A series of 5 lessons lasting approximately one hour each. Ideal for online learning or slides can be printed and used at home. This pack includes activities on: story writing comprehension (fiction and non-fiction) how to add a problem to your story speech marks setting descriptions similes Games included: weather simile game emoji emotion game emotions 4 in a row ‘guess my monster’ adjective game This pack also includes a story mountain visual aid and independent homework challenges.

A Powerpoint presentation with 20 sentences based on the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling list. Ideal use for 7+ and 8+ exam preparation. Each slide includes an audio file, where each sentence is spoken twice. After your child has written their sentence, they can reveal the correct answer on the slide.

A super resource encouraging children to use characters’ personality and appearance. This presentation includes: personality word bank appearance word bank popular children’s tv and film characters as examples practical activities for children to complete either as a class, in groups or independently sets an independent activity to help children apply their knowledge

An exhaustive list of skills that may be assessed in the 7 plus entrance exam. The curriculum is broken into the topics of: Interview techniques English Maths All of the skills have been written in child friendly language, so are ideal to use for target setting with children. The curriculum has been made through years of research of 7 plus sample papers, and has been verified by fellow tutors and parents whose children have been successful in the exam.

A ‘one stop shop’ resource to help your children add more detail to their writing. This resource includes: A poster outlining the 5 W’s that can be used to add detail - who, what, when, where, why Flashcards showing the 5 W’s A set of simple sentences that children need to stretch out using the 5 W’s. Can be cut into flashcards and made into a simple game ideal for group work A writing frame to encourage children to use all 5 W’s to stretch a sentence.

An ideal resource for an introduction into making inferences, this resources includes: A definition of what inferential questions are A selection of scenes from classic Disney films, with comprehension questions that require children to make inferences about what they can see or what they already know about the characters, plot etc. A super introduction into reading comprehension Can be used as a whole class, group or individual activity

A series of 5 writing and comprehension lessons that can either be printed or used online. The lessons include: “Say it, don’t show it” emotions Cartoon strip story writing Guess the story setting Shades of meaning vocabulary Adverb game “Beat the teacher” story writing challenge Character personality and appearance

Guess my monster is an ideal game for children who need to build up a repertoire of adjectives and descriptive language. Ideal for children with English as an additional language. Rules of the game: Player 1 chooses a card and hides it from Player 2 (nobody likes a cheater!) Player 1 then gives 3 clues to Player 2, describing their monster in detail. (Although this is meant to be a game, it is of course “organised fun” and strict rules apply. It is not ok to say for example, “My monster has eyes”. No. The name of the game is to describe, so no description in the clue = lose a turn!) After 3 clues have been given, Player 1’s partner can finally take a guess as to which monster is being described.(As the clues are being given, crosses can be put through the monsters who are definitely not being described, according to the clues given) The players swap over and the fun continues!

This Powerpoint presentation focuses on the ‘SAD’ strategy for story writing. The idea is, that children choose to open their stories using one of the following: S – a description of the setting A – describing the actions of the characters D – opening the story with dialogue between characters This resource uses scenes from children’s favourite films, and works towards putting ‘once up a time’ and weather description starters to bed! **Samples of Year 2 children’s writing when using this activity ** Using action to open Monsters Inc: “Hopping everywhere, Sully was bouncing, trying to get out as the miniature baby stood up, fascinated”. Using dialogue to open Moana: “Oink oink!” shouted the satisfied piglet. Moana was so fixed on the sea she could not move her eyes as Maoui shouted, “Land ahead!” Using setting to open “Up”: “The machine was pouring into tubes as she sucked up the medicine like a hoover. The flowers were fascinated at the movements the wife and her wrinkly husband made”. Using setting to open the BFG: “A pitch black sky swirled around like a cup of cappuccino. As the black sky lay on the clouds like a blanket, the 50 metre tall, towering, tremendous BFG stood as silently as a mouse”.

Who doesn’t love a fronted adverbial? This game allows children to sort fronted adverbials into three groups: those that describe the where, when and how of the verb in each sentence. After sorting into groups, children can then add the most suitable fronted adverbial to the incomplete sentence strips. This makes for a spot of healthy debate as there is more than one correct answer, so swapping of adverbials is encouraged, or if working in teams, “steals” can be allowed to encourage class discussion.

This handy resources (pun intended) is a great way to teach reading strategies to your pupils. Useful to have at hand (I can’t stop) during reading time, where you can choose one strategy to focus on, Strategies included: 1.”Robot talk” the tricky word – encourages speedy readers to slow down and chunk up tricky words.( It’s also quite amusing to have a classroom full of Daleks). 2.”Look at the picture for clues” – don’t rely on others to tell you the answer! This is a good strategy for encouraging independent reading. 3.”Slowly stretch out the tricky word” – again, encourages speedy readers to really slow down. Can also help teachers see if there are any phonics issues. 4.”Skip the word and try again at the end of the sentence” – it’s ok not to get it first time! Sometimes by reading to the end of the sentence, children will be able to have a solid guess at the meaning of the word based on the context of the story. “Does the word make sense?” – stop for breath. Take a minute. Does that word fit into the sentence/story?

For classrooms who are familiar with the Pie Corbett ‘story mountain’, this resource focuses on the ‘problem’ section of a creative story. This Powerpoint teaches children about three specific types of problem that they can use in their story: 1 versus 2: In at number 1 is the “1 versus 2” problem type. A “1 versus 2” problem is when one character creates a problem for another character. Perhaps one character hurts another character’s feelings or does something deliberately to upset the other. Arguing with your shadow: This type of problem is when the main character creates a problem for themselves. They may make a wrong or bad decision, or do something that affects their chances of success. Can’t be helped!: Last but not least, this type of problem occurs when an uncontrollable factor causes a problem for the characters in the story. A thunder storm ruining a picnic, a broken car resulting in a family party being missed or a nasty bug putting a dampener on a holiday – no one is to blame for this type of problem. The Powerpoint also includes: illustrations from popular children’s films, where children need to identify the type of problem that takes place an activity ideal for independent or group work, where children need to use pictures to discuss or write what is happening, followed by a problem based on one of the strategies they have learned.

A big old download full of resources for teaching reading comprehension! The resources follow the “reciprocal reading” method. Contents includes: Question description cards: Meet the comprehension super heroes who each tackle their own individual question type. Together they will help children to: Predict Clarify Summarise Visualize Answer literal questions Answer inferential questions Question badges: Use the badges for group work, where each child is in charge of writing or answering a specific question type. If anything, the badges are an excuse for a trip to Ryman (not so guilty pleasure) for lanyards, plastic covers and so on! Comprehension template: Allows children to record their predictions before reading, write their questions during reading and summarise the text after reading. The summary box is deliberately tiny to stop any budding authors from rewriting the entire text. Sorting activity: A selection of questions to be sorted according to their question type (literal or inferential). I used these the other day without laminating and when asked to ‘tidy up’ my lovely student proceeded to crumple the entire pack of questions into a ball. I was fine about it. Just half an ink cartridge, 20 minutes of cutting before the lesson and a completely ruined resource. Totally. Fine. Question spinner: Heavily ‘Twister’ inspired, this wheel can be used during reading time to help children practice asking and answering different types of questions. Note – you will lose the pointer to the wheel. Like socks in a washing machine, it’s just life.

A simplified version of Pie Corbett’s story mountain, this poster focuses on three main paragraphs within a creative writing story: Beginning Problem Ending I have suggested to children that they should imagine their story taking place over the space of a day, the beginning of the story taking place in the morning, and the ending at night. Starting the story with the word “as” allows for an immediate simile and description and it seems to give children a starter for ten when faced with a blank sheet of paper. The mountain also mentions including senses to describe the setting, speech between characters and description of characters feelings.

A great pre-writing game to help your pupils to explore synonyms for the word ‘said’. Also useful for EAL learners! This resource includes: 4 bingo boards 1 set of synonym cards Ideal for group work.

A series of 7 English lessons ideal for children in KS1/2. These lessons can be used as a Powerpoint for online learning, or they can be printed and used for home schooling. Each lesson lasts for approximately 1 hour and this pack covers the following areas: Reading comprehension Story writing Character description Adjectives and adverbs Connectives Similes ‘wow’ words How to stretch a sentence Grammar - how to use commas The pack includes a number of games: Adjective ‘guess my monster’ game Said synonym matching game weather simile game The pack also includes some printable visual aids to help with independent learning: Story mountain Emotions vocabulary poster Stretch a sentence poster

The perfect introduction into speech marks, this Powerpoint presentation includes: a definition of speech marks rules that apply when using speech marks opportunities for children to practice writing using speech marks challenge slides encouraging children to look for common mistakes that are made when speech marks are being used.

These ‘chatterboxes’ provide a quick and handy way to encourage discussion before and after reading. Ideal for speedy assessment of comprehension skills Resource includes two dice; one for use before reading a book or chapter, and one for when the book or chapter has been read. The children take it in turns to roll the dice, read the question and answer - other children are free to chip in with their own opinions and ideas, too! Great for when you have a mind blank, these ready prepared questions will hopefully help reduce the literacy madness!

A great game to encourage children to read phase 5 phonics words.Ideal for use in a group or a whole class.

These reading challenges can be printed and cut into flashcards. They focus on: Comprehension Writing Grammar Ideal for use after each chapter of a book!