National Poetry Day KS1 and KS2 Assembly. A simply written whole school assembly to cover the main aspects of National Poetry Day which can be used in the days preceding or on 3rd October. Power-point of 27 slides which include: Suggested music, video clip and hymns. Short poetry task using suggestions from the pupils after listening to an audio sound effect. (Teacher instructions included in red). What are poems? 5 short poems or extracts to demonstrate 5 different poetry structures. Using figurative language and example extracts from poems. (alliteration, simile etc) About National Poetry Day and the theme of ‘counting’ and some ideas to explore including song link ‘Count on me’ Bruno Mars. Some ideas that people may do on National Poetry Day plus three suggestions for your school (class, individual and whole school). Final prayer. Links well with topics on poetry, figurative language, creative writing, famous poets, feelings.

KS1 & 2 Horror story planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own horror writing. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing horror stories and spaces for pupils to develop descriptive words and phrases, scary setting , cliff-hangers and the structure of their story. Great to use following a horror writing lesson or drama. Can also be used with topics : Halloween, Night, Feelings.

Mary Anning Famous person fact sheet. Includes key events and important stages in their life broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and photos. I have used this with pupils in Years 1-4 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a famous person in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

Samuel Pepys Famous person fact sheet. Includes key events and important stages in their life broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and photos. I have used this with pupils in Years 1-4 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a famous person in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

How to write a party invitation with a Christmas focus. A KS1/lower KS2 power-point of 12 slides (including learning objectives) which can be used as one complete lesson or extended over a longer period. There is a warm up, two activities and a final writing task (to write an invitation to the school Christmas party). Included are examples of 2 invitations (birthday and Christmas party) for pupils to use in the lesson to spot the key features and help Tan correct his invitation (because no one has replied!). There are key questions to promote discussion and paired work. Also included is a simple invitation template for pupil use and a features checklist. Which pupils can also use to give paired feedback after writing their own invitation.

Florence Nightingale Famous person fact sheet. Includes key events and important stages in their life broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and photos. I have used this with pupils in Years 1-4 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a famous person in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

Adventure story template KS1 & 2 Adventure story planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own adventure writing. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing adventure stories and spaces for pupils to develop character description, setting and plan the structure of their story. Great to use following an adventure writing lesson or drama. Can also be used with topics : Adventure, Explorers, Travel, Halloween.

KS1 & 2 Myth story planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own mythological writing. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing myths and spaces for pupils to develop writing in note or bullet point format when planning their own character description, setting and story structure. Great to use following a ‘Myths’ writing lesson or drama. Can also be used with topics: Myths and Legends, Ancient Greece, Greece, Heroes and Heroines/Superheroes.

George Stephenson Famous person fact sheet. Includes key events and important stages in their life broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and photos. I have used this with pupils in Years 1-4 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a famous person in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

Fantasy Adventure story template KS1 & 2 fantast adventure story planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own fantasy writing. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing fantasy adventure stories and spaces for pupils to develop character description, setting and plan the structure of their story. Great to use following an fantasy adventure writing lesson or drama. Can also be used with topics : fairytales, space, imaginary worlds.

Greek Myth story plan on a page KS1 & 2 Greek Myth story planning template. A fun resource for pupils to use to plan their own mythological writing. Includes story prompts and spaces for pupils to develop writing in note or bullet point format when planning their own character description, setting and story structure. Great to use following a ‘Myths’ writing lesson or drama. Can also be used with topics: Myths and Legends, Ancient Greece, Greece, Heroes and Heroines/Superheroes.

KS1 & 2 Biography planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own factual biographical writing. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing biographies and spaces for pupils to develop the structure of the biography about their chosen person or animal. Great to use following History /famous people/animals lesson or drama. Can also be used with most topics: My family, heroes, current or historical characters, explorers, travel, Halloween, etc.

KS1 & 2 Fable planning template. A resource for pupils to use to plan their own fable. Includes a bullet point reminder of the rules for writing fables and spaces for pupils to develop character description, setting, the moral and the structure of their story. Great to use following an assembly or moral writing lesson /drama. Can also be used with topics : Aesop’s fables, Morals and Dilemmas, Animals.

Improving inference skills for reading. KS1 pack of 34 short activities. Each story activity is based around a simple everyday task or activity. The information is implied within the text to encourage pupils to extract meaning from clues and draw conclusions. I wrote these activities to help my class of Y1 pupils improve their ability to extract relevant information from text but I have also used them with older and SEN pupils. Can be used as a lesson warm up with the whole class, in a small guided group or with a target group and a TA. 12 Short story paragraphs (What is happening?) with prompts to develop pupil understanding of meaning within text based upon a character’s behaviour, conversation or actions. 10 short story paragraphs with prompts to develop pupil understanding of where people are or where something happened through inferred conversation and description. 12 picture prompt/ choices for pupils to extract an action or activity (using picture and text clues) linked to a simple question or sentence.

How to write a biography. Upper KS2. Set of five complete lessons with all worksheets and pupil resources. Includes a Biography checklist, sample biographies about Queen Victoria and Nelson Mandela, a blank biography spider-gram, blank planning templates (scaffolded) and a fact sheet about Mary Anning. The series of lessons include opportunities for pupils to give peer feedback and analyse two sample biographies. I have used these with Y5 and Y6 and have also extended the unit to include famous people which the children asked for or who we were covering in topic work eg Louis Pasteur, famous explorers/sports achievers. Learning objectives. Lesson 1 • To explain what a ‘biography’ is in my own words. • To name people who have had a biography written about them. • To list the features of a biography. • To identify the features in a short biography of a famous person. Lesson 2 • To explain what a ‘biography’ is in my own words. • To recall the features of a biography. • To plan then write a biography about someone in my family and use the checklist to include the main features. • To give helpful feedback to my partner. Lesson 3 • To read a biography about Nelson Mandela. • To use the Biography Checklist and identify whether the main features have been included in the biography about Nelson Mandela. • To identify areas where the biography could be improved. Lesson 4 • To choose a famous person for a biography. • To plan your ideas on a writing frame and listen to the feedback about the features from your partner. • To write an interesting biography which includes all of the main features. Lesson 5 • To use the factsheet about Mary Anning, taking out information which would be interesting in a biography. • To write an interesting biography about Mary Anning which includes all of the main features of a biography.

Guy Fawkes Famous person fact sheet. Includes key events and important stages in their life broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and photos. I have used this with pupils in Years 1-4 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a famous person in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ fact sheet. Page 1 Includes key events and important stages in the play broken into short easy to read sections with pictures and images. Page 2 Includes interesting facts about the text, well known quotes and character information. I have used this with pupils in Years 3-6 to help them retrieve information / develop their knowledge to write about a text in a range of genres (newspaper report, biography, letter or diary writing, fiction, non-fiction etc). I have also used it with a guided reading group and a set of questions linked to the topic followed up with a written comprehension exercise.

A set of four creepy pictures for pupils to describe using spooky vocabulary and phrases. Useful for writing a single descriptive paragraph rather than a whole story. Great to link to topics on ‘Halloween’, Night and Day, Darkness, Sci-Fi etc

KS1/KS2 Matching pairs character cards. Set of 48 cards (24 pairs) for pupils. Useful for matching and pairing games, stimulating language and for book quizzes. Cut each picture, laminate or cover and pupils can use the cards more than once. Alternatively, the images can be used for pupils to use as part of a glue/stick activity. Images include the names of paired characters from books and movies for example: Pumba and Timon, Romeo and Juliet, Peter Pan and Wendy, Dr Who and the Daleks.

EYFS/KS1 school trip template. Simple layout and prompts help pupils create a short review of a school outing or visit with pictures or text. Useful as a follow up to visits when asking pupils to remember sequencing of events, specific aspects of learning and summarising their own views.