Cover Lessons
Cover lesson ideas that practise literacy and numeracy, linked to the Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF), for a range of subjects.
Crediting Art in an Online Class Gallery
Literacy: Punctuation
An invented Year 3 class in Llandeilo is making an online gallery of art about their town. Using a pretend gallery screen with six pictures, pupils spot the copyright symbol and a SAMPLE watermark, sort the pictures into 'yes, with credit', 'only if they say yes' and 'no', and explain when it is fair to use someone else's art. They then write the gallery's words: they fix the punctuation in five credit sentences, write a polite message asking a classmate for permission (with a question mark and an apostrophe), and write credit labels and a list sentence with commas, so their punctuation is marked from the sheet. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Crediting Art in an Online Class Gallery
- Stimulus: Class 3's pretend online gallery screen with six invented pictures, the copyright symbol and a watermark
- Worked example and answer key: sorted pictures with reasons, corrected punctuation, the message to Mali and credit labels
- Printed stimulus sheet, one between two (colour if possible)
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Performing a Rain Poem with Expression
Literacy: Understanding, response and analysis
Performance poetry in drama. Pupils hunt the punctuation in a short poem about a rainy day in Wales written for this lesson (3 question marks, 6 exclamation marks and Nain's words in speech marks), then mark it up with performance marks for a rising voice, loud, pause, fast, slow and whisper. They explain how each part should sound using clues from the words and punctuation, practise and perform it in groups of 3 with a listener's checklist, and give their opinion of their favourite line with a reason. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Performing a Rain Poem with Expression
- Stimulus: Rain on the Roof, a poem written for this lesson, with the performance marks key
- Worked example and answer key: punctuation counts, a fully marked-up poem, model answers and what to listen for
- Printed stimulus sheet, one between two
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Finding Facts in a Packed Lunch Leaflet
Literacy: Understanding, response and analysis
Literacy in Health and Well-being: reading for information. An invented school leaflet, based on the NHS Eatwell Guide, explains how to pack a healthy lunch. Pupils find its features (title, labelled picture, headings, bullet points, a swaps table, a numbered list and a fact box), use them to scan for seven facts and say which feature helped, and decide who the leaflet is for and what it is for. They then use the bullet points and the swaps table to improve Twm's lunchbox, which is missing vegetables, protein and dairy, and finish with something they learned, a question for the school nurse and a view on whether the leaflet is easy to use.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Finding Facts in a Packed Lunch Leaflet
- Stimulus: Power Up Your Packed Lunch! leaflet
- Worked example and answer key: features, fact finder answers and Twm's improved lunch
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Screen Time and Green Time Pictogram
Numeracy: Representing data
Pupils sort 12 everyday activities into ones that use a screen and ones that do not, spotting a digital device with no screen. They tally 24 invented answers from Class 3 at Ysgol Bryn Coed about Saturday mornings (Videos 5, Games 4, Park 6, Bike 3, Reading 2, Swimming 4), draw a pictogram where one face stands for 2 pupils, and read it to find that 9 pupils chose a screen activity and 15 did not. They finish by writing good and not so good things about screens and planning a balanced Saturday morning with at least 60 minutes of activity. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Screen Time and Green Time Pictogram
- Worked example and answer key: sorted activities, tally, pictogram and model answers
- Coloured pencils for the pictogram
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Making a Pictogram of a Street Traffic Survey
Numeracy: Representing data
Pupils help an invented Year 3 class at the invented Ysgol Pen y Bryn decide if the village high street outside school is busy enough to ask the council for a crossing. Working from an invented 10 minute survey shown as a numbered strip of 30 vehicle pictures, they sort and tally the vehicles, total them in a table, draw a pictogram where 1 circle stands for 2 vehicles, answer questions from the data, fill in a paper computer record card and write to the council. Steps 1 to 4 give the numeracy evidence: a tally chart, a table totalling 30 and a pictogram with a key.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Making a Pictogram of a Street Traffic Survey
- Worked example and answer key: tally chart, table, pictogram and record card
- Coloured pencils for the pictogram
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
- Ruler
Software / weblinks
Reading the Clock in a Victorian School Day
Numeracy: Measurement
Numeracy in Humanities: measurement. Pupils step back to 1895 and use the timetable of an invented Victorian board school in a Welsh valley town to read o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to on clocks with hands. They write each time in words and as a 12-hour digital time, put the events of the day in order and draw hands on blank clocks. They work out how long things last in whole and half hours, compare the day with their own school day and answer questions about the school week and the seasons. The school, timetable, teacher's notebook and log book lines are invented.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Reading the Clock in a Victorian School Day
- Worked example and answer key: clock times in words and digits, the ordered timetable and durations
- Pencils and rubbers so pupils can redraw clock hands
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Pencil and rubber
Software / weblinks
Debugging a Library Shelving Algorithm
Numeracy: The number system
Pupils follow a library flowchart to sort 10 returned books onto a story shelf and a non-fiction shelf, put the non-fiction spine numbers (398 to 942) in order with the < sign and the story books in A to Z order, then debug 2 mistakes: a shelf with two books swapped and a written algorithm that stops after one book because it has no repeat. They predict where 3 new books go, write spine numbers in words and figures, and add a new question to the algorithm for a Cymraeg shelf. Unplugged: no computers needed. The ordered numbers and number words give numeracy evidence for the number system.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Debugging a Library Shelving Algorithm
- Worked example and answer key: finished shelves, bugs fixed and the new Cymraeg shelf rule
- Print the worksheet in colour if possible: the book spines and flowchart are on the sheet
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Punctuating a Trip to Caernarfon Castle
Literacy: Punctuation
A pupil’s account of a class trip to Caernarfon Castle has lost its punctuation. Pupils use a punctuation key to add capital letters (including for names such as the River Seiont and King Edward the First) and full stops, choose question marks or exclamation marks, add commas to lists, and squash words together with apostrophes (can’t, it’s, don’t, we’re). They then edit a paragraph with 8 mixed mistakes and write 4 sentences of their own about a place they have visited: a question, an exclamation, a list and a sentence with an apostrophe.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Punctuating a Trip to Caernarfon Castle
- Worked example and answer key: every corrected sentence, the 8 mistakes and model sentences
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Paying and Giving Change at a Welsh Cake Stall
Numeracy: Financial literacy
Pupils help on the Welsh cake stall at the summer fair of Ysgol Bryn Celyn, an invented school, using an invented price board. They put coins in order of value and items in order of price, and make the same amount with different coins. Then they add up orders and find change from 50p, £1 and £2 by counting on along a number line. They give change in the fewest coins and decide what they can buy with £1. No real money is needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Paying and Giving Change at a Welsh Cake Stall
- Stimulus: the Ysgol Bryn Celyn summer fair Welsh cake stall, with a price board and pictures of UK coins
- Worked example and answer key: coins and prices in order, coin combinations, order totals, counting-on number lines for change, change in the fewest coins and £1 spending answers
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Programming a Litter-Picking Robot with Compass Directions
Numeracy: Position
Pupils program Robi, an invented litter-picking robot, on a paper map of Parc Glan yr Afon, an invented park. They label a compass and use north, east, south, west, next to and between to describe where things are. Then they predict and trace an algorithm, write their own arrow algorithm to collect 3 pieces of litter, and write the same route in words. Last, they debug Ffion's algorithm, shorten algorithms with repeat and change one to get a new ending. Everything is unplugged, so no computers are used.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Programming a Litter-Picking Robot with Compass Directions
- Worked example and answer key: labelled compass, position sentences, traced and debugged algorithms, a model 20-move route drawn on the map and written in words, repeat rewrites and changed algorithms
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Programming a Mars Rover to Collect Rock Samples
Numeracy: Angle
Pupils program a toy rover to collect rock samples on an invented floor map of a crater on Mars, using 3 command cards: forward, turn right and turn left. They trace two programs, find and fix the bug in two broken programs (one turns the wrong way, one is missing a step and gets stuck in soft sand), write and test their own route, and shorten a program with a repeat. Every turn is named as a quarter or half turn, clockwise or anticlockwise, in a turn table that is marked as numeracy. Science link: why rovers on Mars follow programs and collect rocks. Paper-based; no computers or robots needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Programming a Mars Rover to Collect Rock Samples
- Stimulus: Mars crater map and rover command cards
- Worked example and answer key: traced routes, fixed bugs, own program and named turns
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Writing Instructions for Growing Cress
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
Literacy in Science and Technology: planning and organising writing. Pupils put 6 muddled picture steps for growing cress in an eggshell into order, find the features of instructions in a short model (title, list, numbered steps, bossy verbs, ordering words), choose a bossy verb for each step, plan a "You will need" list, and write their own numbered instructions for a Year 2 class. They check their writing against a checklist and add a top tip using "because". Nobody plants anything today.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Writing Instructions for Growing Cress
- Worked example and answer key: ordered pictures, features, bossy verbs and a model set of instructions
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Choosing Precise Words to Describe a Painting
Literacy: Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
Writing about art. Pupils study an invented painting of Yr Wyddfa at dusk, list what they see, upgrade plain phrases such as 'a big mountain' and 'a nice sky' with precise, imaginative words, and choose exact colour words (violet, amber, navy, golden, silver, slate grey). They learn the spelling rules for adding -ly (quietly, gently, lazily, peacefully), then write a gallery card for the painting with upgraded words, colour words and an -ly word, and improve it by changing one more plain word. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Choosing Precise Words to Describe a Painting
- Stimulus: Yr Wyddfa at Dusk, an invented painting with a word bank and colour words
- Worked example and answer key: upgraded words, colours, -ly spellings and a model gallery card
- Printed stimulus sheet, one between two (colour if possible)
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Coding a Pixel Art Welsh Dragon
Numeracy: Calculation
Digital art from code. Pupils check a row-by-row pixel code (such as 9W 2R 1W) by adding each row to 12, then follow it to colour a pixel Welsh dragon on a 12 by 10 grid. They count the red, white and green pixels (47, 61 and 12) and check the total against 12 x 10 = 120, find and fix three bugs in a copied code (two found by the totals, one only by testing the picture), rewrite repeating rows as loops with a number sentence to prove each makes 12, and design and code their own pixel picture for a partner to test. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Coding a Pixel Art Welsh Dragon
- Worked example and answer key: row totals, the finished dragon, pixel counts, fixed bugs and loops
Tools required
- Pencil
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Turning a Quilt Pattern in Quarter Turns
Numeracy: Angle
Numeracy in art and design, linked to the Welsh tradition of quilt making. After a quick warm up turning on the spot, pupils draw an arrow after quarter, half and three quarter turns, name the turn between pairs of arrows, and turn a quilt square with a red fan in one corner. They follow a turning rule to finish a 4 by 4 quilt, describe the diagonal pattern it makes, find the square in another pupil's row that was turned anticlockwise by mistake, and invent their own turning rule. Paper-based; no computers needed.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Turning a Quilt Pattern in Quarter Turns
- Worked example and answer key: every turned arrow and square, the finished quilt and the corrected row
Tools required
- Pencil
- Coloured pencils
- Scissors (optional)