Monsters!

Some cute monsters to teach colours! (Or 'colors!)

These are fun and quirky, to engage students. They also have a lot of detail, so you can expand on them (such as stripes and spots, sad, crazy and happy monsters etc). Ask questions about them or play a game of 'Guess who?'


I have made a set of posters and matching flashcards, all available at tpt in both British/ Australian/ New Zealand and North American English (to account for small spelling differences):

FLASHCARDS (US)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Color-Flashcard-Set-2660993

FLASHCARDS (UK)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Colour-Flashcard-Set-2661034

POSTERS (US):
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/English-Colors-Posters-With-Fun-Monsters--2660776

POSTERS (UK):
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/English-Colours-Posters-With-Fun-Monsters--2660759

Hope you enjoy them!

Fun Ways to Teach Everyday Vocabulary

One thing I found teaching English overseas was that it can be hard to find interesting ways to teach vocabulary, especially for kids. When included in textbooks, pictures were usually black and white and quite dark. Sometimes students would just sit and try and learn vocabulary from dictionaries, which obviously doesn't have a lot of relevance as well as being super boring!

So, I have made two resources that are intended to go hand-in-hand. The first is a set of flashcards which shows everyday objects, which has been featured in this blog before.

 Each target word is drawn as a bright cartoon, shown on one card with the word and another by itself. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Everyday-Objects-Noun-Vocabulary-Flashcards-ESL-LOTE-Literacy-2370229.



To go alongside this, I have also made resizeable images of cartoon-style rooms. Each room, (and the outside of a house), comes in a pair - one image by itself and one labelled with the words for that piece of furniture, furnishing or object in English. more languages will follow and I'll certainly take requests on that!

They also make awesome posters to decorate the classroom with or in your kit as an English language tutor (always looks impressive!). They are also a great stimulus for assessing students. They are bright and have a professional finish, as well as being bright and engaging (who doesn't love cartoons! (; )

These rooms can be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cartoon-Rooms-Vocab-Cards-and-Posters-2463383.

As these two resources complement each other so well, I'm going to bundle them as well, so check out my store for this and future ESL/ English/ reading recovery resources (:

Cartoon Figures - Kid Clipart!

A lot of people have asked me about buying cartoon figures, especially after I released Smart Girls. They find it hard to buy anything appropriate, fun-looking, child-friendly or bright at a reasonable price. So I made this:

These are designed to be added to teaching resources, flyers, newsletters and so on to catch people's attention and add some interest. there are also alternate clothing colours to match different colour schemes (:

These can be bought from TPT at:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Clip-Art-Kid-Pictures-for-Your-TPT-Resources-2434714

There are also free cartoon images to be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Smart-Girls-1770479.  These were designed to give people more positive rolemodel images for women in science and in academic fields.

Butterfly Lifecycle - Growth, Changes and Metamorphosis

This is a black and white diagram of the butterfly lifecycle, featuring the Wanderer or Monarch butterfly, a butterfly which is probably identifiable no matter where you're based.

This will work with units on lifecycles, insects or animal studies, changes, seasons or nature observation.

The sheet is quick to colour in. Students will be able to research the markings of the adult butterfly and caterpillar stages and fill them in.

It is provided in png format so it can be easily resized and used as a poster or kept in worksheet size.

This is for sale for $2.00, downloadable from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Butterfly-Lifecycle-Growth-Changes-and-Metamorphosis-1990407.

Parts of a Butterfly - Insects

This is a fun and hands on learning activity that doesn't require real butterflies (; It's bright and interesting and the tactile element keeps it relevant to the natural world.

 This package contains:
* a labelled diagram, showing the main parts of the butterfly and the functions of those parts;
* a fun tactile activity where students can label cut-out butterflies; and
* a page where students can label the parts, to check that they have understood the activity.

This would suit units in biology, particularly anatomy or topics on insects.

The activity can be laminated to re-use. Students may also like to colour the diagrams to assist learning.

Copyright 2015 Meg English

This can be downloaded at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Parts-of-a-Butterfly-1991269 for only $2.50!

Nacho and Bob - Fractions - NO PREP Self-directed Learning with Answers

 This is a complete, 48 page chapter on Fractions, including answers and a chapter review test.

It is designed for self-paced learning, for home schooling, for gifted and talented students needing extension work or for struggling students needing a review that they can work through at their own pace.

It begins with fraction basics, through simplifying fractions, converting mixed fractions and improper fractions, addition and subtraction of fractions as well as multiplication and division of fractions.

The answers are provided - you can either take them out to mark your students' progress or leave it to them to self- assess.

In addition, a number of fraction resources are included - a table of basic fractions, a multiplication grid, a pizza to cut and experiment with as well as chocolate cake graphics showing different fractions. This adds a tactile element to the chapter.

The chapter features two fun characters - Nacho and Bob - who guide the students through the exercises, make suggestions and make jokes. The idea is to make learning fun!

There are practice tables at the end of each section. These guide students through the different processes step by step, with many examples given.

The chapter is provided as a pdf for ease of printing. You may like to laminate the resources for reuse and keep a few copies in plastic sleeves to hand out as needed.

This is available for only $5 for a limited time at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nacho-and-Bob-Fractions-NO-PREP-Self-directed-Learning-with-Answers-2059561

More chapters in this series are on their way. There is also a fractions table available at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nacho-and-Bob-Fractions-Poster-2061345 for $1.00.

Copyright 2015, Meg English

Pizza Clip Art

Well, the most engaging (and relatable) way I could think of to teach fractions to early learners was to set up a Pizzeria!

Here are some ideas for using this resource:
1.  Print out one pizza per student and get them to cut it up into ever smaller fractions to feed more people (e.g. halves, quarters and eighths or halves and sixths etc);

2. Ask students to roleplay the pizza maker and the customer. The customer has to tell the pizza maker how many people want a piece (if you can source or make pizza boxes, this one really comes to life!);

3. Ask the students to cut out (smaller) pizzas into set fractions (e.g. thirds, quarters, fifths etc). Ask them to  paste them onto cardboard, slightly separated and label the fractions. Then ask the students to write how many pieces that made.

As well as this, you can use the images to advertise fundraisers for your school such as pizza days or harmony days.

The images provided are resizeable so you can make your pizzas as small or as big as you like. (:

This sells for only $1.00 and you can find it at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pizza-Clip-Art-for-Fractions-Fundraising-and-Play-1774622

Copyright 2015 Meg. English

Easter Egg Clip Art

Copyright Meg English, 2015.

Seven bright, cute and fun Easter eggs to make educational resources, use in craft or games or to decorate your room. You could print them and have a chocolate free egg hunt!

Images are in png so are easily resized.

You can find this at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Egg-Clip-Art-1773582 for only $1.50.

I also have Easter Clipart and Stationery to decorate your classroom, make note or create your own Easter resources at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Clip-Art-and-Stationery-1777047.

Have fun!

A Piece of Cake

Copyright 2015 Meg. English

This is a set of resources designed to make teaching fractions not only more fun and tactile, but also to make the idea more relatable to everyday events.

The main part of this pack is the images of cake in different fractions (halves, thirds, quarters, fifths and sixths). The images are resizeable, so the kids can cut their cakes up and understand how many pieces they need to feed a set number of friends etc. This gives lessons on fractions a more tactile element. They could even set up a cafe!

There are also resizeable images of a whole cake, a piece of cake and a cut cake to help explain the idea, to use in resources or to use in games and roleplaying.

Copyright Meg English 2015

I've also included 3 worksheets to get the ball rolling. They should make learning basic fractions a piece of cake (;

You can find this set at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Piece-of-Cake-Fun-and-Easy-Fractions-1773764 for only $1.80.

Please also look out for the Pizza Clip Art for more fun, resizeable images for teaching and learning fractions https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pizza-Clip-Art-for-Fractions-Fundraising-and-Play-1774622.