Ages: 7-11
Contributor:
Sue Powell
Contributor:
Sue Powell
Write an opposites poem by following the template and using the given sets of opposite words.
Thanks to Sue for sharing this resource!
Buy This Book * More books by Michael Foreman
A boy and his grandfather watch as a baby seal is born on the rocks near their home, and from that day, a special friendship is created between them. Despite his disability, the boy is a keen surfer, and he enjoys many afternoons surfing with the seals. One day, however, he gets into trouble in rough seas, and the young seal saves him. Their friendship brings happiness and meaning at the important stages of the boy’s life.
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- Can you write your own story, which has different events taking place in each season?
- Retell the story from the boy’s point of view.
- The seal ‘basked’ in the warm sun. Can you think of other words that have the same meaning?
- The seals ‘twist’, ‘turn’ and ‘corkscrew’ into the depths of the water. Can you find any synonyms for these words?
- Could you plan and write a new story about an animal who saves a person in danger?
- Look at photos / videos of seals and write words / phrases to describe them.
- The author uses lots of different verbs to describe movement in the story. Can you find them all?
Science
- Why do we have seasons? Can you find out and teach somebody else about them?
- One paragraph in the story begins with ‘As the spring days lengthened?’. What does this mean? Why does it happen?
- Find out about seals. Can you create a report to teach others about them?
- The young seal learns ‘the lessons of the sea’. What might these be?
- The seal in the story grows older and has a pup of her own. Think about life cycles of different types of creatures.
- Why are there waves in the sea? Why does the tide go in and out? Can you find out the answers to these questions?
Computing
- Make an animation of a seal swimming in the water or a person surfing on the sea.
Art
- Draw / paint your own seaside scenes.
- Look at the different shades of the same colour in the illustrations (e.g. the greens in the sea and blues in the sky). Could you try to mix different shades of the same colour using paint, or blend them together using pens / pencils / crayons?
Music
- The music of Beethoven plays on the radio in Grandad’s old pick-up truck. Can you listen to any music by Beethoven? How is it similar / different to other types of music? What are your opinions of it?
- Listen to the sound of waves. How do they make you feel? Could you compose a tune that includes the sound of waves?
Geography
- Describe what the weather is usually like in each of the four seasons.
- Look on a map and find places where the story might have been set.
- Find out about different geographical features that you might find along the coast.
Physical education
- Write a set of instructions to teach somebody learn how to surf. Watch this video for some tips.
- Watch videos of people surfing. What skills do you need to have to surf well? What parts of your body are used?
PSHE
- The boy uses crutches and a wheelchair to get around. Why might this be? Use this as the starting point for discussions about disability.
- Find out about animal charities in your local area. Can you make a poster to advertise what they do, or plan an event to support them?
Buy This Book * More books by Anthony Browne
Four different people visit the park, and their lives touch for a time.
What do they see? What do they say?
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- Create a character profile for each of the four ‘voices’ in the story.
- Could you turn the story into a radio play with different children playing the role of each voice in the story?
- Could you create your own story in which different people have different points of view about the same event?
- Use the story as a starting point for learning about the first / third person and how they are written.
- Could you rewrite the story in the third person to explain what happened?
- Think about the hopes and dreams of the different voices who are speaking. Could you describe these to a friend?
- Identify the different nouns / adjectives / verbs / adverbs / connectives / punctuation used in the story. Why have these been used in particular places?
- Write some instructions to teach someone how to make their Dad a nice cup of tea, ?like the girl in the story.
- Discuss the differences between the four voices and record these in different ways. Check out this example from Ms Kate on Instagram:
Maths
- Can you find any examples of tessellations in the pictures? Can you create your own tessellations?
Science
- Look at the use of light and shadow in the illustrations. Where is the light source? How are shadows formed?
- Look at the different trees shown in the pictures. How do they change in each part of the story? Can you research different types of trees and write a report to share what you find out about them?
- Describe the forces that are in action in each illustration.
Computing
- Each character in the story is written in a different font. Investigate different types of fonts that are available on your computer. Can you sort them into different groups? Which ones would be most appropriate for different types of character in a new story?
- Could you design your own font?
Design Technology
- Design and create a model of a new statue to go in the park where the characters met.
Art
- Look at the use of perspective within the illustrations. Can you draw some pictures which use techniques to show the foreground, background, perspective and depth?
- Look at the facial expressions and body language of the characters in the illustrations. Can you draw the same person with different expressions / body language to show their changing emotions?
- Discuss the use of colour within the illustrations. How do the changes in colour reflect the changing emotions of the characters speaking?
- Look at the illustrations of nighttime scenes. Could you create your own pictures which feature silhouettes of people / objects?
- Explore each of the illustrations. Is there anything interesting / unusual in each one that makes you want to look further? Could you create a picture with something interesting / unusual to make people look more closely?
Geography
- Draw a map showing the different places featured in the story. Use this to show the route taken by each of the voices that day.
PSHE
- Look at the body language and facial expressions of the characters in the story. How are they feeling? What might they be thinking?
Buy This Book * More books by Oliver Jeffers
Floyd gets his kite stuck up a tree. He throws up his shoe to shift it, but that gets stuck too. So he throws up his other shoe and that gets stuck, along with… a ladder, a pot of paint, the kitchen sink, an orang-utan and a whale, amongst other things!
Will Floyd ever get his kite back?
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- The author uses lots of ellipses in the story. Why is this? Can you write a sentence / paragraph / story that include ellipses?
- Capital letters are also used at different points in the story. Can you explain why this is?
- Floyd throws up an orang-utan ‘who surely had somewhere else to be?’. Write the story that explains where he was and how Floyd caught him.
- Add a speech bubble to each image to Floyd in which he explains what he is thinking / doing and how he is feeling.
- The story is written in the third person. Can you rewrite it in the first person, from Floyd’s point of view?
- Write the story that explains how the different people / animals / objects got themselves out of the tree.
- Could you write your own story with the title ‘STUCK’? Who / what might get stuck? How might they be rescued?
- Watch this video of the author reading the book. Could you record your own retelling of the story?
- What else could Floyd have thrown into the tree? Write a new part of the story where he throws other objects up into the tree. Watch this video in which the author talks about things that he wasn’t able to include in the story:
Maths
- Think about the different sizes of the items that Floyd throws in the tree. How long / tall / heavy is each one? How could you measure them? What units of measurement would we need to use? Could you make a list showing the measurements of each item and use these to make a graph? (see Resources below)
- Estimate the price of each item that Floyd throws into the tree. What is the total value of all of the items in the tree by the end of the story?
Science
- Find out why kites fly. What forces are involved?
- Find out about different types of trees. How do they grow? How do they reproduce?
- The people and objects in the illustrations have shadows. Can you explain how shadows are formed?
Computing
- Make a stop-motion animation to retell the story.
Design Technology
- Can you design your own kite? Could you have a class competition? Which kite is best at flying? Which do you think of decorated in the nicest way?
- Make a model of a tree and put some unusual items in it to recreate one of the illustrations in the book.
- Design a machine that will help Floyd to get his kite out of the tree.
Art
- Look at the different illustrations of the tree in the story. Although it is the same tree, it is coloured in different ways. Can you draw the same thing lots of times and decorate each one with different colours? How does this alter how the picture looks? Which one do you prefer?
- Look at the use of shadows in the illustrations. Can you draw some objects and their shadows? Could you draw the same scene at different times of the day? How would the shadows change?
- Learn how to draw Floyd from the book by watching these videos featuring the author / illustrator:
Geography
- Look around your school grounds / local area. Is there a tree big enough to hold all of the items that Floyd threw up?
Physical education
- Floyd isn’t very good at throwing things into the tree. Can you design a game which might help improve your throwing skills? Could you have a competition with your friends in which you have to hit a target?
Languages
- Could you translate the names of the things that Floyd threw into a different language?
- Could you find out the word for ‘tree’ in lots of different languages?
PSHE
- Look at Floyd’s facial expressions and body language at different points in the story. How is he feeling? Could you try to recreate his posture and explain what emotion is being portrayed?
Downloads:
Ages: 5-11
Contributor:
Helen McCahey
Contributor:
Helen McCahey
I did this with my Year 3 class…
1. We first made a LARGE Easter Garden, using a roll of turf ( About £2), some cheap rockery plants and peg doll characters.
2. We then storyboarded the Easter Story based on our garden.
3. We took photos of the garden and characters, and I inserted these into Powerpoint.
4. Children then added text to the slides.
5. This was differentiated at many levels, ranging from SEN children who enjoyed dressing the peg characters and sequencing the photos to the more able children who were able to make their own Powerpoint from scratch. We all REALLY enjoyed this, and whilst it is time-consuming, the skills and enjoyment levels were fantastic!
Hope that you try this and enjoy it!!!
A visitor has commented… Good idea – going to use it to get the children to make an animation of the easter story. Much more fun and better remembered than writing the story in their books or doing a sequencing activity.
A suggestion from Betty… We looked at three versions of the story of Easter and 3 PowerPoints. They designed sets, made peg dolls/props, inserted the pictures, added text and also recorded the words so each slide in the sequence started with pictures, text, and then voice-over. They sang songs on two of the slides, and we even had a cockerel crowing. The children were so interested they came in with lots of props, ideas and poems which they had made up at home without even being asked to.
Ages: 5-11
Contributor:
Sherrie Bendjedidi
Contributor:
Sherrie Bendjedidi
Children have to split the given shapes into quarters.
They can do this by colouring the shapes, cutting them out or drawing lines of symmetry with a ruler and pencil.
Downloads:
Buy This Book * More books by Julia Donaldson
Never fear, Superworm’s here! He can fish Spider out of a well, and rescue Toad from a busy road. But who will come to Superworm’s rescue, when he’s captured by a wicked Wizard Lizard? Luckily, all of Superworm’s insect friends have a cunning plan…
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- Make your own story about a different animal that becomes a superhero.
- Use the book to create a collection of rhyming words and phrases. Could you use these to create your own rhyming story?
- Make a list of words and phrases that are used to describe Superworm. Can you compare these to other descriptions of superhero characters?
- Write a newspaper report about one of the times when a Superhero comes to the rescue.
- Write a diary entry from the point of view of Superworm.
- Think of some questions that you might like to ask Superworm. How might he respond?
- How many different ways is Superworm used in the story? Can you make a new page in which Superworm helps a different animal?
- Write character profiles about Superworm and Wizard Lizard.
Maths
- Make a graph to show the number of each creature shown in the illustrations.
- Can you sort the creatures into different groups?
Science
- Choose one of the creatures from the story. Can you write a report about it?
- Create a food chain that includes some of the animals in the story.
Computing
- Create an animation about a superhero.
- Create a Superworm comic strip using publishing software.
- Could you program a Superworm game?
Art
- Design a superhero costume for Superworm to wear.
- Find out about the illustrator of the story. What other books has he illustrated? Which materials does he like to use? What questions would you like to ask him?
Music
- Compose a tune to accompany the Superworm chant that appears throughout the story.
Buy This Book * More books by Helen Ward
Once, the only sounds to be heard were the buzzing of bees in the grass, the murmuring of moles in the earth, and the song of birds in the sky. These warmed the hearts of those who cared to listen – until the others came to fill the sky with a cacophony of noise.
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- The book begins with the sentence, “There was once only the sound of bees and the wind in the wiry grass, the low murmuring of moles in the cool dark earth and the song of birds in the high blue sky.” Could you use this sentence as the starting point for your own story?
- Write a character description of a varmint.
- Retell the story from the point of view of one of the varmints.
- Write a newspaper report about the arrival of the ‘OTHERS’.
- This book is called ‘Varmints: Part One’. Could you write and illustrate part two?
- The story doesn’t include any dialogue. Can you add some to the illustrations?
- This story has been turned into a short film. Watch it and compare it with the book. Which do you prefer? Why?
- In the story, ‘SOMEONE nurtured a little piece of wilderness’. Can you write some instructions to teach others how to look after a plant?
- The book has a cliff-hanger ending. Can you think of other stories that use this technique? Can you think of a cliff-hanger ending for a story of your own?
Science
- A varmint is an animal that is considered to be a pest. Can you think of animals that this definition might include? Could you write a report about them?
- One of the creatures grows plants in his home. What do plants need to grow? Can you grow some of your own?
- How do plants disperse their seeds? Make a poster that shows the different methods.
- Look around your local area and identify plants growing near to you.
- Create a poster that teaches others about the life cycle of bees.
Computing
- Design a game that features the varmints.
- Can you use art software to create an illustration of the varmints?
- Create a poster to promote the book / short film.
Design Technology
- Create a 3D model of a varmint.
Art
- Can you create your own drawings / paintings of the varmints?
- Look at the use of light and darkness in the illustrations. Could you use a similar style in your own drawings?
- How does the use of colour change as the story progresses? Could you use this technique in a storyboard for your own story?
Music
- Compose a melody that could accompany the animated version of this story.
Geography
- Find out how your local area has changed over time.
PSHE
- Does this story have a moral? What is it trying to teach us?
Ages: 2-11
Help your children to learn about different colours using our free printable posters. These resources include thirty-four posters with different coloured ‘splats’!
Smaller versions of the posters are also available to download.
Downloads:
Main Colours Posters
Additional Colours Posters
Mini Colours Posters
Ages: 5-11
Did you know that the Aztecs didn’t call themselves Aztecs? They referred to themselves as Mexica! Learn this and nineteen other interesting facts about the Aztecs with our free printable fact cards.
These could be used in your classroom in a number of ways. Try some of our teaching ideas:
- Print the cards and use them as a shared reading resource with a group of children.
- Display the PDF on a large display (e.g. and interactive whiteboard) and discuss the facts with your whole class.
- Use the fact cards as part of a classroom display board about the Aztecs.
- Challenge your children to find out other facts about the Aztecs and record these on the blank template (included on the last page of the PDF below).
Don’t forget to explore our suggested ‘Aztec’ topic / day teaching ideas and activities too.
Can you think of any other ways of using these resources with your children?
