It's simple really: English grammar can be a very dry subject, but this need not be the case. For a few years now, I have been developing a games-based approach to teaching important grammar concepts. It is amazing how the introduction of dice takes the learning into a new place - the element of chance making it seem less like work and more like play. Because I test my games extensively in the classroom, I get a feel for what works. Dump your boring worksheets and start dicing with grammar.
It's simple really: English grammar can be a very dry subject, but this need not be the case. For a few years now, I have been developing a games-based approach to teaching important grammar concepts. It is amazing how the introduction of dice takes the learning into a new place - the element of chance making it seem less like work and more like play. Because I test my games extensively in the classroom, I get a feel for what works. Dump your boring worksheets and start dicing with grammar.
Put your children in pairs to play the fun spelling game ‘VictoriOUS’. It’s a two player dice game that enables children to learn these four rules for adding the suffix ‘ous’:
Some root word do not change – just add ‘ous’
For many root words that end in e, take off the ‘e’ and add ‘ous’
If the root word ends ‘-ge’, keep the ‘e’ and add ‘ous’
Change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and add ‘ous’
How about words that can’t have the ‘ous’ suffix?
Peer assessment is built in. Everything that you need is here - just add 1-6 dice!
A fully planned lesson with differentiated rounding activities. Children place numbers on a number line and round to the nearest 10. Very straightforward. They can work with anything from 2 digit numbers up to 6 digit numbers. Differentiated four ways. Simple but effective!
Learning about 3D shapes? Why not kick off the lesson with a quiz quiz trade to get everyone moving and using mathematical vocabulary. Just print off enough cards for one per child or get adults involved too.
Children will need access to Base 10 (or Diennes) and 0-9 dice for this activity.
My year 5 class were struggling with decimals so I made up this simple activity, and had quite a lot of success with it - children fed back that it helped their understanding.
First children use 0-9 dice to generate a decimal and record it on the sheet.
Next, they make the number using Base 10 and draw it on the sheet.
Finally, they place their decimal on a 0-9 numberline. They should record it as a fraction and a decimal at this point.
Children repeated this activity three or four times until they felt confident with their understanding.
It is differentiated so that children can work with tenths, hundredths or thousandths.
Children are expected to capitalise proper nouns from Year 1 onwards, but many children in Key Stage 2 find this tricky to remember. Often, children do not understand the difference between common and proper nouns.
This lesson, complete with presentation and an dice game, will give children experience of using a wide variety of proper nouns, from book titles to shop names.
Classes about to undertake the Y6 Grammar Test would find this a useful refresher on common and proper nouns.
Make missing capital letters a thing of the past by playing: ‘How many capital letters?’
Lesson plan and 3 differentiated versions of a fun game to practise spelling words ending words ending –el, -al, -le.
Assessment focus
I can spell words ending –el, -al, -le
Explanation
‘Towel’, critical’ and ‘apple’ all have the same pronunciation at the end. So how do people know which spelling to use? Most words end –le (-al and -el endings are far less common). Also –le endings tend to follow letters with ascenders or descenders. There are no rules that work every time!
–el, -al, -le game
You will need: a 1-6 dice per pair, a word bank per pair, a recording sheet each
This is an Iron Age themed Quiz Quiz Trade with 32 facts for the class to learn - this really support information writing.
Also included are instructions on how to play Quiz Quiz Trade and an extra little 12 fact Quiz Quiz Trade about Mammoths!
Your class will enjoy playing: 'Will you or won't you?'
This is a brilliant way of motivating children to use modal verbs accurately in sentences.
Children have to play against each other. One child is trying to go to a sleepover and the other other is desperately trying to avoid it.
Sounds bonkers? Well, maybe a little, but it certainly generates a lot of sentence work and discussion.
Children will all know what modal verbs are by the end of the lesson. That's a promise.
All instructions and resources included - just add dice and counters.
Quiz, Quiz, Trade is a fun and active way for children to learn facts. The cards can be tailored to cover any subject area, topic or learning objective and are particularly useful for introducing a new subject area that your class wouldn't already know lots about. You could include a range of differentiated questions, but I have often found that the children you least expect will learn the more complicated facts after playing this game.
The idea behind Quiz, Quiz, Trade is that it is a fun, non-threatening and exciting game that is inclusive for all and will help all children in your class to acquire knowledge quickly. Really handy when you just need them to have a bit of background knowledge or learn something quickly in order to apply or develop the knowledge in their work. Quiz, Quiz, Trade can be used for any age group (my cards are all aimed at years 4-6) that will be able to read the questions and answers.
I have used Quiz, Quiz, Trade in observations with much success (see instruction page) and consistently use it to introduce new topics in class-the children love it!
Two different sets of quiz, quiz, trade cards for learning about shape.
Quiz, Quiz, Trade is a fun and active way for children to learn facts. The cards can be tailored to cover any subject area, topic or learning objective and are particularly useful for introducing a new subject area that your class wouldn’t already know lots about. You could include a range of differentiated questions, but I have often found that the children you least expect will learn the more complicated facts after playing this game.
The idea behind Quiz, Quiz, Trade is that it is a fun, non-threatening and exciting game that is inclusive for all and will help all children in your class to acquire knowledge quickly. Really handy when you just need them to have a bit of background knowledge or learn something quickly in order to apply or develop the knowledge in their work. Quiz, Quiz, Trade can be used for any age group (my cards are all aimed at years 4-6) that will be able to read the questions and answers.
I have used Quiz, Quiz, Trade in observations with much success (see instruction page) and consistently use it to introduce new topics in class-the children love it!
I have recently produced a far more in depth ‘Theseus’ unit with masses of carefully produced, differentiated resources and detailed planning. It is available here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/theseus-and-the-minotaur-3-weeks-of-detailed-planning-fully-resourced-and-differentainted-11914692
Here are lots of older Theseus resources, including a model text, comprehension work, story boards, fronted adverbials activity, planning frames etc.
All maths teachers, regardless of the age they teach, know how important it is for children to be fluent in their root addition and subtraction facts.
I couldn't find them as a word document anywhere, so I made these two simple grids.
They can be used in so many ways, for teaching, practising and assessing how children are doing with their basic number facts.
Sweet shop lists! A fun way to generate list sentences
Assessment focus
I can use a comma (or ‘and’) to separate things in a list
You will need: a dice guide (included), a tick chart (included), a 1-6 dice
Support:
Reduce the number of items on the tick list. Use a 1-3 dice and reduce the number of rows on the dice guide.
Challenge:
For each item in your list add an adjective to extend the noun phrase. There are some helpful words in the ‘Yum word bank’. Example: We shared our chewy fudge, sour laces and delicious lollipops.
Assessment focus
I can use a wide variety of sentences and conjunctions in my writing
Explanation
Some of us are great at writing long descriptive sentences, whilst others are superb at short and shocking ones. We don’t always remember to use a wide variety of sentence types throughout our writing. It is far more enjoyable to read a story packed with questions, exclamations, complex sentences and speech sentences than a story that sticks to one or two of these.
Have you ever wanted to write a story without doing any planning or preparation? Well, now’s your chance!
Assessment focus
I can compose simple and compound sentences.
Explanation
This is two versions of the same game. By rolling dice and flipping cards, children construct their own simple and compound sentences. The second version has lots of silent letters words as this was a spelling focus in my class.
It is an effective way of making sure that children are secure with these basic - yet important - sentence structures.
This is a lesson I used with a year 3 class, but it would be useful for any class learning how to subtract multiples of 10 using a money context.
There is a very detailed lesson plan, a presentation to guide the class along and all resources. You will also need a lot of 10p coins: ten 10p coins per pair of children. Just photocopy some if they’ve all gone missing!
After a few warm-ups, the children begin with some giving change role play activities, before moving on to working on open numberlines.
A lot of thought has been given to differentiation throughout the session. The independent work is differentiated three ways. There are extension activities as well and some challenges for the plenary.
This session may run over an hour, depending on how speedy your class are.
This is a whole lesson about the spelling patterns able and ible.
It includes 2 short quizzes, making up new words and a fun writing activity that encourages children to apply their understanding, using a tried and tested word bank and a fun (persuasive) context.
Great for spelling and sentence work.