After hours of reading and PD on Pie Corbett’s Talk4Writing, I decided to plan my English lessons around his style of teaching. The idea behind it is fun filled, active and different so my children and I absolutely love it! Included: *4 day, detailed lesson plan. *Power Point of the story. *‘Theseus and the Minotaur’ text resource (color coded). *‘Box-it up’ planning frame. *Hot Seating Questions which allow the children to get into the mind of the Minotaur. I have put a lot of detail into the lesson plan, so it can be easily followed to apply this style of teaching to your ENglish lessons. The idea behind it is: Week 1= Imitation Phase. In this week, children need to learn off a text to fully immerse themselves in the style of writing, structure, language etc. This is done through actions and also text mapping (drawing pictures). Only when children fully understand a text type, should they begin to write. The writing of a myth will be done in week 3. (This resource is only week 1). By the end of the week, your children should fully understand the features of a myth, and should be able to recite a whole myth using their text map. It’s lots of fun and a fantastic scaffolding for children to understand before they write. Give it a try!

I used this as a class assembly this week and have made the necessary changes to the script that I made throughout rehearsals. This script shows what we learned as a class through story-telling and acting out the myth of Icarus and Daedalus and the legend of the Loch Ness monster. (Scottish Accents included). It is done in the form of Myths and Legends X Factor with judges and a presenter. Both parents and children adored it.

A week's worth of planning focusing on 2D shape. The planning is extremely detailed and well differentiated to ensure each learner can access the content. It involves fun lessons that can be carried out outside (weather permitted) and also introduces children to irregular shapes also. The week is full activities that contain lots of useful, topical Mathematical language, while encouraging children to explain 'why'. My Year 1 class thoroughly enjoyed these lessons. Please leave a review and check out my other resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Morrisr9

3 weeks of Art planning based on the Rainforest and the paintings of Henri Rousseau. Children are taught to appreciate his art as well as create their own version of 'Surprise'.

Week 2 This lesson begins by recapping what was learned in lesson 1 (also uploaded). This lesson is based on why the Vikings had such a bad reputation. Children will learn why people thought that the Vikings were only bad, and also look at sources of information that say this. The package includes a lesson plan, activity resource and a presentation.

BACK TO SCHOOL!!! (Already?) One of my main goals on day one is to build relationships with the children and leave them go home on the first day feeling happy and safe in their new classroom environment. The idea behind this resource is that each child write a nice comment on their peers’ jigsaw pieces, so that by the end of the lesson, each child has a nice comment from everyone in the class. I then plan to cut the jigsaw pieces out and display them in the classroom for the year, for children to refer to anytime they wish. It also gives you an opportunity to set expectations for a more “busy” lesson, i.e. silent when walking around the room/no running/no pushing etc. Included is: The activity sheet A short powerpoint explaining how to engage in this activity! Please leave a review and let me know how you got on

Graded: Outstanding This is a lesson that I did for an observation today with the English coordinator. It's a lesson on Tanka poetry. Children learned what a Tanka was the day before, but today they needed to create a bank of similes, metaphors and adjectives to enhance their descriptions that they will use in their poem later in the week. I have differentiated this activity, by providing scaffolding support for the SEN/EAL children in my class. The lesson, as a whole, was intended to be a mixed ability lesson. However, as it was an observation, I needed to include some form of extra support/ scaffolding for some children. This lesson is linked to the Vikings and children need to describe what it would be like to leave their lovely homeland with the beautiful scenery. The resource includes: *a clear, detailed lesson plan, *picture to annotate *powerpoint to explain the meaning of a Tanka (if needed prior to the lesson) *basic flipchart for referall as a class *simile and metaphor sort *simile and metaphor sort (EAL/SEN).

Needing some inspiration for my reading corner, I created this display in order to show case the children’s reading books. The idea behind it is that the book templates will be printed out for children to fill in whenever they complete a book. They can draw the front cover and fill in the blurb on the back and the teacher can laminate the books and hang them from a string underneath the heading. It’s a super cute idea to show off all the books that you’re class have read and let’s face it, it looks really colorful in your reading area. Included: *The display name: “Books we’ve Read” *Book templates to print out. (See cover photo for a clearer idea).

10 higher level thinking questions for deepening understanding and developing mathematical language Having studied in a course based on AFL strategies, I have a new found love (so to speak) for asking higher level questions during lessons to evoke discussion between students. The more they discuss concepts, the deeper their understanding will grow. With this in mind, I created these colourful cards to be cut, laminated and given to my year 4 class once a week to create ‘colourful’, intentional discussion. As we are all aware, there are many different types of learners, and children remember 90% of the information that teach someone else. Therefore, by engaging in critical thinking in maths, they will essentially be “teaching” their partner why their reasoning is correct through having to “prove” it to them. My class adored this and the intentional discussion kept them engaged in the task for much longer as they had to get their personal opinions across. If you have any questions or would like to see more of these resources, please leave a review.

Dreading a dull lesson on how to create a classification key? Look no further because here your children will be super engaged by creating a classification key for different types of sweets! Included: An activity to allow children to try classify animals in pairs. & An editable Power Point which explains: What ‘classifying’ is. How to create your first question for a key. How to use a classification key. Allows children to work collaboratively by encouraging them to engage in ‘partner talk’. It encourages them to JUSTIFY their choice of groups. Heightening their reasoning skills is very important, especially in Science. I completed this lesson this week as an introduction to classification keys. Next week we will be classifying vertebrates and invertebrates. Please leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is upon us again and if you’re like me, you’ve been trawling through the internet looking for something: Engaging Purposeful Learning about the countries involved Check my store regularly for more additions to the project. This particular activity pack is 11 pages of fun activities related to the Rugby World Cup. In this pack, there is: Design your own rugby jersey activity. Design your own boots activity. Learn about the host country colouring page. Research facts on countries involved in the Rugby World Cup. Get to know each flag in each group of the Rugby World Cup. Prediction Activities. Colouring pages and MUCH more. This can be done as a whole class lesson, in pairs, as a homework based project or as an early finisher task. It’s up to you! All that’s needed is a copy of the booklet/pages required for each child. I hope you and your children enjoy this lesson. I’d love to hear from you all :)

OBSERVATION LESSON: Today was my observation and it was day 1 for us, engaging with Persuasive Writing. The children had to identify the features of a persuasive text using the AFOREST technique. (We used this support mat and it was EXCELLENT! This resource includes: a very detailed, differentiated lesson plan, which allows you to follow it step-by-step (just like I did). Links to the texts I used. Key for annotating. Advertisements for Lower Ability pupils. To start: children will try to persuade their teacher to allow them to go for break 5 minutes early. To you (and the observer, this will show their prior knowledge of persuasion, which should be little at this stage). Main: Using a key, children will highlight and annotate a piece of persuasive writing using a key to spot the different features. There are 3 different persuasive texts for high, middle and low ability children so that they can all access the content. Plenary: Children will be placed into mixed ability groups of 4/6 and asked to SELL you a random object from the class (e.g. a pencil case) in a dragon’s den type fashion. This will show the observer (and you) the progress made since the start of the lesson as the children apply the techniques that they have learned. Please let me know your thoughts on this lesson plan.

A wonderful week of planning, resources and presentations to engage children in writing playscripts. As our topic was on Ancient Greece, the playscript that children will be writing will be based around Ancient Greek Gods. I found that this motivated the children more as they already had previous information on the topic. Children are introduced to playscipts by picking out the features in pairs and also gathering an understanding of what a 'myth' is. As the week progresses, children will then create a hero/heroine for their own playscipt by filling out a job application for that particular character. There is a planning/drafting day included also, with resources, to ensure children fully understand the layout of a playscript, along with using features of a Greek Myth. By the end of the week, children will produce an interesting Greek Myth play using the features correctly and effectively. This resource includes notebook presentation, differentiated resources, very detailed planning which points out explicitly what needs to be taught and how the lessons are to be differentiated, and also a success criteria for children to follow. I have tried these lessons myself, and my children really enjoyed them. Please leave a review and check out my other resources if you get the chance: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Morrisr9

I created this playscript for my Year 5 class to perform this year. We spent a number of weeks on persuasive writing, so I thought it would be a fantastic way to show off the techniques they had learned in persuasive techniques. I based it around the TV show Dragon's Den. The Assembly has 4 dragons in which the contestants must persuade to buy their products using persuasive techniques. There is a narrator role also, which explains what's going on throughout the play. This playscipt is easy to adapt and was really funny to watch as well as show off what the children had learned. Please leave a review and check out my other resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Morrisr9

A pack of resources to support you in teaching report writing! As mentioned on my blog (click here), I use Pie Corbett’s Talk 4 Writing strategy to teach English. Children are completely immersed with reports from day one and engage in many different activities to keep writing lessons fun, purposeful and content rich. In this MONTH worth of lessons, children will: Act out a text to familiarize themselves with the language needed. Make playdough birds based off their research to help the facts stick in their head. Research a bird of their choice to write a report about. Work in mixed ability pairs to create a bank of useful phrases/vocabulary that they’ll need in their report. Discuss how author’s generally present their reports and the EFFECT it has on the reader. Following this, they will plan how to present their report in a double page spread (see cover photo). The best part about these lessons is that they are easy to adapt. If you do not wish to write a report about a bird- change it! I have saved the lesson plans as a word document, so they will be easy to change. These lessons are suitable for 2-4th as the elements of report writing are the same, the expectation will just be higher/lower depending on the age group/ability of your children. If you’re from Ireland, these lesson plans align with the Primary Language Curriculum as their is a MASSIVE focus on oral language/language learning! Can be used in other curriculums too, not specific to Ireland. This pack includes: 4 detailed WEEKLY lesson plans (Yes, 20 days) outlining how to immerse children in reports and spark an interest for them to write in this genre. Resources needed for each week. Sample photographs from my own classroom to support the teacher. 2 quality examples of a report to use as a model text. Links to sites to show children how to present their finished piece in a double page spread (see cover image). A ‘How to use’ document and credits page. Please leave a review and let me know how you got on.

An editable book cover hunt. Children will follow the clues on the reverse side of each book cover and hunt around the school for some hidden treasure. They must write down the names of the book covers that they come across too and aim to read at least one of them that week. Just something a bit different during Book Week to engage them with different books. For more information of activities that we did during Book Week, check out my Instagram: Rebecca.the.irish.teacher.

This is a 4 day plan focused on Tanka Poetry. Tanka poems are 5 lines long and contain 31 syllables. They are normally about nature, love, sadness or other strong emotions. As my children have studied the Vikings this year, I have based this planning for children to imagine that they are a Viking leaving their lovely homeland and family. Children spend the week researching about the Vikings leaving their homes and also using similes, metaphors and adjectives to describe their feelings. My children really enjoyed these lessons and were surprisingly good at writing Tanka poems. Powerpoint, lesson plan and activities included.

A 6 day plan on formal arguments, encouraging children to think about moral dilemmas. Children will be introduced to the idea of moral dilemmas and arguing for and against both in a balanced argument. This resource involves teaching children how to write a balanced argument in a progressive manner. Children will initially watch clips on how to argue in a balanced style. As the week progresses, children will be gathering information needed in order to write a balanced argument for themselves. There is a planning period as well (with resources) to allow children to properly plan their argument, as to ensure it’s balanced. This also gives children the opportunity to edit and correct their small errors. There is elements of arguing/debating orally also, which taps into speaking and listening. By the end of the week, my class were excited to write a balanced argument on whether it is a good idea or not to keep a giant bag of cash that you found at the bottom of your garden. They were even more excited about turning it into a debate, which can easily be achieved. This resource is saved within a ZIP file. INCLUDED: *A 6 day detailed lesson plan, explaining how to carry out each lesson. *A detailed, colourful notebook file to encourage discussion and to show expectations. *A powerpoint to show the structure of a balanced argument. *A success criteria to allow children to self-assess and peer-assess the written task. *2 differentiated planning sheets. *Moral dilemma scenarios to cut and distribute for discussion. *A notebook file on how to use connectives. Please leave a comment on your thoughts of my resource and check out some of my others: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Morrisr9

I’ve added these key terms (in yellow) here for you to create a working wall for your English display. These headings can be kept up all year round, even when you change genre. All you need to do is to change the work around it, accordingly. See my blogpost on my blog to see how exactly I use this display in my class. (Note: only the headings in yellow and the clouds are included).

********END OF TERM MATHS INVESTIGATIONS ********* I'm not pawning this off as my own, I did not make these resources so therefore I will not be selling them. I am simply bundling them together as I spent an hour looking for a week's worth of activities for maths next week as an end of term type thing. I did make the planning myself, so I have attached this. However the other resources I found on TES and I thought they were amazing! Just trying to save someone the time in looking for a long time. Hope you enjoy :)