Every now and again his mother would callout to him, saying, “Little Billy, what are you up to in there?” Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning.

Billy's mum says he must never go out through the garden gate and explore the dark forest beyond. So, one day, that's exactly what he does! Draw a map of the tree in which the Minpins live, showing the different rooms that they have inside it. Little Billy's mum says he must never go out through the garden gate and explore the dark forest beyond.I found a Dahl I hadn’t yet read! The Minpins is a classic childhood tale - Mom says not to go out into the Forest of Sin (haha what a great name), so obviously Little Billy goes. Little Billy stares into ‘the everlasting gloom and doom of the forest’. Can you create a picture that uses perspective to show this? Like most I devoured Dahl as a kid, there was something magical about the stories. Some of that charm was Quentin Blake's illustrations, they just fitted so perfectly. And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. Little Billy goes out through the garden gate in a ‘jiffy’. How long is this? Can you think of other ways of describe different periods of time? Which ones are the shortest / longest?

His first children's book was The Gremlins, about mischievous little creatures that were part of RAF folklore. The book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made, and published in 1943. Dahl went on to create some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”If you were going to measure the height of a Minpin, what equipment would you need? How tall is a Minpin? What percentage of your height is the height of a Minpin?