Key Stage Two
Rainbows
Using my orange banded Reading Star book, Rainbows, and the Rainbow Projector as a starting point, I can provide exciting science workshops to explore colours and how they are formed. The children have the opportunity to explore where they can see rainbows and the spectrum of light. They are encouraged to think about questions such as:
- What colours can we see?
- How are colours made?
- Can we produce our own rainbows?
- Can we make white light?
These investigations will encourage the children to develop their skills of scientific enquiry and to observe the wide variety of colours in the world around them. With the use of prisms the children can extend their learning and investigate how white light is split into the colours of the rainbows and how colour spinners produce white light. Ideal for National Non-Fiction November.
An ideal workshop to support National Curriculum work on light and its properties.
Quick and Easy Plays for Primary Schools
This workshop is designed to stimulate the children’s enjoyment and interest in plays and performing. Each class will be split into groups with a play from the Quick and Easy Plays for Primary Schools to read and perform. We will discuss the layout of plays, the use of a narrator, characterisation, dialogue, stage directions and scene setting. They will learn what it takes to be a play writer, write their own plays on a similar topic and perform them.
There are nine topics, split over three themes, covered in the file which the school can choose from. These are:
- Childhood experiences – friendship, school journeys, Victorian childhood
- Traditional tales – fairy tales, myths and legends, fables
- Stories from other cultures – creation stories, celebrations, Christmas around the world
Children will develop their speaking, listening and drama skills through stimulating and purposeful activities that are fun to do.
Fables – The Frogs Want a King
During this workshop, the children will learn about Aesop’s fables, using my purple banded Reading Star reading book, The Frogs Want a King as a stimulus for discussion. They will have the opportunity to perform the story in small groups with masks and an especially written script. They are encouraged to think about:
- What a moral is?
- What is the moral of the story?
- What kinds of rules they follow at school, home, playing sport and in law?
Through acting out the story, the children will learn about dramatic conventions and the impact of theatrical effects in drama.
Fairy Tales – Jack and the Beanstalk
Using the orange banded Reading Star reading book, Jack and the Beanstalk, the children can learn about the structure of fairy tales. We will talk about beginnings, middles and ends of stories. They can also act out the story in small groups, using an especially written script.
This story can be used as a source of discussion on taking responsibility and making the most of their abilities. They will be encouraged to think about their own economic future and to recognise how their actions affect themselves and others. We will talk about the difference between needs, wants and rights.
The children can even grow their own beanstalks and discuss what plants need to grow well. If you like, this activity can take place in the playground with the added support of my VW Campervan (Peppermint).
Our Solar System
Take a closer look at Our Solar System with my turquoise banded Reading Star reading book.
The children will learn about the planet we live on and where we fit in the universe and embark, as a whole class, in producing a wall display of the universe using the illustrations from the book for inspiration. All art resources will need to be provided by the school for this workshop.
Healthy Eating
Using My Healthy Schools. Healthy Lives teacher resource, I can undertake many activities to promote healthy eating, including:
- understand the importance of healthy balanced meals, looking at good and bad snacks and writing their own healthy menus
- examining how physical activity contributes to weight loss and its maintenance
- gain a greater understanding of the obesity problem in the United Kingdom today
The activities are suitable to PSHE lessons and an ideal to support learning during National Obesity Awareness Week, World Health Day and National Healthy Eating Week.
Star Struck Series
These books are written under the pseudonym Cathy West.
Combining non-fiction and fiction in one book, the Star Struck series appeals to both boys and girls. The fiction stories are accompanied by full colour illustrations with ‘speech bubble’ comic format text, offering the complete story at two reading levels.
The books can be used to inspire workshops on designing your own street theatre or circus act, writing comic strips, interviewing skills, or making their own non-fiction books. Ideal for National Non-Fiction November.
Using these books I have worked with groups of children to produce their own fashion style magazines, also using CosmoGirl, Girls Life, TeenVogue and Shout Magazine (both online and back issues) as inspiration. Ideal for National Non-Fiction November.