Characteristics

I made these many years ago and have used them so many times with my own children and at school. They are fiddly to cut out but so useful. I keep mine in a plastic container. I just printed onto card and then cut out but you could laminate and they would last forever.









Here are some ideas to use them

1. Pick out 10 words, read them and order them into alphabetical order
2. Pick out 3 words, read them, cover them and spell them. Check
3. Pick out 3 words and look them up in a dictionary
4. Pick out 3 words to describe the character in your reading book
5. Pick out a word and use it in a sentence
6. Pick out 2 words and use them in a sentence
7. Pick out 3 words that describe you
8. How many words can you read in one minute?
9. Find a word you don't know and learn it. Look it up in a dictionary. Use it as much as you can for the rest of the day.
10. Find 6 words with 2 syllables
11. Find 6 words with 3 syllables
12. Find a word that means the same as 'nice'
13. Find 3 words that are positive characteristics
14. Find 3 words that are negative characteristics
15. Find a word that has 3 letters.
16. Find a word that has 7 letters
17. Find a word that has 'ful' at the end
18. Find a word that has 'less' at the end
19. Find a word you like the sound of, read it to a friend and explain what it means. Use it in a sentence.
20. Draw a picture of your superhero and find words to describe him or her.
21. Find a word for every letter of the alphabet (excluding x)
22. Find a word with 'ly' at the end
23. Find a word with the silent 'w'

24. Find a word with 'ing' at the end.

There are loads and loads of ways and I am sure you will come up with your own ideas.

Here is a the file with the words

Stretch a sentence

I absolutely love this idea found on Pinterest. I made my own version. What a fab way to get more interesting sentences out of the children.

Blogging event on the 29th Feb

I found this article on TES and found it very interesting. A blog will be opened on 29th Feb and people from all over the world will be able to write on it, including children. This will give a real sense of purpose for writing.

Read the article

This is the blog's link

Word web

Click here for the pdf file with instructions

Tell me a Story

This is a lovely site with some resources and ideas for story telling.

Tell me a story

Creative writing opportunities

Halloween is coming up so why not let your children have a go at some creative writing with these prompts.

Character studies

Boggle word game - lots of premade, printable boards

Great resource for spelling, phonics, reading and to fit into any topics you are covering.

Click here

Fairy Tale Characters

Some more characters to add to these

Writing Fairy Tales

I made these to help children write Fairy Tales. Print and laminate and put in 3 different bags. Children to choose a character or characters, a setting and a prop. Can they make up a story? Children could work in pairs or in small groups to retell their story verbally. Can they describe their character? A good character or an evil character? Can they describe the setting? Is it day or night? What does the prop do? Is it magical? How would their story begin? What would the problem be in the story? How would it all end? Encourage fairy tale language etc. Once upon a time, Once there lived, Long long ago, they lived happily ever after. Also make sure children have a definiate beginning, middle and ending to their story.

There are a lot themes you could give to help and give them a basis for their story.

An old woman who is jealous of a beautiful young girl
Something is poisonous
Rich and poor
A heroic act for which there is a reward
Something is planted
A frog that turns into something
A talking animal
A person turning into an animal
A dream that comes true
A magic spell
A magic lamp, sword, hat, chair?
Someone getting lost in the woods
An enchanted wood
Set phrases eg. Run run as fast as you can you can't catch me I'm the gingerbreadman, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.

See here for more characters

Fairy tales

Some lovely printables at this site

Cinderella

Hansel and Gretel

Rapunzel

Rumpelstiltskin

The Three Little Pigs

Character study

I have made this worksheet to use with any character. To get the children to think of more interesting words when describing their character. They could make up their own character or use it for example with a well known character like Cinderella or Goldilocks. Hope it is useful.

Click here

Owl Babies

The Owl Babies book and dvd

The Owl Babies Read and Respond for Teachers

Owl Babies printables

The Owl Babies powerpoints

The Owl Babies on Youtube

Lesson plan

Signed stories

A fantastic site with lots and lots of signed stories. I think these are brilliant for everyone to use in the classroom.

Click here

Reading motivation

Fabulous site for mp3, text and pdf story, poetry and nursery rhyme files

Absolutely fabulous site. You must look. You can download mp3 files, text and pdfs of literally hundreds of stories, nursery rhymes and poems.

Click here

Lots and lots of poetry by theme

Click here

Daily writing ideas

Click here

Lots of nursery rhymes

A lovely site with lots of posters of nursery rhymes.

Click the title for the poster

Click here

Peace at Last

A few ideas and links for using the story Peace at Last

Wordsearch

Lotto game

Noises

Make a paper aeroplane

Nighttime and nocturnal animal resources

Make an aeroplane mobile and use this template for the aeroplanes

Make a cuckoo clock

Pairs game

Peace at last door sign

Peace at last matching lotto game