Teaching English with 2Simple

Phonics

Mini Mash - our online platform which is specifically designed for younger children - contains phonics resources and fun phonics games. Mini Mash is included for free with a Purple Mash subscription, but can be purchased separately for nurseries, childcare providers and parents. You can get a free trial here.

As children move onto Purple Mash, their phonics, reading, writing and spelling skills and knowledge will still be developing. We have resources for phonics from Phase 2 to Phase 5 within Purple Mash. For each of the phases, there's:

• Cloze activities for all sounds
• Sound flashcards
• Word flashcards

Reading

Once children are reading with fluency, they'll want to absorb as much information as they can from hundreds of books! We know that non-fiction books are popular with children, so we're excited to share that there are some fantastic fact pieces from DK Learning all hosted on Purple Mash.

If you're looking for a one-stop guided reading solution, then Serial Mash is the place for you. Within Serial Mash you'll find over 200 eBooks, organised into our gem libraries - Diamonds, Sapphires and Emeralds - so you're always sure you'll find an age-appropriate book. For disengaged readers, try the Firebolts selection with engaging shorter chapters and captivating pictures. Got some pupils who want more of a challenge? Direct them to the Comets library for a longer read.

All of the books in the Serial Mash gem libraries come with activities that can be used within reading lessons, including comprehension quizzes, grammar activities and writing tasks. There's even a weekly plan which you can use to organise your reading sessions. Books can be scheduled and serialised which makes it even easier to plan lessons or home learning in advance.

Also included on Serial Mash are full DK Learning non-fiction eBooks! These are a great way to cover any non-fiction elements of the reading curriculum, or to use for topic work. 18 new DK books are added each academic year so your students will never get bored!

Serial Mash costs only £200 (+ VAT) for your whole school school, and includes home and school access, so why not give it a try?

Writing

Purple Mash has many resources to help support writing in your school. There are many templates for different writing genres and writing themes. There are also blank templates in our English Tools, which can be edited by you to create exactly the resource that you need.

If you want a whole week's worth of exciting writing lessons, take a look at our Videos for Creative Writing - there are three mysteries to solve, each with 5 videos and 5 writing tasks as well as additional resources, students will be hooked!

There are also Resources on Popular Texts, so if you're reading a class novel, check the resources to see if there are some which cover your book!

If children need some practise at typing, our 2Type tool has been updated to include Typing Across the Years which are short touch typing activities.

SPaG

Handwriting

Have you seen our handwriting tool, 2Handwrite? It's great for modelling handwriting on your interactive whiteboard, and even records children's handwriting so that you can see where tweaks need to be made for perfect letter formation.

You can change:

• Pen width and colour
• Tracing pen style, including left- or right-handed
• Guide lines
• Width of lines
• Colour of paper

You can also playback and loop your handwriting, and change the speed of the playback.

English Leaders

English Leaders have full access to the editable version of the English Subject Leader Toolkit through Purple Mash which includes:

• Toolkit Overview
• English Subject Standards
• Action Plans
• Audit of English
• Budget Tool
• Self-Evaluation
• Staff Surveys
• Parent and Pupil Voice
• English Policy
• Tips for English Leads

If you're not a Purple Mash subscriber, you can download the free version here.