literacy worksheets for ks2

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82 Literacy Starters - Over 300 differentiated activities!

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

22 October 2021

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This powerpoint contains 82 literacy starters, each one differentiated three ways and most also including an extension challenge - a total of over 300 activities! With the exception of the ‘lipograms’, these activities are all ‘open-ended’, i.e, pupils do not ‘finish’ them. This makes them ideal for morning ‘welcome’ time (for schools that do this), where pupils arrive at different times. Equally, they can be used as regular lesson starters. Nothing needs printing for any of the activities, you literally just put the slide up on your smartboard and off you go!

The file comprises the following challenges:

• Slides 2-18: ‘Word Chains’ (Y1-6) This can be good practice for pupils’ dictionary use skills - can they find a word that begins with the last letter(s) of the previous word? How long can they then make this word chain before they run out of words?
• Slide 19: ‘Alphabet Sentences’ (Y1-6) A great activity for assessing how well pupils grasp what constitutes a sentence, as well as extending their vocabulary. This activity challenges pupils to create sentences where the words start with consecutive letters of the alphabet.
• Slides 20-46: ‘Lipograms’ (Y4-6) Ideal for practice in using a thesaurus and extending pupils’ vocabulary, as well as assessing their sense of poetic rhythm and word choice. These activities provide a short poem with a particular theme (e.g ‘water’, ‘Spring’, ‘The Future’, etc.) and challenge pupils to re-write it with the rule that one letter is ‘forbidden’! Note: some of these are harder than others, so choose carefully when first introducing the idea!
• Slides 47-62: ‘Starts and Ends’ (Y2-6) A chance for pupils to build vocabulary and practice dictionary use, this time in a slightly more competitive way! The starting and ending letters of words are provided, pupils need to think of and write down the longest words they can find/think of with those starting and ending letters.
• Slides 63-74: ‘9 Letter Challenge’ (Y1-3) Useful for practicing phonics for spelling with simpler words. This activity challenges pupils to make as many words as they can using the provided letters. Note: These only have 2-way differentiation (plus an extension challenge)
• Slides 75-83: Christmas Specials! These are versions of the above challenges for the festive season, complete with suitably cheesy xmas graphics!

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C rickweb - free online education resources & games

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20 Key Stage 2 Literacy interactive teaching resources for Primary/Elementary Schools.

English educational kids games and activities for your iwb, pc or mac. teach your child, spelling, sentences, verbs, collective nouns, compound words, singular to plural, story sequencing, alphabetical order and grammar with these english learning games., grammar : word types.

Different types of words can be used to make your writing more interesting and easier to read. You need to know when to use them and how to spot them.

Grammar : Sentences

In writing, words are grouped together into phrases, sentences, clauses and paragraphs. Linking these building blocks together in the right way makes your writing easy to understand and interesting to read.

Writing : Comment

Use your commenting skills to identify what's wrong with these pieces of writing.

Reading : Non-fiction

When you are writing non-fiction it's important to use a style of writing that fits the subject.Use your knowledge of non-fiction writing to group the correct titles, text and pictures together.

Spellings Checker

The Look, Say, Cover, Write & Check is a support tool for learning spellings using a trusted multi-sensory approach. It can support pupils in their independent learning of spellings. LCSWC lesson outline   

Spelling Rule Tester

This activity helps prove the rules of changing nouns from singular to plural. Input your own singular nouns and see the plural, or type in both and check that the plural is correct.

Word Selector

This is an activity targeted to Year 4 to help with medium frequency words. There are three lists, one for each term.

Alien Hangman

An updated version of the traditional word guess game. See if you can save the alien!

Use either one or two dice add your own words to the faces and roll them!

Instruction Sequencer

This sequencing and instruction writing activity can be used to support the teaching of instructional text and develop pupils' ability to sequence key events in instructions. tea instructions lesson outline   

Story Sequencer

This sequencing and storyboarding activity can be used to support the teaching of story structure and develop pupils' ability to summarise key events in stories. sequence lesson outline   

This word sorting application is a simple to use grammar exercise. The blue words are simply dragged to their correct place on the table headed by the root word. When all words have been placed, the user clicks on the check button to get feedback on their selection. Word-Links-lesson-outline    Word-Cards

Sticky Letters

Sticky Letters is a simple to use application. It can support open ended work as pupils explore the different words that can be made from a given set. wordplay-lesson-outline   

Seaside Postcard

A humurous seaside writing activity. By annotating the scene dialogue can be explored and characteristics shown through thought bubbles. Characters lesson outline   

Street Scene Labels

This simple annotation activity can be used to develop the idea of developing a setting in stories, using everyday scenes that are familiar to children. By annotating the scene dialogue can be explored and characteristics shown through thought bubbles. Settings lesson outline   

Matching Pairs

Try to match pairs of farmyard animals. Record your best scores.

More Sticky Letters

Use the sticky letters to make words and save them to the word bank. See how many words can be made from a chosen set of letters.

Compound Words

This compound words matching application is a simple to use word level exercise. The coloured words are simply dragged to their correct place on the grey label to form a single closed compound word with the existing word on the label. Compound words lesson outline    compound-words

Collective Nouns

This collective nouns matching application is a simple to use word level exercise. The collective noun words are simply dragged to their matching partner on the blue picture cards. Collective nouns lesson outline    collective-nouns

Alphabetical Order 2

This Alphabetical order activity is a simple to use word ordering exercise. Words are simply dragged from the left hand side of the screen to their correct place in the word order list on the right hand side. Alphabetical order lesson outline   

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Ks2 Reading worksheets

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13 Fun Reading Activities for Any Book

Whether you walk into a classroom in Asia, North America or Europe, you will almost certainly see teachers and students building their understanding of the world through a dedicated daily reading session full of great reading activities.

Books allow students an opportunity to be informed, entertained or escape as they comprehend fiction and non-fiction texts against their understanding of the world, their personal insights, and opinions and finally compare those texts to others.

Whilst you may have a wealth of books in your school library, developing fresh and engaging ways to study literature can often be challenging.  So today, we will explore 25 proven activities that can be applied to any book and at any age level.

These reading activities to improve reading comprehension are easy to follow and suitable for most age groups within an elementary/junior high school level.

125 Text Response ACTIVITIES, Games, Projects for ANY BOOK

This massive collection of ☀️ READING ACTIVITIES☀️ covers all essential reading skills for elementary/primary students. NO PREP REQUIRED! Works with all text and media types.

Thousands of teachers have adopted this as a GO-TO RESOURCE for independent and group tasks.

A COLLECTION OF FUN READING ACTIVITIES

A lifetime tale in pictures reading task.

Draw the main character from a book you have recently read.  Show them as a baby, middle-aged and an older person.

Underneath each picture, write what you think they might be doing at that point in their life, and explain why they may be doing so.

For example, if you drew Harry Potter as a baby, he might cast spells on his mum to feed him lots of yummy food.

Post-reading activities like this are accessible for all age groups to adapt their skill level and text style.

If you want to learn more about characters, read our complete guide here.

TEXT TO SELF-READING TASK

Based upon a book you have just read, share a  story about yourself related to an event or character in the book.

It is probably best done in the form of a written recount. Link your experience to no more than four situations that occurred within the text.

Text to self is an excellent opportunity for students to become introspective about the content they read and compare it to their own life experiences. 

This activity is appealing to teenagers more so than juniors .

IT’S IN THE INSTRUCTIONS READING TASK

From a book you have just read, select either a critical object or creature and create a user manual or a guide explaining how to care for it.

Ensure you use any vital information learnt from the book and any other information you consider essential.

If you are writing a user manual for an object, remember to focus on using it correctly and taking care of it.

If you are writing a user guide for an animal or creature, focus on keeping it alive and healthy as well as information that explains how to keep it happy and under control if necessary.

Dear Diary, READING TASK

Place yourself in the shoes of one of the characters you have just read about and write a diary entry of a critical moment from the story.

Try to choose a moment in the story where the character has plenty of interaction and emotion to share in a diary entry.

Your diary entry should be around a page long and contain information you learned from the book when the character was in that specific place and time.

Remember, when writing a diary entry, you are writing it from a first-person perspective. It is usually but not always written in the present tense.

Diary writing has been a very popular activity throughout time, but social media tools such as Facebook and blogging have in some ways changed this.

Mapping it all out, READING TASK

How do you make reading lessons fun? This reading activity answers that question confidently.

Have a go at drawing a map of one of the places from the text you have just read. See how much detail you can include, and be sure to discuss your map with another reader so you can compare and add more if necessary.

Take some time and effort to ensure your map appeals to the same audience the book aims at.

All good maps should contain the following BOLTS elements.

B – Bolts

O – Orientation

L – Legend

S – Scale

Express Yourself READING TASK

Using an iPad or a digital camera, make faces of the emotions the main characters would have gone through in your book and take photos of them. 

Put them together in a document on your computer or device and explain the emotion below the image and when the character would have felt this way.

This is an excellent opportunity to use some creative direction for this task.

Be sure to play around with the images, filters and graphical styling available.

Travel Agent READING TASK

Think of yourselves as a group of travel assistants whose job is to promote a  city of your choice from the text you have been reading.

As a group, you need to develop a concept map of all the exciting things that happen in your city and then present it to the class.

Don’t forget all of the exciting things such as theatres, restaurants, sports, adventure activities, entertainment and much more…

If you are a little short on details of the location of your story, do some research if it was an actual location or just get creative and make up some locations and tourist attractions based on what you read.

You’re Hired READING TASK

Select a character from a book and consider what might be an excellent job for them. You can choose something entirely suitable such as a security guard job for Superman or a more oddball approach, such as a pastry chef.

Either way, you will have to write a letter from this character’s perspective and apply for a position.

Be sure to explain why your character would be a great employee and what special skills they would possess to make them ideal for the role. Sell your character by explaining all the great attributes they possess.

What’s the Status? READING TASK

Create a Facebook page for your character with some status updates about what they have been up to.

Include some pictures and ensure your status updates are relevant to the character and the story.

Around 3 – 4 status updates with mages should give an overall picture of the character.

Use your status updates to explore what your character does for a job, leisure time, places they might go on vacation and the like.

Bubbles and Clouds READING TASK

Using speech bubbles and pictures of the characters, draw a conversation between two characters from the story you have read.

Remember, thought is drawn as a cloud, and a spoken statement is drawn as a  bubble.

Be sure to look at some comics or graphic novels for inspiration and insights.

This activity is usually best done on pen and paper, but numerous digital apps and tools will allow you to make this a reality through technology.

Amazing Artifacts READING TASK

An artifact is an object that has some significance or meaning behind it. Sometimes, an artefact might even have a very important story behind it.  I am sure you have a favorite toy, or your parents have a particular item in the house that they would consider an important artifact.

For today’s task, you will select five artifacts from the text you have been reading and explain what makes them significant or essential.

They don’t all have to be super important to the story, but I am sure that at least a couple played a significant role.

Be sure to draw a picture of the artifact and if necessary, label it.

FREE READING ACTIVITIES RESOURCE TO DOWNLOAD

Thinking Differently READING TASK

Choose three important events from the text and explain how you would have handled them differently from the characters in the story.

Explain how it may have changed the story’s outcome in either a minor or significant way.

Be insightful here and think of the cause and effect.  Sometimes your smallest action can have a significant impact on others.

Popplet Mind Mapping Task

Popplet is a mind mapping tool that allows you to connect ideas together using images, text and drawings.

From a text, you have recently read, create a family tree or network diagram that explains the relationship the characters have with each other.

Some may be father and son, husband and wife or even arch enemies.

Try and lay it out so it is easy to follow.

You Have Three Wishes READING TASK

A genie lands at the midpoint of the story you have just read and grants the two main characters three wishes.

What do they wish for and why?

Finally, would their wishes have changed anything about the story?  How so?

Again think about the cause and effect relationship and how this may have altered the path of the book you have been reading.

A COMPLETE DIGITAL READING UNIT FOR STUDENTS

Over 30 engaging activities for students to complete BEFORE, DURING and AFTER reading ANY BOOK

• Compatible with all devices and digital platforms, including GOOGLE CLASSROOM.
• Fun, Engaging, Open-Ended INDEPENDENT tasks.
• 20+ 5-Star Ratings ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

MORE GREAT ARTICLES WITH READING ACTIVITIES

Top 7 Reading Comprehension Strategies for Students and Teachers

How to teach Guided Reading: Teaching Strategies and Activities

Identifying the main idea of the story: A Guide for Students and Teachers

Teaching Cause and Effect in Reading and Writing

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Reading Comprehension

Free reading comprehension worksheets.

Use these printable worksheets to improve reading comprehension. Over 100  free children's stories  followed by comprehension exercises, as well as  worksheets focused on specific comprehension topics  (main idea, sequencing, etc).

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Free Literacy Printables

These free literacy printables for preschool , kindergarten , and early elementary students are fun and hands-on ways to learn reading and writing skills!

If you are looking for fun and engaging literacy printables to use in your classroom or at home with your kids, then you have come to the right place.

This page is full of free printable literacy activities that your kids will have lots of fun using. Add them to your literacy centers, use them in small groups, or put them in morning tubs. However you use them, they are sure to be a hit with the kids.

Differentiated Reading and Writing Activities

Many of the literacy printables found on this page are editable and differentiated. Now you can meet the individual needs of your students with ease. Save time planning with these fun AND effective literacy activities.

Check them all out below!

Favorite Literacy Activities

Building CVC Strips - Your students practice their early literacy skills with these CVC word building strips.

Word Search CVC Worksheets - This word search CVC worksheets is a fun way for kids to practice reading and writing.

Missing Beginning Sounds CVC Word Mats - These missing beginning sound CVC word mats are great for hands-on practice with phonics skills and phonemic awareness.

Ending Sounds Phoneme Substitution Cards - These ending sounds phoneme substitution cards engage students in reading CVC words and substituting final phonemes.

Blend Words Missing Sound Worksheets for Phonics Practice

Digraph Missing Sound Worksheets for Phonics Practice

Fish CVC Missing Sounds Task Cards

Summer Phoneme Segmentation Mats for Phonemic Awareness

Spring Butterfly & Bee Find and Color Sheets

Digraph Sounds Sort Cut & Paste

Ending Blend Missing Sounds Cards

Earth Day Find and Cover the Letter Mats

Beginning Blends Missing Sounds Cards

Ladybug CVC Clip Cards for Spring

Spring Caterpillar Find and Color the Letter Sheets

Spring Letter Tracing Task Cards

Missing Final Sound CVC Word Mats Free Printable

Spring Flower Phonics Board Games

CVC Missing Letter Worksheets for Phonics Practice

Flower Missing Sounds Task Cards

Digraph Clip Cards for Kindergarten and First Grade

Rainbow CVC Board Game Task Cards

St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Find and Color the Letter Sheets

Missing Middle Sound CVC Word Mats Free Printable

Free Printable Heart CVC Clip Cards

CVC Word Sorting Worksheets

Heart Alphabet Game Task Cards

CVC Short Vowel Sounds Clip Cards

Letter Tracing Alphabet Task Cards

Alphabet Find and Cover the Letter Worksheets

Exciting Snowman Find and Color the Letter Mats Freebie

Snowball Rhyming Clip Strips

Snowman Adding Beginning Sounds Task Cards for Phonemic Awareness

Winter Snow Globe Phoneme Segmentation Cards

Snow Globe CVC Words Clip Cards Free Printable

Snowman Alphabet Letter Tracing Task Cards

Gingerbread CVC Word Building Cards

Gingerbread Alphabet Letter Recognition Task Cards

Alphabet Letter Worksheets – Alphabet Activity Pages

Gingerbread Phoneme Segmentation Mats for Phonemic Awareness

Alphabet Four in a Row Board Game – Beginning Sounds Game

Fall Leaf Rhyming Task Cards

Alphabet Beginning Sounds Sorting Worksheets

Fall Leaf Beginning Sounds Task Cards

Colorful Crayon Rhyming Puzzles

Pumpkin Alphabet Board Game Task Cards

Beginning Sounds Clip Cards with a Fall Candy Corn Theme!

Editable Pumpkin Theme BINGO Game

Candy Corn Find and Cover the Letter Mats for Kids

Alphabet Find and Trace the Letter Worksheets

Pumpkin Phoneme Segmentation Mats for Phonemic Awareness

Pumpkin Beginning Sounds Alphabet Task Cards

Fun Fall Pumpkin Rhyming Clip Strips

Alphabet Letter Tracing Task Cards

Apple Theme Letter Recognition Task Cards – Alphabet Find and Cover

School Theme Tracing Strips for Pre-Writing Practice

Editable Apple Theme Bingo Game

Alphabet Stew Letter Recognition Mats

All About Me Name Worksheets – Letters in My Name

Dot the Letter Alphabet Worksheets

Syllable Counting Clip Cards Free Printable

Alphabet Play Dough Cards Activity

Compound Word Clip Cards Free Printable

Missing Beginning Sound CVC Word Mats Free Printable

Printable Middle Sounds Phoneme Substitution Cards

Sun CVC Word Building Strips Free Printable

Ice Cream Beginning Sounds Clip Cards Free Printable

Beach Letter Sound Isolation Mats Free Printable

Fish CVC Word Building Cards Free Printable

Ocean Fish Rhyming Clip Strips Free Printable

Ocean CVC Word Mats – Roll, Build, & Write Printable

Editable Caterpillar Word Work Mats Free Printable

Dot Letter Alphabet Mats Free Printable

Rhyming CVC Clip Strips Free Printable

Butterfly Beginning Sounds Alphabet Clip Cards Free Printable

Frog CVC Word Building Strips Free Printable

Flower CVC Word Building Cards Free Printable

Flower Alphabet Mats – Roll, Build and Write

Editable Easter Bunny Word Work Mats

Rainbow CVC Activity Roll, Build, Write Mats Free Printable

Rainbow Rhyming Clip Strips Free Printable

Word Search CVC Worksheets Free Printable

Valentine’s Day Beginning Sounds Alphabet Clip Cards Free Printable

CVC Words Clip Cards Free Printable

Snowflake CVC Word Building Strips for Kindergarten

Free Printable Snowman Beginning Sounds Mats

Christmas Cookie Beginning Sounds Clip Cards Free Printable

Fall Leaves CVC Clip Cards Free Printable

Printable Ending Sounds Phoneme Substitution Cards

Beginning Sounds Matching Clip Cards Free Printable

Free Printable Spider Word Work Mats

Pumpkin CVC Words Spin & Build Mats Free Printable

Editable Apple Spin & Build Mats

Free Printable Back to School Spin and Build Word Work Mats

Editable Back to School Four in a Row Printable Game

Free Printable Back to School Alphabet Activity Mats

Free Printable Back to School Letter Sound Mats

Printable Beginning Sounds Phoneme Substitution Cards

Sun CVC Word Clip Cards Free Printable

Editable Feed the Fish Spin and Build Mats Printable

Fish CVC Word Clip Cards Free Printable

Fish Find and Cover Free Printable Beginning Sounds Letter Mats

Insect Letter Sounds Mats for Preschool and Kindergarten

Free Printable Butterfly Find and Cover Beginning Sounds Mats

Editable Flower Bump Game Printable for Word Work

Flower CVC Word Building Strips for Kindergarten

Editable Frog Spin and Build Mats Word Work Printable

Frog Find and Cover Beginning Sounds Letter Mat Printable

Editable Shamrock Spin and Build Mats Free Printable

Free Printable Rainbow Beginning Sounds Mats

Editable Mailbox Spin and Build Mats Word Work Printable

Community Helpers Printable CVC Word Building Strips

Community Helpers Free Printable Beginning Sounds Mats

Editable Valentine’s Day Spin and Build Word Work Mats

Valentine’s Day Beginning Sound Find and Cover Letter Mats

Editable Valentine’s Day Four in a Row Printable Literacy Game

Groundhog Day Free Printable Editable Board Game

Editable Groundhog Spin and Build Word Work Mats

Editable Winter Bump Game Printable for Word Work

Editable Snowman Write the Room Printable Activity

Snowman Beginning Sounds Write the Room Alphabet Printable

Free Printable Winter Theme Letter Sounds Mats

Editable Snowman Spin and Build Word Work Mats

Editable Gingerbread Bump Game for Word Work Printable

Editable Gingerbread Spin and Build Word Work Mats Printable

Editable Christmas Tree Four in a Row Literacy Printable

Free Printable Christmas Editable Board Game

Gingerbread CVC Word Building Strips Free Printable

Gingerbread Free Printable Beginning Sound Mats

Turkey Find and Cover the Word Free Printable Mats

Editable Turkey Spin and Build Word Work Printable Mats

Editable Scarecrow Spin and Build Word Work Printable Mats

Free Printable Fall Alphabet Activity Mats

Silly Monster CVC Clip Cards Free Printable

Spider Find and Cover the Letter Free Printable Mats

Free Printable Pumpkin CVC Words Clip Cards

Pumpkin Find and Cover the Letter Mats Free Printable

Editable Pumpkin Bump Game for Word Work in Kindergarten

Apple Tree Find and Cover the Blends Free Printable Mats

Apple CVC Matching Clip Cards Printable for Kindergarten

Apple Tree Find and Cover the Letter Printable Mats

Apple Tree Sight Word Find and Cover Printable for Kindergarten

Editable Apple Bump Game for Word Work in Kindergarten

Blend Words Free Printable Board Game for Kindergarten

Editable Back to School Write the Room Free Printable

Digital Back to School Letter Sounds Matching Activity

Editable Pencil Bump Game for Word Work Printable

CVC Middle Vowel Sounds Board Game Printable

Free Printable Digraph Words Matching Mats for Kindergarten

Blend Words Matching Mats Free Printable

Free Printable CVC Words Matching Mats

Free Printable Ending Digraph Clip Cards

Free Printable Beginning Digraph Clip Cards

Blend Words Clip Cards Free Printable

We hope this list of literacy activities is very helpful to you and saves you lots of time when it comes to planning literacy instruction and literacy centers.

I hope your kids have lots of fun learning with these free literacy printables!

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Trinity College Dublin agrees to divest from Israeli firms after student protest

Five-day encampment in university grounds that caused the college major loss of income ended in victory for campaigners

Students at Trinity College Dublin have ended a five-day encampment after the university pledged to cut ties with Israeli companies.

Student leaders claimed victory on Wednesday night for a US-style campaign that had disrupted the campus and blocked access to the Book of Kells .

Senior management made a deal with protesters, the university said in a statement. “Trinity will complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist,” it said. “Trinity will endeavour to divest from investments in other Israeli companies.”

Trinity’s supplier list contains just one Israeli company, which will remain until March 2025 for contractual reasons, said the statement.

The encampment began on 3 May when pro-Palestinian protesters set up dozens of tents in Fellows’ Square, similar to actions in the US, Europe and India in response to Israel ’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

In contrast to confrontations in the US where police forcibly evicted demonstrators at several universities, there was no attempt to remove the protest. Eoin O’Sullivan, a senior dean who led talks with the students, thanked them for their “engagement”.

In the UK, vice-chancellors from some of the leading universities will meet at No 10 on Thursday to discuss action to address the rise in antisemitic abuse on campuses and disruption to students’ learning.

Ahead of the meeting, Rishi Sunak said: “Universities should be places of rigorous debate but also bastions of tolerance and respect for every member of their community.

“A vocal minority on our campuses are disrupting the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse. That has to stop.”

The prime minister, along with Gillian Keegan, the education secretary; Michael Gove, the communities secretary; and Tom Tugendhat, security minister; will call for a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic abuse at universities.

The Dublin campus, which is in the heart of Ireland’s capital, closed to the public, costing the college an estimated €350,000 (£300,000) in forfeited revenue because visitors could not view the Book of Kells, a medieval manuscript and tourist magnet.

“I think the loss of revenue was key,” said Ruby Topalian, features editor of Trinity News , a student paper. Students welcomed a deal that went further than other universities, she said. “I think it’s unprecedented. The campus seems very happy.”

Laszlo Molnarfi, the outgoing students’ union president, said the group Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions had prevailed. “It shows the power of grassroots student and staff fighting for a just cause of Palestinian liberation and to end complicity with Israeli genocide, apartheid and settler colonialism.”

The Trinity statement said it understood the encampment’s rationale and expressed horror at events in Gaza . “We abhor and condemn all violence and war, including the atrocities of October 7th, the taking of hostages and the continuing ferocious and disproportionate onslaught in Gaza. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the dehumanisation of its people is obscene.”

Trinity said it would give places to six postgraduate and two undergraduate scholars from Gaza. “All fees have been waived for these scholars and Trinity will use its Sanctuary Fund to provide accommodation.” A new taskforce with student and staff representatives is to review Trinity’s student exchanges with Israel.

The deal came amid international condemnation of the Israeli assault on Rafah and an RTE report that Ireland, Spain and other EU member states were considering recognising the state of Palestine on 21 May.

• Israel-Gaza war
• Universities
• Higher education
• Middle East and north Africa

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33 arrested as D.C. police clear George Washington University encampment

Police moved on the encampment hours before the D.C. mayor and police chief were set to testify on Capitol Hill about it. The hearing has since been canceled.

After resisting repeated pleas from George Washington University to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment from the school’s grounds, D.C. police on Wednesday became the latest department in the country to forcibly remove such campus protesters, as officers swept through a tent city erected blocks from the White House.

Moving in before dawn, members of the department’s civil disturbance unit arrested 33 people and skirmished with some demonstrators, police said. Officers fired pepper spray three times at people they said tried to push through a line of officers on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just off the Foggy Bottom campus, according to police.

The 3 a.m. sweep came hours before Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Police Chief Pamela A. Smith were set to testify on Capitol Hill about why they had declined to take action. The mayor and chief said there was no connection between the operation and the scheduled hearing, at which they stood to be grilled by Republicans who have asserted that D.C. is unable or incapable of controlling its streets.

Demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have roiled college campuses across the country, forcing cancellations of commencements and causing classes to be shifted from in-person to virtual.

Over the past two weeks, police departments have responded to requests from school officials with force, including Columbia University in New York and the University of California at Los Angeles. In exchanges aired on TV news and in videos widely disseminated online, officers in riot gear have deployed chemical irritants to disperse crowds. These were images that D.C. officials said they wanted to avoid. More than 2,300 protesters have been arrested nationwide, according to a tally by The Washington Post.

Until Wednesday, the D.C. police force had been an outlier, resisting pressure from George Washington University and largely Republican members of Congress to act. Some demonstrations on campuses nationwide have included hateful or antisemitic speech appearing sympathetic to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At GWU, demonstrators had chanted for the school to cut ties to Israel and for the end of the Jewish state.

College protests over Gaza war

The encampment at GWU began April 25 and university officials had asked D.C. police to clear it from their private property, declaring its occupants to be illegal trespassers.

But Bowser said the encampment had remained largely peaceful until Thursday. Smith said conditions deteriorated over the weekend, when she asserted that authorities “began to see an escalation in the volatility of the protests.” Smith said police learned of items that could be used as weapons and uncovered evidence that demonstrators were planning to occupy a campus building, similar to what happened at Columbia. Police said investigators believed demonstrators involved in the protest there had come to D.C.

Smith said she concluded Monday that “we needed to change our posture.” She and the mayor said safety concerns, not the looming congressional hearing, drove their decision. The hearing was canceled, and Republican leaders quickly claimed credit for forcing D.C. police to end the demonstration

Those leaders cast the initial refusal of the city to act as a failure combat antisemitism. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that “it should not require threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress to keep Jewish students at George Washington University safe.”

At the same time, representatives of pro-Palestinian groups accused Bowser of bowing to pressure from Republican lawmakers, citing Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which had called Bowser and Smith to the hearing. “Comer is a Republican bully and Muriel E. Bowser is, too,” said Nee Nee Taylor, executive director of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a local Black-led mutual aid and community defense organization. “Fighting for human rights is not antisemitic.”

Gathered at Freedom Plaza outside the city’s Wilson Building, supporters of the demonstrators also criticized GWU President Ellen M. Granberg and D.C. police.

“The tactics used last night were disgusting, shameful, but not at all surprising,” said the Rev. Dayna Edwards, who had been providing spiritual support to students in the encampment. “[D.C. police] raided the encampment while students slept, escalating unprompted into a full assault.”

Later, Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) spoke in front of the U.S. Capitol, where GWU students shared their experiences in the encampment and during the police raid. “They think they can intimidate and erase the overwhelming voices for peace and justice,” Bush said. “They think they can jail dissenters and silence the wide consensus among people in this country that there should be an immediate and permanent cease-fire.”

D.C. Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) called the police action a “stain on the city and on democracy.” He described the encampment as peaceful and said his talks with demonstrators revealed “they made space for multiple truths at the same time,” including the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and the more than 30,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip during the war that followed.

Officials at George Washington said Wednesday that the school “is open and operating normally,” with final exams proceeding and commencement on schedule for May 19. They said that D.C. and campus police will maintain a presence at University Yard, the site of the encampment, which will be closed until after graduation, and that further demonstrations will require a reservation and be restricted in other ways, such as a ban on sound amplification.

D.C. police and university officials were unable by Wednesday afternoon to say how many of the 33 people arrested are students at the school. Their names were not immediately released. Police and the university asserted that the demonstration had been co-opted by outsiders.

At a news conference Wednesday, Bowser said an earlier D.C. police presence around the encampment had allowed people with varying viewpoints to have their say. She said that for the most part, “as tensions have escalated on campuses across the country, our community has been measured with our words and actions.”

But university officials had pleaded with the Bowser administration to send in police as early as April 26, a day after the encampment began. At that point, city officials described the demonstration as small and relatively peaceful. City officials said police had massed to clear the demonstrators but that Smith called them off at the last minute.

The university then tried other measures. It offered an alternative place to demonstrate, then barricaded the encampment, allowing people inside to leave but no one to enter, hoping it would fizzle out.

Then the university suspended several students. Days later, people in the encampment tore down the barricades and merged their group with other demonstrators on H Street NW, a public street not in control of the university. The tent encampment grew to about 200 people.

On Friday, Bowser praised the city’s response in a statement, supporting the chief’s decision to delay police action as members of Congress — including at least one Democrat — and university officials continued to ratchet up pressure on the city to move against the demonstrators.

On Sunday, Granberg issued a statement saying the school was running out of options. She noted repeated pleas for D.C. police to help and called the encampment “not a peaceful protest.” She said that it “has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property,” and that demonstrators had intimidated students “with antisemitic images and hateful rhetoric.”

Early Tuesday, GWU’s Student Government Association released a statement saying its members “firmly stand behind our students and their right to free speech, assembly, and peaceful protests.” Demonstrators disputed Granberg’s assertions as “deeply misleading” and said she had rejected requests to meet with them, according to the school’s student newspaper, the GW Hatchet.

In her statement, Granberg said the university police force, whose officers have arrest powers, were “not equipped” to manage the demonstration.

Meanwhile, Smith said her officers were keeping a close eye on the encampment. Hints of trouble began Thursday, she said, when a demonstrator assaulted a university police officer by ripping an object from her hand. Later that weekend, she said, a counterprotester reported being assaulted. On Tuesday night, demonstrators marched to the university president’s residence.

Early Tuesday, Smith said officers issued six warnings to disperse from the encampment on private property, and many people did. Smith said 30 people remaining in the encampment were then arrested, 29 on charges of unlawful entry and one on a charge of assaulting a police officer.

Smith said a second group of demonstrators from outside the encampment tried to reach the people being arrested, and officers used pepper spray three times on those who were pushing or punching officers. Three people in that group were taken into custody and charged with assaulting police, for a total of 33 arrests, authorities said.

Granberg also issued a statement Wednesday night, calling the past two weeks “some of the most profoundly challenging times in our community’s shared history.” She said administrators “recognize that many people in our community on all sides are hurting right now,” but she also said “it is unfortunate that the behavior and actions of many protesters ultimately required significant police intervention, and GW will continue to pursue accountability for those involved.”

After the police operation concluded, Bowser told reporters that she had spoken with Comer about the hearing, scheduled for 1 p.m. She said that Comer “expressed his interest in making the sure the city and the chief could focus on this ongoing operation” and that she thought the hearing was unlikely to happen.

The lawmaker — who visited the encampment on May 1, along with other Republican representatives — confirmed the cancellation but said in a statement that “it took the threat of a potential Oversight Committee hearing for Mayor Bowser to finally act.” He said that before the hearing had been scheduled, “it was apparent that the D.C. police force was not going to do their job.”

Martin Weil, Meagan Flynn and Michael Brice-Saddler contributed to this report.