This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: The Great Depression’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ - ‘Steinbeck’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ - ‘Curley’s Wife’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ - ‘Editing the Text’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This engaging and detailed lesson enables students to gain a deep understanding of the Greek Myth ‘Theseus and The Minotaur.’ In doing so, students learn to interpret and infer the key meanings in a myth, analyse the descriptive language in a myth, and use descriptive language to describe their own ancient Greek monster. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Define the key terms ‘adjective’ and ‘synonym’ and use these appropriately and imaginatively to describe an image of the Minotaur; - Read the story ‘Theseus and The Minotaur’ and interpret the key meanings; - Identify, understand, and analyse the descriptive language in ‘Theseus and The Minotaur;’ - Apply their understanding of descriptive techniques by creating and describing their own mythical beast, using a model example, a success criteria, and a scaffold; - Peer assess each other’s descriptive attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Paper copies and online links to the extract needed for the lesson; - Understanding Descriptive Language worksheet; - Creating a Beast Template, and model example; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

In this engaging lesson, children develop an understanding of Anglo-Saxons daily life, in particular: farming, jobs and village life, settlements and buildings and food. The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey: -Knowledge recall - gauging what children already know about the Anglo-Saxon era (answers are provided); -Understanding that the scale of time between the Anglo-Saxon period and the modern day, helping to contextualise the how comparatively simple and harsh life was in the time of the Anglo-Saxons; -Interpreting and analysing four sources (provided) in order to gain a deeper understanding of each of the key areas of Anglo-Saxon daily life; -Completing their own extended research to find out more about one of the key areas of daily life; -Composing a creative piece in which they put themselves in the shoes of an Anglo-Saxon villager; -Comparing Anglo-Saxon daily life with other eras; -Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective. Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (20 slides), the four sources for the source analysis activity, and the template upon which to record their findings. In the past, I have used this lesson with children in upper KS2 (years 5 and 6) - the key learning is aligned with curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.

This engaging and detailed lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of the social and historical context of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel: Frankenstein. The lesson places a particular focus upon the developments in health, science, and technology at the time the text was written and set, the locations visited by the author, and the life of Mary Shelley. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their ability to link their understanding of context to specific sections of the text. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Considering how life has changed between the end of the 18th Century and the present day; - Researching key information about health, scientific understanding, and major events in the late 1700s; - Understanding the features of locations in the novel, and interpreting what they may symbolise; - Developing their understanding of the author: Mary Shelley, and considering the key events in her life that influenced her writing of Frankenstein; - Linking knowledge of time, place, and author, and relating these to specific areas of the text; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including an animated Frankenstein’s monster to guide them through the lesson, and links to helpful websites); - Comparison between 1700s and the present day worksheet (and a teacher answer sheet); - Card sorting activity based on locations in the novel; - Mary Shelley worksheet (and a teacher answer sheet); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation. NOTE: One of the tasks requires access to researching materials, e.g. internet or library access.

This engaging and thought-provoking double-lesson resource aids students in developing a secure understanding of the chapters 1 to 2 of Emma Carroll’s 'Secrets of a Sun King.’ In this section of the text, Lil’s grandfather is taken to hospital, and she is both mystified and captivated after opening the package containing the ancient Egyptian jar. The comprehensive and colourful PowerPoint presentation enables students to understand the text through: -Making predictions; -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Summarising the key events of the chapters. The sessions include a range of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, explanation and deeper thinking activities. A clear, colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation guides students through the learning. There’s a lot in the session (20 slides in total) so I would recommend breaking into two lessons. The lessons are most suitable for children in key stage 2, (they were originally used for those in years 4 and 5).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising knowledge of World War II. It is ideal for GCSE or upper KS3 students, and contains comprehensive sections on: Major Events - dates, images, descriptions, and key facts; Key People - Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Anne Frank; Main Participating Countries - Flags, Year joined and death toll; Timeline of Major Events; Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising knowledge relating to the British Empire. There are comprehensive sections on: -British Empire Overview; -British Empire Map; -Major Events/ Stages; -Timeline; -Countries/ Territories in the British Empire; -Key Vocabulary; -Top Ten British Empire Facts. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3 or A4, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included). It is most suitable for students in lower KS3/ upper KS2.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for children learning about Charles Dickens, particularly those completing a history study of ‘Significant Individuals.’ It contains comprehensive sections entitled: Overview; Times in His Life; Important Vocabulary; Charles Dickens Timeline; Answers to the Important Questions; Top Ten Facts. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising knowledge relating to Victorian Workhouses. It contains comprehensive sections on: Overview of Victorian Workhouses; Features of Workhouses (Inmates, Daily Routine, The Building, and Work); Workhouses Timeline; Answers to the Key Questions; Key Vocabulary. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included). It is most suitable for children in KS2 and KS3.