer they have to perform a task such as solving an anagram or putting items into alphabetical order; solving a puzzle of some sort. If , of course, they manage to get all the questions correct, then that leaves them more time to read from their favourite book...
This resource is suitable for all Potter fans , but the forfeits are aimed at those aged 10+
This resource would be ideal to use when promoting wider reading and particularly around Halloween. Other Potter themed activities can be found in my shop which focus more on spelling and punctuation .
This animated Power Point tests pupils' knowledge of plurals, apostrophes, using suffixes, matching adjectives of a similar meaning, compound sentences, using appropriate adverbs to create an effect and much more besides. The resource includes a weirdly worded passage for pupils to decipher and apply their knowledge of spelling.
This is one in a series of quizzes which can be found in my shop . They are intended to be used on a regular basis to aid revision especially on the run up to SATs.
I include a resource to promote informal letter writing.
This resource is suitable for ages 10+
This quiz tests knowledge of plurals, abstract nouns, homophones, prefixes to form opposites, proper nouns, alphabetical ordering and much, much more. There is another weirdly worded passage to decipher featuring Joe and Josh and their chocolate preferences. This is one in a series of similar quizzes which can be found in my shop and , used regularly, will aid the revision of all aspects of spelling and grammar.
I include a resource to encourage the use of a wider range of punctuation.
Suitable for ages 10+
This animated Power Point tests knowledge of adjectives, pronouns, plurals, proper nouns, accurate punctuation, questions and commands, the correct use of commas, words which have more than one meaning and much more besides.
This resource is intended for revision purposes on the approach to SATs and other assessments of the knowledge of grammar and punctuation more generally. Answers are provided.
I include a resource to promote informal letter writing.
Suitable for ages 10+
This resource tells the story of the boy who was taught a valuable lesson by his father about the damage he was causing to his loved ones by using unkind words. Pupils will reflect upon times when they have used words to hurt others or have themselves been hurt by what other people have said about them. An activity is suggested which will result in a display of hands which when put together with others will form a heart-shape. This resource could be used all year round but would be particularly appropriate to use during anti-bullying week or during exam periods. Talking therapies and mindfulness meditation are suggested as tools for dealing with mental health issues rather than medication. Especially topical as we approach Father’s Day and consider what we can learn from our elders.
This resource is presented both in word format and as a Powerpoint presentation.
Suitable for ages 10+