I completed my PGCE at The Institute of Education in 2011, staying in London to start my career at a primary school in Hackney. I taught across KS2 in four years, while also co-ordinating Spanish and Science and receiving brilliant CPD training across a range of specialisms. In 2016 I moved to Lancashire, where I have been supply teacher for a range of local schools. I love creating engaging & purposeful resources to bring education to life and to give teachers their weekends back!
I completed my PGCE at The Institute of Education in 2011, staying in London to start my career at a primary school in Hackney. I taught across KS2 in four years, while also co-ordinating Spanish and Science and receiving brilliant CPD training across a range of specialisms. In 2016 I moved to Lancashire, where I have been supply teacher for a range of local schools. I love creating engaging & purposeful resources to bring education to life and to give teachers their weekends back!
This lesson pack includes a Notebook presentation and linking worksheets, getting children to investigate how different materials can affect the movement of an object. First, they recap what forces are, such as push/pulls, then move on to understanding gravity.
A push force is not needed to make a car go down a ramp, because gravity acts upon the car, moving it to the flat surface. However the material on the flat surface can affect how far the car travels, and therefore affects the force upon the car. The children will investigate which materials will impact most on the force of the car (i.e. which material will allow the car to go furthest/not as far) using the following objective and criteria:
Objective: To investigate how materials affect forces
Success Criteria
I can make predictions using prior knowledge
I can carry out an enquiry to test a prediction
I can take and record accurate measurements
I can use my results to draw simple conclusions
The objective for this lesson is to understand the measurement of time and comes in two parts. The first gauges children's prior understanding of the following success criteria:
* I know how many seconds are in 1 minute
* I know how many minutes are in 1 hour
* I know how many hours are in 1 day
* I know how many days are in a week and year
Included is a worksheet for children to complete, with extra challenges on the notebook board for your higher abilities to be extended.
In the second part of the lesson I wanted to challenge and extend children's knowledge of time, so I linked in a TED animation about how time is linked to both Maths and Science. It explains the concept of time measurement using flip book animation, which children can relate to. From this, I challenged children to make a short flip book of their own, using one of the two examples modelled in the video. My kids absolutely loved this lesson, and even made longer and more detailed flip books at home afterwards using different time criteria!
This lesson uses brainstorming, questioning, exploration and matching to follow the objective: To understand the different parts of plants
The Success Criteria is as follows:
I can name the main parts of a plant
I can label the main parts of a plant
I can describe the functions of plant parts
Included is a page listing different accessible and engaging activity ideas (as the items I used are copyrighted).
This lesson links with others in my resource shop, as a topic bundle about Plants.
When developing my children's comprehension skills, I don't like using photocopies from text books and meaningless expectancy sheets. I prefer to use purposeful, educational and REAL LIFE examples to engage and inform them, while still challenging them and looking for those reading skills.
Therefore a lot of my comprehension challenges are based around interesting newspaper articles. In this example, taken from the BBC News website in April 2017, a new species of reptile is discovered in Spain, linking to crocodiles and the dinosaurs.
Included in this pack is a copy of the article and linking comprehension questions suitable for KS2.
Enjoy!
This lesson helps children to understand the difference between solids, liquids and gases by teaching them that each state of matter has different molecules. It starts by explaining what molecules are, understanding how they move by predicting which diagram is for which state of matter (with reason) and then linking solids, liquids and gases to every day objects to demonstrate their understanding.
Lesson includes links to useful videos, talk partner opportunities and an idea/model for a lesson activity. Suitable for KS1 and Lower KS2.
This worksheet allows children to thoroughly plan and design their own product that uses magnets, following this success criteria:
I can list some ways in which magnets are used at home and school
I can suggest other ways in which magnets could be used
I can present ideas using labelled diagrams/notes
This lesson would ideally be used after learning about forces and magnets, allowing children to creatively demonstrate and extended their understanding, cross-curricular with DT.
This resource is part of a whole half term of engaging lessons which I have used from years 3-5 to teach the topic Humans including Animals. This lesson focuses on the human skeleton, and includes questions to stimulate children's ideas, links to online video clips to help develop and engage children's understanding, and suggested lesson activities.
The objective and success criteria are:
LI: To understand the human skeleton
Success Criteria
I know what the human skeleton is made out of
I can explain why humans have a skeleton
I can label different parts of the human skeleton
This lesson uses brainstorming, questioning, exploration and matching to challenge the objective: To understand the lifecycle of a plant
The Success Criteria is:
I know that all living things eventually die
I know that living things need to reproduce
I can describe the lifecycle of a plant
I can name the key parts of the flower
This lesson links with others in my resource shop, as a whole topic bundle about Plants.
This lesson uses brainstorming, questioning, exploration and matching to challenge the objective: To understand how the soil helps plants to grow
The Success Criteria is:
I know the function of plant roots
I know why soil is a good place for plants to grow
I can describe the nutrients found in soils
Included is extensive flip pages helping children to understand the photosynthesis process and lesson activities to display their understanding.
This lesson links with others in my resource shop, as a whole topic bundle about Plants.
This lesson uses brainstorming, questioning, exploration and matching to challenge the objective: To understand that plants make food in their leaves
The Success Criteria is:
I know the seven life processes
I can explain why plants have leaves
I know what the leaves of a plant need to make food
I can label a diagram to explain this process
Included is extensive flip pages helping children to understand the photosynthesis process and lesson activities to display their understanding.
This lesson links with others in my resource shop, as a whole topic bundle about Plants.
This lesson recaps what materials are and different examples. It then focuses on why materials are chosen for specific purposes, the properties of materials to suit a particular purpose (e.g. why we wear clothes made out of cotton), and ultimately the lesson focus is to compare different materials and conduct experiments to select the best material for a bike seat.
Included is a whole lesson presentation and worksheet for comparing the materials.
This activity would be a good cross-curricular focus for developing Maths and Science skills as it covers a range of success criteria meeting both curriculum skills:
* I know what thermometers are used for
* I know the unit of measurement for temperature is Celsius
* I understand what is meant by ‘room temperature’
* I understand what is meant by ‘boiling temperature’
* I can explain why temperatures might vary within a room
* I can read the scales of thermometers to identify temperature
It involves placing 4 containers of (boiling water in different parts of a classroom, for children to predict what will happen to each of them, considering possible factors in the room. This helps children to understand room temperature and how it can vary.
This lesson (or two lessons if you want to make it really well!) allows your class to make an engaging and stimulating display about their Plants topic.
Included is photographs of the display I completed with my Year 3 class, a flip of different group activities and clip art which can optionally be used.
This lesson links with others in my resource shop, as a whole topic bundle about Plants.
This is a five-lesson half-term resource on the cross-curricular topic, Earth Matters. Containing a Notebook flip and a worksheet, the KS2-suitable resource develops children's understanding of biomes and eco-systems in a range of engaging lessons, including research project, making a poster, making a 'dome biome' and making group powerpoint presentations which could then be used in a class assembly.
The Learning Intentions/Objectives over the five lessons are:
1) To understand the features of biomes
2) To understand the interdependency of organisms in a biome
3) + 4) To understand that eco-systems are delicate / To know about global environmental problems and solutions
5) To know about global environmental problems and solutions / To prepare a presentation about a topic
These four lessons, designed for KS2, help children to understand light; different types, how it travels, what it is used for and its relationship with different materials. It involves a range of questions for children to brainstorm concepts and practical activities to test them. The objectives are as follows:
LI: To understand what light is and how it allows us to see
SC
I know what light is / how light is formed
I can identify whether a source of light is natural or man-made
I understand how movement of light into our eyes allows us to see
LI: To understand how light travels
SC
I can explain how light allows us to see
I can create an investigation to test a theory
I can predict the outcome of an investigation with reasoning
I can explain the steps of an investigation, including annotated diagrams
I can evaluate an investigation
I can use scientific vocabulary
LI: To sort and classify materials based on their transparency
SC
I can explain how shadows are formed
I can identify the properties of different materials
I can create an investigation to test a theory
I can predict the outcome of an investigation with reasoning
I can explain the steps of an investigation, including using annotated diagrams
I can evaluate an investigation
I can use scientific vocabulary
LI: To understand the properties of reflective materials
SC
I can identify the properties of materials
I can sort materials based on their reflective properties
I know different examples of where reflective materials are used in every day life
I can use clear diagrams and annotation to explain my ideas
I can use scientific language
A pack of engaging Science lessons (made by a school Science co-ordinator) put together in one handy bundle linking to the Earth and Beyond (e.g. magnetism, Earth - and eventually will include resources linked to Space and the Solar System)
I love making Science as interesting, informative and hands-on as possible for children in order to develop their understanding of various concepts.
This resource is a class assembly that I did with my Year 3 and 4 classes about our cross-curricular topic for the term: Light.
To make the script I split the class into five groups, and gave each group a question to research with helpful bullet points. They went away and did this over a lesson, making the notes from which I made a class assembly script! The script can easily be adapted to change children's names or to add or take away parts. The script also includes visual activities or objects that groups can be showing to support their part of the assembly.
Group topics include:
What is light?
Sources of light
Darkness
Shadows
Reflections
It is designed to be an informative assembly, but fun and easily for an audience to follow. Enjoy!
These three lessons, designed for KS2, help children to understand sound, how it travels, how sound can be different and what materials can block sound. The objectives are as follows:
Lesson 1 - Objective: To understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate
Success Criteria:
I can understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate.
I can compare how sounds travel through gases, liquids and solids
I can investigate how sounds travel through different objects
I can explain the results of my investigation using scientific diagrams/language
The lesson poses various questions to children throughout the notebook presentation about what sound is, how we hear, how sound might travel differently, to allow them to demonstrate their prior knowledge or ideas. It also includes useful links which help to embed given facts, mini tasks to engage the class, and best of all, a creative main activity where children investigate whether sound travels through string telephones! The differentiated plenary is a 'fill-the-gaps' activity which assesses children's understanding from the lesson.
Lesson 2 - Objective: To investigate how the pitch and volume of instruments can be changed
Success Criteria:
I can understand that sounds are made when objects vibrate.
I can explain what is meant by the 'pitch' of sound
I can explain what is meant by the 'volume' of sound
I can make predictions
I can alter the pitch and volume of various musical instruments
Children meet this objective by first recapping what they have already learnt about sound, by learning the difference between 'pitch' and 'volume' using different links in the notebook and then by investigating pitch and volume using an online BBC Bitesize activity, noting their predictions and conclusions in their books. Musical instruments could be used in the lesson as well!
Lesson 3 - LI: To investigate whether materials effect the movement of soundwaves
SC:
I can identify the properties of different materials
I understand how sound travels through solids, liquids and gases
I can make predictions
I can identify whether an experiment is a fair test
I can explain the results of an experiment
The lesson starts by recapping previous learning, before brainstorming in what scenarios we might want sound to be blocked. Children then conduct an experiment, comparing which materials would be best to block sound.
This resource covers a whole half term of engaging lessons which I have used from years 3-5 to teach children about the human body, skeletons of both humans and animals, food groups and digestion. It includes questions to stimulate children’s ideas and understanding, links to various video clips and interactive websites to engage and support, and both group and independent tasks to allow children to demonstrate and challenge their understanding using the engaging resources that I have suggested (the cover picture for this resource being the display made using one of their favourite lesson activities!)
A pack of engaging Science lessons (made by a school Science co-ordinator) put together in one handy bundle linking to forces and motion.
I love making Science as interesting, informative and hands-on as possible for children in order to develop their understanding of various concepts.