E Nesbit: Author Study Activities for Key Stage 2 (Author Studies Series)

This innovative series is designed to help primary teachers plan focused sessions on the work of popular, well-loved and valued authors, both classic and contemporary. Each book contains a range of activities for use directly in the classroom, covering biographical information about the author; a review of the author's work and a summary of major themes in his/her key texts; key language features of the author; frameworks to help children analyze, evaluate and compare texts, and to develop personal opinions of authors' works; ideas for writing modeled on or developed from key texts; speaking and listening opportunities; drama and role play ideas; and references to video, CD-ROM, websites and ICT activities.

Inside each book is a full-color pullout poster illustrating the work of the author, which also has a set of challenges for children on the back.

First published in the 1900s, Edith Nesbit's classic stories - including tales about the Bastable family, Five Children and It, The Treasure Seekers and The Railway Children - are still very popular indeed. This book presents activities on which to build a study of E. Nesbit's work, including: developing philosophical discussions on a variety of topics; ideas for writing - both narrative and non-narrative; ways of encouraging children to analyze text through devising games for others to play; promoting research skills - including critical reflection on internet use; investigating changes in language; comparing televisual and written versions of text; and work on cross-curricular themes, including history and geography.

Helen Bromley is a freelance educational consultant based in Essex.