A selection of Christmas themed words scrambled out of order.

This is a selection of 15 images all containing an action (for example: a dog barking, a bird flying, a child skipping). These are to use in any capacity of a way of generating sentences. I have used them in order to provide ideas for work on main and subordinate clauses. The dog barked --> The dog barked when the doorbell rang.

A simple zone of relevance board. Children can use this for ANY topic as it is generic. Find words (either known or using a thesaurus) and sort them based on how well they describe the topic or person. The words which are okay sit on the outside, the words in the center of the diagram describe the person/topic perfectly. Can be a great starter task or activity for LAP.

Give children a selection of non-fiction books either based on your current topic or all topics. Children will work in pairs (sheets should be on a3 is possible) to look through the books and gather the relevant information. There is a higher and lower ability or children can work in mixed ability pairs.

Here is a set of differentiated resources which can be used for all abilities. There is a HAP, MAP, LAP and SEN resource. Children need to join the sentence to the matching adverbial phrase. There is also a word bank sheet for children to use with their own writing.

Children write how the character feels inside the body and what they look like or can see outside of the body. Links to the video Eleven from the Literacy Shed (free video clip) but the picture could be removed to link to any topic or can be used as a generic space man.

Gives the children five different categories for starting their sentences. Preposition (P) ‘ing’ words (ing) Adverbial (AD) Passing of time (PT) Conjunctions (C) Sheet contains example sentences and the word bank to support in their own writing.

Fact box template. Lined with space for a picture, title and a few interesting facts.

Children to generate words and ideas based on the five senses. Helps to build vocabulary based on settings, topics or characters.

This is an excellent way to engage children in a reading/comprehension lesson. Each child has one of each card (can be laminated back to back to use again and again). The teacher (or another child) will make a claim about the text. For example: In this chapter, Harry and Ron dislike each other. The children must then take a minute to decide if this is true or not. If it IS true, the children will hold up their cards with the agreement side showing. If it IS NOT true, they will show the objection side. The teacher will then select a child at random (could use random name generator or lollipop sticks with names on etc.) to discuss which card they are showing and why. Opens up a great discussion as children will often disagree and can they debate their suggestions. Make it very clear to the children from the beginning that your decision MUST be backed up by evidence from the text and cannot be speculation. This has had great feedback in observations etc.

This is a great activity to begin developing a good understanding of the character. It can be used in many different ways, but the most basic is the children recording the characters emotions and feelings inside the character outline and his appearance and attributes on the outside. It could also be used to explore for/against arguments and what he did vs what he wanted to do etc. A great little resource. Please note: I do not own the rights to Marine4511, this is a fantastic video which can be found on the literacy shed alongside many other valuable resources. I have simply created a resource to use alongside this video.

This is a blank, lined template for writing an email.

I have taken the Roz Wilson criteria for Year 5 and converted it into a child friendly version which the children can use for self or peer assessment. Please note: I do not own any copyright for the Roz Wilson criteria itself.

The story of Romeo and Juliet written in note form as story mountain. A great resource for children to turn into their own story. I have used this with gifted and talented intervention groups and whole classes and it is always a hit.

A selection of twenty SPAG questions all themed around the topic of Easter. A great revision tool for lessons on the run up to Easter. It covers topics such as punctuation, word class, suffixes and spellings.

A great resource to use for a variety of topics. Each box is lined and the children can record their own story ideas or retell a story they are familiar with. Lines can easily be increased in size for lower ability/younger writers.

An extract from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with questions similar to those the children will find in a test/SATs style paper. For example: Find and copy a phrase which… How does Charlie feel… Why has the author… List three adjectives/verbs…

A series of phonic resources which I use to teach each sound across a week. This week is the ‘OR’ sound. Although the template could be easily adapted to suit any sound. Also a great resource for interventions to support the main teaching. Activity 1: Children to read the words in the table and circle the ones which have a ‘OR’ sound. During this time the teacher will circulate to hear blending and support as needed. Activity 2: Children to read the words in the list. Teacher will then call out some ‘OR’ words and children to segment into the boxes below e.g. sore s-or-e. Activity 3: Children to read the sentences. Teacher to circulate and hear reading, support as necessary. Children again to practice writing ‘OR’ words using segmenting. Activity 4: Children to read the questions and answer ‘yes or no’ to each one. Children will then write basic sentences of their own using ‘OR’ words e.g. I like chips. Blank lines have the brave and scared monkey from kinetic letters, however this can be removed if not using.

I have divided the year 1 and 2 spelling lists into 5 weekly spellings on a ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’ style format. All that would need updating is the dates for your personal use. This is a total of 16 weeks worth of spellings. Please note: I have discounted some spellings which were overly repetitive in order to fit them all into weekly slots, for example cold, gold, told, hold.

This is a great resource I have used with my Year 5 group, but would work well as SAT’s revision or as individual teaching elements in LKS2 or as a recap of skills in KS3. The Murder Mystery consists of five challenges based on five different SPAG areas. The children must follow the instructions on each challenge to find a clue. Each clue helps to eliminate people from the suspect list. A notebook file is included with examples of each style of challenge in order to check understanding before the children begin each task. The task begins with a story about a murder in a sleepy village and asks the children to help solve the case. Included in this set of resources is: Instructions for the teacher. A story introducing the event. The suspect list. Five clues** (with all of the answers). ** A self-assessment tool to use at the end of the unit of work. A bright, colourful Notebook file which guides through each challenge and includes examples. A lesson plan. SPAG skills covered by this resource include: Clue 1: Full stops and Capital Letters. Clue 2: Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs. Clue 2: Commas Clue 4: Subordinating and Co-ordinating conjunctions. Clue 5: Speech Punctuation. This works brilliantly in mixed ability groups or by individual groups of pupils. Higher ability pupils relish the challenge of investigating for themselves whereas some lower ability or SEN children will need support. It can be used across one (or a series of) lessons or as a weekly starter/plenary/SPAG task which can extend the ‘whodunit’ tension across an entire half term.