I am an Assistant Headteacher at an outstanding North London primary school. Throughout all my teaching career, I have strongly believed that we make the best learning happen when we inspire pupils. The resources I publish are therefore intended to do exactly that and to offer a challenging and engaging learning experience to pupils of all abilities. I hope you will find something here that inspires you!
I am an Assistant Headteacher at an outstanding North London primary school. Throughout all my teaching career, I have strongly believed that we make the best learning happen when we inspire pupils. The resources I publish are therefore intended to do exactly that and to offer a challenging and engaging learning experience to pupils of all abilities. I hope you will find something here that inspires you!
A lesson for Y1/2 on Jewish places of worship. Powerpoint links to a video that gives a tour of the New London Synagogue. The main task is differentiated three ways and there is an extension task for fast finishers. The plenary is a short quickfire quiz.
A tarsia puzzle for practice with telling time from an analogue clock. The challenges comprise âoâclockâ, âhalf-pastâ, âquarter to/pastâ times, as well as times to the nearest 5 minutes and nearest minute. In addition, there are added challenges that test pupilsâ knowledge of certain âtime factsâ (e.g that there are 24 hours in a day and 12 months in a year) that are on the LKS2 curriculum but best taught through continuous provision rather than discrete lessons. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupilsâ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems? **Note: This puzzle works best when enlarged to A3 **
This resource is ideal for use when teaching lower KS2 pupils how to find fractions of a number. The â1chilliâ and â2 chilliesâ activities are intended to be trimmed into three rectangles and stuck onto the template when completed. For example, a pupil may start with the â1 chilli - Aâ activity, find they are ready to move onto harder work and so do the âtwo chillies - Aâ activity next. The template has space for up to 3 activities.
Additionally there are a pair of âchilli challengeâ cards that you could trim and laminate for use as an extension or to go in a âchallenge areaâ within your classroom. These challenges are âopen-endedâ - there are a range of solutions and therefore should keep able Y3/4 pupils busy for some time!
This is a short (30-45mins) R.E lesson to teach lower KS2 children about the importance of the Eid (Eid Al Adha) festival: why the concept of sacrifice is important in Islam and what happened in the original sacrifice story that is remembered at Eid (Ibrahim and Ismael).
The presentation begins with a discussion-based starter with examples of sacrifices children will be familiar with from general life. The video (linked from YouTube) explains the story of the original story of Ibrahim and Ismael). The activity that follows is differentiated three ways: â1 chilliâ: order the storyboard pictures and match with them the text, 2 chillies: pupils create their own pictures to accompany the story text, 3 chillies: pupils create their own text and images to narrate the story. Please note: It is an important belief in Islam that characters of religious significance should not be explicitly depicted in images - therefore the faces of the characters on the 1 chilli activity are hidden - the powerpoint reminds pupils completing the two more challenging activities to do the same with their drawings. It is worth reiterating this orally to your class. For those who complete quickly, an extra challenge is described on the powerpoint.
A lesson for Y3/4 focussing on the skill of historical interpretation. This lesson provides primary and secondary sources (in picture format) that pupils interpret to explain the ways in which the Anglo Saxon invaders of the 6th century AD were different from the Roman-influenced Britons that they found living here. The resources comprise a powerpoint, a sheet with information on the sources (it is suggested you enlarge this to A3), images of the sources to cut and stick (if desired) and the worksheets themselves, differentiated 2 ways.
A lesson on mapwork for Y3/4 in which pupils locate and name the major rivers of the UK and some of the major towns and cities that lie along their courses. 4 river/waterway maps are included but it is highly recommended you put out a class set of good quality atlases with detailed mapping of the UK in them. Pupils will need to use their skills of comparing features across different maps in order to label the major UK rivers and answer the questions below. The activity is differentiated three ways.
A complete lesson for lower KS2 on telling the time to the nearest minute. The resources comprise a step-by-step powerpoint presentation, a laminatable sheet of blank clocks for pupils to use to represent the times given in the guided activities and three differentiated worksheets for the main activity. There is also a discussion-based plenary.
Please note: pupils should already be able to read time to the nearest 5 minutes (lesson available at this link: /teaching-resource/tell-the-time-from-an-analogue-clock-nearest-5-mins-11909819?theme=0) before you teach this lesson and should know how many minutes are in one hour. Itâs also recommended that you have teaching clocks with moveable hands for both the pupils and a larger one for you and/or your TA.
This lesson is intended for lower KS2 pupils who have already learned what the three states of matter are and who are ready to learn the processes of evaporation, condensation and dissolving.
The initial teacher demonstration can be done with a kettle and glass (mind your hands!), then show pupils ice melting and sugar/salt dissolving in water. There are then three differentiated worksheets for pupils to demonstrate their understanding of the three processes.
A lesson explaining to pupils the significance of the Palm Sunday story and challenging them to retell it in âstoryboardâ form. Includes a video recounting the events of Palm Sunday as told in the Bible. The pupil activity is differentiated three ways.
A lesson for Y3/4 on poetic kennings. The context for this lesson is water, but editable resources are included should you need to change this. The activities are differentiated two ways: lower achieving writers can use the word bank to write simple âadjectiveâ+âverbâ kennings, while other children can make their kennings more varied in structure (in your shared writing you can make these as simple or complex as you choose!)
A complete lesson for Y3/4 on writing rhyming couplets, with water as the context for the poetry. The lesson involves plenty of partner talk and oracy so as to allow pupils to hear the effect of different rhyming structures, as well as the overall rhythms of poetry. The main activity is differentiated three ways with a word bank to support children working at all three levels of challenge.
A lesson for KS1 explaining the creation story of the Bible/Torah/Quran. Includes a diamond 9 starter activity encouraging pupils to think about all living things and which is most important, and a matching activity they can complete while watching the video. The main pupil activity is differentiated three ways.
A lesson for Y3/4 focussing on the skill of historical interpretation. This lesson provides primary and secondary sources (in picture format) that pupils interpret to decide why the Roman army was such a successful fighting force and why they enjoyed such success against the Celts when they invaded Britain. The resources comprise a powerpoint, a sheet with information on the sources (it is suggested you enlarge this to A3), images of the sources to cut and stick (if desired) and the worksheets themselves, differentiated 2 ways.
A 5 lesson sequence for KS1 on Islam, covering the following:
Who the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was and how he started the faith
Two stories about the prophet that influence how Muslims live their lives
The five pillars of Islam
Ramadan and Eid
Muslim places of worship
A geography lesson for Y2/3 in which pupils make some basic comparisons between the UK and a neighbouring European country (France), relating to both environmental, physical and human aspects of their geographies.
Main activity involves a venn diagram, differentiated two ways plus an added extension.
This is a complete lesson for lower KS2 pupils who are studying Hinduism in RE and have already had a basic introduction to the concepts of Ahimsa, Karma and Dharma. There is a starter intended to âhookâ the children in by getting them to ask the questions - these questions could then be used in an alternative plenary in which pupils can answer their original questions.
The reading activity could be completed in groups of four (one card each) or pairs (two cards each). There are comprehension questions at the bottom for the pupils to ask each there peers after reading each section.
Finally, the main written activity is differentiated three ways to allow children to apply their new understanding of Ghandi and his beliefs.
This is a complete practical lesson for lower KS2 on the difference between reversible and irreversible changes. The lesson begins with an open-ended âodd one outâ activity intended to engage childrenâs deeper thinking and elicit appropriate scientific vocabulary and verbal reasoning.
Depending on your schoolâs health and safety policy, you may or may not be able to do the very first teacher demonstration, where you burn a small amount of methylated spirit in a plate (then show them the empty plate after it has burned away!) If not, videos can easily be found on YouTube.
For the 3 child-led practical parts of the lesson you will need:
olive/sunflower/vegetable oil
vinegar (any)
sand
filter paper
funnels
Alka-Seltzer tablets (one per pair) or similar
There is then a short activity to finish off with - differentiated three ways and with an open-ended extension question to keep any âfast finishersâ busy! The plenary activity challenges pupils to use what they have learned to discuss whether a real-world chemical change is reversible or irreversible. Give the blue cards to one partner and the yellow ones to the other. The partners will then have to work together to arrive at a conclusion.
This powerpoint contains 82 literacy starters, each one differentiated three ways and most also including an extension challenge - a total of over 300 activities! With the exception of the âlipogramsâ, these activities are all âopen-endedâ, i.e, pupils do not âfinishâ them. This makes them ideal for morning âwelcomeâ time (for schools that do this), where pupils arrive at different times. Equally, they can be used as regular lesson starters. Nothing needs printing for any of the activities, you literally just put the slide up on your smartboard and off you go!
The file comprises the following challenges:
Slides 2-18: âWord Chainsâ (Y1-6) This can be good practice for pupilsâ dictionary use skills - can they find a word that begins with the last letter(s) of the previous word? How long can they then make this word chain before they run out of words?
Slide 19: âAlphabet Sentencesâ (Y1-6) A great activity for assessing how well pupils grasp what constitutes a sentence, as well as extending their vocabulary. This activity challenges pupils to create sentences where the words start with consecutive letters of the alphabet.
Slides 20-46: âLipogramsâ (Y4-6) Ideal for practice in using a thesaurus and extending pupilsâ vocabulary, as well as assessing their sense of poetic rhythm and word choice. These activities provide a short poem with a particular theme (e.g âwaterâ, âSpringâ, âThe Futureâ, etc.) and challenge pupils to re-write it with the rule that one letter is âforbiddenâ! Note: some of these are harder than others, so choose carefully when first introducing the idea!
Slides 47-62: âStarts and Endsâ (Y2-6) A chance for pupils to build vocabulary and practice dictionary use, this time in a slightly more competitive way! The starting and ending letters of words are provided, pupils need to think of and write down the longest words they can find/think of with those starting and ending letters.
Slides 63-74: â9 Letter Challengeâ (Y1-3) Useful for practicing phonics for spelling with simpler words. This activity challenges pupils to make as many words as they can using the provided letters. Note: These only have 2-way differentiation (plus an extension challenge)
Slides 75-83: Christmas Specials! These are versions of the above challenges for the festive season, complete with suitably cheesy xmas graphics!
An example Newspaper Article about the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings and the death of Harold Godwinson. Suitable for Lower KS2 and ideal if you happen to be studying newspaper articles in English and the Anglo Saxons/Normans/Early Middle Ages/Kings and Queens in topic! Could be used for guided reading or as model text (WAGOLL) as a stimulus for writing.
A tarsia puzzle for practice with mentally adding/subtracting multiples of 1, 10, 100 and 1000. Can be used in pairs or individually. Includes missing number problems to challenge pupilsâ reasoning. As an extension, why not challenge pupils to create their own puzzle with similar calculation problems?