This is a complete practical lesson for lower KS2 on the difference between reversible and irreversible changes. The lesson begins with an open-ended ‘odd one out’ activity intended to engage children’s deeper thinking and elicit appropriate scientific vocabulary and verbal reasoning. Depending on your school’s health and safety policy, you may or may not be able to do the very first teacher demonstration, where you burn a small amount of methylated spirit in a plate (then show them the empty plate after it has burned away!) If not, videos can easily be found on YouTube. For the 3 child-led practical parts of the lesson you will need: olive/sunflower/vegetable oil vinegar (any) sand filter paper funnels Alka-Seltzer tablets (one per pair) or similar There is then a short activity to finish off with - differentiated three ways and with an open-ended extension question to keep any ‘fast finishers’ busy! The plenary activity challenges pupils to use what they have learned to discuss whether a real-world chemical change is reversible or irreversible. Give the blue cards to one partner and the yellow ones to the other. The partners will then have to work together to arrive at a conclusion.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 on haikus. The context for the poetry here is water - perfect if your topic is ‘Rivers and the Water Cycle’ or similar. The lesson begins by introducing the concept of syllables, before explaining what haikus are and how they work. The activity is differentiated 3 ways with a word bank to support pupils at all 3 levels of challenge.

This is a complete writing lesson for lower KS2 during which pupils will write a biography of Harry Potter. It is structured as an assessment piece that could take place either before the start or at the end of a unit on biographies. However, it is adaptable if you wish to use it in another way. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint with embedded videos, a list of the major facts in Harry’s life (for pupils to order), an example text (WAGOLL) and a word bank to assist pupils’ writing.

This is a topic introduction day (‘wow’ day/‘launch’ day) for a Y3 or 4 pupils who are about to start a topic on rivers and the water cycle. The morning involves lots of new learning - including an introduction to the key content of the topic. There are two practical experiments (obviously you will need to source the items for these beforehand) - one a simple evaporation/condensation demonstration and the other is the well-known ‘shaving foam cloud’ experiment! The afternoon is more art/music based, featuring a look at the inspiration French impressionists took from rivers/water and the inspiration many classical composers took from this topic. Finally, if you have a copy of Wind in the Willows to hand, this is an ideal topic-themed way to round the day off. Alternatively, show them the 1983 screen adaptation (available on various online platforms).

These differentiated resources are ideal for lower KS2 children when you are teaching how to apply knowledge of rounding and using the inverse to check calculations. For each question, the numbers involved are represented pictorially and the line between green and yellow backgrounds helps pupils to see if they need to round up or down. Each question has these steps: Round the two numbers to the nearest 10 Add/subtract these rounded numbers in the space below (‘estimate’) Do the calculation using the actual numbers and see if the estimate was close Put the three numbers in the calculation into the ‘Singapore bar’ template in the third cell (largest number in the top cell). Do an inverse calculation to check For the ‘2 Chillies’ resource, there is no scaffolding for the children’s calculations.

An ideal end-of-unit quiz for upper KS2 to put their knowledge of the Muslim religion to the test in a fun and accessible way. No need to print anything - just put the slides on-screen and click through! Note: the combination of questions and answers takes approximately 1 hour to work through with a class.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 to help teach atlas skills and develop pupils’ knowledge of the larger countries of Europe and their capital cities. You will need a class set of atlases to teach this lesson, though there is a simple political map of Europe included with all of the key information as well. The main task is differentiated three ways, with a challenge for fast finishers.

This resource works best when enlarged to A3 and/or printed on card rather than paper. You then cut along the lines (or ask your TA very nicely!) to create a reasoning puzzle for your pupils. This puzzle can be done in mixed ability pairs or set as an extension. A great way to assess your pupils’ grasp of fraction-related content near the end of a unit, I’ve found tarsia puzzles to be great for engagement - and for those who complete it, perhaps they can create their own!

This resource is ideal for use when teaching lower KS2 pupils how to find fractions of a number. The ‘1chilli’ and ‘2 chillies’ activities are intended to be trimmed into three rectangles and stuck onto the template when completed. For example, a pupil may start with the ‘1 chilli - A’ activity, find they are ready to move onto harder work and so do the ‘two chillies - A’ activity next. The template has space for up to 3 activities. Additionally there are a pair of ‘chilli challenge’ cards that you could trim and laminate for use as an extension or to go in a ‘challenge area’ within your classroom. These challenges are ‘open-ended’ - there are a range of solutions and therefore should keep able Y3/4 pupils busy for some time!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 on recognising and describing unit fractions. The starter is based on using ‘playdough’ to give pupils a concrete reference for a ‘whole’ object and how dividing it into parts gives rise to fractions. If, however, you have access to other concrete manipulatives for teaching fractions you may prefer these as a way to keep mess to a minimum! The worksheets are differentiated two ways and both have an additional challenge for ‘fast finishers’. The plenary is discussion based and is an AfL opportunity to see how well your pupils understand that fractions must be equally-sized parts of a whole.

This differentiated resource is intended for lower KS2 children learning about parallel and perpendicular lines. There is a template that starts pupils off at the ‘1 chilli’ (i.e. easiest) level and allows them to choose how their level of challenge progresses from there. Ask your TA to trim the activities along the black lines into rectangles and pupils can come up to collect the one they want when ready!

A complete lesson for lower KS2 to introduce the concept of multiplication and represent it as repeated addition using examples based on everyday objects. The resources comprise both a step-by-step powerpoint and 2-way differentiated worksheets (in the ‘make your own’ worksheet format). The latter are word documents are therefore editable should the format/style/sizes not suit you. In terms of strategy, the worked examples are calculated using ‘grouping’, which pupils can then apply themselves either with concrete manipulatives or jottings on a whiteboard. The worksheets allow for the calculations to be represented in the ‘bar method’ format as well if you require this.

A complete lesson for lower KS2 on telling the time to the nearest minute. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint presentation, a laminatable sheet of blank clocks for pupils to use to represent the times given in the guided activities and three differentiated worksheets for the main activity. There is also a discussion-based plenary. Please note: pupils should already be able to read time to the nearest 5 minutes (lesson available at this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/tell-the-time-from-an-analogue-clock-nearest-5-mins-11909819?theme=0) before you teach this lesson and should know how many minutes are in one hour. It’s also recommended that you have teaching clocks with moveable hands for both the pupils and a larger one for you and/or your TA.

A complete lesson for lower KS2 on telling the time to the nearest 5 mins. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint presentation, a laminatable sheet of blank clocks for pupils to use to represent the times given in the guided activities and three differentiated worksheets for the main activity. There is also a discussion-based plenary. Please note: pupils should already be able to read time to the nearest 15 minutes before you teach this lesson and should know how many minutes are in one hour. It’s also recommended that you have teaching clocks with moveable hands for both the pupils and a larger one for you and/or your TA.

A Series of 3 lessons to guide lower KS2 pupils through learning their Roman numerals thoroughly from 1-50. The powerpoint covers all necessary input and includes whiteboard AfL activites, starters and plenaries. There are main activities for each day, differentiated two ways with additional challenges for early finishers. Also included is a pack of ‘snap’ cards comprising both Roman numerals from 1-50 and corresponding cards with the Arabic numeral representation on. The pupils can then pair up and play ‘snap’ to test their new knowledge of Roman numerals. For a slightly less competitive plenary/starter, you could simply use it as a matching activity for individuals, pairs or groups.

A complete lesson for lower KS2 to deepen understanding around the process of multiplication and the fact that it is not commutative. The lesson comprises a ‘diamond 9 starter’ that could be completed in pairs/groups. There are then some worked examples in the powerpoint using ‘Singapore bar’ representations and arrays to allow two different multiplication statements to be shown. The worksheets are differentiated 3 ways, with the ‘3 chillies’ sheet including a reasoning challenge at the end.

A lesson for KS1 on why humans need to look after creation and how climate change could cause big problems for children today when they grow up and their own children in the future. Includes a video and the pupil activity is differentiated three ways.

A lesson for KS1 (best suited to Y2) to introduce the topic of Islam. Covers the story of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the revelations of the Angel Gabriel (Jibril) that were given to him, which later became the writings in the Quran.

A tarsia puzzle for practice with mentally adding/subtracting multiples of 1, 10, 100 and 1000. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems?