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!
Through my career I found it easier for children to understand the difference between area and perimeter by linking perimeter with addition practice and area with multiplication practice.
Therefore this resource consists of four lessons:
Day 1 - Revising multiplication (my lesson focuses on the array method with HA being challenged to try grid method)
Day 2 - Understanding 'area' by learning that it is the space inside a 2D shape, it is a form of measure, that area can be found by counting cm squares with appropriate unit of measure in the answer.
Day 3 - Linking day 2's learning by introducing the concept of length x width to calculate area, but still using cm square paper to make the transition easily differentiable
Day 4 - Calculating area using length x width by being able to identify the length and width of a quadrilateral, showing their calculations linking back to Day 1 and including appropriate unit of measurement in their answer. HA can be challenged with compound shapes.
I used this lesson with a mixed ability Year 3 class, but it can be easily adaptable for higher KS1 or KS2. I cannot include downloadable worksheets in the resource pack due to copyright, but I have included small screenshots of the resources I used for different abilities on each task page so you get an idea of appropriate resources for each day. Most are easily findable using a simple search on Google images or good education websites.
This lesson models to children how to solve problems involving time using the following Success Criteria:
* I can identify the key words in a problem
* I can identify the calculation needed to solve a problem
* I can add time by counting on the number of minutes
* I can count across the hour
* I can find the difference between times using subtraction
It is contains a balanced mixture of partner talk questions, teacher modelling and independent activities, along with helpful links to resources to support the objective. It even has a challenge plenary at the end.
I cannot include worksheets for this lesson as I would be copyrighting other people's resources, but they are easily available via Primary Resources or a quick Google!
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.
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
This lesson comprises of three mini activities which together will help children to understand and empathise with families experiences of evacuation during World War 2.
The Notebook presentation gets children includes reading and discussing a personal recount, choosing and justifying one object they would put in their small evacuation suitcase and inferring what people are thinking and feeling in photographs taken from the evacuation process using thought bubbles.
There are lots more WWII resources in my shop too if you want to link further lessons. Enjoy!
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.
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!