A resource to support a lesson on persuasive writing techniques. Pupils are asked to write a persuasive argument which either supports zoos or is against zoos. I have included a series of bullet - pointed techniques which can be used as criteria for success and to help the pupils with their writing. Also included are a series of free images / posters about zoos.

Four poems to discus and use when teaching similes and poetry. In Word so can be easily adapted and printed for use in the classroom. The Warm and the Cold - Ted Hughes Ages of Man - traditional The Fisherman’s Wife - Amy Lowell Windigo - Sylvia Mark

Eight poems which contain the use of personification and could be used in the classroom in discussion and teaching. City Jungle - Pie Corbett Daffydowndilly - A.A. Milne Tractor - Valerie Worth The Great Water Giant - Ian Souter Jack Frost - C.E. Pike Fog - Carl Sandburg The Windmill - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Snow and Snow - Ted Hughes

This resource consists of : 1 - an original acrostic poem which could be used as a stand alone example of this form of poetry, to be read aloud or used in guided reading. 2 - an A4 sheet with 10 questions which concentrate on the figurative language used in the poem. This could be used as a whole class reading activity or an independent task. 3 - an answer sheet, with marks awarded up to 12 marks. 4 - In addition to the main comprehension, there is a challenge task and extra challenge task!

Useful for topic - based literacy lessons. Could also be used to stimulate non fiction writing. First comprehension has detailed non fiction text followed by 10 questions. Second comprehension consists of 20 cloze procedure missing words. Third and fourth comprehensions look at the human ear and are both on the same A4 worksheet - cut in half to differentiate.

These resources are based on the following 3 poems by Allan Ahlberg: Parents’ Evening Please, Sir Mrs Brady. A large range of learning objectives and activities are covered, including: Cloze procedure Predicting rhymes Features of a poem Comprehension Creative writing Creating a whole class verse based on a verse of the ‘Please, Sir’ poem

‘A Victorian Diary’ is a series of 15 minute videos showing life in Victorian times. Events are reported by fictional character Maggie Johnson and by other characters she meets, providing different perspectives. This series is brilliant just to watch and enjoy, but it can also be used to help develop literacy skills. These are resources based on chapters 2 and 3 and also include generic diary writing templates. The chapter 2 resource is a punctuation and proof reading exercise. Pupils have to read and correct a diary entry, written from Maggie’s perspective. It could also be used as an example of writing in diary style and lead to the pupils writing their own version. The main learning objective of the Chapter 3 worksheet is to develop pupils’ understanding of empathy, but there is activities on prediction skills and note - taking. Alongside the worksheet I have created some excerpts and images to cement the main learning objective.

Thomas is trapped in a room but we don’t know why or how he has got there . . . This resource can be used in a number of ways: as a story starter for a suspense / mystery story; for an example of creating empathy for a character; for a stimulus for a cold / independent write, etc. I have used it as part of a wider drama scenario, whereby Tom has been arrested (wrongly) for shoplifting and is awaiting his mum whilst locked in the manager’s drab office, all alone with his mind racing . . .

I have created a chapter - by - chapter set of comprehension exercises with linked SPAG activities and additional writing tasks. There are 12 comprehension / SPAG worksheets and 5 corresponding writing tasks Each comprehension activity has a variety of different questions, with 20 marks available (allowing for a % score to be made!). I have designed questions which allow success for less able children but with challenging, higher order questions for above average pupils. Harder questions are signified by being awarded extra marks (up to 3 marks as in the SATs and key stage tests). Each reading task has a learning objective in line with Year 5/6 National Curriculum objectives and requires the reading of one full chapter or part of a chapter of the Firework - Maker’s Daughter. The worksheets are all A4 size, written in Word, and there are various ways to use the activity sheets, including: As part of a shared reading session, with the pupils completing the written tasks after discussion and analysis of the text as a class or group. As independent written tasks for the rest of the class, while the teacher is reading with a smaller group. As an additional, ready-made resource to support the study of The Firework-Maker’s Daughter as a Unit of Work / class book. As a stand-alone, independent reading activity / assessment. As a useful teacher prompt/ discussion leader when doing a guided read. Alongside the comprehension task, each worksheet has a SPAG challenge based on the Year 5 and 6 English frameworks - for example: dictionary activities, synonyms, etc. These could be the focus of the lesson, serve as an extension task or be used as a stand alone / separate activity. As all worksheets are created on Microsoft Word they can be easily adapted to suit your needs. For example, in the past I have shrank the set questions to half-page size and photocopied them to stick in pupils’ books, ready for independent work. You could also add your own questions, objectives etc.

These are weekly 15-word spelling lists and LSCWC practice based on the Regular Spelling and Common Exception spellings for both year 4 and year 5. I have a mixed class this year so I have devised separate lists for the two year groups. Each worksheet contains a list of the weekly spellings alongside a table where the children practise the words 4 times using Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check. I usually let the children start off on a Monday morning, then take the sheet home to practise for a test on Friday. There is 5 week's work included, alongside templates to make further lists of your own and displays of the weekly spellings for your literacy board.

8 SPAG worksheets based on the Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, for independent work or whole class revision. I have created 8 SPAG worksheets based on the Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler Chapter 1 Present and Past Tense Chapter 2 Proofreading Chapter 3 Mixed Grammar and Vocabulary Practice Chapter 4 Mixed Grammar and Vocabulary Practice Chapter 5 Mixed Grammar and Vocabulary Practice Chapter 6 Spelling and Dictionary Practice Chapter 8 Spelling and Dictionary Practice Chapters 9 and 10 Antonyms and Synonyms**

I have created a set of 10 comprehension exercises which cover all 14 chapters (and postscript) of this classic book about life in a primary school. Also included are answer sheets which can be photocopied for pupils’ use or used on the whiteboard for all class marking. Each comprehension activity has 20 questions, designed to allow success for less able children but with challenging, higher order questions for above average pupils. Being ‘out of 20’ also allows to find a quick percentage score for each pupil! The worksheets are all A4 size and there are various ways to use the activity sheets, including: As part of a shared reading session, with the pupils completing the written tasks after discussion and analysis of the text as a class or group. As independent written tasks for the rest of the class, while the teacher is reading with a smaller group. As an additional, ready-made resource to support the study of The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler as a Unit of Work / class book. As a stand-alone, independent reading activity / assessment. All worksheets are created on Microsoft Word so can be easily adapted to suit your needs. For example, in the past I have shrank the 20 set questions to half-page size and photocopied them to stick in pupils’ books, ready for independent work. You could also add your own questions, objectives etc.

The pack contains a set of comprehension exercises covering all 10 chapters of the book. The activities are presented on A4 worksheets which the pupils work on. Each A4 worksheet includes a reading challenge extension task. Each comprehension worksheet has a range of different questions, with 20 marks available (allowing for a % score to be made too!). I have tried to design questions which allow success for less able children but with challenging, higher order questions for above average pupils. Harder questions are signified by being awarded extra marks (up to 3 marks as in the SATs and key stage tests). Each reading comprehension requires the reading of one chapter of the book (except for chapters 9 and 10, which I have combined into one comprehension sheet as the chapters are small). The worksheets are are all written in Microsoft Word, so can be easily adapted - for instance you could also add your own questions, objectives etc. There are various ways to use this resource, including: As part of a shared reading session, with the pupils completing the written tasks after discussion and analysis of the text as a class or group. As independent written tasks for the rest of the class, while the teacher is reading with a smaller group. As an additional, ready-made resource to support the study of The Angel of Nitshill Road as a Unit of Work / class book. As a stand-alone, independent reading activity / assessment. As a useful teacher prompt/ discussion leader when doing a guided read.

This is a literacy pack containing chapter- by - chapter activities for the first five chapters of the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. For each of the five chapters there is a comprehension / guided reading activity and a SPaG activity, plus several additional vocabulary and writing tasks. Each A4 comprehension worksheet has a variety of questions worth 20 marks and could be used as an independent task, as part of a guided reading session, reading assessment or whole class teaching. Each SPaG worksheet is double A4 - sized, with space for pupils’ answers. It could be used as part of SATs practice as I have styled the questions in a similar vein. Similarly, pupils could do the worksheet as an independent task or as part of whole class revision for the SATs. There are 25 marks available - which again allows pupils to find their percentage score! At the end of the formal questions there is an extension spelling task on each sheet. There are two extra Vocabulary and spelling activities included for chapter one, plus a writing task. I have also included a landscape - version of the comprehension task with space on the worksheet for the pupils’ answers. All activities are created in Word so can be edited to your own designs. Answer sheets are included!

There are 17 questions, based on chapter one of Matilda, on two sides of A4. The questions are written in SATs format and offer 1, 2 or 3 marks. Altogether, 25 marks are available, meaning pupils can work out their percentage score at the end. Answer sheet included. Could be used as an independent task, homework or for SATs revision. There is also an A4 spelling worksheet with 3 tasks for independent work.

I have created the first 3 parts to an original myth based on traditional Greek myths, which can be used to teach pupils how to develop their own myth. Lesson 1 - Creating the setting. Lesson 2 - Introducing the villain and setting out the problem. Lesson 3 - Introducing the hero and creating tension in the story. I have used this exemplar to teach children to write their own ‘myth’ over the course of a week, in stages, with time allowed for editing and improving. I have included the main features of a Greek myth, such as the use of magic, fantastic, hybrid creatures, and the Good vs Bad scenario. In the course of a lesson, these features will be emphasised as the teacher writes alongside the pupils, discussing the language and why it has been chosen. Characters will be developed with detailed descriptions and the plot will be discussed and used as a model for pupils’ own myths. I have not written the last parts of the story as this is where I would put the children fully in charge of the story - it is amazing the ideas they will devise for the hero to vanquish the evil villain Voltar and his terrifying creature, the Scorpidon! As the story is in Word, it can be adapted an lots of ways and also used to develop spelling, punctuation, cloze procedure and grammar activies. I have also included some Greek island images for use in pupils’ books, and an A4 feature list for myths. Enjoy!

Several literacy schemes are asking Year 6 teachers to use The Piano animation (readily available on YouTube) as a resource to teach ‘flashback’ writing. This is a writing example which could be used to stimulate discussion and help pupils to grasp how they can write a flashback scene. I wrote it in collaboration with a Y6 class I taught and it took a week to do - and is unfinished as I asked the children to complete it! There are 5 paragraphs and everything written - the names of the characters, their backstories etc. are all from the class’s imagination. There are two versions, one with text only, one with illustrations added. Both are created in Microsoft Word so can be easily tailored. I am also including a planning worksheet for a two week block with the main objective being to write a story with flashbacks.

wo Year 4-5 Comprehensions based on The Shocking Story of Electricity by Anne Claybourne. The first set of questions is more challengiung, the second set more suitable for pupils who require support. Could be used after a guided reading session or as a stand alone independent task. 1st comprehension - 10 questions , 14 marks 2nd comprehension - 8 questions, 8 marks Extension / Challenge activity - Keeping Safe

There are 4 plays for use with Upper Key Stage Two: Palm Sunday - 4 speaking parts Palm Sunday - 7 speaking parts Good Friday - 13 speaking parts Peter’s Denial - 8 speaking parts The plays can be used in guided reading sessions, as part of drama and R.E. lessons or even as class assemblies. The two Palm Sunday plays are similar, with one being longer and having more speaking parts. They both use the modern day concept of ‘Live News’ reporting for dramatic effect. Peter’s Denial and Good Friday could be acted out in small groups or read as a class.