English and literacy (including reading resources)

 

As well as working with schools, The Education People and Children's University staff are committed to supporting children, young people and their families with home learning and enrichment opportunities.

We appreciate that this is an uncertain time for families but we hope that these home learning resources help you enjoy your time with your children, even in times of social distancing, self-isolation and possible lockdown.  Making happy memories, whilst learning during this time, will be very important to all.

These links have been given to us by a variety of partners including The Education People Advisors, Children's University Managers, Learning Destinations and partners such as Kent libraries.  

This section of our website will be updated each day so do come back every now and then to see what's new.  Do click on the subject links on the left tab for more specific resources available to schools and families.

 

Please read this important notification from Kent Libraries, Registration and Archives with regard to the closure of library services

 

200 Million Minutes Reading Challenge

• On Thursday 5th March 2020, Achievement for All launched the annual reading challenge across the globe to attempt to read for  200 MILLION MINUTES!  The Challenge ends on 10th July 2020.

 

Anderson Press

• Colouring and activity sheets and teaching/discussion notes on picture books, children's fiction and teen fiction

  

Ask a Kent Librarian

• If you need help with research, homework, or a library service, our librarians are here to answer your questions.  You can chat with a librarian in real time or send us your question and wait for the answer. It's a bit like going into a library and asking a question in person, but can be done from your computer or mobile device.

 

Audible (free eBooks for all children and young people)

• For as long as schools are closed, Audilble's open.  Childen and young people everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being children.
  
  All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.
  
  Explore the collection, select a title and start listening.
  
  It's that easy.

  
  

Barrington Stoke

• Barrington Stoke is a small, independent and award-winning children's publisher. For over 20 years we've been pioneering super-readable, dyslexia-friendly fiction to help  every child become a reader. From our specially designed font to the colour of our paper, accessibility is at the heart of everything we do.

 

Barrington Stoke - Activity sheets

• A variety of activity sheets including word puzzles, quizzes and colouring in.

 

Barrington Stoke - Discussion guides for their books

• Resources for a variety of texts that encourage discussion.

 

Barrington Stoke - Young editors scheme

• Barrington Stoke has been getting book-averse young people into reading for 15 years. A key element of our approach is the involvement of young readers in shaping our books.
  
  Registration for our  Young Editors Scheme is free for schools and provides the opportunity to download manuscripts prior to publication for students' feedback and input.

 

The big list of authors doing online read-alouds and activities

• With kids at children and parents looking for educational activities, many of our favorite authors are offering online read-alouds and activities on social media. Here is a list of 50 top authors to enjoy!

 

BookTrust Home Time

• The site includes free books, videos, games, recipes, competitions, quizzes and activity sheets.

 

The BookTrust's YouTube channel (mainly Early Years and KS1)

• The website contains interviews with authors, story time, lessons on how to draw, book reviews and much more.

 

Bright Educational Consultancy's reading planner (suitable for all ages)

• Here are some Reading Activities in the form of a planner Bright Educational Consultancy thought would be helpful to share or add to packs. Filled with fun things to do around reading during school closure.

 

British Library

• Have you heard about the new British Library Discovering Children's books site? It's free to access and full of book-inspired creative activities, from making your own miniature book to writing a comic strip. Aimed at primary school children, teachers and book-lovers of all ages, the site explores the history and rich variety of children's literature, through treasures from the British Library, Seven Stories, Bodleian Libraries and the V & A.
• British Library's Discovering Literature website is also very useful for older students and includes several short documentary films and teacher resources.

 

Cambridge University Press

• The Press has made all Academic higher education textbooks free to access online. All 700 textbooks published and currently available in HTML format on Cambridge Core can now be accessed free until the end of May, regardless of whether they were previously purchased. We are also providing free access to research related to the coronavirus. The Press plays a global role in education and research and shares its University's mission to contribute to society through its work. Sharing that research can play an important role in tackling shared threats such as this.  More than 80 relevant book chapters and journal articles are available, drawn from journals including Epidemiology & Infection; Prehospital and Disaster Medicine; Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, and from Animal Health Research Reviews, among others. Future articles will be added to the collection once they have been published.
  

 

Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (for Key Stage 1 and 2)

• To support you with the school closures and home learning, CLPE wants to share with you their FREE Poetry resources to use with children.  Poetry is a fundamental element in the development of children's literacy. The Poetryline website holds an extensive bank of poems for children and teaching resources, videos of poet performances and interviews to support the teaching of poetry in the classroom.

• To support you as you plan for school closure and home learning CLPE wanted to share with you their Power of Pictures FREE resources to use with children. Their Power of Pictures research,  on which these free resources are based, finds that giving children the opportunity to explore their creativity through drawing and supporting them to learn through picturebooks, has a direct and positive impact on children's literacy.

 

Centre for Literacy in Primary Education - Take 5

• The Teaching Team at CLPE have been working hard to meet schools' changing needs in these unprecedented times as pupils transition to home learning.

  Following careful consulation with our Power of Reading Associate schools, we are pleased to launch  Take 5: our brand new resources for Power of Reading schools to send home to parents. They are designed to allow children to develop their own responses to Power of Reading texts they may have studied or will be studying in school.

  Each set of notes contains five simple activities which will develop children's comprehension skills and strategies and develop their imagination and creativity for writing, linked to the National Curriculum.

 

COVID short book for children in different languages

• This book is an invitation for families to discuss the full range of emotions arising from the current situation. It is important to point out that this resource does not seek to be a source of scientific information, but rather a tool based on fantasy. The recommendation is to print this material so children can draw on it. Remember that emotions are processed through repetitive play and stories read multiple times. 

 

David Walliams' daily audio stories for children (KS1 and KS2)

• David Walliams is releasing a FREE audio story every day for the next 30 days. It might help some parents out there to get their kids to quieten down and listen to a story whilst you get a few jobs done or just grab a cuppa in peace.

 

Egmont children's websites

• Visit our special author, book and magazine websites to find out more about your favourite Egmont characters.  Characters include Sir Charlie Stinky-Socks, Barry Loser, Mr Gum, Lemony Snicket and Minecraft.

 

Encyclopaedia Britannica

• This First Edition is available from The National Library of Scotland.

 

Explore More

 

Football School Friday

• Football School Friday starts at 10am with Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton on the Football School via YouTube. 

 

First News Education

• With the worldwide closure of some schools and the potential for more to do so, have you considered your solution for remote learning? For a limited time, we're offering free, current issues of First News newspaper (PDF edition), Activity Sheets, and an extended 6-week trial of the iHub.      

 

Francesca Simon's activity sheets (suitable for all ages)

• Francesca is one of the nation's most popular authors and has written over fifty books for children of all ages.  She is most famous for writing the Horrid Henry series of children's books.
  

 

Good read list for teenagers

• Young adult realistic and/or historical fiction about epidemics/pandemics. 

 

Harper Collins

• Activities for pre-schoolers to teens, including Mog the forgetful cat, Percy the parkkeeper, Dr Seuss, Skulduggery Pleasant and David Baddiel. 

 

Harry Potter activities

• Fantastic fun inspired by the world of the Harry Potter books! Discover your Harry Potter name, share your favourite quotes, test your knowledge and much more!

 

Home Learning Packs from Stonewall

• At such a difficult and uncertain time, Stonewall knows that education staff, parents and carers are facing unprecedented challenges. However, it's at times like these that we can come together to help each other. That's why Stonewall has launched a series of home learning packs. Whether you're a teacher sending work home for your students, or a parent or carer looking for some activities for your child, these packs are for you. There's a primary, secondary and SEND version of each pack, complete with suggested activities and supporting materials to support your child's learning:

1. Creativity learning pack:  The creativity packs include a range of activities with curriculum links to art, computing, DT, English, music, PE and PSHE.
2. Different families learning pack:  The Different families packs include a range of art, English and computing activities for Primary, Secondary and SEND pupils.
3. English activities learning pack:  The English packs include a range of activities with curriculum links to art, history, geography, music and PSHE.
4. Frida Kahlo learning pack: The Frida Kahlo packs include a range of art, English and computing activities for Primary, Secondary and SEND pupils.
5. LGBT history learning pack:  The LGBT history packs include a range of art, DT, English, history, music, science, PSHE, PE and computing activities.

 

 

Into Film - family-friendly films with educational value

• With cinemas closed and many children at home, chilldren and young people may be in need of some quality films to watch. Into Film will be regularly recommending their top picks across a variety of genres and categories. All of their choices are available to stream within the UK, come with recommended viewing ages and talking points, and many have additional educational resources too. 

Into Film - Review 100: Social media review writing competition

• To help young people flex and develop their literacy and analytical skills while schools are closed, Into Film has launched a Review 100, a new film review writing competition.  Every two weeks we'll select a winner and they'll receive a £20 Amazon voucher.  

 

Jacqueline Wilson games, activities and colouring (suitable for KS1 - 3)

• Click on the different stalls to enter exciting competitions, view the magazine website or play games. You can also click on the icons on the conveyor belt to download fun activity sheets.

 

Kent libraries digital collection

• These include reference resources as well as free e-books, e-audio books, a vast range of the latest e-magazines and daily e-newspapers.

 

Lonely Planet Kids

• Short videos include a London trail, animals of the Amazon rainforest, how skyscrapers work.

Medway libraries digital collection

• Library members can download eBooks and eAudiobooks free of charge using the Libby app from Overdrive.
  

 

My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19

• This book was a project developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG). The project was supported by global, regional and country based experts from Member Agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teachers and children in 104 countries. 

 

National Literacy Trust

• The NLT works to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the UK's poorest communities, where one in three people have literacy problems.   Because low literacy is intergenerational, they focus our work on families, young people and children.

 

National Literacy Trust: Family Zone

• Split up by age group below, you will find ideas and guidance for simple activities that will engage your children at home, while also benefiting their reading, writing and language development.

  You'll be able to access free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos, competitions and reading challenges. Every resource is available for free, although to access some you may need to create a free account.

 

Nature in Your Neighbourhood

• Nature in Your Neighbourhood offers a fulfilling and creative project that young people aged 5 to 19 can complete within their schools or homes - plus a chance to win fantastic prizes including filmmaking equipment. 

 

Nosy Crow

• Download fun, free activity sheets for some of our best-loved titles - games, craft activities, and more!  Every activity sheet is available as a free PDF download for you to print and share. 

 

The official Neil Gaiman Website for younger Readers

• The official Neil Gaiman Website for younger Readers, read, play games, download printable activities, and watch videos inspired by Neil Gaiman's books.

 

Old Barn Books

• Old Barn Books is an independent publisher of illustrated books for children and gift books for adults. They love beautiful illustration and fine writing and look to build a list that is eclectic and personal, with an emphasis on the natural world and the development of emotional intelligence.

 

Oliver Jeffers readaloud

• Oliver Jeffers will read one of his books every day at 2pm, then archive the reading on his website.

 

Oxford Owl: Home learning resources (primary school-aged children)

• Oxford Owl offers a range of free activities for the home and outdoor environment.

 

Oxford University Press: Home learning resources

• Wherever you are, and however you need help, OUP has the resources for you.

 

The Open University

• The Open University's OpenLearn where all the courses are free. Good for older young people and parents/carers too!       

 

Pan Macmillan

• Colouring sheets and other ideas for indoor activities based on books.

 

Penguin Random House UK games and activities

• Their books shape the broader cultural life of our society and inform the national conversation. Their brands - from Ladybird to Penguin - accompany people of all ages on their journey of discovery of the greatest stories, the smartest thinking and the best ideas.

 

Penguin Random House UK quizzes

• They champion the world's most brilliant voices, bringing them to life in compelling and dynamic ways for audiences everywhere. In addition to books, ebooks and audiobooks, they also play a part in blockbuster films, TV shows, radio, theatre productions, live events and social media.

 

Penguin Random House UK - How to illustrate

• Get your pens and paper ready - it's time to learn how to draw Victorian heroine  Hetty Featherwith illustrator  Nick Sharratt.

 

Puffin home learning resources

• Puffin Storytime: From Monday 6^th April, Puffin will be bringing 20 minutes of storytime magic to homes daily at 3.30pm on weekdays. This will include readings and draw-alongs from their stellar list of authors and illustrators. Caregivers, teachers and children can view Puffin Storytime on Puffin's YouTube, Instagram and Facebook channels #PuffinStorytime

• The Full 'Puffin Storytime' Schedule:

1. Mondays & Fridays, 3.30pm - Storytime & Draw-alongs for little ones 0-5. Launching on 6^th April with Look Up! By Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola
2. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3.30pm - Sam Copeland will serialise, in 20-minute episodes, the entirety of his hilarious book Charlie Changes into a Chicken for readers 7+ 
3. Wednesdays, 3.30pm- Story Starters for ages 6-11. Puffin authors will read extracts from their books to help inspire children to discover their next read. Launching on 8^th April with an extract from the bestselling Murder Most Unladylike read by Robin Stevens.

• The Puffin Podcast: A new 3-part Puffin Podcastserieswill launch on Sunday 19^th April (via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Acast and YouTube Kids), where comedian, children's author and YouTube personality Humza Arshad hosts laugh-out-loud stories, games and jokes guaranteed to give you the giggles! Aimed at unlocking creativity, taking stories to imaginations worldwide and inspiring children to dream big, the podcast will be available here.

• Puffin Schools:  To support teachers, parents and caregivers now tackling home-learning, the Puffin Schoolswebsite has been restructured to make Puffin books and resources accessible to children who need them. A huge collection of easy to discover resources to bring stories to life, including bite size activities and new categories such as Writing Prompts, Activity Ideas and Picture Book Packs, can be found here.

 

Roald Dahl - Things to do indoors

• The next few weeks are going to be a little bit different.

  So, in the meantime, the Roald Dahl website has put everything they can think of that might help distract you, entertain you or just cheer you up on this page right here.
  
  For teachers, all the lesson plans are contained in the link above, and they're packed with resources that you might find useful while your class are at home.

 

Royal Shakespeare Company - Culture in quarantine

• As part of the BBC's plans to keep bringing arts to audiences during the Coronavirus pandemic, you will be able to watch six of our shows from the comfort of your own home over the next few weeks.  All six are now on iPlayer and will be broadcast on BBC 4 - dates to be announced.

 

Storyline Online

• One great site for this is StoryLine Online, an award winning website which streams online videos featuring actors reading children's story books alongside the books' illustrations. The American website is a programme run by SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing educational and comprehensive resources to its users (works better in Chrome than Internet Explorer).

 

Stour Academies Trust home learning resources

• In these uncertain times, the SAT aims to provide quality-learning opportunities for children whilst school closures are in place.

  They will be providing daily lessons for both English and Maths and weekly lessons for Topic and Science for every year group.

  Choose your year group from the link above and every day you can watch a video input from a teacher and view resources and ideas that will help your child complete an activity.

 

Sweet Cherry

• Sweet Cherry has been developing a range of activity packs for our titles which are used in schools and other learning environments. These resources are available to download for free.

 

TES home learning resources

• TES has created this page to facilitate the sharing of free resources and information on coronavirus, as well as anything that might help support teachers, schools and students during this time, such as revision material, home packs and self-guided study material. 

 

The Literacy Shed

• Fully resourced unit plans based on Literacy Shed films, Non-Fiction reading revision resources, 'VIPERS' reading resources, Classic Text VIPERS comprehensions, Novel study guides for teachers and student task booklets, Resources to aid the scaffolding of writing through DADWAVERS.

 

Tom Palmer's home learning resources

• Tom is the  author of three Puffin football children's series, Football Academy, Foul Play and The Squad and 14  books for Barrington Stoke.
• FREE videos of reading from my books,new ones added daily here
• FREE reads - first chapters of my books here 
• FREE colouring here
• FREE literacy resources   here
• And on Tuesday 5th May (from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.) I will be hosting a chat on Facebook Live on my facebook page

 

 

Usborne Books

• To help parents and families during this challenging time, Usborne Books will be uploading dozens of resources to help children practise their key skills and find fun things to do while they're at home. And give parents and carers a few minutes to get on with their own work too!

 

Walker Books

• Get creative with these lovely activity sheets! Simply click the title and enjoy.

 

Walker Books lockdown activities

• Stay-At-Home with Nicola Davies:  Award winning Nicola Davieshas written a wonderful blog for us about DNA to celebrate the publication of Grow, illustrated by Emily Suttonwhich you can read on Picture Book Party here.  There are teachers notes for the book here.

• Stay-at-Home Adventures with Anna McNuff:  Look out for Anna McNuff's Instagram stories takeover on @WalkerBooksUKas she talks about her new book, "100 Adventures to Have Before You Grow Up" by Anna Mcnuff, illustrated by Clair Rossiter. It is packed with adventure ideas you can do right now in your home and garden & those big bucket list adventures that you can start planning now! You can see Anna talking about her book here. 

• Stay-at-home with the Walker Bear: Our 'Stay home with the Walker Bear' playlist features all the best and brightest videosfrom our Walker Books authors and illustrators. The perfect place to find readings, activities and more to keep your little ones entertained. 

• A Monster Calls- the movie adaptation was shown on BBC and is now available on iplayer.  CILIP have begun a daily "broadcast" called National Shelf Service with professional librarians recommending titles on YouTube. This kicked off with a recommendation for A Monster Calls.  You can find this resource here.

• The Bear Hunt's gone GLOBAL! All around the world, people are putting bears in their windows for families to spot on their daily walks.  Walker have put together reading recommendation assets.  These are the first set in bi-weekly recommendation assets which will range in theme, age group, and school subject. There are also two activity sheets for children to make their very own bear and bear ears to print off and cut out available here, which has been updated with the latest books and news.

• Chris Haughton,author-illustrator of such favourites as - Oh No, George!, Shh! We Have a Plan, Goodnight Everyone, A Bit Lost, and the soon to be in paperback Don't Worry, Little Crab - is keeping kids across the world busy with his read-alongs, live art tutorials, and activities. You can see more here.

• From the award-winning creator of Alan's Big, Scary Teeth comes Follow Me, Floa hilarious and heartfelt daddy and daughter cautionary tale, sure to get all young readers laughing and singing.  You can watch Jarvis sharing his story here.

 

Wizarding World

• J K Rowling and her Wizarding World partners have announced three new initiatives under the banner Harry Potter At Home, to help children, parents, carers and teachers who are at home during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

World Book Day - Book Ideas Hub

• Fun ideas, crafty activities, and free booky resources that everyone can enjoy together, this site is all about sharing stories and enjoying the magic of books.

 

Young Walter Scott Prize

• The prestigious Young Walter Scott Prize, a UK-wide historical writing prize for 11-19 year olds is open for entries.
• Budding writers that have found themselves with more time on their hands since the Coronavirus outbreak, have a golden opportunity to explore the historical novelist within. The prize challenges young people to write a piece of short fiction set in a time before they were born.
• The winners receive a £500 travel grant and a 2-day trip to the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland where they are presented with their prizes. All winning and highly commended writers see their work published in the special YWSP anthology and runners-up in each age category receive a book token. Stories of between 800 and 2000 words can now be submitted until the closing date of 31st October 2020. Entries are judged in two age groups - 11 to 15 years and 16 to 19 years. Any kind of fiction is accepted - prose, poetry, drama, fictional letters or reportage. 

 

YouTube live story books

• These channels include:

1. Jez Alborough reading "Where's My Teddy?" and "Albert and Little Henry"
2. Eric Carle reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"
3. B. J. Novak reads from "The Book With No Pictures"
4. Drew Daywalt's "The Day the Crayons Quit"
5. Andy Stanton reading all of his second Mr Gum book: "Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire"
6. David Walliams reads an extract from "Gangsta Granny"
7. Puffin storytime and podcasts available here.

 

The Education People's home learning resource for English Key Stage 3

• The Secondary School Improvement Advisors have produced a PDF containing useful Key Stage 3 curriculum links for home learning opportunities.  You can find that resource here.

 

• This revision resource has been recommended by Secondary School Improvement Advisors to cover all relevant Key Stage 3 subjects.

 

• Remote learning guide for English teachers

 

• A guide for home learning in English

 

English (Key Stage 3)

• Comprehension - Exercise booklet (Key Stage 3)

 

• Comprehension - Reading homework booklet (Key Stage 3)

 

• Comprehension - Work choice (Key Stage 3)

 

• Homework booklet (Year 7)

 

• IXL Standards for all year groups:From phonics and reading comprehension to writing strategies and more, IXL helps learners develop the communication skills needed for success in school, university and career.

 

• Project work - Year 8 remote learning task (Key Stage 3)

 

• Reading and skills non-fiction extracts (Key Stage 3 and 4)

 

• Twinkl worksheets and resources (Key Stage 3)

 

• Teach It Reading skills (Key Stage 3)

 

• Writing tasks - All Creative Writing (Key Stage 3)

1. 200 Word Challenge - examples of work; supporting photographs and 25 minute descriptive task
2. Dice Game
3. Photo box descriptions 1 / Photo box descriptions 2 / Photo box descriptions 3 / Photo box descriptions 4
4. Photo prompts
5. SHOW don't tell
6. SPAG
7. Upgrades - Feedback - Tasks
8. Vocabulary

 

 

English (Key Stage 4)

• GCSE parents' advice template

 

• Extract reading booklet (Year 10)

 

• GCSE language skills (Key Stage 4)

 

• GCSE literature (Key Stage 4)

1. Lord of the Flies
2. Jekyll and Hyde
3. Poetry
4. General and mixed
5. Shakespeare
6. AIC resources
7. ACC resources

 

• IXL Standards for all year groups:  From phonics and reading comprehension to writing strategies and more, IXL helps learners develop the communication skills needed for success in school, university and career.

 

• Reading and skills non-fiction extracts (Key Stage 3 and 4)

 

 

 

Huge thanks to Lindsay Prestage and Karen Sillifant from Kent Libraries, Registration and Archives for sourcing many of these resources.