Designed to unleash the creative potential of young writers, this colorful and eye-catching visual aid is a must-have for any language arts classroom. Bursting with an array of speech verbs, colour coded into groups of similar meanings and beautifully presented in speech bubbles, this poster will inspire children to breathe life into their narratives and express their characters’ emotions with a flourish. Gone are the days of repetitive dialogue tags – ‘Instead of said’ empowers students to choose from a plethora of alternatives, enhancing their writing skills and adding depth to their stories. Take your students on an exciting journey of linguistic discovery, fostering their imagination and expanding their vocabulary. Don’t miss the chance to ignite a passion for expressive writing – grab your ‘Instead of said’ poster today!

The “Fact or Opinion” activity is an engaging and educational downloadable resource designed for Key Stage 2+ (KS2+) children. This activity aims to enhance critical thinking and discussion skills by helping children distinguish between factual statements and opinions. It’s an excellent tool to support English lessons, particularly in developing writing and argumentative skills. Children will explore three sets of statements covering contemporary and relatable topics: CCTV, school uniforms, and social media. Each set contains a mixture of facts and opinions, carefully curated to stimulate thoughtful discussion and analysis. The activity can be used as a group discussion task or as a individual paper task to assess understanding. During the activity, children discuss each statement and place it on a “fact to opinion” line, deciding together at which end it best fits or are there elements of both to the statement? This process generates great discussions about what makes a statement a fact or an opinion, helping students to understand the difference. The activity can be used to support various types of English work, particularly in writing arguments and developing persuasive writing skills.