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.
A resource aimed to improve grammar skills. Adjectives, adverbs, common nouns, proper nouns and verbs can be revised and revisited whilst a story unfolds set in a Victorian Manor House.
These resources can be used as stand alone lessons or as homework to reinforce literacy skills. The story builds and unfolds to keep pupils engaged and interested, wanting to know what happens next.
For the complete animated story see The Waverley Manor Mystery.
Suitable for ages 8+
This is an animated Power Point presentation which introduces the characters of Sarah, Mr Grizzle and Mrs Plumworthy- Brown. The story is set in Victorian Britain and has been brought to life with animated text and imagery. The story has been written to aid revision of aspects of grammar specifically adjectives, adverbs, proper nouns and modal verbs. This presentation is purely a telling of a mystery story and can be used as such or could be dissected slide by slide to identify grammatical devices. There are accompanying worksheets which could be used to focus on the grammar in more detail or to inspire descriptive writing. The story would appeal to students aged 8+
This animated powerpoint consists of nine slides and is a collection of different examples of writing about Autumn. There are slides containing informative writing such as signs to look out for that the season is changing and also an instructional text on how to make vegetable stew. There are three poems on an Autumnal theme, one about adjusting the clocks, one in the form of a Haiku and one about spider webs.
This resource is suitable for pupils aged 7 to 11 and could be utilised in any Autumn themed activity.
Activities involving cloze procedure useful for the revision of adjectives and adverbs in descriptive writing.
Students are invited to describe typical playground and classroom scenes. These resources could be used for revision purposes or as a stimulus for creative writing. I include a resource which requires pupils to supply a range of punctuation to make sense of lengthier paragraphs, decide which sentences are questions or statements and also offers them an opportunity to demonstrate their own descriptive writing skills when describing someone they admire.
These resources are aimed at pupils aged 11 to 14.
This is a mystery story set in Victorian times and is told in a series of episodes. Each episode focusses on revising aspects of grammar such as adjectives, adverbs, verbs (including modal verbs) and nouns (including proper, common and abstract).
Opportunities are given for creative writing and further historical investigations.
This is intended for use with pupils aged between 10 and 14 years and could be spread over a half term period in hourly chunks depending on ability.
The characters of Sarah, Mr Grizzle and Mrs Plumworthy-Brown are introduced who will feature in my forthcoming resources.
This animated Powerpoint resource comprises ten slides explaining the techniques of persuasive writing. It uses the mnemonic A FOREST to help students remember the features of persuasive writing and tests their knowledge with multiple choice questions. The students are asked to write either a speech to help the elderly people in their community or organise an event to raise money for a new skate park.
I include "In the Basement of the Goodwill Store" a poem by Ted Kooser and questions which will make students reflect upon their attitudes and behaviour towards the older generation.
This resource is aimed at pupils between 12 and 16 years.
This Powerpoint explains how adjectives are used to modify nouns. There is a cloze procedure exercise about "my favourite season" and also some anagram puzzles to solve.
This resource is suitable for pupils aged 10 to 14 years. It could be used for revision purposes or as a stimulus for creative writing.
This is a powerpoint presentation of six slides containing resources on different types of nouns such as common, proper, concrete, abstract and collective and also pronouns.
The activity asks students to identify different kinds of nouns and how some words can have a different meaning in different contexts. This resource would be useful for revision purposes and is intended for pupils aged between 10 and 14.
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.
This Powerpoint discusses how adding detail to descriptions with adjectives and adverbs can make a scene more vivid. Students are asked to make boring sentences more exciting and to bring a description of a staff canteen to life by using appropriate adjectives and adverbs.
I include a word document that could be used for homework purposes where students are asked to use adverbs in different places within sentences and to examine extracts of descriptive writing to see how adjectives and adverbs are used to appeal to our senses.
This resource is intended for use with pupils aged between 10 and 14, the exercises can be easily differentiated according to ability.
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 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 examines extracts taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and asks pupils to provide the missing punctuation. The correct answers will magically appear! This resource tests knowledge of commas, apostrophes, question marks , colons, brackets , inverted commas, ellipsis and using capitals to add emphasis. One of the extracts requires pupils to set out an address correctly. Another extract is a heated dialogue and could be used as an example of using other words for said.
At the end there is a quiz to test comprehension and other grammatical knowledge such as similes and alliteration. Pupils are asked to set out their own formal letter addressing it to Harry Potter himself.
I include another resource which gives information about different breeds of dragon and affords pupils the opportunity to write a letter applying for a job as a dragon trainer.
This resource will appeal to Potter fans of all ages.
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 resource comprises nine slides and explains what prepositions are and how they are used. There are exercises along the way asking pupils to identify prepositions and encourages them to use prepositions in sentences of their own.
This resource could be used as a starting point or for revision purposes. It is intended for use with pupils aged between 7 and 11.
This is an animated Powerpoint presentation about homophones. It shows over fifty sets of homophones and gives examples of funny stories using words that sound the same but have different meanings in context. There are plenty of challenges for pupils to solve along the way.
This resource is intended for use with 7 to 11 year olds but could also be used with older pupils for revision purposes.
I include a more general grammar quiz where homophones is one of the sections questioned. Answers are included for ease of marking.
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 Powerpoint could be used as a starting point for introducing verbs or as a revision aid. Students are asked to identify verbs, to substitute more powerful verbs and consider how selecting alternatives can alter the meaning of a given scene. A poem about the wind is included along with suggestions for creative writing using all five senses.
I include a resource which which could be used for homework or revision purposes and encourages students to strengthen their writing skills and provides an opportunity to describe a favourite animal or pet.
This resource might be used with pupils aged between 10 and 14 years.
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+