This engaging and interesting lesson aims to improve students' knowledge of the main themes (Dreams and Loneliness) in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. It also aims to build their skills in retrieving information from texts, understanding the writer's ideas and opinions, and making precise and confident interpretations about texts. The lesson uses a range of tasks, that require students to use their visual and interactive skills. It follows this learning journey: - Understanding what dreams and loneliness are, and how we each experience them; - Defining themes and understanding how writers use them; - Understanding how and why themes are used in other famous texts; - Retrieving evidence from the text to demonstrate where the characters experience dreams and loneliness; - Analysing how the themes are used to help get across John Steinbeck's ideas about 1930s America; - Evaluating each others' analytical attempts. The resource includes a comprehensive and visually engaging PowerPoint presentation, a worksheet for recording the retrieved quotations, a helpful template for the main task, and a lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet. All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation. You can choose to buy this resource alone, or as part of the 'Of Mice and Men - All Lessons and Scheme' bundle, which contains seven full lessons, resources, teachers notes, and PowerPoint presentations, plus a Pointless Of Mice and Men game, for just £5!

I have recently taught a descriptive writing unit, and devised this assessment to gauge how students descriptive skills have progressed over the term. It includes the question paper, the mark scheme, and the reading insert. Formal enough to ensure that the students took the assessment seriously, but engaging enough to ensure that all students wanted to complete all of the tasks, (they hate some of the practice exam questions that exam boards provide on the past papers) all of my students seemed to enjoy completing this more than they normally enjoy assessments! The assessment is designed to gauge students' skill in: - Defining and giving examples of descriptive devices; - Identifying descriptive devices in texts; - Analysing the effect of descriptive writing in a vivid description of a 'Nightmare World.' - Creating their own descriptive piece about a their own nightmare world. This lesson can either be bought individually, or as part of the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (which works out cheaper.)

This highly engaging and informative lesson helps students to use appropriate, sophisticated, and original techniques in creating writing that can hold their readers' attention. Students learn: - How to use their five senses in writing; - How to relate the senses to the descriptive devices; - How to create a 'hook' in their writing; - How to create mystery in their writing; - How to analyse and evaluate existing examples of descriptive writing; Included are all worksheets, and detailed and visual PowerPoint presentation, which explains each concept clearly, cards for the interactive 'senses' game, and a lesson plan for teacher guidance. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £6 All images are licensed for commercial use, and authors are cited on the final slide.

This highly engaging and informative double lesson (around 1.5 to 2 hours of teaching materials) helps students to build skills in demonstrating appropriate, sophisticated, and original structures in their writing, and provides them with theories and techniques to help them to organise their writing adequately. I wrote this lesson because I noticed that there are an extremely high volume of students that approach extended writing tasks (even in their GCSEs) with practically no sense of organisation. Even though they have clearly learnt a number of writing techniques from their teachers, their writing can be extremely short, repetitive, and in some cases the topic is confused. This lesson aims to address each of those issues. Students learn: - What structure and organisation mean; - Narrative structure theory and 'plot mountain;' - How time order can effect a creative text; - How to expand using the five key senses; - How and when to use paragraphing; - Plan for their own extended piece of writing; Included are all worksheets, and detailed and visual PowerPoint presentation, which explains each concept clearly, and a lesson plan for teacher guidance. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £5. All images are licensed for commercial use, and authors are cited on the final slide.

Perfect for enhancing writing tasks, these writing forms templates are perfect for helping to relate to students using a variety of writing forms that they are familiar with. Visually engaging and accurate, these templates can be used across the curriculum, enriching students' writing experiences whilst simultaneously proving their knowledge of texts, characters, key skills, and other learning. Included: - Social media page template - Tabloid newspaper template - Broadsheet newspaper template - Online blogger template - Email template - Whatsapp/messenger template - Postcard template. Most of these documents can be easily edited to suit your students' needs. Please note: All pictures are licensed for commercial use, details of authors can be provided upon the request.

This is the perfect resource for teachers looking to build students writing skills across the curriculum. Aiding students in the four key areas of their writing (Openers, Vocabulary, Connectives, and Punctuation) and also addressing a few common writing mistakes, my students now ask for this whenever they are asked to complete writing tasks, in any of their subjects. It is extremely visually engaging, and can also be used as a poster. Nothing needs to be done to this resource. It is already in A3. Simply print off and laminate. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £4.

This is an exciting and engaging lesson/set of tasks aiming to build students' skills at using personification and adjectives in their writing . It was taught during an observation lesson where the teacher received an Outstanding judgement. Students learn to: - Define and give examples of what regular, adventurous, comparative, and superlative adjectives are; - Identify adjectives in fun and interesting examples; - Analyse what makes them effective; - Create their own adventurous adjectives using step-by-step advice; - Peer assess using a clear and succinct success criteria. It comes complete with: - Engaging and visual PowerPoint to guide students (and teacher!) through the lesson; - Colourful and thought-provoking worksheet for the main analysis task; - Lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet, which goes through the lesson step-by-step; - Resources to create adjective word cards. All pictures are licensed for commercial use, and image authors cited on the final slide. This lesson can also be bought as part of the Descriptive Devices bundle for just £5. The bundle leads students through each language device needed in order to write to describe confidently. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £6

This is an exciting and engaging lesson/set of tasks aiming to build students' skills at using personification and oxymorons in their writing . It was taught during an observation lesson where the teacher received an Outstanding judgement. Students learn to: - Define and give examples of what personification and oxymorons are; - Identify personification and oxymorons in fun and interesting examples; - Analyse what makes them effective; - Create their own personification and oxymorons using step-by-step advice; - Peer assess using a clear and succinct success criteria. It comes complete with: - Engaging and visual PowerPoint to guide students (and teacher!) through the lesson; - Colourful and thought-provoking two-part worksheet for the two main create tasks; - Lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet, which goes through the lesson step-by-step; All pictures are licensed for commercial use, and image authors cited on the final slide. This lesson can also be bought as part of the Descriptive Devices bundle for just £5. The bundle leads students through each language device needed in order to write to describe confidently. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £6.

Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a starter activity, plenary, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change the questions/answers. Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build students' understanding of verbs, including: 1. Finding synonyms of dull verbs 2. Defining verbs 3. Unscrambling anagrams of verbs 4. Finding the most complex and interesting verbs The nature of the game ensures that this resource can challenge students of all levels.

Welcome to Jargon Hunt! This engaging and exciting activity is perfect for building students' literacy skills; helping them to understand key vocabulary through cryptic rhyming riddles and teamwork. Once the game is introduced and the rules are shared (on the presentation) students are given a riddle card and an answer card. The only catch is that their answer card does not match their riddle! Through reading their riddle to others, and allowing others to read their riddles to them, students learn the English vocabulary as prescribed for teaching at KS2 in the new National Curriculum. Provided in this pack are: - 30+ slide presentation, hosted by David Dictionary-son, who walks students through the game in a step-by-step fashion. -Class-size pack of riddle cards and answer cards. They simply need to printed on card, or printed on paper and laminated. This resource is a valuable tool for helping students to comprehend the words that they will need to understand in the New Curriculum, build valuable speaking and listening skills, and also have lots of fun! This resource can be bought alone. or as a part of a Jargon Hunt KS2 bundle (English, Maths, and Science) for just £1 more!

This is an exciting and engaging lesson/set of tasks aiming to build students' skills at using similes and metaphors in their writing . It was taught during an observation lesson where the teacher received an Outstanding judgement. Students learn to: - Define and give examples of what similes and metaphors are; - Identify similes and metaphors on funny posters and captions; - Analyse what makes similes and metaphors effective; - Create their own simile and metaphor filled writing piece; - Peer assess and learn through fun interactive tasks. It comes complete with: - Engaging and visual PowerPoint to guide students (and teacher!) through the lesson; - Colourful and thought-provoking worksheet for the main analysis task; - Lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet, which goes through the lesson step-by-step; - Resources to enable the teacher to make 'flags' for the introductory task. All pictures are licensed for commercial use, and image authors cited on the final slide. This lesson can also be bought as part of the Descriptive Devices bundle for just £5. The bundle leads students through each language device needed in order to write to describe confidently. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £6.

Perfect for English lessons, or as part of a literacy across the curriculum scheme, the VCOP lessons aim to build students' fundamental writing skills. Engaging, differentiated, and easily adaptable, this lesson aims to improve students' skills at using varied and appropriate punctuation, following a logical learning journey to ensure that students learn in bite-size steps: - Defining punctuation marks; - Identifying varied vocabulary in humorous writing examples; - Analysing varied vocabulary in an interesting descriptive passage; - Creating their descriptive piece, using varied vocabulary; - Peer or self evaluating their varied vocabulary attempts. Resources, worksheets, and a lesson plan are provided. This resource can either be bought alone, or as part of a VCOP bundle (see resource VCOP - All lessons & scheme - vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation) for just £1 more.

Perfect for English lessons, or as part of a literacy across the curriculum scheme, the VCOP lessons aim to build students' fundamental writing skills. Engaging, differentiated, and easily adaptable, this lesson aims to improve students' skills at using varied and appropriate sentence openers, following a logical learning journey to ensure that students learn in bite-size steps: - Defining the different words that they can use to vary how they open sentences; - Identifying varied openers in humorous writing examples; - Analysing varied openings in an interesting descriptive passage; - Creating a descriptive piece, using varied sentence openers; - Peer or self evaluating the effectiveness of their varied sentence openers. Resources, worksheets, and a lesson plan are provided. This resource can either be bought alone, or as part of a VCOP bundle (see resource VCOP - All lessons & scheme - vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation) for just £1 more.

Perfect for English lessons, or as part of a literacy across the curriculum scheme, the VCOP lessons aim to build students' fundamental writing skills. Engaging, differentiated, and easily adaptable, this lesson aims to improve students' skills at using varied and appropriate connectives in their writing, following a logical learning journey to ensure that students learn in bite-size steps: - Defining connectives types; - Identifying connectives in humorous writing examples; - Analysing connectives in an interesting descriptive passage; - Creating a descriptive piece, using varied connectives; - Peer or self evaluating their writing attempts, and in particular the use of connectives Resources, worksheets, and a lesson plan are provided. This resource can either be bought alone, or as part of a VCOP bundle (see resource VCOP - All lessons & scheme - vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation) for just £1 more.

Perfect for English lessons, or as part of a literacy across the curriculum scheme, the VCOP lessons aim to build students' fundamental writing skills. Engaging, differentiated, and easily adaptable, this lesson aims to improve students' skills at using varied and appropriate vocabulary, following a logical learning journey to ensure that students learn in bite-size steps: - Defining word types; - Identifying varied vocabulary in humorous writing examples; - Analysing varied vocabulary in an interesting descriptive passage; - Creating their descriptive piece, using varied vocabulary; - Peer or self evaluating their varied vocabulary attempts. Resources, worksheets, and a lesson plan are provided. This resource can either be bought alone, or as part of a VCOP bundle (see resource VCOP - All lessons & scheme - vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation) for just £1 more.

This visual and highly engaging set of resources is designed to enable students to use imaginative and original persuasive devices in their own writing. Through following the interesting learning journey, students are given the opportunity to: - Define each persuasive device; - Identify these in existing persuasive texts; - Analyse their effect in a longer persuasive text; - Create their own persuasive device-filled piece, using a jointly-created success criteria based upon their analysis task; - Peer assess each other's persuasive writing attempts. All resources are provided, including: - Visual PowerPoint presentation; - Definitions cards (they just need printing and cutting out) - Analysis worksheet; - Lesson outline for teachers and learning support to follow. Note: All pictures licensed for creative use - authors and sources labelled on the final slide of the presentation.

This is an exciting and engaging lesson/set of tasks aiming to build students' skills at using varied verbs and adverbs in their writing . It was taught during an observation lesson where the teacher received an Outstanding judgement. Students learn to: - Define and give examples of what verbs and adverbs are; - Identify verbs and adverbs on funny posters and captions; - Analyse what makes verbs and adverbs effective; - Create their own verb and adverb filled writing piece; It comes complete with: - Engaging and visual PowerPoint to guide students (and teacher!) through the lesson; - Colourful and thought-provoking worksheet for the main analysis task; - Lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet, which goes through the lesson step-by-step; - Resources to enable the teacher to make 'flags' for the development task. All pictures are licensed for commercial use, and image authors cited on the final slide. This lesson can also be bought as part of the Descriptive Devices bundle for just £5. The bundle leads students through each language device needed in order to write to describe confidently. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £6.

This is a great resource for lesson starters, building literacy across the curriculum, plenaries, or simply for fun. Based upon the popular mobile app, this visually engaging activity is highly effective at promoting engagement and getting students thinking about words - many of whom seem to love playing the game on their phones! It is particularly useful for Literacy practitioners who are looking to expand students' vocabularies and/or raise the subject of homonyms. There are a range of challenges: Green = Beginner level Amber= Intermediate level Red = Expert level The document is easily editable, so you can also add in your own pictures and challenges. Also, all of the pictures used are licensed for commercial use, and all authors are cited.

Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a starter activity, plenary, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change the questions/answers. Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build students' understanding of adjectives, including: 1. Finding synonyms of dull adjectives 2. Defining adjectives 3. Unscrambling anagrams of adjectives 4. Finding the most complex and interesting adjectives. The nature of the game ensures that this resource can challenge students of all levels. NOTE: You can buy this resource alone, or in a bundle of 8 Pointless games, for only £1 more!

These handy helpsheets have been employed by teachers across the curriculum to aid students completing extended writing tasks for a particular purpose. There are helpsheets for: - Informing - Describing - Analysing - Arguing - Explaining - Evaluating - Persuading - Instructing Each helpsheet defines the aim of the writing purpose, details the key writing features to be used, offers sentence starters, and gives a short example of the writing purpose, alongside other hints and tips. These helpsheets have also been blown up to A3 or A2 size to become engaging and interactive literacy across the curriculum posters.