Tag Archives: literacy

Idea 276: FREE Poem Resource for Modelling Doubling Consonants When Adding Suffix, ‘Runner Bunny’

DOWNLOAD THE RESOURCE HERE This is a short poem I put together that uses lots of examples from the National Curriculum to teach one of the statutory requirements listed for Year 2, namely “Adding –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y … Continue reading

Posted in English, Poetry, Resources Included | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 264: FREE ‘Magic Word’ Poem Resource for ‘ur’ sound spelt as ‘or’ Spelling Pattern

DOWNLOAD THE RESOURCE HERE This is a poem I put together to highlight examples of words where the ‘ur’ sound like in ‘hurt’ is spelt with ‘or’ (word, work, worth, world). This is a Year 2 spelling pattern to be … Continue reading

Posted in English, Poetry, Resources Included | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 249: Writing a Narrative with ‘The Pixar Formula’ including FREE RESOURCES!

Have you heard of the Pixar formula? Apparently, any story that is to be developed by the massively successful movie studio Pixar must follow a simple but incredibly effective formula. The formula is just six sentence starters: 1. Once upon … Continue reading

Posted in English, Resources Included | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 246: Fun ‘Word Type’ Poetry Activity with FREE Downloadable Worksheet

This is a lesson I did based on a Pie Corbett idea. We’d already introduced nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to the children but I felt they could use a lesson where they got to practise their knowledge. In this … Continue reading

Posted in English, Resources Included | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 227: Improving Handwriting with Guide Sheet

I do short daily handwriting sessions at my school, and the recommended resource we had was a booklet printed in green and yellow that split a standard writing line into 3 lines, to give space for ascenders and descenders. It … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Best Thing I’ve Done with my Year 2 Class?

Poetry. Without a doubt. Particularly involving this utter piece of poetry gold: Everday after lunch, after I do the register, we spend a few minutes reading some poems. And the children LOVE IT! I say the first line of a … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 201: The ‘2 Minute Check’, Simple Idea to Encourage Children to Start Writing Immediately

This is a simple idea to motivate your children to start writing immediately, mentioned to me by a colleague just the other day (hi Dave!). Once you are ready for your class to go off and begin writing, tell the … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 171: Poem Based on a Friend

Pupils choose a friend to use as their starting point for their poem. Ask the pupil to think of answers to the following questions: If your friend was a piece of furniture, what kind would they be? What kind of … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Idea 167: Conscience Alley Drama Technique

A drama technique I’ve been shown a few times in seminars, useful for sparking some ideas for creative writing. Choose a decision linked to the subject area you are teaching, for example ‘Should the Gruffalo have surgery to remove the … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idea 165: ‘High Fiving’ Spelling Words

A simple idea to get your pupils using any spelling focus words. Print each of your spelling words onto a hand print and put them up by your classroom door. When a learner enters or leaves your class, they choose … Continue reading

Posted in English | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment