Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
National Curriculum word lists for Year 2 are represented, category by category, in these 2 spelling tests. Each comes with teacher’s version to read out and children’s child-friendly version to write. First test has 15 questions; second has 16. The children’s versions have gaps to fill; the teacher’s versions have words highlighted to instruct children to write in the gaps provided, as in SATs tests. Children’s papers also have stars to colour in at start and end.
See also child-friendly word lists for reading practice and assessment: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-spelling-reading-assessment-practice-mid-level-12107263, https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-spelling-reading-assessment-practice-sheet-hardest-12107572 (mid-level + hardest).
Get your reluctant writers dashing down ideas on this crazy-fun writing sheet!
Supporting video (2nd half): https://youtu.be/sITQrMuDrfg
What would a Martian, or alien, like to eat? Star dust salad? Rocket roast? Soup served on a flying saucer? The starter words spur ideas to fill up the lines, with desserts and drinks included! Accompanying Ideas Sheet offers teacher-support for prompting and guiding.
Supports space study, literacy and food science, all in one!
**SEE ALSO: Funny Space Rhymes: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/funny-space-rhymes-12051967.
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Also many space poetry resources to read, write and build together, at my TES shop, .e.g. on page 2: ces/shop/katewilliams_poetry?p=2 .
KS1 Reading, Spelling, Phonics support - 3 sheets, differentiated: Easy, Mid-Level, Hard, for assessment and practice of reading and spelling, in accordance with word types, phonics and spellings for KS1 National Curriculum. Decorated and coloured, child-friendly sheets, taking the fear out of testing and adding fun to learning.
24 hardest level KS1 words for practice and assessment of reading and spelling. Attractively decorated sheet with unconnected words, each type taken from the National Curriculum KS2 word list (2018) - wide range included.
**See my two easier versions also in blue and peach:
3-letter word list (easiest), https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-reading-test-practice-3-letter-words-12107255
harder (mid-level) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-reading-assessment-practice-harder-12107263
This KS1 reading/spelling assessment or practice sheet contains 28 words of low to mid difficulty. The word types are drawn from the National Curriculum Y1-2 spelling list, and include 2-letter vowels, as in cart and fur, long vowels, as in lake, double letter followed by ed/ing, consonants of 2 letters, e.g. ch, unusual spellings, as in call, and other spellings beyond basic phonics. A bright, cheerfully decorated sheet for practice and monitoring.
See also KS1 reading test - simpler version (pale orange) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-reading-test-practice-3-letter-words-12107255
Alphabet letters a-z are included in the 22 simple words in this decorative reading assessment/practice sheet. The vowels are all short, 1-letter ones, as in zip, pot and fun. There is one 4-letter word - quit - to include q. Suitable for early years and lower ability Yr 1 readers.
See also - harder version also, in blue https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-reading-assessment-practice-harder-12107263
Bring Literacy, Space studies and Healthy Living to life with this hilarious writing sheet.
How do Martians keep fit? By swinging from the moon? By running round black holes? By competing in floating races? The line-starters and prompts will fire up ideas and set pens rolling. See the accompanying guide sheet for examples and ideas to prompt with.
Recommended for Yr 2 upwards. Pool ideas first - both for space features and keep-fit methods, and share ideas for filling the gaps before independent writing.
SEE ALSO: Meals for Martians - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/meals-for-martians-fun-sheet-guide-12115040, and Funny Space Rhymes - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/funny-space-rhymes-12051967 .
More space writing resources at my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/katewilliams_poetry?sortBy=newest&p=2 .
Word types from the curriculum lists are represented in these 3 graded reading practice/assessment sheets and the Yr 2 practice spelling test. But they’re child-friendly in presentation, with patterns and bright colours, reducing nerves and promoting a positive approach to the challenges.
9 simple animal writing/colouring sheets. Animals from UK habitats: rabbit, robin (with egg), ladybird, squirrel, hedgehog, frog, snake, spider (2), butterfly. Style variations included. Attractive, idea-prompting pictures. Line starters for descriptive writing. Great literacy incentives, also educational, relevant to many topics, promoting fine motor skills, creativity, presentation care, colour sense and more.
3 Healthy Eating language and expression resources:
Healthy Eating Word Bank
Healthy Eating Acrostic Writing Frame, with ideas sheet,
Healthy Eating rhyme about oranges to read out and discuss.
These attractive, versatile resources will spice up your healthy eating drive, making it fun and meaningful for children, also supporting literacy development. Present and combine them all in one session for a lively, thought-provoking, entertaining, inspiring lesson.
Children of all ages will love this inspiring, yet simple creative writing frame. The flowing lines between the gliding, twirling dragonflies offer infinite scope for poetic expression. IDEAS: Some children may like to fill the lines with adjectives (glittery, bright, fast, delicate…), others with verbs (darting, gliding, shooting, dancing…); others again might write phrases (like - dazzling dragonflies hovering in the silky blue), similes (fast as jets, bright as bows…), or rhymes (delicate dragonfly/in the azure sky/lightly, brightly zig-zagging by).
PREPARE your class by building ideas and language, perhaps with the help of watching real ones, live or on a video, miming their movements and sharing language ideas.
Supports Literacy, including poetry, vocabulary and creativity. Also supports topics: seasons & weather, mini-beasts, flight, animals, forces, travel, symmetry, colour, movement, environment, and more.
**SEE ALSO: BUTTERFLY - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/butterfly-picture-poem-frame-eyfs-y1-guidance-notes-11885225 , LADYBIRD - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ladybird-picture-poem-frame-early-yrs-yr1-guidance-notes-11885212, SPIDER - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/2-spider-picture-poem-frames-guide-11887282 .
Emergent writers will enjoy thinking up describing words for the sea and writing them on the waves of this lively seaside scene. The sheet is very popular with children in my poetry workshops, offering exciting colouring opportunities as well as writing fun. See the harder (free) and easier versions, too.
Writing about baby animals and springtime is fun and inspiring for young children. These three graded writing frames provide stimulating pictures and easy starting points for verbs and adjectives for baby bunnies, young robins and the fresh spring grass, with spare lines for more on the hardest version, and space for more on all three. There’s plenty to colour too.
Preparation: before starting, lead children in imitating young animals, birds and insects that you see in the spring, focusing particularly on rabbits and robins. Elicit appropriate action words, e.g. bouncing, skipping, hopping, bobbing, dancing and playing, for the bunnies, and hopping, flapping, tweeting, singing, pecking, flying and fluttering for the robin. The grass might be tall, fresh, green, wavy, soft, bright, dewy or damp. Discuss how flowers and leaves open out too, as the days grow warmer.
Space studies and writing practice are both brought to life with these fun acrostic poem frames.
Give the easier, shorter-line version to younger/less able writers, and the long-line version for confident writers. With the first, ask for a single describing word to tie in with each letter down the page; for the second, ask for a phrase or sentence on each line, again tying in with the letters down the page. See Examples sheet for ideas to prompt for - supplied for each version.
There’s space for an extra letter below each. Perhaps suggest making PLANET into PLANETS, for a line starting with S, or suggest they give their planet a letter name, e.g. Planet G or Planet H. Then they can think of a word/phrase starting with that letter too.
Space is provided on each version for student’s own illustration.
Supports Literacy (vocabulary, phonics, creative writing, poetry, hand-writing and presentation), and Space studies.
A fun literacy activity, supporting transport, journey and design studies. Recommended for Juniors (7-11 yrs). The illustrated writing sheet invites ideas for colour, name and vehicle features, with wide scope and plenty of writing space for imaginative ideas. Two similes are also invited: as shiny as, and as fast as. Will appeal to boys and girls alike, and to writers of all working levels.
Dinosaurs are exciting to write about, especially when you invent your own! This accessible, illustrated creative writing frame comes in easy and harder versions, for approx. Yrs 2 - 4. Supports Dinosaurs and related topics, and Literacy too. Get your whole class writing with enthusiasm and expression, while thinking and learning about the prehistoric world too!
These healthy eating word lists can be drawn from, built on and referred to in class discussion and writing. There are two full-page lists, one comprising descriptive words, e.g. Nutritious; the other listing food and drink examples, e.g. Unsalted nuts. Handy for prompts and inspiration throughout your healthy eating topic work. Recommended for Years 2-6 (age 6-11 approx.).
Healthy eating becomes meaningful for children when thinking up healthy foods beginning with particular letters, e.g. Green beans for the last letter in “Healthy eating”. Adjectives, like Gorgeous, and phrases, like Good for you (for the G letter), are also fun and meaningful to select. The Ideas Sheet provides plenty of suggestions for each letter of the acrostic, to prompt for as needed.
Supports Literacy as well as healthy eating drives. Recommended for upper Juniors (9-11 approx.).
These three little poems feature a caterpillar, a spider and a swarm of ants, each rhyme being informative as well as punchy and fun. Read out, chant and clap them with class, then discuss, enact, draw and write about these fascinating little creatures, with the verses to inspire and inform. The rhymes will support outdoor classroom activities and all related studies. Ideal for Early Years, KS1 and lower juniors. Supports Literacy - poetry and language - too.
Three beautiful, fun, punchy rhymes about spring, for Early Years and KS1. Baby animals, hatching birds, green leaves, budding flowers, growing grass, fresh, blue skies and other wonders of springtime are addressed in these buoyant little verses. They can be read out for listening, chanted and clapped together, enacted, discussed, illustrated, put to music or percussion, and referred to for inspiration and guidance when going outside to enjoy a fine spring day.
The poems are my own.