Use these handy flashcards and character descriptions to asses how well your students know the characters in the novel Holes by Louis Sacher. Included in this pack: - Drama based activity lessons and variations - 21 character flashcards - 21 character descriptions - Criteria for success handout - Custom made lizard stickers for envelopes (to give it that extra special touch!)

The start of the new academic year isn’t far away! Use this worksheet to give to your class on the first day and term to get to know who they are, there likes and dislikes. Research shows that students have a higher chance of success if lessons are personalized to their likes and dislikes. Getting to know your students is essential in developing a strong student-teacher rapport. Find more awesome resources for all the key stages and lots of FREE printables at www.theponderbox.com !

Introduce the book Holes by Louis Sachar to your pupils through an in depth cover analysis lesson. Students will explore what they think the book is about before even opening the first page. This resource includes a full, interactive Powerpoint for a full 60 minute lesson, plus 2 handouts that go with the lesson. This resource is all you need to get your students making inferences before you start reading. Enjoy! Skill development: inference / predictions Stretch and challenge: Making metaphors, writing to explain and compare and contrasting skills This resource is ideal for Key Stage 3

Getting to Know You - BUNDLE - 5 Awesome Activities in One The start of a new year is fast approaching and many teacher’s will soon find themselves with a whole new class of students that they will nurture and support for the next full academic year. This BUNDLE pack aims to help you get to know your students, their personal interests and learning styles with five unique activities to get them thinking about the year ahead. Including in this pack: All About Me Worksheet - students answer basic questions about themselves in order for their new teacher to get to know a little bit about them Silent ID - a fun activity to get students learning about each other! Multiple Intelligences Quiz - Find out which intelligences your pupils most associate themselves with by providing them with this fun quiz. Getting students to acknowledge their own learning styles allows them to develop critical thinking skills relating to their own personal growth and learning style! What I Like - You can personalize your lessons ahead by first getting to know what your pupils like. Is there a common interest in music across the board? Incorporate the music in later lessons to show pupils you don’t just care about filling their heads but also about their own enjoyment in the classroom. Help develop a strong student-teacher rapport by personalizing learning as much as you can! What I will learn - this worksheet is useful after giving students the low down on what to expect over the next term. Let students know what topics they’ll be learning more about and what skills they should aim to acquire. You can use this worksheet as an exit task to see how much students remember about what you’ve told them to expect!

The History of the English Language Allow your students to gain an understanding of the origins of the English language and develop an understanding how the language has changed over time. In this lesson, students will complete a student led information scavenger hunt through the use of learning stages in order to find key facts relating to the development of the English language from the Anglos to modern day English. Student led activity excellent for kineasthetic learners This resource includes A Google slide (full lesson) A blank timeline document for students to fill in (PDF and Doc) The History of the English Language Document (5 pages) to place in your learning stations Let me know how you get on with this resource in the feedback section! Thank you for purchasing this resource!

Use this worksheet early on in the phase of reading to allow your students to practice making inferences from quotes in the text.

Keep thinks creative with these innovative ice-breakers to adapt for any lesson in any classroom.

Use this resource to teach students about the different types of characters they may find in a novel, relating it directly to the novel Holes. Included in this resource: 1. A list of character types and definitions (I recommend cutting them out and laminating the character type and definition separately, and using it as a starter task that gets students to match character type to definition). 2. A table which students complete to identify the different character types in Holes.

Use this fun creative writing worksheet to assess how well your students know the characters in the novel . This is a great little activity to assess comprehension, writing development and SPAG.

Teach your students about theme with this quick and easy Powerpoint and worksheet to go with it. Suitable for ks3 and lower ability.

Lesson 1: Understanding the context of the novel To understand the importance of context in a story. To be able to identify the context in a story. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to develop an initial personal response to the author and the novel. In this lesson, learners will be introduced to the novel and start to form an understanding of the context as well as begin making predictions about the book. This is the first lesson as part of a guided reading unit. Great for KS3 students or students with a lower lexile level.

Use these creative writing prompts to get your students thinking more deeply about the characters in the novel.

Never be stuck for plenary ideas again. Download and choose from one of these 100 plenaries to keep your end of lessons innovative and engaging.

Help your students enhance their vocabulary with this nifty little word bank that they can use to record new words they encounter while reading. Students can stick it in their exercise books or keep it in their folders, and record new words each or every other lesson.

Help your students gain a thorough understanding of what adjectives are and how to identify and use them in their own writing. This Power Point contains 5 full lessons to introduce / review the use of adjectives, suitable for key stage 2, 3 and lower ability key stage 4 classes. These lessons are also great for EAL/ESL learners. These lessons are perfect for a quick review and a great way to assess students’ understanding and use of adjectives. Accompanied with the Powerpoint is a 5 page Home Learning document to give to students to complete after each lesson to further embed learning. If you’re looking for a very easy, no prep adjectives package then this is ideal!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Novel Study This resource has been designed as the first in a series of novel study lessons for an iGCSE English class but can be easily adapted to GCSE. Simply replace the learning objectives to ones that apply! Ideal for Key Stage 4, ESL learners and struggling readers! This lesson includes the following resources: A Powerpoint presentation (full lesson activities) A student reading log (PDF and word doc) 4 Cover Analysis Handouts (PDFs and word docs) 1 KWLS worksheet (PDF and word doc) This lesson includes the following activities: Starter & Exit Tasks to evaluate learning (pre-assessment and post-assessment) KWLS to establish what students already know Inference and prediction tasks based on cover analysis - teaching students to identify FACTS! Thank you for purchasing this resource! Let me know how you got on in the feedback! For more resources like these, visit www.theponderbox.com

What is theme? iGCSE / GCSE English Stone Cold Novel Study Facilitate the understanding of the concept of theme in this ready to go lesson! Included in this resource: Google Slide (whole lesson) PDF / word documents for the relevant activities (colour and B&W) Let me know how you liked this resource by leaving feedback! Find more resources at www.theponderbox.com !

**What is COVID19? RESEARCH TASK ** Learning Objectives • To be able to read and understand texts for a wide range of purposes and audiences. • To be able to critically evaluate nonfiction sources of information for reliability. • To be able to write objective summaries effectively. Perfect for a Nonfiction Reading / Research UNIT Key skills in this lesson focus on summarizing and evaluating nonfiction sources of information for reliability. This is a great introduction to a research unit. Students will develop their independent research skills in this COVID19 focused lesson. Students will explore a range of questions to learn more about the virus and demonstrate their evaluation skills and ability to draw out central ideas in a text. Find more awesome resources at: www.theponderbox.com !

KS2/KS3/SEND/Intervention English Resources Holes by Lois Sachar Resource Support your students in being able to identify various linguistic devices by exploring the use of sensory imagery in the novel Holes by Louis Sacher. Students can use this worksheet to identify sentences or phrases throughout the book and record them according to the sense that has been used. This is a great way to get students engaged with their own writing and understanding how they can make it more descriptive. Find more awesome Holes resources at www.theponderbox.com for all the key stages!

Use this mind map early on in the book to get students to think about how Stanley feels about certain people and situations. This will encourage students to develop a strong understanding of who Stanley is and how he's being described by the narrator. This worksheet can be used as an independent exercise or as part of a group activity.