Planning using a boxed format where pupils can first outline the story of Beowulf, idenifying themes that they can then imitate when planning there own story/legend side by side. Suitable for year 4 and up although the format can be adapted for any story writing.

An accompanying cloze procedure resource to support the identification of nouns, their uses and how they can support narrative . This resource can also be used to address other story writing features such as openings and setting development.

A cloze procedure activity where pupils have to fill in the spaces using nouns. This is a useful activity for identifying and using nouns, but also can be used as a model for story openings where characters are being introduced amidst action.

An activity for make inferences about a character using an extract. This resource is suitable for KS2, or KS3 needing support with inference.

An activity for make inferences about a character using an extract. This resource is suitable for KS2, or KS3 needing support with inference.

A fun activity to do after completing work on Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. It allows pupils to recall events from the book in order to answer questions. It can also be used to assess knowledge of the story.

Planning resource for biography writing- aimed at helping pupils develop the structure of their writing. This resource has previously been used to support year 4 pupils.

Smart board to accompany planning (also available as part of a bundle) on story writing using The Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat. This unit was part of a topic on the English Civil War.

Character based inference activity aimed at KS2/3 that helps pupils develop their understanding of inference, which lots of pupils find a difficult concept. The activity starts by encouraging pupils to make observations about an image, which they then use to ‘infer’ details about the character image. Examples are given as guidance.

An abridged version of Children of the New Forest (chapter one). Having looked for suitable books when teaching the English Civil War to KS2 pupils I found that there was little to choose from. Although Children of the New Forest is a fantastic story, the lengthy nature of Victorian writing meant that it was a challenge to enable the pupils to both understand the language itself, and read sufficient of the story to gain enough from the plot. Therefore, as the book is in the public domain and not subject to copyright laws, I have abridged the first chapter, with the intention of looking at the whole book. Comprehension and reading activities to accompany this book will follow. In this chapter I have highlighted certain words that teachers may wish to use for dictionary work, or pause to discuss (a resource for this will follow). I hope that this will prove useful to someone and would value any feedback.

A template of questions to ask pupils in KS1/2 about their history learning.

This resource is to accompany a four session unit on biography writing. it includes national curriculum objectives and talking opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of biography writing and purpose.

Four sessions are included to aid pupils in producing a biography on King Charles I (smart board and resources are available as a bundle or individually to accompany this planning). Additional biography examples will be needed for comparison and identification of features. This unit also refers to the book Children of the New Forest.

A sequence of four lessons, using the Children of the New Forest as stimulus, looking at historical settings. This planning focuses on the part of the story where the children have lost their home, Arnwood, to a fire set by the parliamentarian soldiers. Pupils have the opportunity to think about how the different characters might have felt about the fire and demonstrate how they might continue to write as if they are the character. This sequence has been written with year 4 in mind but would be suitable with year 3 pupils or older. A smart board to accompany the lesson is also available.

An assembly written to show case learning that had happened over a term on the English Civil War. It involves pupils taking on the part of key historical figures to give the audience some background in to this area of history. There are also suggested opportunities for pupils to show work. A song suggestion is available.

Activity sheet for developing inference skills through interpreting different characters. The aim of the session is to produce a character description that includes character qualities, physical appearance and ideas about what the character’s back story might be based on the initial ideas pupils have gathered.