English

TalkforWriting have produced some wonderful home school booklets for each year group from Reception to Year 6. Each booklet is based on a different story and there are lots of fun reading, writing and speaking and listening activities to do. Please click on the following links to download:

Why not have a go at writing your own Lockdown Diary whist school is closed. This has been developed for use throughout the duration of the lockdown period and will help develop your child’s writing skills.

Authorfy will give you access to masterclasses on texts from a range of authors, including videos from the authors and activities linked to novels.

BookTrust is website with recommended booklists, categorised by age range and topic, including fiction and non-fiction. Family activities are included in the ‘Home Time’ section.

There are a range of downloadable resource packs from Classroom Secrets which cover a range of subjects, including reading and writing.

English Mastery have devised a range of downloadable resource books providing 8 weeks of activities.

The Literacy Shed have resource packs available for children in KS1 and KS2 with tasks that are based on video clips on YouTube. Why not have a go at them, they are really enjoyable.

At St. Mark’s, we have used Pobble 365 for quite a while as a writing stimulus. A new image is published each day as a basis for creative writing. Story starters, questions and drawing ideas are provided.

If your child loves poetry, Poetry by Heart offers a wide selection of poetry covering different topics.

Watch Storytime with Nick; films of well-loved stories read by Nick Cannon, a trained actor, teacher and trainer and a wonderful storyteller. A new story will be added to the Ruth Miskin YouTube channel at 2pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. They are ideal for Nursery, Reception and KS1 children. Storytime includes books by Tom Percival, Cressida Cowell, David Melling, Jeanne Willis, Judith Kerr, Oliver Jeffers and David Walliams.

The Day Newsletter is a daily newsletter for parents and carers at home with children, helping to enrich learning with real-world knowledge and skills.

Daily reading is one of the most important things that your child can do. Your child has their own login information for Bug Club and your child’s teacher has allocated them lots of books to read. These will be updated regularly.

Any type of reading is good for children and the website Audible currently has free access to reading material.

Your child will find some excellent information about a variety of books and lots of extracts to read on Love Reading 4 Kids.

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language. PhonicsPlay has lots of interactive games and resources, which allows children to practise their phonics daily.

Welcome to RadioBlogging has daily shows with interactive activities to keep everyone busy and engaged, just listen and blog. It’s live, fun and interactive with new educational tasks each day for your students whether at home or in school. Hosts include Pie Corbett whose ‘Talk for Writing’ programme is used at St Mark’s.

There is lots of fun to be had in The World of David Walliams. There are many free downloadable activities and resources and you can get to listen to free audio stories in the elevenses section.