Create stunning descriptive sentences about WW2 settings. During this sentence building activity, young writers describe damaged homes, a pier and a pavilion. You could quickly edit the images and the word banks to match landmarks in your local area. We went on to use the sentences we created in stories set during WW2. Enjoy!

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.

I can use a colon to introduce a list (when the clause before the list is independent) This fun dice game gives children lots of opportunities to use a colon to introduce a list. I have included three versions of the game, to ensure that all learners are included and challenged appropriately. On track version: In pairs, use the on track dice guide. As players progress in the game, they must shade one colon on their game board for every item (or noun phrase) they include in each list. The first player to reach the finish is the winner. Support version: In pairs, children use the support dice guide. During each round both players create a list sentence, using the opening clause on the dice guide, and a list of noun phrases. There are visual prompts on the dice guide to support writers with ideas. Challenge version: Use the ‘on track’ dice guide, but ask the children to experiment with lists made up of expanded noun phrases that include commas, wherever possible. They can try using semi-colons to separate the items in each list. Example of a sentence that could be created by playing this dice game at challenge level: To create her magic potion she needed the following: wild mushrooms, from the lower field; oak bark, from the oldest tree in Western Wood; three long, white feathers and a twist of fresh sap, not more than a day old. Your class will soon get the hang of colons to introduce lists if you play this for a session.

I use this in year 5 and year 6 - I'm sure it could be useful for ages 7-14. I can understand the meaning of ‘addition’ words and ‘cause and effect’ words I can develop an argument using ‘addition’ or ‘cause and effect’ Explanation When children try to add a further point to an argument they often get confused between two key language functions: • ‘addition’ - adding a further related point (also, in addition to, furthermore, moreover…); • ‘cause and effect’ - explaining the effect of the previous point (therefore, consequently, as a result of, because of this…). This can result in children making points that are nonsensical: Mobile phones make children safer because they can contact their parents in the event of an emergency. Consequently, children can contact online safety websites and get useful advice about online bullying. Here we see that a misunderstanding of the adverb ‘consequently’ has weakened the argument. An ‘addition’ adverb such as ‘furthermore’ would make a lot more sense. The same problem can occur in reverse. Text messaging during lessons is a distraction. In addition to this, children secretly sending text messages will fall behind their classmates. In this passage, the second point is a consequence of the first and not an additional argument. A cause and effect adverb such as ‘therefore’ would make much more sense. Use the activity "Addition or cause and effect?" to help children understand how to develop a point without confusing the reader.

Use this to develop children’s understanding of clauses, and to encourage children to vary the number of clauses they include within their sentences. Assessment focus I can understand the terms ‘clause’ and ‘conjunction’. I can say sentences with one or more clauses. I can write sentences with many clauses, without confusing the reader. This activity promotes lots of talk around word classes and building multi-clause sentences.

Dice game! Warm up! Presentation! Missing dashes activity! I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about how to teach young writers to understand dashes and to use them creatively. The end result is a dice activity which teaches children six simple ways of using dashes effectively. Children who take part in this writing activity will learn six different (and fool proof!) ways of dropping in extra thoughts and ideas between dashes. It is surprising the depth this can add to fiction writing. *As well as the dice activity, I have also included a 15 slide PowerPoint. This explains how dashes can be used, and it has extension activities. *I have also included a warm up activity that always leads to some useful discussion. *I have also included a ‘add the missing dashes’ activity Teachers, if you swap the sentences in this activity to match your own writing projects, children can generate superb sentences to add to their own compositions.

‘Noun or Not?’ is a two player dice game aimed at Key Stage 2 children. It has an interesting wildlife theme and built in peer assessment, so pupils can correct each other as they go along. There are 6 ‘going deeper’ activities involving plenty of challenge. I’m sure your class will love this way of looking at nouns - BETTER THAN A WORKSHEET!

Assessment focus: I can write a sentence that makes sense by itself Children explore sentences that make sense and sentences that do not. They fix sentences and write them correctly. The main activity is differentiated 3 ways. Included: Lesson plan Warm up Activity differentiated 3 ways

Contractions come up in Year 2, but I have made these resources for KS2, as children still need to practise accurate use of apostrophes. Included are two engaing dice games (‘Contraction Creator’ and ‘The Memory Test’). Both are far more memorable and fun than dull worksheets. There is also a support activity and a presentation. Enjoy!

Excellent grammar session! Fully differentiated! Including ‘support’ and ‘going deeper’ activities and a detailed PowerPoint to use in class. Available as word and PDF docs. Assessment focus I can identify nouns and verbs When I classify (group) a word, I think about the job it is doing in the sentence Explanation We spend a lot of time telling children that nouns are ‘people, places, things and ideas’ and verbs are ‘actions or states of being’. These are useful starting points for younger learners, but there is a little more it… If you ask children to classify ‘walk’, ‘laugh’, ‘object’ and ‘book’, they will likely tell you that the first two are verbs and the second two are nouns. Understandable! In fact, these words can be nouns or verbs, and there are many similar examples. Therefore, when children are classifying a word, we need to encourage them to look at the function of the word within its sentence. The walk was long and tiring. (Noun) I walk to school. (Verb) This two player dice game, aimed at upper KS2, gives pupils lots of opportunities to identify nouns and verbs. More than that, they also explore the function of words that can be used as nouns and verbs. Children have to look at the whole sentence before classifying a word. It has built in peer assessment, so there is NO MARKING REQUIRED! Pupils assess each other’s answers as the game progresses: player A has player B’s answers and vice versa. Lots of opportunities for pupil talk! It’s an engaging way to get pupils talking about the function of words and is much richer than a simple worksheet.

There are lots of resources already available for expanded noun phrases, but none that really challenge children to develop their vocabulary and make really adventurous or precise choices. This dice activity encourages children to try out new word choices from extensive word banks, and it is fully differentiated into three versions. In its simplest form, children add adjectives and pairs of adjectives to noun phrases. In its most challenging form, children may have to add two compound adjectives and a preposition phrase - this can result in some wonderfully descriptive sentences. It all depends on the roll of a dice. Of course, teachers that love using my games will have guessed that already! Try it with your class and then ask them to apply the skill in their next composition. Fully editable so that you can easily adapt it to the unit you are working on by changing the single clause sentences that the children will be developing. *The main version here works well with myth, legend and adventure, but I have added a sci-fi version to show how it can be adapted for use with any fiction.