Collected Resources

1. Enjoy Tadpole’s Promise. Define promise, i.e. saying that you will do something. Identify the promise that tadpole makes. Ask children to share the promises they have made. Consider why it is important to keep promises. Discuss how it feels when promises are kept and broken.
2. Display the text lifecycle of a frog (resources). Read each sentence aloud, using phonics and HFWs. Note the sequencing words opening each sentence. Order sentences correctly.
3. Show a picture of a frog/tadpole (resources). Identify different body parts. Say labels give information about a picture. Model adding labels. Can children help you using phonics/HFWs to spell.
4. Show contents page of Tadpoles and Frogs. Read headings and say they may provide info to answer questions. Generate a question and select an appropriate heading. Read facts. Orally prepare and rehearse an answer. Demonstrate writing the sentence using correct punctuation.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: The Tadpole by Elizabeth Gould
Share poem. Rehearse at suitable times throughout the week, e.g. start/end of day. Help children vary pitch/tone of voice to stress words/phrases. Consider recording and showing it on school website.

Group Reader: Elver the Eel
Follow the journey of Elver the eel as he travels across the world to find a place to live and grow. See Elver and his friends avoid dangers from land and sea on their long journey and learn more about how the eels adapt as they grow and move. This beautifully illustrated text is great to use alongside a topic on lifecycles.

1. What is a Fairy tale?
2. Sleeping Beauty
3. Retelling a tale
4. Writing Sleeping Beauty

1. Reading Sleeping Beauty
2. Inviting the Grumpy Fairy
3. Writing Sleeping Beauty
4. Fairy Tale Day

1. Small world retelling
2. Castle construction
3. Fairy tale explorers

1. Read a traditional version of Sleeping Beauty. What did children think of the story? What would it be like if the good fairy cast a spell on us? Take a ‘magic wand’/some jingle bells and try casting a sleeping spell on the class.
2. Play Sleeping Beauty (Hamilton Storytelling video). Why was the bad fairy so cross? Have children ever felt left out? What could the King & Queen have done to make her feel better? What might have happened then?
3. Display and read Sleeping Beauty (Hamilton Group Reader) and compare. In this version, the characters are animals. What other animals could the illustrator have drawn them as? Squirrels? Rabbits?
4. Reread Sleeping Beauty (Hamilton Group Reader). How else might the prince have woken up Sleeping Beauty? How do children like to be woken up in the morning? What makes them sleepy at night?

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: Three Lullabies
Discuss the purpose of lullabies. Has anyone got a baby at home who has trouble going to/staying asleep?! Why is sleep important? Children choose their favourite to learn. Can they sing it to a sibling, pet or toy? Sing during the week, ending in everyone falling asleep! You could supplement these with lullabies from home.

Group Reader: Sleeping Beauty
This enchanting fairy tale, retold by Ruth Merttens, provides a decodable version of the story perfect for using with emerging readers. The lively illustrations will engage the children’s interest as they discover the tale of a princess who slept for a hundred years. This book is ideal for using alongside a block of work on fairy tales.

1. Jack and the Beanstalk
2. Descriptive sentences
3. Retelling a tale
4. Magic sentences