Christmas bundle

A bundle of book-based resources to support topic work on a Christmas theme. Included in this pack are four sets of Starting Points notes for the Polar Express, The Jolly Christmas Postman, The Snowman, and the Michael Morpurgo adapted version of The Snowman. There is also a set of Guided Reading Planning for Mog’s Christmas Calamity, and two sets of handwriting sheets on the theme of Cosy Jumpers and Christmas. Each of these is available separately on the Primary English website, but can be downloaded here as a value-for-money bundle.

The Polar Express: Starting Points

In this set of Starting Points based on The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg you’ll find ideas to support spoken language, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This Starting Points resource will give you everything you need to plan a beautiful book-based unit of work for children in KS2.

In this set of Starting Points we have planned for the following grammar learning:

• Revision of apostrophes used for contraction and possession

• Revision of the four sentence types

• Use of exclamation marks

• Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions, adverbs, or
  prepositions

• Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to write direct speech

• Noun phrases expanded by modifying adjectives, nouns and
  preposition phrases

• Fronted adverbials, including the use of commas after fronted
  adverbials

• Relative clauses

• Linking ideas across paragraphs using tense choices (use of past & past perfect)
  Use of the passive voice

• Hyphens used to avoid ambiguity

The Jolly Christmas Postman: Starting Points

Starting Points are written to help you plan book-based units of work. In this set based on The Jolly Christmas Snowman by Allan Ahlberg, you’ll find ideas to support spoken language, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This Starting Points resource will give you everything you need to plan a beautiful book-based unit of work for children in KS1.

In this set of Starting Points we have planned for the following grammar learning:

Year 1

• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives

• Separation of words with spaces

• Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

• Joining words and joining clauses using and

• Capital letters for names and the personal pronoun I.

Year 2

• Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but)

• Expanded noun phrases for description and specification

• How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command

• Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing

• Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.

• Commas to separate items in a list

• Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling and to mark singular possession in nouns.

The Snowman: Starting Points

In this set of Starting Points based on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs you’ll find ideas to support spoken language, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This set of Starting Points resource will give you everything you need to plan a beautiful book-based unit of work for children in KS1.

In this set of Starting Points, we have planned for the following grammar learning:

Year 1

• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives

• Separation of words with spaces

• Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

• Joining words and joining clauses using and

• Capital letters for names.

Year 2

• Subordination and co-ordination

• Expanded noun phrases for description and specification

• How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command

• Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing

• Use of the progressive form of verbs in the past tense to mark actions in progress

• Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.

The Snowman (Michael Morpurgo version): Starting Points

This set of Starting Points is based on Michael Morpurgo’s adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ classic picture book, The Snowman. In it you’ll find ideas to support spoken language, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This Starting Points resource will give you everything you need to plan a beautiful book-based unit of work for children in lower KS2.

In this set of Starting Points, we have planned for the following grammar learning:

Year 3

• Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions, adverbs or prepositions

• Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related material

• Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech.

Year 4

• Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases

• Fronted adverbials

• Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme

• Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition

• Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech

• Use of commas after fronted adverbials.

Mog’s Christmas Calamity: Guided Reading Pack

A comprehensive pack of resources to support the teaching of Mog’s Christmas Calamity. Included in this pack are:

• A guided reading lesson plan in an editable word document format

• A set of statements from the story for children to sequence

• A writing activity to create a list of items to help the Thomas family celebrate Christmas

• A photocopiable set of comprehension questions for independent or teacher/ TA supported work

• A wordsearch suitable for independent work

• An additional guided reading or TA-led session to compare the book with the television advert version of the story.

Cosy Jumpers: Handwriting Pack

Six jumper themed sheets to develop pencil control and hand eye coordination. Included in this pack you will find handwriting sheets featuring woolly jumpers, sheep and balls of wool. Perfect for independent pencil control practice, morning work and homework activities.

Christmas: Handwriting Pack

Six Christmas themed sheets to develop pencil control and hand eye coordination. Included in this pack you will find

• Christmas jumper

• Christmas lights

• Reindeer

• Snowflakes

• Snowman

• Christmas stocking