This resource provides an excellent model for implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy through a classroom-ready activity on the Black Death for KS3 History students. It comprehensively covers each level of the taxonomy through clear explanations, sample questions, and opportunities for students to generate their own questions.
The resource begins by outlining the benefits of using Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as promoting higher-order thinking skills, scaffolding learning progressively, and providing a framework for creating assessments. It highlights how the taxonomy equips students with vital 21st century skills like analysis, problem-solving, and creativity.
The core of the resource walks through the six levels of Bloom’s - remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating. For each level, it gives a simple explanation of what that cognitive skill involves. It then provides multiple sample questions related to the Black Death summary that model what questions at that level look like. Crucially, it explains why each sample question exemplifies that particular thinking skill level.
An engaging element is that the resource prompts both teachers and students to practise writing their own questions for each taxonomy level based on the text. This interactive aspect reinforces understanding of the levels while involving students actively.
Throughout, the resource uses the summary on the Black Death as a grounded, subject-specific context for exploring Bloom’s Taxonomy in a meaningful way. Having a concrete text example makes the hierarchy of thinking skills more tangible.
The resource conveniently includes a ready-to-use student handout template covering all the taxonomy levels and aligned to the Black Death text. This allows teachers to easily implement the activity in their classroom with little extra preparation required.
Overall, this resource provides a comprehensive, practical and engaging guide for KS3 History teachers to start incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy into their lessons. Its clear structure, modelled examples and built-in student materials offer an accessible way to put this powerful framework for fostering higher-order thinking skills into practice.
Getting to Grips with Metaphors
Getting to Grips with Metaphors is a comprehensive packet focused on teaching upper KS2 students about metaphors. It covers the following key topics:
Defining and distinguishing metaphors from similes, with examples.
Explaining how metaphors create vivid imagery by comparing two unlike things directly.
Analysing the deeper meaning behind common metaphorical expressions like “a storm in a teacup.”
Guidance on how to craft original metaphors to describe concepts like the sun, sea, and night.
Using metaphors effectively in poetry and prose writing.
Practice exercises for identifying, creating, and converting between metaphors and similes.
The lesson uses an engaging instructional style with clear explanations, sample metaphors, and opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding through written responses. The visuals and imaginary scenarios help make the abstract concept of metaphors more concrete and relatable for year 5/6 students.
Overall, this resource provides a structured yet creative way for teachers to build students’ skills in recognising, interpreting, and generating metaphors to enhance their descriptive writing abilities. The exercises and examples are pitched appropriately for upper KS2.
Getting to Grips with Similes (blurb)
This resource is a comprehensive set of worksheets designed to teach year 5/6 students about the use of similes in writing. It covers the following key areas:
Defining similes and distinguishing them from metaphors, with clear examples provided.
Explaining how similes create vivid imagery by comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as”.
Guiding students to craft their own original similes to describe concepts from the natural world, like the sea, sun, etc.
Using similes effectively to bring story characters to life by comparing their traits to animals or objects.
Identifying similes in poetry and analysing the comparisons being made.
Applying similes to describe fantasy characters or scenes.
The resource employs an engaging, multi-modal approach with written explanations, example similes, visuals of characters/animals, and plenty of practice exercises. Students get opportunities to demonstrate understanding by writing their own similes and short descriptive passages.
The content is pitched appropriately for the upper KS2 level, with clear instructions and a gradual progression from identifying and explaining similes to generating original ones.
Overall, this is a well-designed resource that uses relatable scenarios, images, and step-by-step scaffolding to build students’ skills in recognising, interpreting, and incorporating similes to enhance descriptive writing. The variety of exercises and examples caters well to different learning styles.
A set of classic metacognitive prompts for use in every classroom (24pp)
This whiteboard resource is an excellent tool for teachers looking to incorporate metacognition into their classroom practices. Metacognition, as explained in the resource, refers to the process of thinking about one’s own thinking, and it is an essential skill for effective learning.
The resource presents metacognition in a clear and concise manner, breaking it down into three distinct stages: before a task, during a task, and after a task. Each stage is accompanied by a set of guiding questions that students can ask themselves to promote metacognitive thinking.
Before a task, the questions encourage students to understand the expectations, identify any prior knowledge or experience, plan the necessary steps, and determine the criteria for successful completion. During a task, the questions prompt students to seek help when needed, evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies, monitor their progress, and check for errors. After a task, the questions prompt students to reflect on their approach, identify strengths and weaknesses, consider what they have learned, and explore ways to improve for future tasks.
This resource is particularly useful for teachers because it provides a structured framework for introducing and reinforcing metacognitive practices in the classroom. By presenting these guiding questions, teachers can help students develop the habit of self-reflection and self-regulation, which are critical components of metacognition.
Additionally, the resource is visually appealing and easy to understand, making it suitable for use with a wide range of students, from elementary to secondary levels. Teachers can display the resource on a whiteboard or projector, or distribute printed copies to students, ensuring that the metacognitive prompts are readily available and easily accessible.
Overall, this whiteboard resource is an excellent tool for teachers seeking to promote metacognition in their classrooms. By incorporating these metacognitive practices, teachers can empower students to become more effective learners, capable of monitoring their own thinking processes, identifying areas for improvement, and developing strategies for enhanced learning and achievement.
This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included.
SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination
This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included.
SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination
The Vikings
This lesson is ready to use and has three teaching objectives.
Introduce 11-14 year old students to the topic of Vikings:
The lesson provides detailed historical information about the Vikings, including their raids, settlements, culture, and impact on Europe.
Allow students the opportunity to experience a wide variety of question types:
The lesson includes various types of questions, such as multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and more complex questions that require explanations and personal reflections. This variety helps students engage with the content in multiple ways and develop different skills.
Offer students the opportunity to practise self-assessment:
There is a section on collaborative self-assessment where students are encouraged to work with a partner to discuss and mark their answers. This process helps students practise self-assessment and peer review, fostering a deeper understanding and self-reflection on their learning.
Student-Friendly Collaborative Learning Whiteboard Prompts - Any Subject - Any Topic
This whiteboard resource titled “Collaboration in action” provides a comprehensive guide for students on how to effectively collaborate and work together with a partner. From a teacher’s perspective, this resource can be incredibly useful in promoting collaborative learning in the classroom.
The resource begins by highlighting the benefits of working with a partner, such as discussing the task, improving thinking skills, and understanding more of the learning. It then provides practical tips and guidelines for students to follow before, during, and after a collaborative task.
Before a task, the resource emphasises the importance of equal contribution, staying focused, active listening, supporting each other, clarifying doubts, sharing knowledge, and establishing ground rules for effective collaboration (e.g., avoiding interruptions, staying engaged, and respecting each other’s ideas).
During a task, the resource offers valuable advice on how to collaborate effectively, such as giving partners time to think, maintaining eye contact, avoiding interruptions, showing interest, carefully considering each other’s perspectives, asking clarifying questions, building on each other’s ideas, justifying opinions, making suggestions, and answering questions.
After a task, the resource prompts students to reflect on their collaborative experience and consider whether they learned more working with a partner compared to working alone, and whether they would prefer to do another task with a partner or individually.
Additionally, the resource provides helpful examples of phrases students could use to express their thoughts, disagree respectfully, ask questions, and give feedback to their partners.
For a teacher looking to incorporate collaborative learning in their classroom, this resource can be incredibly valuable. It provides a structured framework for students to understand the principles and practices of effective collaboration, which can be applied to various group activities, projects, or discussions. By referring to this resource, teachers can help students develop essential collaboration skills, such as communication, active listening, perspective-taking, conflict resolution, and teamwork, which are critical for their academic and future professional success.
Overall, this whiteboard resource offers a comprehensive and practical guide to collaborative learning, making it a valuable tool for teachers seeking to promote productive and meaningful group work in their classrooms.
This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included.
SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination
This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included.
SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination
This resource combines maths revision using a variety of SATs-style questions with the evidence-based learning skills of peer assessment and peer teaching to deepen pupils’ understanding of the topic. Both of these skills are proven to raise achievement. Answers are included.
SATs-style questions + Peer Assessment + Peer Teaching = A Winning Combination
Teachers, This Dynamic Resource Brings the Stone Age to Life
Looking to deliver an engaging and innovative Stone Age unit? This comprehensive resource has everything you need! Created for teachers but presented in a student-friendly format, it’s the perfect way to liven up your Stone Age lessons.
What makes this resource so useful?
Clearly organized sections that logically build student knowledge of the Stone Age, from its vast timescale to how climate changes impacted life
Bite-sized facts and anecdotes that will fascinate students, like stone tools being made 700,000 years earlier than thought and giant ground sloths being hunted
Helpful maps and images that visually support learning, like showcasing stone tool examples and climate shifts
A conversational, straightforward tone that makes content approachable for a range of ages and abilities
Beyond the stellar content, the easy-to-use document format makes integration into your existing plans seamless. You can print or photocopy pages, no prep required!
If you want to take your Stone Age instruction from dry to dramatic, this comprehensive resource is exactly what you need. It makes exploring this time period experiential and enjoyable for students. Download this dynamic guide and see for yourself!
The Exit Tickets resource is a practical, evidence-based tool designed to help teachers conduct quick, informal assessments at the end of lessons.
Exit Tickets allow students to reflect on what they’ve learned, providing teachers with immediate, actionable feedback on pupil understanding. This resource is grounded in research, making it a reliable way for teachers to identify learning gaps, adjust future lessons, and encourage deeper student engagement. The ten-minute guide helps teachers easily incorporate Exit Tickets into their classrooms, enhancing their teaching practices.
This price offers great value for whole-school use, ensuring that all teachers can benefit from the research-backed advantages of using Exit Tickets to inform current and future teaching.
These are the key features of this KS1 literacy skills builder lesson:
Aligned with Key Stage 1 Learning Goals – The resource is well-suited to KS1 literacy objectives, helping pupils develop essential skills like reading comprehension, vocabulary building, and basic literary analysis. It aligns with curriculum goals for reading fluency, understanding text structure, and making simple inferences.
Develops Foundational Comprehension Skills – The questions cover a range of comprehension levels, from literal recall to inferential thinking. By using a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, the lesson builds pupils’ confidence in both recognising straightforward details and expressing opinions or interpretations.
Engaging Storyline with Relatable Themes – The story of Dippy the Duck and the Tin Soldiers resonates well with young learners, making reading more enjoyable. Themes of inclusion, empathy, and perseverance are meaningful yet accessible, helping pupils connect to the story while building their social-emotional learning skills.
Encourages Vocabulary Growth and Discussion – The resource introduces vocabulary in a context that encourages natural exploration and questioning. This is ideal for KS1 pupils, who benefit from contextual learning and the opportunity to discuss new words, characters, and ideas with their teacher and peers.
Ready-Made Structure for Teachers – With a mix of reading passages, questions, and a poem, the lesson is well-rounded and organized for easy classroom integration. Teachers can use the resource as a complete lesson or select parts for guided reading, group work, or individual assessment.
Promotes Enjoyment in Reading – The relatable setting and playful character dynamics make this story enjoyable for young children. This helps foster a positive attitude toward reading and literature, an important aspect of early education.
Built-In Extension Opportunities – The lesson introduces The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen, a classic fairy tale, which opens up possibilities for comparison with other fairy tales, further comprehension activities, and discussions around literary tradition. Additionally, the poem reinforces skills like rhyming and rhythm, important in phonics and early literacy.
In Summary
This resource is valuable because it’s versatile, engaging, and pedagogically sound, providing teachers with a structured way to build pupils’ reading comprehension while reinforcing key KS1 learning objectives. It’s also flexible enough to support differentiation, making it a practical and worthwhile addition to any KS1 teacher’s toolkit.
This evidence-based Teacher Guide, titled “Ten Strategies for Creating a Classroom Climate for Critical Thinking,” offers practical and research-supported techniques for fostering critical thinking in pupils.
This guide is particularly useful for busy teachers who want to enhance their classroom practices to promote higher-order thinking skills. By integrating these strategies, teachers can create a classroom environment that supports thoughtful inquiry, deeper understanding, and the development of critical thinking abilities in their pupils.
The guide is divided into two main parts:
Introduction to Critical Thinking: It emphasises the importance of critical thinking as an essential skill for academic success and future careers, highlighting its role in effective communication, problem-solving, and navigating modern challenges like misinformation and biased information.
Ten Strategies for Cultivating Critical Thinking: The guide provides actionable strategies for teachers to implement in their classrooms, such as encouraging collaboration, developing metacognition, promoting decision-making, and using reflective practices. These strategies are designed to help students analyse, evaluate, and construct new ideas based on reason and evidence.
This whiteboard resource provides an excellent overview of self-regulation strategies that can be used before, during, and after a task or learning activity. It presents self-regulation as a set of practical skills that students can develop and apply to manage their thinking, behaviour, and motivation while working on tasks.
Teachers will find this resource extremely useful for introducing and reinforcing the concept of self-regulation in the classroom. The clear and concise format, with separate sections for each phase of a task, makes it easy to discuss and model these strategies with students.
Before a task, the resource prompts students to consider their motivation, goal-setting, self-assessment of strengths and areas needing support, and time management – all crucial elements for effective self-regulation.
During a task, the focus shifts to monitoring comprehension, adjusting effort and approach as needed, tracking progress towards goals, maintaining motivation and focus – essential skills for staying on track and overcoming challenges.
After a task, the resource encourages students to reflect on their time management, goal achievement, distraction management, and the overall effectiveness of their self-regulation efforts, fostering metacognition and continuous improvement.
Teachers could use this resource to introduce self-regulation concepts, lead class discussions, and have students practice applying these strategies to their own learning tasks. The clear language and format make it accessible for various ages, and the content can be tailored to suit different subject areas or learning contexts.
Overall, this whiteboard resource is an excellent tool for promoting self-regulation skills in the classroom, empowering students to take control of their learning process and develop essential lifelong skills for academic and personal success.
KS1 Introducing Connectives Literacy Booster Pack
This resource is a comprehensive literacy booster designed for Key Stage 1 pupils to introduce and practice the use of connectives in sentence construction. It is aimed at helping pupils progress from writing simple, short sentences to forming more complex, cohesive, and interesting sentences using connectives.
Key Features and Items of Value:
Learning Objectives: Pupils will identify and use simple connectives such as and, but, so, because, and if to combine short sentences effectively.
Step-by-Step Exercises: The resource begins with basic exercises using and to join sentences and progresses to more varied and challenging connectives like but, so, and because, ensuring gradual learning and comprehension.
Practical Sentence Rewriting Tasks: Pupils practice rewriting sentences both by joining shorter ones and breaking down longer sentences into simpler forms, which reinforces their understanding of structure and usage.
Application in Own Writing: Opportunities for pupils to create sentences using specific connectives, fostering their ability to apply knowledge in their writing.
Illustrative Examples: Clear, contextual examples and passages that demonstrate how different connectives can transform writing.
Assessment and Reflection: Exercises where pupils can identify correct and incorrect usage, enhancing their editing and critical thinking skills.
The resource ensures pupils not only learn the mechanics of using connectives but also understand their importance in making writing more engaging. By using this workbook, teachers can guide pupils through structured practice and offer varied activities that build confidence and skills in sentence construction. The exercises can be seamlessly integrated into lessons and provide a valuable reference for pupils as they develop their writing capabilities.
The Solar System KS2 Spelling Script
Spell & Learn is a new concept that offers the chance to practise spelling and to learn another topic at the SAME TIME.
It provides a spelling test in the format of an actual SATs script but instead of random sentences with the word to be spelled we have created a coherent narrative of a topic - in this case the chosen topic is the Solar System. However, we have not included Solar System specific vocabulary but based the spelling test on National Curriculum spelling guidance.
The level of difficulty of the actual SATs spelling test is approximately 7.5. The level of difficulty of this test is 7.3 (so it is slightly easier).
Engage Your Students with this Dynamic Boudica Resource
Are you looking for an engaging way to introduce your students to Boudica, the Celtic queen who led a revolt against Roman rule in ancient Britain? This comprehensive resource on Boudica is perfect for KS2 students studying the Romans.
What makes this resource so useful?
It’s clearly organized into teaching units, student activities, and homework, making it simple to implement in your classroom.
The teaching units provide key background context on Boudica, the Iceni tribe she ruled, and the tensions with Rome that sparked her rebellion. This context helps students understand what motivated Boudica.
The student activities allow students to immediately apply what they learned. Multiple choice and short answer questions let students showcase their understanding.
Two homework assignments encourage students to practice using new vocabulary and writing skills. You can easily assign these for homework or independent practice.
Beyond the excellent content, the resource is formatted in an easy-to-use document. You can print or photocopy pages to distribute in class. No prep work needed!
If you want to go beyond the textbook and deliver an interactive Boudica lesson, this resource has everything you need. The historical narrative and comprehension questions will get your students excited about this courageous woman warrior who stood up to Rome’s might. Download this engaging resource today!
Based on the comprehensive nature of this Boudica resource, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars. Here’s a summary of why it deserves full marks:
This complete Boudica learning resource deserves a full 5-star rating. It excels in every category:
Content ★★★★★ - The teaching units provide extensive historical context while the activities and homework cement student understanding.
Organization ★★★★★ - Well-structured into clear sections, it can be used as-is or tailored to your lessons.
Engagement ★★★★★ - The compelling story of Boudica’s rebellion will enthral students. Activities allow active demonstration of knowledge.
Adaptability ★★★★★ - Easy to print/photocopy and usable across various primary levels studying ancient Rome.
Value ★★★★★- With both lesson and assessments included, this comprehensive resource is a steal.
With intriguing primary source content, useful annotations for instruction, and opportunities for students to apply critical thinking, this 5-star resource has everything you need for dynamic Boudica lessons. It will make both teaching and learning about the Celtic warrior queen Boudica engaging and enjoyable.
A review of this resource (which also serves as a useful description)
I recently came across an amazing Bloom’s Taxonomy resource that I believe could be an absolute game-changer for any teacher. It’s called “Bloom’s Taxonomy Meets Five Children & It” and it provides a clear, step-by-step guide to implementing Bloom’s in your classroom using the beloved children’s story.
I would give this Bloom’s Taxonomy resource a 5 out of 5 star rating. It is an absolutely stellar teaching tool that provides immense value.
This resource is ingeniously designed to elucidate the Bloom’s framework AND develop teacher competency in applying it through guided practice. The ability to move from theory to application is a game changer.
Unlocking higher order thinking abilities in students is essential in today’s world. This Bloom’s resource allows you to do exactly that - in a simple, hands-on way. I could not recommend it more strongly to any teacher looking to maximize their students’ potential.
Here’s why this resource is so powerful:
Demystifies Bloom’s - It breaks down the often confusing Bloom’s levels into simple, easy-to-grasp explanations that make the framework crystal clear.
Models the Full Process - You receive a complete walk-through of Bloom’s Taxonomy applied to the story, from basic remembering questions up to higher order creative questions.
Builds Understanding - The explanations reinforce the core distinctions between question types, helping you deeply comprehend the taxonomy.
Develops Teacher Skills - You are actively involved in writing your own questions for each level, scaffolding your ability to formulate taxonomy-aligned activities.
Ready-to-Use Student Resource - A student handout is included allowing you to immediately have pupils work with the story and Bloom’s questions.
This resource stands out for making a framework that is often vague and theoretical into something concrete and actionable for teachers. Breaking down barriers to classroom application is hugely important.
The guided explanations paired with opportunities to create aligned questions yourself scaffolds the learning process, building confidence in using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Being able to immediately have students try a Bloom Taxonomy activity further cements this.
For its clarity, methodical training approach, reinforced connections, and classroom integration, I believe this resource merits 5 shining stars. It empowers teachers to turn Bloom’s Taxonomy from an abstract concept into a powerful teaching strategy.
The result is substantial gains in critical thinking and higher order skills among students. When you consider the immense educational benefits unlocked, the resource delivers absolutely top-tier value worthy of the highest recommendations. 5 stars all the way!
The best way to understand the power of this resource is to try it out yourself! You and your students will quickly see the many benefits.