Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

General Easter Trivia Questions

1. Q) What is the biggest breed of rabbit?
2. A) Flemish Giant!
3. Q) How many feet was the biggest rabbit recorded?
4. A) A whopping 4 feet long! And as tall as an 8-year-old child!
5. Q) One rabbit holds the Guinness world record for living the longest! How old was this rabbit? And for bonus points, can you guess the rabbit’s name?
6. A) Flopsy the rabbit lived to be an amazing 18 years old!
7. Q) In Australia, they don’t have the Easter Bunny, as rabbits have been known to wreak havoc on Australian ecosystems, so instead of a bunny, what animal does Australia have rather?
8. A) An Easter Bilby! Bilbies were chosen as they are ecosystem helpers! They spend a lot of their time borrowing, which helps make burrows for lots of other species, so think of them as home builders for other animals
9. Q) What small bread is filled with raisins, topped with icing, and served at Easter Time?
10. A) Hot Cross Buns
11. Q) Where is the largest egg museum located? And how many eggs are on display?
12. A) Poland, the Easter Egg Museum has more than 1500 eggs from all over the world
13. Q) What colors are associated with Easter?
14. A) Purple and Yellow
15. Q) How is the date Easter Sunday is held decided upon?
16. A) By the Full Moon. Easter Sunday falls on the next Sunday following a Full Moon from March 22nd till April 25th
17. Q) What is the most popular Easter candy in the US?
18. A) Milk chocolate bunnies!
19. Q) Where does Easter get its name?
20. A) The pagan goddess Eostre
21. Q) The world record for the largest chocolate Easter egg was made in what Country?
22. A) Tosca, Italy
23. Q) In what country did the tradition of the Easter bunny originate?
24. A) Germany

True or False Easter Trivia Questions

1. Q) True or False, are Easter Eggs always made of chocolate?
2. A) False! In many countries, especially in Eastern Europe, eastern eggs are just normal boiled chicken eggs that are then decorated and painted by the family
3. Q) Easter is celebrated on the same day everywhere in the world
4. A) False! Orthodox Easter is usually on a later date than Easter around the world. The reason behind this is the different calculations based on the Orthodox Church calendar.
5. Q) True or False? The biggest eastern egg in the world was created in Brazil.
6. A) True!
7. Q) True or False? For example, Easter Eggs are delivered by a cuckoo instead of a bunny in Switzerland.
8. A) True! The cuckoo is Switzerland’s symbol of growth and rebirth, so it often replaces the bunny at Easter time!

Multiple Choice

1. Q) Why do we eat Easter Eggs?
2. A) They were Jesus’ favorite food!
3. B) They are symbols of new life!
4. C) They represent Jesus’ empty tomb after he was resurrected!
5. D) Jesus’ disciples celebrated his resurrection by eating eggs!

Answer: B Eggs are symbols of new life, which is what Easter is all about!

1. Q) In what century do we first have a record of Easter being celebrated?
2. A) 1st Century AD
3. B) 2nd Century AD
4. C) 3rd Century AD
5. D) 4th Century AD

Answer: B) There is a written record of Easter being celebrated as far back as the 2nd Century, but there may have been earlier unrecorded celebrations.

1. Q) What Date Have the Most Easter Sundays Fallen on?
2. A) 31 March
3. B) 6 April
4. C) 11 April
5. D) 16 April

Answer: D) Since 1500, Easter Sunday has been on 16th April 23 times.

1. Q) Which date has the least amount of Easter Sundays fallen on?
2. A) 24 March
3. B) 22 March
4. C) 24 April
5. D) 25 April

Answer: A) Since 1500, Easter Sunday has been on 24th March only three times.

A reporting clause is a clause that shows that you’re talking about what someone has said or thought. For example, in the sentence, ‘She said she was going out,’ the reporting clause is ‘she said.’

But, the reporting clause reports which said or thought something.

How do you use a Reporting Clause?

You use a reporting clause within a sentence before or after the direct or indirect speech. Direct speech uses speech marks (”) to show that someone is speaking or has spoken, while indirect speech doesn’t use speech marks and is often someone paraphrasing or repeating what someone else has said.

Reporting Clause Examples

Here are some examples of when reporting clauses are used within a sentence:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
‘I have to go now,’ she said.	Mum told me to clean my room first.
He said, ‘I’m having pizza for dinner tonight.’	I knew it was a secret because she had whispered it to me.
‘I’m coming!’ Nina shouted.	They invited me to the party.

Reporting clauses include a pronoun or proper noun (someone’s name), ‘said,’ or a synonym for said. The reporting clause can be placed before or after the rest of the sentence. It makes sense both ways.

The reporting clause is sometimes placed in the middle of direct speech. Here are some examples:

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ he said.’I was so excited.’

‘I lost my necklace,’ she confessed. ‘I’m looking for it.’

‘The waffles are delicious,’ they beamed. ‘Can I have some more?’

‘I’m scared,’ Fiona paused. ‘Did you hear that?’

‘You need to clean your room,’ Dad warned. ‘Or you can’t play your game.’

The second section of direct speech can stay on the same line because it’s the same person speaking. However, it’s still a new sentence, so we have to use a full stop after the reporting clause and begin the recent direct speech with a capital letter.

Word processing is the term used to describe writing a document on a computer. For the user to do this, a computer must have word processing software downloaded onto it. Popular word processing software includes Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Apple Pages.

Word processing is a really important skill for your children to learn. Using a computer to create, edit successfully, and save their written work will help them as children and as they grow into adults.

Using word processing competently will allow you and your children to create various documents suitable for multiple purposes. For example, formatting text, inserting images and tables, and making accessible layouts so they can get their messages across clearly are necessary for writing reports, job applications, and more.

With word processing, you can print the work that you’ve created, so you have a physical copy. There’s also the option for sending your writing as an attachment to an email, or you can save it onto a portable device like a USB memory stick and transfer it from one computer to another.

For people like students, word processing is really helpful. They can write their work in a word processor and edit it until they are happy with it. From here, they can email their work to their teacher, who can open the job in a word processor on their computer and make any changes or give feedback.

How do you use word processors?

Being able to use word processors is important. They can help you create a diverse range of work that writing with a pen and paper wouldn’t. While different word processors work differently, they’ll all do similar tasks and get similar results.

Opening a document

To open a document, you’ll need to click on your files and find the document you want. From here, you click the document, click open, and the paper should open for you. If you’d like to create a new record, spread the word processor application, and you should be given the option of a blank page or document. Click on that, and you’re good to go.

Changing your text

If you’re writing and decide to change the color, size, or font, you can highlight the text and choose from the toolbar at the top of the page. Again, there are colors, sizes, and font options, so you can pick what will work best for your writing document.

Adding images

One of the great benefits of using a word processor is adding images to your text. If the image is saved onto your computer, it’s as easy as clicking insert on your toolbar, then clicking the image. Likewise, you can choose what idea you’d like on your document by clicking on it, then clicking insert.

Saving your work

Some word processing applications will save your work automatically; if that’s not the case, then you must keep your work on your computer. To do this, click the file, then save as. For example, you can give your document a name and then click save.

What did we use before word processors?

Before we had word processors on computers, people would use typewriters to do their word processing. Typewriters don’t have anywhere near the capacity for processing as computers do. There was no backspace or delete for spelling errors, moving the text around the page once it was written, or adding in images.

While many word processing application text formats are based on typewriters, they are hardly used in everyday life anymore, as word processors can do much more.

Rangoli patterns are bright, colorful, and beautiful designs associated with Diwali. They are placed to welcome the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi – the goddess of wealth – to your house and are thought to bring good luck. They originated in India but are produced wherever Hindu people celebrate.

Rangoli patterns are always made on the floor or on a board that can be carried to the spot where it will be displayed. They are often placed outside a house by the doorstep. Diya lamps might also be placed outside next to the Rangoli patterns during Diwali.

Rangoli patterns are often designed to be symmetrical. They combine straight lines, curved lines, and images like flowers and other things from nature. The symmetry of the designs in a symbol of prosperity, growth, and luck.

Rangoli patterns can be small or large. In parts of India, Rangoli competitions are held in which teams of people work together to produce larger designs to be judged and for the public to enjoy.

Rangoli patterns are mostly made during Diwali – the Hindu festival of lights. But you can also see them at weddings, special occasions, religious celebrations, and other Hindu festivals like Pongal, Tihar, and Onam. At these times, families will make their Rangoli patterns to display.

How are Rangoli patterns made?

Rangoli patterns are often made directly on the floor, but they can also be made on a board that can be carried to where they will be displayed. Every design is different, and many are passed on through the generations of a family. They feature straight and curving lines and refer to natural and celestial themes in their shapes.

First, the outline is drawn, and then the pattern in filled in with color. Rangoli patterns are very colorful and usually inexpensive, so everyone can make them using what they have. Colored powders can be used, or uncooked grans of rice that have been dyed; common rice things like flour or sand can be dyed and used wet or dry. Before synthetic pigments were available, people would have made dyes from natural things like tree bark and other plants for their Rangoli patterns.

Another story about the origin of Rangoli patterns

One story goes back to the Sanskrit epic Ramayana and tells how the people of Ayodhya, an ancient city in India, made Rangoli patterns to welcome Rama on his return from the forest he was banished to for fourteen years. Rama is a deity of Hinduism, and his story is told on Diwali.

Bat Facts for Kids

How do you explain bats to kids? Bats are mammals, but they’re the only mammal capable of flight. There are approximately 1,200 bat species worldwide, making up almost a fifth of all mammal species.

The smallest bat species is the Kitti hog-nosed bat, which is 29-34 millimeters in length on average and is one of the smallest mammals on the planet. The largest bat species is the flying fox, which can have a wingspan of 1.7 meters!

Bats are the second largest order of mammals after rodents. They’re often separated into two main suborders: megabats and microbats.

What are Bats?

What are the different types of bats?

There are lots of different types of bats that live in the USA and around the world. We’re lucky enough to have 18 species of bat in the USA, 17 of which are known to be breeding here — that’s almost a quarter of our mammal species. Here are just some of those bats:

• Alcathoe Bat

The latest addition to the UK bat family, the Alcathoe bat, was only confirmed as a resident species in 2010 due to its similarity to the whiskered and Brandt’s bat species.

• Barbastelle Bat

This rare bat is found in ancient woodland south of the UK. With the ears joined at the base, it has a distinctive ‘pug-like’ appearance due to its upturned nose.

• Brown Long-eared Bat

This is a woodland bat with ears about 28mm long. The bat uses them to navigate and find food, including the tiniest insects.

• Horseshoe Bats

Restricted to the southwest of England and Wales, fewer and greater horseshoes have declined. In summer, they roost in roof spaces. In winter, they use underground sites such as caves.

• Pipistrelle

The pipistrelle is the most common bat species in the UK, living in colonies of 1,000 bats or more. They often roost in modern houses but are found roosting and foraging everywhere.

What is a bat’s habitat?

Across the species, bats can be found in almost any habitat. They live in deserts, woodlands, suburban areas, caves, and cities. They make their homes ( roosts) in several different structures. They use trees, caves, cracks in buildings, and bridges. You might even find a group of bats roosting in your attic.

Although we might think that a bat’s habitat is in caves, this is a common misconception.

Megabats often roost in trees and are not exclusively nocturnal. They’re crepuscular animals, meaning they’re most active during twilight hours. However, microbats are largely nocturnal and often make their homes in caves, crevices, and other areas that cover them during the daytime.

There are bats in every continent and every habitat other than the high arctic areas, but there are a few species of bats located close to the Antarctic.

Bats also migrate between different habitats depending on the season, showing that they prefer other conditions and climates to varying times of the year. Bats prefer warmer temperatures, so those that live in places with cold winters tend to hibernate to survive the colder weather. Many types of bats also migrate to warmer climates as winter begins.

Where do bats live around the world?

Bats are found everywhere except in the Arctic, Antarctica, and some isolated oceanic islands.

They range everywhere from the far north of Scandinavia to the deserts of the south-western US.

What is a bat’s home called?

The place where a bat life is called its roost. Bats need different roosting conditions at other times of the year, so they’ll often move around to find a roost that suits their needs.

Some bats might prefer the hollows of trees, some prefer caves, and some prefer both at different times.

How have bats adapted to their habitat?

Bats have adapted in several ways to better survive in their habitat, protect themselves from predators, and more. Here’s how:

• Echolocation

Echolocation, also called bio-sonar, is what bats use to navigate their surroundings and hunt for food. Most bats have poor eyesight (except the fruit bat), so they rely on echolocation to find their way around. For example, when hunting insects at night, bats make high-pitched sounds from their noses and mouths. The sound waves bounce off objects, such as the insect, which allows the bat to ‘see’ with sound. Their inner ears and auditory parts of their brain are specially adapted to help them understand these sounds in the ultrasonic range.

• Large Ears

Most species of bats have large ears, and it’s thought that this helps them with their heightened sense of hearing through echolocation. It also helps them sense the direction of sounds to navigate.

• Lightweight Wings

To help them fly effectively, bats have long arms with finger bones that are thin and light but capable of supporting and manipulating their wing membranes. Having lightweight wings makes it much easier for bats to fly swiftly and navigate while flying. They can also use their wings to carry and catch prey.

• Specialized Mouth and Tongue

Bat species eat a variety of different foods, and many bat species have specialized mouths and tongues to help with this. For example, glossophagine bats have long tongues to help them collect nectar. They can elongate to be twice as long as their resting length!

• Thermoregulation

Many species of bats, including the vesper and horseshoe bats, can reduce their body temperature to the same as their environment’s when they rest. Then, they can raise their temperature again when they get ready to fly. When they drop their body temperature, they can conserve energy.

• Being Nocturnal

Being nocturnal has lots of benefits for bats. Flying requires a lot of energy and can be too tiring if done during the day. In addition, a bat’s thin and black wing membranes may absorb too much heat during the day, leading to dehydration. So instead, they fly at night when it’s cooler and darker. There’s also less competition when hunting insects at night.

• Sleeping Upside Down

Bats’ behavioral adaptations as well as physical ones — sleeping upside down is one of them. Bats are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day. Unfortunately, this can leave them vulnerable to predators. As a result, bats have adapted to sleeping upside down, holding onto their feet. As a result, they can open their wings, fly off whenever needed, and escape quickly.

How do bats reproduce?

Bats are mammals, so the females give birth to live young. Pregnant females gather together in maternity roosts to have their young, and the pregnancy can last 6-9 weeks. Female bats give birth to a single baby each year, which they keep close to them and care for. Baby bats are nursed by their mothers for about 4-5 weeks until they’re old enough to fly. Then, they pass out of the roost to begin foraging for food.

What do bats eat?

There’s as much variation in the diet of bats as there are species of this flighted mammal. However, one common feature shared across all bat species is the amount of food they must eat — bats need to eat a lot for their size. This is mainly because of their high metabolism and rapid burning of energy through flying.

• Microbats

The majority of microbats live off a diet mainly consisting of insects. However, insectivorous bats (bats that only eat insects) aren’t picky regarding the type of insects they eat — all insect species are part of a microbat’s diet but can vary depending on where in the world they live.

• Megabats

As opposed to the insectivorous microbats, megabats are largely herbivores who prefer a fruit diet. Some species of megabat are even considered nectarivorous, meaning they mainly get their energy from drinking plant nectar.

How do you make a bat habitat?

If you want to make a home for the bats in your local area, you can buy or build a bat house for the bats to make their roost. Then, you should:

• Choose the right spot – The best place is on a pole or the side of a building. Trees aren’t a good place for bat roosts because predators can easily access them.
• Make it small – Bats like tight and narrow spaces to call home.
• Ensure it faces the sun – Bats like warm temperatures, so a roost that gets all the sun’s warmth would be perfect for them.
• Check-in from time to time – Ensure the bats have liked their new home (rather than another animal, such as wasps).

Bat Symbology

One of the fascinating things about bats is how they’ve become synonymous with different things throughout history.

Many countries see bats as culturally significant in different ways, but in Western culture, bats represent the night, darkness, and often a sense of evil.

Most of this symbolism comes from the association between vampires and bats — the bat is a primary animal almost always linked to these fictional characters. However, this link often leads to bats being misunderstood as evil and bloodthirsty creatures, which is not the case. Instead, a large majority of bat species are herbivores.

Unlike many other cultures, bats symbolize happiness, joy, and good fortune in China. Five bats are even used to indicate the “Five Blessings”; longevity, wealth, health, love of virtue, and peaceful death.

The ancient civilization of Mesoamerica, what we now know as Central America, worshipped a bat god that was the god of corn and fertility.

Bats are often associated with spooky holidays like Halloween too. The black, winged shapes flying through the dusky night sky are eternally linked to the event.

The traditional connection between bats and Halloween can be traced back to Celtic civilizations. Celtic people would light bonfires as protection from ghosts believed to rise on Halloween night, and the bats would be drawn to the heat. Since then, bats have become synonymous with the holiday.

Why not get ready for this spooky season in the classroom and have fun learning about the mysterious bat? You can decorate your classroom and learn through Halloween-themed games. We have many bat templates for you to use when decorating your classroom and getting creative with your pupils. With our teacher-made resources, you can build writing and reading activities into your lesson plan.

What are the benefits of peer assessments?

First, let’s get an idea of the benefits. How do they help teachers and, more importantly, children?

Peer assessment can:

• Encourage social skills and communication by getting children to talk openly about their and others’ work.
• Pave the way for self-assessment and individual learning. This is because it can develop children’s understanding of success criteria and constructive criticism.
• As long as time is given for children to respond to the feedback, it could improve their work and provide them with something useful to act on next time.
• Make feedback less daunting for children because it’s from a peer rather than a teacher. As we all know, children often make the best teachers!
• Gives children new inspiration and techniques to use in their work. Seeing others’ work – whether it’s creative writing, reasoning in maths, the way some data has been presented in science, a piece of artwork, or a dance – can help them to magpie ideas.
• Make sure every child has their work acknowledged by someone else because teachers can’t respond to every child individually in a lesson.
• Develop important character attributes, such as respect, responsibility, and independence.

Getting Started with Peer Assessment

You might not be using peer assessment techniques yet. Or you might fear that things have gotten stale in your classroom regarding this way of working. Either way, don’t panic!

Don’t be afraid to devote time with your class to learning (or re-learning) the basics.

Why not:

• Spend a session asking children what they know about peer assessment, why they think we use it and how they feel about it.
• Model examples of peer assessment by going through a fictional piece of work together. Discuss the kind of feedback that would be useful to give and how to do it.
• Help children to give feedback against the aim and success criteria of the lesson. It’s also useful for them to know how to be specific with their feedback.
• Spend time helping children to understand how to respond to the feedback they receive.
• Use peer assessment in various subjects, from maths and English to art and dance.
• Ensure a culture of respect is embedded in the classroom so children don’t feel judged or insecure when engaging in peer assessment.

15 Peer Assessment Techniques to Try

1. Anonymous feedback

Hand out open books to children (not their own) and ask them not to look at who they have. They can then fill in a peer assessment grid, table, or form against the success criteria – whatever they like!

Next, send the books back to their owners so they can read and respond to the feedback.

Here’s a top tip: if your school has two classes in a year group and they’re completing the same work, swap between types.

2. Share with another pair

Ask children to share positive feedback about a partner’s work with another pair. By sharing good practice, ideas are shared further in the class. It also helps children to feel good about themselves when their work is praised in front of others.

3. Bloom’s Taxonomy

Use Bloom’s Taxonomy questions to guide verbal peer assessment. Take questions from this wheel to print on feedback that you put in children’s books. Or use it as a guide for the oral peer discussion, either during or at the end of a lesson.

4. Peer quizzes

This is a nice and easy peer assessment technique. Use the lesson’s aim and success criteria to make a short quiz. This can include questions about finding evidence in their partner’s work.

5. Two stars and a wish

An oldie but a goldie. This is a useful format to use, especially for younger children.

6. Feedback sandwich

Like two stars and a wish, this method involves children identifying two things they thought their partner did well and one point for improvement. The improvement comment is sandwiched between the two positive comments!

7. A favorite quote

Children select and share their favorite quote from a partner’s work. It’s great for creative writing. The section could be communicated verbally or, instead, be written on a sticky note and put on a learning wall display.

8. A shared success

Ask children to work together to develop something they both did well or could improve.

9. School values and growth mindset

Occasionally link the peer assessment and feedback to the school’s values, the value of the month, or learning styles. This will help children to develop as learners to embed a growth mindset.

10. Joint feedback

One pair of children swapped their books for this peer assessment technique with another. Together, they discuss how well the other team has done before feeding back to them.

11. Vary the formats of written feedback

This makes the exercise way more interesting. It means they don’t get stuck in a rut writing the same comments.

12. Setting a challenge

Why not ask the class to create a goal or challenge for their partner? They can write this on a sticky note and put it in their book.

Then, the next time you do a related piece of work, they can look at the sticky note and return to it after they’ve finished.

13. Topical feedback

A great way to have fun with peer assessment is to link the feedback format or language to a topic. For example, if the lesson is a balanced argument lesson about mobile phones, you could write this on a mobile phone template.

14. One-minute feedback

Set the timer and ask the class to give as much feedback to their partner in a minute! Then, switch over so the other person can have a go.

Write a few sentence starter prompts on the board so they can refer to it if they get stuck.

15. Feedback stickers

Mix it with stickers for children to complete, which they can stick into their partner’s book. All children love stickers!

What are ten basic feelings?

Expand your child’s emotional vocabulary with these ten words. Teach your class these words to help them describe their feelings and pinpoint how their classmates, friends, or family may also be feeling:

1. sad
2. happy
3. scared
4. excited
5. worried
6. shy
7. calm
8. embarrassed
9. angry
10. courageous

Of course, this isn’t where a student’s range of emotions starts and stops. There are so many more feelings kids can experience based on different situations.

Your children may also feel:

1. energetic
2. jealous
3. hopeful
4. hurt
5. motivated
6. lonely
7. grateful
8. guilty
9. frustrated
10. relaxed

Eight key steps to teach feelings to kids

1. Talk about (and model) your feelings.

One of the best ways to teach emotions to your students and encourage them to express how they feel is to set a good example yourself. Label your feelings as well as you can and speak them out loud. By modeling healthy emotional expression, your children will feel validated and accept that going through different emotions is a normal experience. Kids are always watching and listening, so whether through words or facial expressions, do your best to model what you want to see from them.

2. Meeting your kids at eye level.

Meeting your children’s eye level suggests a high level of trust and care and sends an important message of safety. Eye contact is extremely powerful, but some students may find it challenging to respond with the same eye contact as you, especially when emotions are high, so don’t expect them to reciprocate immediately.

3. Allow your children to feel.

You must ensure your children know they can feel whatever emotions they feel. But beware: if your student behaves unacceptably, set appropriate boundaries respectfully. All feelings are okay, but not all behaviors are okay.

4. Offer assurance and supportive statements to your students.

Empathize with your class and help young kids to learn to label their emotions by supporting them with statements like, “It looks like you are hurt or are feeling upset.” When you inform your students that you’re there for them by saying, “I’ll always listen to you and help you,” they will most likely be more confident in asking you for help in times of need or distress.

5. Help untangle emotions and co-regulate your responses to different situations.

Help your children untangle their emotions by encouraging them to label their feelings. You can show them how to do this in response to a situation that sparks complex feelings. There may be a scenario where you feel impassioned to react in a certain way, so when you can regulate a good response to a complicated situation, you become a positive source of inspiration for your kids. For example, yelling and raising your voice are negative reactions that can escalate a situation. It may cause children in your presence to scream back or cry. These heightened emotions cause a negative back-and-forth cycle, which benefits nobody. It’s always important to think, control, and help regulate your feelings before responding to a scenario.

6. Listen to your children.

Listen to your child’s perspective when they come to terms with it, and start recognizing their feelings. You can do this by not interrupting or intervening when they speak and being nonjudgmental. A great indicator you’re listening is asking your kids questions after they have finished talking. This shows that you care and are interested in knowing more about their feelings. Even if they can’t answer your questions immediately, your actions demonstrate that you paid attention to what they said.

7. Make a game plan and problem-solve.

Problem-solving is a useful technique that allows children to slow down and reflect on their actions. For example, you can calm your student down and improve their ability to make better decisions by asking them:

“What could you do instead?”

“How can I help you next time?”

“Is there another way to think about it?”

It’s also important to create opportunities for you and your kids to develop alternative solutions to expressing emotions instead of getting frustrated, throwing items, and having violent outbursts. For example, you can start the conversation by using your behavior as an example of responding to situations so they implement healthy ways to communicate their feelings.

8. Move on.

Moving on is necessary to find closure after experiencing tough emotions. While it’s important to process feelings, you must ensure that your kids don’t get consumed by them. After discussing and working through how they feel, you can resume conversations on different, light-hearted topics. Maybe watch a movie? Read stories? Or send them back to play with their peers (depending on where you are) to enable them to bounce back and continue with their day teaching feelings.

Benefits of teaching children about feelings

Educating your kids about their feelings and how to manage them is essential for improving their physical and mental wellbeing. And when your students are in a positive mindset, they’ll be more open, focused, and engaged in learning.

Here are two more benefits of teaching feelings:

To reduce anxiety – Feelings like jealousy, anger, sadness, and frustration can be very intense, especially for kids. As difficult as they may be, they belong to the human experience. You can help children navigate these emotions by encouraging open and honest discussions that directly embrace your child’s feelings.

To develop their emotional intelligence – Teaching feelings builds students’ self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation. Coping strategies are a sure way to increase your child’s emotional intelligence.

When should you start teaching kids about feelings?

There is no specific age or time when we should teach feelings to children. Emotions are a part of us from birth, whether we understand them or not. While it’s often overwhelming to talk to kids about heavier and more complex emotions, starting conversations about how they generally feel early on in life would be a great idea. If your child is sad about having to go to school, you can help work through their fears through open discussions, art, singing, and other creative methods and activities. When you start these conversations from a young age, they will become more confident and used to express how they feel about you and others.

More strategies for teaching feelings 

1. Talk about feelings in the media – during a TV series or movie you’re watching.
2. Playfully practice identifying feelings – through role play or reading stories.
3. Bond with your kids by sharing feelings and memories from your younger days.
4. Use toys to act out different emotions.
5. Praise and affirm your children when they use emotional language and express themselves.
6. Teach healthy emotional expression, such as mindfulness.

Extended writing is when children are expected to produce a piece of independent paper (without the help of an adult) within a set time frame.

Usually, extended writing tasks are completed at the end of a literacy teaching unit to test knowledge and understanding.

Some examples of extended writing tasks:

Students may have been learning about information reports. They will have practiced researching information for their accounts and the key features of writing them. At the end of the unit, they may be set an extended writing task in which they have to write their information report within a time limit to show what they have learned over the unit.

Teachers may have spent an extended period on the topic of short stories. Children will have enjoyed reading and listening to stories and may have acted out short scenes. Then they may move on to coming up with ideas for their own short stories, forming scenes and dialogue. As an extended writing task, teachers may ask students to write their short stories in a timed format fully. This is a great way to test students’ creativity and check their learning progress.

Extended writing tasks can take many forms, but they usually relate to specific topics children have been learning about in class.

How can children enjoy extended writing tasks?

‘The Big Write’

One of the most common ways extended writing is taught in schools is through ‘The Big Write.’ This is a great way to get children excited about the event and to treat it more like a fun and engaging activity for everyone rather than an otherwise daunting task.

Methods for The Big Write include:

• Accurate basic literacy skills – spelling, punctuation, grammar, and handwriting.

1. Grammar — Students should use correct grammar at all times in extended writing.
2. Handwriting — At a minimum, this should be neat and legible. Cursive writing is encouraged.
3. Spelling — This should be accurate in all sight-words.
4. Punctuation — This should be accurate in terms of sentence creation and for creating ‘voice’ and effect.

• A good foundational framework.
• Target setting and regular assessment.
• High expectations for students.
• The importance of revision and rehearsal
• Making writing fun!

The amount of time spent on their ‘Big Write’ depends on age, but schools that use the Big Write program are encouraged to follow a specific routine.

There must be homework time the night before to help children discuss their ‘Big Write’ and mentally prepare for it.

Then, the teachers much ensure the first half of their extended writing task focuses on grammar and the V.C.O.P acronym:

• Vocabulary — Children are encouraged to use descriptive language (adjectives first, and then powerful verbs and adverbs)
• Connectives— Children should practice using connectives in their writing, including conjunctions, prepositions, and adverbs.
• Sentence Openers — Children should use several sentence openers to keep their writing varied and avoid repetitive writing.
• Punctuation — Children should use punctuation accurately. For Year 1, this means capital letters and full stops; in lower Year 2, this includes question marks and exclamation marks. Later in Year 2, children also need to punctuate speech correctly and use apostrophes and commas in the right places.

The Big Write framework provides a school with a comprehensive model that ensures teachers and children know what they can do when organizing an extended writing event. The Big Writing messages are laid out with V.C.O.P displays and punctuation pyramids used in classrooms.

Timings

In Foundation – Year 2, children are given about 10 minutes to plan their extended writing piece and 30 minutes to write it.

In Years 3 – 6, children are given about 45 minutes of writing time.

Writing should be done in a calm and quiet environment that encourages concentration.

How is extended writing marked?

The writing that children produce in extended writing sessions is a valuable way for teachers to evaluate a child’s writing skills. They can see where children have implemented what they’ve been taught and the areas where they still need more support to improve.

Some schools follow up an extended writing session with feedback from the teacher. A common method is the ‘two stars and a wish’ way.

For this method, teachers will write two good things about the writing (two ‘stars’) and then something the child could improve on (a ‘wish’). For example, they might write:

• Great job on using a variety of adjectives in your description!
• Well done for using lots of different sentence openers.
• Next time, use apostrophes for words such as ‘can’t’ and ‘don’t.’

Then, children are given feedback and usually asked to edit their work to improve it. They might do this individually, or the teacher might divide the group into pairs for a peer feedback session.

Extended writing preparation step-by-step

Introduce a stimulus

For children in Foundation, extended writing stimulus may be a short story, a video, or a biography fact file. There are many topics to choose from depending on the level of your class and the current teaching topic.

Prepare knowledge

Preparation for an extended writing practice should first involve direct instruction. Children should be taught about the source material and join in a discussion of key points.

For example – if the chosen stimulus is a biography fact file, children should learn all about the person in the fact file in lessons. This could be through various materials such as PowerPoints, games, activities, fact file reading and writing worksheets, or role-play activities. This ensures children have an essential ‘toolkit’ of knowledge to draw from when it comes to the extended writing task.

Planning and practice

Use a structured framework to allow students to prepare for the extended writing task. Use worksheets or revisions practice documents, so students can plan a system for themselves in preparation for writing the final timed piece. Students can jot down notes and references or practice writing the full amount before the assessment.

Planning and practice could mean setting one writing task weekly on the lesson’s topic so that children can become familiar with the extended writing format.

The Big Write

Revisit the toolkit and go through plans with students. Perhaps share a good WAGOL (what a good one looks like) to inspire students to shine.

All that’s left to do is write, write, write. Students will write independently for 30 mins – 1 hour. Children should have done all the thinking and working out in their weeks of practice and can now exercise their creative flair in an assessed environment.

Some children will need more support in the process than others, so it’s a good idea to use differentiated activities and ensure students communicate about the help they need.

Benefits of extended writing for children

Extended writing tasks allow students to test their skills and recognize their strengths and weaknesses when writing. Complete writing tasks allow students to:

• Engage in deep learning
• Observe their time management
• Develop critical and creative reasoning skills
• Practice and refine written communication skills

Sleeping Beauty is a traditional tale passed down for many generations. Like all fairy tales, it contains supernatural elements, and their purpose is primarily to entertain rather than impart any moral message.

The story of Sleeping Beauty is generally associated with the Brothers Grimm. However, they adapted the tale in 1812 from Charles Perrault’s version, published in French in 1697. Perrault’s version itself was adapted from a much older story known as Perceforest, which is thought to have originated in the 14th century. Some of the early versions of the story were extremely dark and wouldn’t be considered children’s stories at all. The Grimm Brothers took out the most disturbing details, and the story became known as a classic fairy tale.

Several other names0, including The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood and Little Briar Rose, have also known as Sleeping Beauty. The princess has numerous names, including Briar Rose, Rosamund, and Rosebud. However, in Tchaikovsky’s famous Sleeping Beauty ballet, first produced in 1890, the princess is called Aurora. Disney also used this name in their animated film adaptation, released in 1959. The mass appeal of this film meant that the name Princess Aurora is what most people know her as today. The film uses the Grimm Brothers’ name for the princess, Briar Rose, as a pseudonym for her while living with the fairies until she turns sixteen.

Various names have also been known for the evil fairy who places the curse on the princess. In the ballet and many written versions of the story, her name is Carabosse. However, the Disney film named her Maleficent, and this name now tends to be used much more widely. The prince doesn’t have a name in the original versions of the story. Instead, Disney named him Philip after the Duke of Edinburgh.

What is Sleeping Beauty about?

Like many fairy tales, the plot of Sleeping Beauty is centered around a princess who is cursed and can only be saved by true love. But, unfortunately, her family is powerless. So the prince must go on a quest to get to the princess, facing difficulties along the way.

While many versions of the story have been shared over the centuries, most people now recognize the performance by the Brothers Grimm, which is quite similar to the arrangement shown in the Disney film. So let’s look at this Sleeping Beauty fairy tale summary to discover more about the story.

Sleeping Beauty fairy tale summary

In an unnamed European kingdom, the king and queen are holding a great party to celebrate the birth of their daughter, Princess Aurora. The couple has long waited to have a baby and wants to make this celebration as lavish as possible. Therefore, they invite many important  Each fairy is invited to give the princess a special gift, such as beauty or song, to protect her throughout her life.

However, one fairy, Maleficent, has accidentally been overlooked and hasn’t been invited to the party. She bursts in unannounced, in a terrible rage about the oversight. She approaches the baby’s crib and places a curse on her, saying that before sunset on her sixteenth birthday, Princess Aurora will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Maleficent then exits, leaving the rest of the guests shocked and devastated.

One of the good fairies hasn’t yet given her gift to the baby princess. She attempts to undo Maleficent’s curse so that instead of dying, the princess will fall into a deep sleep that will last for 100 years. She will only wake when a prince kisses her with true love.

To protect the princess, the king orders every spinning wheel and spindle in the whole kingdom to be destroyed. Princess Aurora is sent into the woods to live with the good fairies until she is sixteen.

We next meet the princess on her sixteenth birthday. She doesn’t know she is a princess, as she only remembers being brought up in the forest by the fairies. However, that night there is to be a party at the castle to celebrate the princess’s birthday. The fairies tell her of her true identity.

When Aurora arrives at the castle, she meets an older woman who lures her away into an isolated tower. The older woman is Maleficent in disguise and has a spinning wheel with a cursed spindle. Aurora touches the spindle and pricks her finger. Instantly, she falls into a deep sleep.

The good fairies see with horror what has happened. They place the sleeping Aurora on an ornate bed in the castle’s highest tower. Then, realizing that everyone she has known will be gone by the time she wakes up, they magically send everyone in the court into the same deep sleep. All the castle inhabitants will only wake at the same time as Aurora if a prince kisses her. The fairies make the trees and plants of the forest grow into a tangled web that completely covers the castle so that nobody can disturb Aurora’s sleep.

A handsome prince rides his horse through the forest one hundred years later. He sees a huge tangle of brambles and realizes a castle is hidden beneath it. Filled with curiosity and wanting to explore, the prince cuts his way through the web of brambles and enters the court. Once inside, he climbs the stairs until he reaches the top of the tallest tower, where the princess is asleep.

When the prince sees the sleeping Aurora, he instantly falls in love with her. He approaches her and gives her true love’s kiss. At this moment, Aurora and the other inhabitants wake up. The prince and princess are married, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty story variations

As the story of Sleeping Beauty has been told for many centuries by many sources, some variations in the versions of the story are told today. The version in the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale summary above is the Grimm Brothers’ version, probably the most widely known. However, this version differs from other popular tellings of the tale.

The main differences involve the prince’s story. In Disney’s film, the prince and Aurora are betrothed at birth. They meet accidentally in the woods on her sixteenth birthday, but they are both unaware of each other’s identities and that they are betrothed to each other. When Aurora falls asleep, Maleficent kidnaps the prince, planning to keep him captive for 100 years so he can’t break the curse. However, the good fairies rescue him and arm him with a sword and a shield. Maleficent transforms into a dragon to fight the prince, but he kills her and cuts his way into the castle. He wakes Aurora when she has only been asleep for a short time.

Some versions describe many princes attempting to cut their way into the castle, with only the bravest one succeeding.

In some versions of the story, the fairies are described as wise women, and there are thirteen of them, including Maleficent / Carabosse. In other arrangements, there are eight fairies, while in Disney’s film, there are only four.

The princess isn’t sent into the woods to live with the fairies in all versions of the tale. Some have her remaining with her parents, and on her sixteenth birthday, she’s left alone in the castle. She comes across a locked room where Maleficent, disguised as the older woman, is spinning at the wheel.

What is the Third-Person narrative?

The third-person narrative is written from another person’s point of view or as an outsider looking in.

Third-person uses pronouns such as ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘it,’ or ‘they.’

It differs from the first person, which uses pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘me,’ and from the second person, which uses pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘your.’

How do you write in the third person?

Sentences and stories told in the third person are written from an ‘outside’ perspective.

The third person is considered more objective because a character’s thoughts or feelings don’t influence the narrative. This contrasts with the first person, where the history is written about how the character thinks and feels.

Names and third-person pronouns are used to identify characters in the text. The narrator can sometimes be considered a character in the text, but it varies from text to text.

There are also different ways that the third person can be written.

Third-person objective / observant

This is where the narrator tells the story without describing any thoughts or feelings of the characters. They’re only an observer and explain what they see. This is an unbiased storytelling device.

Third-person omniscient

Third-person omniscient is where the narrator tells the story while also describing the thoughts and feelings of the characters. This literary device is great to use for character development.

Why is the Third Person effective?

Writing in the third person provides objectivity to each character, meaning information can be given to the reader, which individual characters may not know anything about, creating dramatic irony.

Examples of Third-Person

The best way to help pupils recognize the third-person narrative is to get them to identify if third-person pronouns have been used. These include:

• He/She/It/They (subject, singular/plural) For example:

‘She likes to go to the gym.’

‘They prefer to go walking.’

• Him/Her/It/Them (object, singular/plural) For example:

‘Dave laughed at her.’

‘Dave laughed at them.’

• His/Hers/Its/Theirs (possessive, singular/plural) For example:

‘The dog was his.’

‘The dog was theirs.’

• His/Her/Its/They’re (possessive, modifying a noun, singular/plural). For example:

‘That is her coat.’

‘That is their coat.’