In this activity, children are expected to take an unknown board game called Minefield, figure out a way to play it and write the gaming instructions. The main board is provided with counters and peace signs. This works well as a team activity, as a lot of discussion needs to go into figuring out what the game play and any other equipment will be before the rules are written up. The children really loved this challenge, especially when they knew there were actually no right or wrong ways (or any way in existence) to play it. The main objective though is to try and design the game play in such a way that is both straight-forward, challenging and fun. Lots of critical thinking skills involved in the discussion stages of the activity. It’s amazing how many variants of how to play the game that the children come up with. Of course, in the end, they all get to play each others version and can decide themselves which one they enjoy the best. I hope your children love doing this activity as much as mine did!

This is a short story about Jonny’s dinner. Words are missing throughout the text and it’s the children’s job to fill in the blanks making sure it’s the correct part of speech (as stated in brackets) and also that it makes sense. The first page of the document contains form fields so children can easily click and fill in the blanks. The second page is for printing off for children to fill in. Because of this, the worksheet is suitable for children to complete either online or offline. *Please note: The form functions don’t work in Google Docs, so it’s best to share the lined version instead. * Mad libs are a great way for children to personalise stories whilst learning about parts of speech and proper grammatical structure! I hope you enjoy the often crazy versions your children come up with!

This is a short story about a girl called Sarah who finally sends a love letter to the boy she has secretly admired for along time. Words are missing throughout the text and it’s the children’s job to fill in the blanks making sure it’s the correct part of speech (as stated in brackets) and also that it makes sense. There are two copies of the worksheet. The first contains form fields so children can easily click and fill in the blanks in a program such as Microsoft Word. The second version contains lined blanks for children to write on after printing. Mad libs are a great way for children to personalise stories whilst learning about parts of speech and proper grammatical structure. I hope you enjoy the often crazy versions your children come up with! This particular story is interesting as it could go either way for Sarah at the end. Was it worth the risk!? Note: This resource is fully editable so you can change any part of it as you please.

A fill in the blank exercise for a text about, ‘When I’m Older’. Children enjoy making their own hopes and predictions about what their life will be like in 20 years time. An example text is included to give the children an idea of how to complete their own. It also includes lots of adjectives and children should be encouraged to add some to their own text to make it more interesting. The document includes 2 copies of the worksheet. The first contains form fields so children can easaily click on the boxes and fill in the blanks. The second is meant to be printed so children can write their answers on the lines provided. My children really enjoyed this activity and it is very insightful to read and share with the rest of the class.

This fully editable board game adds fun for children who are learning to read. There are 21 spaces in which you can add any word you wish for children to practice reading. The board game is also A3 size so the words are easy to see. The idea is that 2-4 children take turns rolling the dice. If they are able to read the word that they land on then they can remain there, if not then they move back to where they just were before they rolled. This is one of my personal favourite resources, not just because both I and the children love it, but also because you can enter in any word set you like. I even play this with my son and it really encourages him to focus on pronouncing the words as perfectly as he possibly can.

This is a fully editable A4 version of the memory game. The front of the memory cards are all the same pattern and help to obscure what is on the other side. When I use this in class I have those plastic A4 folders that I insert the memory cards into. It helps keep them in one piece and means that you don’t need to print the covers every time, just insert the new words. In fact, I don’t even bother to take the old memory cards out, they’ve just built up in there over time. If you’re not aware of how to play the game, the basic idea is this… Split the class into at least 2 teams. I usually have them sit in a line either side of the grid of cards. That way they can take turns in pairs down the line and other team members can try and remember the location of the previous cards. The pair then turns over two of the cards, leaving them in place, so both teams can see what they are. If they are a pair then they take them with them as one point. If they aren’t a pair, then they turn them over and its the next teams turn. Here are some ideas of how you can use the giant memory game in class: a) Matching words with their definition. b) Joining up parts of a word or sentence. c) Calculations and their answer, for example a particular times table. d) Verbs and their past tense form. e) Labels and their respective picture. *The example I’ve used in this upload is of adult and baby names for different animals. * There are so many ways you can use this game and you don’t even have to limit yourself to pairs. It could be a set of three that has to be found. Like many things, this potential of this game is only limited by the range of your creativity! The children love it and it also helps to reinforce content, encourages teamwork, as well as improving memory and paying attention.

A four slide presentation containing a variety of pictures and symbols to map out the story of Pie Corbett’s Storm Unicorn. After familiarising themselves with the text, children should be able to re-read the story using only the story map. It makes for an interesting challenge.