West End in Schools Blog

Teacher resources and the latest news from West End in Schools.

Billionaire Boy: 5 activities for exploring the story with KS2

This summer we have been introducing all the books featuring in our World Book Day 2020 Story Explorer workshops. We wanted to share with you why we love these books as well as five of our favourite classroom activities to accompany them. This week is our last (but by no means least!) book in the list by author, comedian and TV personality David Walliams.

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The Railway Children: 5 activities for exploring the story with KS2

In this blog series we have been looking at classroom activities that compliment our Story Explorer World Book Day 2020 selection. So far we have looked at The Rainbow Fish, The Tiny Seed, Stick Man, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and Fortunately, the Milk. This week we are focusing on a classic tale that follows three brave children on their childhood adventures!

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Fortunately, the Milk: 5 activities for exploring the story with KS2

It may be the middle of the summer holidays, but our minds are on World Book Day (7 months and counting…). If you’re short of something to read this summer, head to our World Book Day 2020 book list for inspiration. Other the summer term we have been sharing some of our favourite activities to go alongside our Story Explorer book selection. We are sure that our book in focus this week will make you laugh out loud no matter what your age…

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Drama Workshops Drama Workshops

A Midsummer Term’s Treat

This week some post arrived that had the whole office smiling from ear to ear! We were lucky enough to receive an envelope from Four Marks Church of England Primary School stuffed with hand written letters from their Year 5 and 6 children, responding to our workshops with them earlier this term.

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The Tiny Seed: 5 activities for exploring the story with EYFS & KS1

Last month we announced our World Book Day 2020 selection. And this is the second in a series of blogs looking at how to utilise these books in the classroom (if you missed our first one on ‘The Rainbow Fish’ you can find it here).

This week we are taking a look at The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, one of the wonderful options for our Story Explorer drama workshops.

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The Rainbow Fish: 5 activities for exploring the story with EYFS & KS1

Last week we announced our World Book Day 2020 selection for both our Bringing Books to Life dance workshops and our Story Explorer drama workshops. This is the first in a series of blogs taking a look at our selected books, what makes them so wonderful, and what activities you can do to explore the book in your classroom. First up we have The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

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Announcing our 2020 World Book Day selection!

Each year we choose a special selection of books to focus on in dance and drama workshops during the World Book Day period, including one or two completely new workshop options. (This also means we get to spend some quality time in bookshops, which is an added bonus!)

We’re delighted to announce that our 2020 World Book Day choices are…

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Too small to make a difference? Teaching climate change in primary schools

How can we teach climate change to children in a way that feels productive, and not terrifying? Back in March our Creative Director Abi began working with a group of primary school teachers, environment experts and some of our most experienced drama facilitators to answer this exact question…

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A Guide to Teaching Shakespeare Part 1 - Tell a Story

Our advice when it comes to teaching Shakespeare in primary schools is to tell a story, break it down and get physical with it to bring the drama to life. In this blog series, we break down each of these points in turn to provide ideas and suggestions for how you can deliver them in our own classroom. To get us started, Part 1 focuses on telling the story.

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A Guide to Teaching Drama Part 4 - Your First Session

How do I teach a five year old to get inside the head of a character?
How do I get a class of children to think about their physicality and use that to present a different emotion/mood/age
How can I encourage them to speak clearly?

Full disclosure: There is no one, immediate answer to any of these questions. Instead, there are different components of drama which can be combined, structured and explored accordingly, session-by-session, to aid your students in creating the answers themselves. Plus, it’s super fun!

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