Hi! I am a teacher with over 20 years' experience at Primary level. I try to make my resources as challenging as possible with a slice of fun, while cramming in as much detail as possible into the guided reading / writing activities, plays, worksheets and comprehension exercises that I produce. I also create and publish a range of free worksheets and resources, which now account for over 40% of my published resources. Any feedback and suggestions welcome!
Hi! I am a teacher with over 20 years' experience at Primary level. I try to make my resources as challenging as possible with a slice of fun, while cramming in as much detail as possible into the guided reading / writing activities, plays, worksheets and comprehension exercises that I produce. I also create and publish a range of free worksheets and resources, which now account for over 40% of my published resources. Any feedback and suggestions welcome!
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!
This resource will help children to write their own rhyming, nonsense poems modelled on the Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear.
There sre 2 basic resources to use:
An exemplar of a poem written in the style of The Owl and the Pussycat, called The Dog and the Budgie. It could be displayed on the whiteboard alongside the original or printed out for discussion.
A cloze procedure activity to help lower attaining pupils to succeed in the activity.
I have also included a Twinkl PP of the original poem, to use or delete as necessary.
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
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
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.
A comprehension exercises based on chapter five, with an extension challenge based on vibrant verbs
There are 20 comprehension questions with 25 marks available, allowing for an easy percentage score to be found!
Can be used in guided reading, independent work, whole class teaching, homework or assessment.
Answer sheets included for the comprehension and challenge.
A comprehension exercises based on chapter four, with an extension challenge based on spelling / editing.
There are 21 comprehension questions with 25 marks available, allowing for an easy percentage score to be found!
Can be used as guided reading, independent work, whole class teaching, homework or assessment.
Answer sheets included for the comprehension and challenge.
A comprehension exercise based on chapter three, with an extension challenge based on the use of a dictionary.
There are 20 comprehension questions with 25 marks available, allowing for an easy percentage score to be found!
Could be used in independent work, guided reading sessions, whole class teaching, homework or an assessment activity.
Answer sheets included.
This is a literacy pack based on the first 5 chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
For each chapter, there is a comprehension worksheet containing a range of around 20 questions, based on the text, producing 25 marks in total. The questions are written on one size of A4 and include an extension activity. The worksheets could be used as independent reading tasks, homework activities or as a tool for guided reading groups. Also included with each comprehension task is an A4 answer sheet. Just for for chapter one, there are two comprehension activities, one based on pages 7 - 13 and the next on pages 13 - 18.
The extension activities attached to each comprehension task are listed below:
Chapter one, pages 7 - 13: Dictionary Challenge
Chapter One, pages 13 - 18: Astounding Alliteration
Chapter Two: Compound Words
Chapter Three: Dictionary Challenge
Chapter Four: Spelling Challenge
Chapter Five: Vibrant Verbs
The literacy pack also includes nine writing resources as follows:
Chapter Two - Dear Diary ( Harry’s point of view)
Chapter Two - Writing activity based on Harry and Dudley’s differing viewpoints
Chapter Four - Mysterious character descriptive writing task
Chapter Four - Letter writing task: Hagrid writing to Dumbledore
Chapter Five - Recount based on the visit to the Leaky Cauldron (Harry’s POV)
Chapters 1 to 5 - Book review
Spooky Picture for use in creative writing
Spelling task - ‘soft c’
Awesome Adjectives Wordsearch
A comprehension exercises based on chapter two, with an extension challenge based on compound words,
There are 21 comprehension questions with 25 marks available, allowing for an easy percentage score to be found!
Can be used in independent work, whole class teaching, homework or an assessment activity.
Answer sheets included for the comprehension and challenge.
A comprehension activity based on the story of Jonah and the Whale.
There are 12 questions and the activity is copied so two pupil sheets fit on one A4 sheet, needing to be trimmed in half.
It could be used simply as an aid to discussion or as an independent activity. There is a challenge activity where pupils are asked to draw a scene from the story.
This is an A4 cloze procedure activity based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. All the missing spaces must be filled with adjectives of the pupil’s choice. It could be used with Year 3 or 4.
It could be a homework task to reinforce the use of good adjectives in writing or as a reading / word level task in class.
The extension task asks the pupils to carry on the story using their own amazing adjectives!
Two comprehension exercises based on chapter one, with extension challenges, suitable for Y5/6
Comprehension 1 - based on pages 7 to 13. There are 25 marks available with a Dictionary Challenge extension activity.
Comprehension 2 - based on pages 13 to 18. Again, there are 25 marks available with an Astounding Alliteration extension activity.
Could be used in independent work, guided reading, whole class teaching, homework or assessment activities.
Answer sheets included for both comprehension exercises.
16 questions worth a total of 20 marks.
Pupils may write on the worksheet so is ideal for use as an independent task.
Could also be used as a teacher prompt sheet when reading the first chapter in guided reading.
Landscape A4 worksheet.
Reading challenge extension.
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
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.
A chapter - by - chapter (12 chapters in all) set of comprehension exercises with linked Spelling and Grammar activities. Each comprehension activity has at least 10 questions, which I have designed to 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 for a tricky question). Each reading task has a learning objective in and requires the reading of one full chapter of the Sheep-Pig. 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 Sheep - Pig 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 Spelling or Grammar challenge - for example: fronted adverbials, dictionary activities, word classes, etc. These could be the focus of the lesson, serve as an extension task or be used as a stand alone / separate activity. 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 10 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.
This is a literacy pack containing chapter- by - chapter activities based on the first seven chapters of the book The Witches by Roald Dahl, plus associated grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling activities. There are ten worksheets in all, comprising:
6 x reading comprehension worksheets (including extension activities)
2 x vocabulary / grammar / punctuation worksheets
2 x spelling worksheets
For each of the seven chapters there is a comprehension / guided reading worksheet which also contains a reading / spelling / writing challenge. (Chapters 6 and 7 are combined as chapter 6 is very short.) There are 25 marks available in each comprehension, allowing pupils to work out their percentage score. The worksheets could be used as part of SATs practice as the questions are set in a similar vein. Similarly, pupils could do the reading comprehension worksheets as independent tasks or as part of whole class revision.
Alternatively, each worksheet could be used as part of a guided reading session, reading assessment or whole class teaching.
Each Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation worksheet is double A4 - sized, with space for pupils’ answers. 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!
All activities are created in Word so can be edited to your own taste.
