Thanks for stopping by my shop. I am an experienced chartered primary teacher who has taught predominantly in Scotland. I have also taught in England, Australia and in the Middle East. I have produced a range of quality resources that provide depth and breadth. These resources should enhance the learning experience of pupils. There are many opportunities for active learning as well as structured tasks that consolidate and reinforce knowledge and application. Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by my shop. I am an experienced chartered primary teacher who has taught predominantly in Scotland. I have also taught in England, Australia and in the Middle East. I have produced a range of quality resources that provide depth and breadth. These resources should enhance the learning experience of pupils. There are many opportunities for active learning as well as structured tasks that consolidate and reinforce knowledge and application. Enjoy!
This is a detailed PowerPoint about online blogs
LEARNING INTENTIONS are:
to learn about the various types of blogs on the Internet
to learn how to post to a blog appropriately
to define selected vocabulary connected with blogs
to independently post a review of a book on a book review blog site
I have uploaded several jpg files so teachers can see the resource more comprehensively.
Enjoy with your classes.
I would be delighted if you leave feedback.
Traditional Tale Powerpoint Presentation-
Initial ppt. used to familiarise children with initial passage and to explore several possible continuations. Provides questions for discussion & opportunities to discuss writer's style, choice of vocabulary and structure.
'Sentence Stems' scaffold the continuation task for pupils. Further questions can extend task for extension work.
Poem is annotated to illustrate the poetic techniques used such as - alliteration, metaphor and simile.
It provides an easy to follow guide for the teacher to discuss the poem .
The children go on to compose about this subject or other subjects using the exemplar as their guide.
Humorous letter from teacher about 'unbelievable' homework excuses, cut and stick activity for sequencing, Letter starts for scaffolding pupils&' replies and pro - forma for 2nd draft or display purposes.
Poetry plan for biography poem / several exemplars/ models and structural plan. Pro- forma for written composition.
Word mat to scaffold writers who need more support. Obama biography which could be used as a stimulus for a shared biography poem.
These exemplars can be adjusted for other characters/ also composed and then extended to produce a sustained piece of biographical writing
on the subject.
Spring /Easter Poetry Learning Intention : to compose Spring Poems/ Easter Poems
PowerPoint presentation which provides a stimulus for a variety of poetry forms- including acrostic style and free verse.
Some Spring poems to read, enjoy and perform.
Vocabulary and word wall is provided to stimulate composition .
In addition, some clip art and a few pro formas for 2nd draft display or publication.
I have included several slide files in the preview so teachers can peruse the resource more comprehensively.
Hope your learners enjoy composing Spring and Easter poems.
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com
'Who lives here?' PowerPoint introduces a 'conversation' poem about the creatures and habitat of the rainforest.
It provides a structured step by step lesson to support composition.
It also allows reinforcement of parts of speech particularly verbs and prepositions.
Extended poetry task also provided for variety and possible differentiation.
Several verse examples are provided for clarity.
Rainforest booklet is provided for children to write their final draft for display or poetry portfolio.
'Rainforest List Poem' PowerPoint continues with a poetic theme and uses a simple format to motivate composition. This clear, concise and colourful presentation leads the learners step by step through the composition of a list poem based on a 'rainforest' theme. There is a grammar element throughout with an emphasis on nouns, adjectives and 'ing' verbs.
I have found a poetry context an effective way to embed incidental grammar teaching.
Although the outcome is a simple list poem, it can easily be differentiated for older learners. This would involve extending each line using e.g. adverbs or an additional clause.
Children are encouraged to compose an opening line, closing line and' list' lines inbetween.
A simple introduction to the topic Rainforests.
Photos to support simple text to encourage and promote discussion about this environment.
Ideal as a start to the topic - Rainforests.
A series of Mental Maths PowerPoint Presentations which can ideally be used as starter activities or plenaries . They focus mainly on numerical calculation and provide a 'quick fire' activity to promote mental recall. Children use mini whiteboards to record answers and most presentations provide answers which children can mark immediately as they proceed through the tasks. A few of the presentations provide slides where the teacher records the answers below using an interactive white board pen. Tasks include: adding, subtracting, doubling, halving, multiplying by 10,100, finding simple fractions of numbers and some problem solving, There is no preparation required and the slides are easily edited to provide further practice.
Would be delighted if you could leave feedback.
This pack of themed resources (Toys and Christmas) is ideal for early writers. It concentrates on reading , ordering and writing sentences correctly with colourful pictures to encourage engagement.
The 1st pair of presentations allow the teacher to take the learner through:
• responding to a picture orally
• reading key words that are not in the correct sentence order
• orally sorting words into order to make sense
• teacher modelling writing a complete sentence on whiteboard screen ( slides)
• teacher modelling starting a sentence -capitals
• teacher modelling ending a sentence- full stops, question marks & exclamation marks
The 2nd set of presentations provide a series of active tasks and takes the learner through:
• responding to a picture orally
• reading key words that are jumbled
• sorting into order to make sense
• the learner cutting out picture and words
• the learner ordering and sticking words to form sentences and adding accompanying pictures.
These resources provide an important teaching opportunity for the teacher to model thoroughly - reading for meaning, basic sentence construction and simple punctuation. They crucially prepare the learners for the independent 'cut and stick' tasks and the active tasks engage the learners .
These resources could also be used as meaningful tasks for small groups or individuals who require more support with basic writing.
The slides can also be edited easily for other topics. I have included some thumbnail pictures to show the learners' activities.
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com/
Presentation 1 - Super Sentences, Questions and Exciting Sentences
Using full stops, question marks and exclamation marks in simple sentences for young learners.
The initial presentation allows reading, writing and basic punctuation to be taught in parallel. It promotes and provides opportunities for the teaching of handwriting, spelling and punctuation as component skills of text composition.
The simple , colourful and concise way the text is presented to the learners engages them from the onset. The teacher can simply 'share' the sentence composition as it naturally happens. Additionally, learners can 'share the pen' with the teacher by writing words on the large smart board. A simple but effective way to direct teach, revise and reinforce sentence construction, punctuation and formation of letters. This unit of work can easily be delivered together as revision or taught as single units discreetly:
a) composing super sentences with capitals and full stops
b) composing super questions with capitals and question marks
c) composing exciting sentences with capitals and exclamation marks
Presentations 2, 3 and 4 'hand the task over' to the learners after the initial teaching is complete.
Each presentation is comprehensive and asks the children to compose sentences or questions with pictorial clues. The learners can compose on mini whiteboards, on paper, on the sheets provided or as a 'cut and stick' activity. Each presentation offers 10 slides with 4 pictorial prompts on each slide. There are 40 sentence tasks for each presentation - 120 in all.
The writing process is complex but these resources will encourage your learners’ early attempts at writing.
I have included some thumbnails as part of the resource upload to show some of the activities. Enjoy!
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com/
There are 6 PowerPoint presentations which provide active maths tasks. All 6 are ideal starters or plenaries and provide reinforcement and consolidation in an active and engaging manner.
Both of the 'Counting On' and 'Counting Back' presentations encourage and support carousel oral counting within a maths group or class. They ensure that children practise oral counting on and back from different start numbers. Both presentations can be edited easily with different starting numbers,
Both of the 'Tens and Units Adding and Subtracting' presentations provide quick fire whiteboard activities with answers so that children can immediately correct.
Both of the 'Hundreds,Tens and Units Multiplying and Dividing' presentations provide quick fire whiteboard activities with answers so that children can immediately correct.
All of the activities present an active approach to learning number facts. These rehearsal activities are designed for use with children to help them to memorise essential number facts and practise their number skills.
I have found these activities invaluable as they allow incidental assessment and can be delivered to groups /a class with ease. The children are engaged and motivated and enjoy them as starters and plenaries.
I have uploaded several jpg files so teachers can peruse the resources more comprehensively.
I hope that your children enjoy these active tasks. I would be delighted if feedback was provided.
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com/
This colourful and comprehensive presentation leads the learners through poetry composition using particular parts of speech ( word classes). It can be easily edited to reflect a current classroom topic.
RESOURCES INCLUDE:
Learning Intention
Success Criteria
‘Step by Step’ teaching points
Model poems to read, enjoy and analyse
‘Quick fire’ grammar revision of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs
Completed planners for perusal
Planners with picture prompts to use for poem composition
Flashcards for lamination
This will engage your learners in poetry composition whilst providing a meaningful context for grammar revision.
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com/
Two Packs included are intended to develop inferential skills in both reading and writing.
Pack A - 'Read between the Lines' incorporates :
15 differentiated passages
Literal and Inferential questions
True/False and ‘Don’t Know’ statements
to encourage close reading, skimming and scanning for details and reading for meaning.
Pack B - 'Over to You!' incorporates:
18 differentiated story starts - opening passages
‘Openers’ word wall
Prompts to encourage ‘quality ‘writing
Writer’s craft editing sheet to encourage continuation of events, characters and setting.
It is intended to provide writers with an initial start and to help develop a continuation of the writer's craft.
Ideal as a ‘short burst’ writing task or can be used for more extended writing tasks.
Would be delighted if you could leave feedback.
Writing a 5 line poem - CINQUAIN
The introductory presentation includes:
the signposts of a cinquain poem
models to read, perform and analyse
a planner for composition
several suggestions for poetry tasks/activities
an editing sheet
The four seasonal presentations include:
poems to read, enjoy and analyse
poems where vocabulary can be explored and highlighted
completed planners
blank planners for poetry tasks
These poetry activities also provide opportunities to explore vocabulary and consolidate grammar points.
Children enjoy this type of poetry task because once they have mastered the pattern of the poem, they can compose several with different topics.
There are 4 colourful presentations included in this pack of resources. They are intended for early writers and provide a solid base for teaching, demonstrating and gaining mastery of common words used most frequently by 5-7 year old writers.
Presentation 1 - High Frequency Words is intended for the introductory phase.
This presentation allows the teacher to:
a) read spelling words aloud to class or group
b) sound (where words are phonetically regular)
c) write (demonstrating letter formation)
on the interactive or smart board. Children can respond on their mini whiteboards.
Presentation 2 and 3 - HF words Tracing Tasks and Rainbow Writing Tasks provide further opportunities for the children to consolidate their common words spelling skills after the initial presentation.
Hopefully, the children will enjoy the varied tasks and most importantly revise these words in a fun way.
The final presentation is an assessment tool. It encourages the children to read, study , trace, cover and write the common words with a final sentence task.
These presentations are easily edited to include more complex common or topic words. The slides can be printed, laminated and used for carousel tasks. They can also be placed into a 'smart pals' folder ( clear plastic folder where worksheet goes inside) , Children can write on and wipe clean.
Very suitable for older children who require more support as part of a spelling intervention programme.
Totally versatile - enjoy with your young writers!
Many thanks for free use clip art provided by http://www.clipartlord.com/
This unit contains a series of writing pictorial prompts with accompanying word walls. It also has several accompanying written responses that can be analysed and serve as reminders to the children to:
vary their sentence starts
vary the length of their sentences
use the word wall when composing sentences about the picture
use capitals at the beginning of each sentence
use full stops, exclamation marks and question marks as appropriate
Connectives or 'joining' words are provided on each slide to encourage more complex sentences.
I use it on a weekly basis to provide a 'short burst' writing task which helps the children to produce 3-5 sentences.
I vary the task by asking the children to respond to the prompt on their white boards as well as within their jotters.
The pictures are clear, colourful and stimulate discussion before writing and can be easily edited and changed to reflect current topic etc.
The models are provided so that the teacher can easily prompt the children to notice a variety of starters , use of connectives and adjectives.
I colour code the sentences - green at the start of each sentence and red for full stops, question marks and exclamation marks at the end.
The unit is an additional writing resource that requires little preparation and complements longer writing tasks. Would be delighted if you could leave feedback.
'How to make a Salad' and 'How to make Porridge' - Instruction Writing
This pack of resources introduces the writing genre- instructions in a 'child friendly' manner. The food presentations are colourful and clearly set out the 'signposts' of the genre:
a) 'How to... ' title for instructions
b) 'What you need'
c) Pictures to aid meaning for the reader
d) 'What you do' or 'Method'
e) Numbering each instruction
This ensures that the children experience and engage with models before attempting independent writing tasks.
The 'cut and stick' activities resources match the initial presentations and provide a scaffold for the children to read , understand, label and order instructions in an active manner.
I have also included larger pictures that would be ideal when working with a smaller group who need more support. These should be laminated if possible.
The teacher can easily demonstrate the layout 'step by step' for children who need more direct teaching.
I have also included the learning intentions and success criteria for the tasks.
The last presentation is a fun recipe version based on summer time . It can be read, explored and enjoyed before the children attempt to write similar instructions using a support mat provided on the presentation. There are two versions , colour background for smart board use and white background to save costs when printing. This presentation can be adapted for use with other seasons : Spring, Autumn and Winter.
A selection of PowerPoints that introduce Literature Circles and the benefits of promoting this within a literacy /reading session. One is devoted to introducing Literature Circles to teachers and practitioners who are unfamiliar with them. The other two presentations are intended for children and can be used to guide them through the roles plus the approach needed for successful collaborative work.
The badges for each role are provided for lamination.
The pro formas for each role are also included.
This approach encourages independent reading and supports active reading within the classroom.
A Literature Circle word mat provides stimulating questions to scaffold and enhance speaking & listening within a group . This word mat could also be used by the teacher as a plenary activity.
A series of Mental Maths PowerPoint Presentations which can ideally be used as starter activities or plenaries. They focus mainly on numerical calculation within 100 and provide a 'quick fire' activity to promote mental recall. Children use mini whiteboards to record answers and each presentation provides answers which children can mark immediately as they proceed through the tasks. . Tasks include: adding, subtracting and fact families. There is an emphasis on presenting maths language in different forms like: add, count on, increase, plus, subtract, minus etc. There is no preparation required and the slides are easily edited to provide further practice.