Tag Archives: literacy

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

Posted on June 11, 2017 by theplews

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 english, literacy, poetry, primary, spelling | Leave a comment

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

Posted on April 19, 2017 by theplews

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 elementary, english, literacy, poem, primary, year 2 | Leave a comment

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

Posted on January 2, 2017 by theplews

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 elementary, english, key stage 2, key stage one, ks1, ks2, literacy, primary, year 2, year 3, year 4 | Leave a comment

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

Posted on November 30, 2016 by theplews

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 adjectives, adverbs, elementary, english, grammar, key stage one, literacy, nouns, primary, SPaG, verbs, word types, year 2 | Leave a comment

Idea 227: Improving Handwriting with Guide Sheet

Posted on April 27, 2016 by theplews

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 elementary, english, first grade, guide sheets, handwriting, key stage 1, key stage one, literacy, year 2 | Leave a comment

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

Posted on April 20, 2016 by theplews

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 allan ahlberg, elementary, english, key stage one, literacy, michael rosen, poetry, primary, year 2, year one | Leave a comment

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

Posted on October 7, 2015 by theplews

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 2 minute check, elementary, english, first grade, key stage one, learning objective, literacy, starting writing, year one, year two | Leave a comment

Idea 171: Poem Based on a Friend

Posted on April 22, 2015 by theplews

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 elementary, english, key stage two, literacy, personficiation, poem, primary | 1 Comment

Idea 167: Conscience Alley Drama Technique

Posted on March 24, 2015 by theplews

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 conscience alley, drama, elementary, english, key stage one, key stage two, literacy | Leave a comment

Idea 165: ‘High Fiving’ Spelling Words

Posted on March 19, 2015 by theplews

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 elementary, english, first grade, key stage one, literacy, primary, second grade, spelling | 1 Comment