This powerpoint contains 82 literacy starters, each one differentiated three ways and most also including an extension challenge - a total of over 300 activities! With the exception of the ‘lipograms’, these activities are all ‘open-ended’, i.e, pupils do not ‘finish’ them. This makes them ideal for morning ‘welcome’ time (for schools that do this), where pupils arrive at different times. Equally, they can be used as regular lesson starters. Nothing needs printing for any of the activities, you literally just put the slide up on your smartboard and off you go! The file comprises the following challenges: Slides 2-18: ‘Word Chains’ (Y1-6) This can be good practice for pupils’ dictionary use skills - can they find a word that begins with the last letter(s) of the previous word? How long can they then make this word chain before they run out of words? Slide 19: ‘Alphabet Sentences’ (Y1-6) A great activity for assessing how well pupils grasp what constitutes a sentence, as well as extending their vocabulary. This activity challenges pupils to create sentences where the words start with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Slides 20-46: ‘Lipograms’ (Y4-6) Ideal for practice in using a thesaurus and extending pupils’ vocabulary, as well as assessing their sense of poetic rhythm and word choice. These activities provide a short poem with a particular theme (e.g ‘water’, ‘Spring’, ‘The Future’, etc.) and challenge pupils to re-write it with the rule that one letter is ‘forbidden’! Note: some of these are harder than others, so choose carefully when first introducing the idea! Slides 47-62: ‘Starts and Ends’ (Y2-6) A chance for pupils to build vocabulary and practice dictionary use, this time in a slightly more competitive way! The starting and ending letters of words are provided, pupils need to think of and write down the longest words they can find/think of with those starting and ending letters. Slides 63-74: ‘9 Letter Challenge’ (Y1-3) Useful for practicing phonics for spelling with simpler words. This activity challenges pupils to make as many words as they can using the provided letters. Note: These only have 2-way differentiation (plus an extension challenge) Slides 75-83: Christmas Specials! These are versions of the above challenges for the festive season, complete with suitably cheesy xmas graphics!

An example Newspaper Article about the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings and the death of Harold Godwinson. Suitable for Lower KS2 and ideal if you happen to be studying newspaper articles in English and the Anglo Saxons/Normans/Early Middle Ages/Kings and Queens in topic! Could be used for guided reading or as model text (WAGOLL) as a stimulus for writing.

A set of 16 ‘top trumps’ cards with three sets of four-digit numbers describing the vital stats of a number of modern cars. Can be used in number of ways when learning about place value with 4-digit numbers: playing the traditional ‘top trumps’ game in pairs as a lesson starter, using one set of numbers (e.g ‘wheelbase’) to order the cards, comparing and ordering the numbers for one particular car, etc. The context is intended to engage those pupils who may not always see the relevance of mathematical concepts - hence the set includes plenty of luxury and sports cars as well as those more modest motors we teachers are likely to be spotted in!

A tarsia puzzle for practice with mentally adding/subtracting multiples of 1, 10, 100 and 1000. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems?

A lesson for KS1 (best suited to Y2) to introduce the topic of Islam. Covers the story of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the revelations of the Angel Gabriel (Jibril) that were given to him, which later became the writings in the Quran.

A lesson to introduce the topic of ‘creation stories’ for Y1/2 that focuses on encouraging pupils to see the complexity and variety of nature in comparison to the man-made world and prompting them to think about how it may have been created. This then prepares them to hear various religions’ creation stories in the following weeks as well as the scientific theory. The main activity in the lesson is a chance to leave the classroom and go to the school field/Forest Schools area/nearby park/garden to look for examples of complexity and beauty in nature. This is followed by a ‘follow-up’ activity to evidence the learning in the lesson input, which is differentiated three ways.

An ideal end-of-unit quiz for upper KS2 to put their knowledge of the Sikh religion to the test in a fun and accessible way. No need to print anything - just put the slides on-screen and click through! Note: the combination of questions and answers takes approximately 1 hour to work through with a class.

A debate lesson for Y5 English at the beginning of a unit on writing balanced arguments, to complement a geography topic on Global Trade. The motion is ‘globalisation is a force for good in the world’, with eight fictional characters who stand on different sides of the argument. Through hot-seating and diamond four activities, this should help get some in-depth discussion going in your classrooms about the hidden costs of our cheap and plentiful consumer goods in the West, whilst acknowledging that standards of living would probably be worse across the board without worldwide commerce. Happy teaching and please do leave your feedback.

A geography lesson for Y2/3 in which pupils make some basic comparisons between the UK and a neighbouring European country (France), relating to both environmental, physical and human aspects of their geographies. Main activity involves a venn diagram, differentiated two ways plus an added extension.

A tarsia puzzle for practice with telling time from an analogue clock. The challenges comprise “o’clock”, “half-past”, “quarter to/past” times, as well as times to the nearest 5 minutes and nearest minute. In addition, there are added challenges that test pupils’ knowledge of certain ‘time facts’ (e.g that there are 24 hours in a day and 12 months in a year) that are on the LKS2 curriculum but best taught through continuous provision rather than discrete lessons. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupils’ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems? **Note: This puzzle works best when enlarged to A3 **

This is a complete writing lesson for lower KS2 during which pupils will write a biography of Harry Potter. It is structured as an assessment piece that could take place either before the start or at the end of a unit on biographies. However, it is adaptable if you wish to use it in another way. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint with embedded videos, a list of the major facts in Harry’s life (for pupils to order), an example text (WAGOLL) and a word bank to assist pupils’ writing.

A lesson for Y3/4 all about rhythm in poetry and the syllables in words. The context is water-themed poems constructed with rhyming couplets. The activities are differentiated three ways with an extension challenge. Challenge 1 requires pupils to count the syllables in each line of a poem and then choose the best line to finish it off. Challenge 2 requires pupils to write their own additional lines, as does Challenge 3 but a syllabic limit is imposed for them to work within.

This lesson is intended for lower KS2 pupils who have already learned what the three states of matter are and who are ready to learn the processes of evaporation, condensation and dissolving. The initial teacher demonstration can be done with a kettle and glass (mind your hands!), then show pupils ice melting and sugar/salt dissolving in water. There are then three differentiated worksheets for pupils to demonstrate their understanding of the three processes.

A complete, standalone writing lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils complete a written piece to either begin or end a unit on newspapers (with an Anglo Saxon topic theme!). In this lesson, pupils complete a newspaper article breaking the news to Romano Britons that the Anglo Saxons are about to invade their shores. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, planning template, writing frame (pages 1 and 2, with newspaper-style columns) and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A lesson on mapwork for Y3/4 in which pupils locate and name the major rivers of the UK and some of the major towns and cities that lie along their courses. 4 river/waterway maps are included but it is highly recommended you put out a class set of good quality atlases with detailed mapping of the UK in them. Pupils will need to use their skills of comparing features across different maps in order to label the major UK rivers and answer the questions below. The activity is differentiated three ways.

An ideal end-of-unit quiz for upper KS2 to put their knowledge of the Muslim religion to the test in a fun and accessible way. No need to print anything - just put the slides on-screen and click through! Note: the combination of questions and answers takes approximately 1 hour to work through with a class.

A lesson for Y3/4 on poetic kennings. The context for this lesson is water, but editable resources are included should you need to change this. The activities are differentiated two ways: lower achieving writers can use the word bank to write simple ‘adjective’+‘verb’ kennings, while other children can make their kennings more varied in structure (in your shared writing you can make these as simple or complex as you choose!)

This differentiated resource is intended for lower KS2 children learning about parallel and perpendicular lines. There is a template that starts pupils off at the ‘1 chilli’ (i.e. easiest) level and allows them to choose how their level of challenge progresses from there. Ask your TA to trim the activities along the black lines into rectangles and pupils can come up to collect the one they want when ready!

A complete, standalone lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils design a ‘room-cleaning robot’ and then use this as the context for an explanation text on how the robot functions. This can be done as an assessed piece in one extended lesson or the content could be split into separate planning and writing days. The resources comprise: an example text (WAGOLL), wordbank, design template, planning (‘flowchart’) template, L.O page header slips and a step-by-step powerpoint.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 to help teach atlas skills and develop pupils’ knowledge of the larger countries of Europe and their capital cities. You will need a class set of atlases to teach this lesson, though there is a simple political map of Europe included with all of the key information as well. The main task is differentiated three ways, with a challenge for fast finishers.