Spelling and Grammar Parent/ Carer Workshop

Aim

• To become familiar with the expectations, terminology used for Spelling Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG)

• To understand the methods

used at school and how you

can help at home

Spellings in Key Stage One

• We teach spelling patterns and rules from the National Curriculum Spelling guidance

• These are reinforced and revisited over the two years

• Spellings are taught daily in phonics lessons. • Spellings are tested weekly based on spelling

patterns, rules and common exception words (tricky words)

• Spellings are reinforced during class based writing

Spelling Teaching Methods Key Stage One

• Dot-dash method: identifying graphemes and patterns

• Chunking longer words

• Visualisation

• Making words practically

• Word roots/suffixes/prefixes

• Dictations

• Word jumbles

• Rhymes to remember

Spellings in Key Stage Two

• We teach patterns from the National Curriculum Spelling lists

(spellings are repeated in 3&4 and in 5&6). • The core lists are on the school website. • Examples include: precede, solemn, lamb, wary,

malicious, obedient, deceive, essential, enough, legible, co-own and hesitancy.

• Spellings taught daily in class. • Spellings are tested weekly – this can include

some new but related words.

Spelling Teaching Methods Key Stage Two

• Word meaning • Dot-dash method • Visualisation • Dictionary skills • Thesaurus skills • Derivations • Word roots/suffixes/prefixes • Dictations • Anagrams • Gnilleps

What should my child do at home?

• Children have yellow A4 spelling books that they bring home with their lists in.

• Check your child’s previous results – value effort

• They should revise the spellings 4 times at home during the week – encourage.

• Little and often works best but research says it takes 9 attempts to embed a new word in your long term memory.

How can I help?

• Display the spellings somewhere visible. • Practically make words and play games focusing on

the patterns and rules • Test your child orally. • Test your child in writing – make sure they

complete the Look, Cover, Write, Check methods. • Spelling games, e.g., Scrabble, Bananagrams,

Boggle, fridge letters. • Education City – playlive • See Spelling sheet for further ideas

Grammar and Punctuation Word---sentence---text---punctuation

Grammar and punctuation in Year One

• National Curriculum Expectations- Year 1

• Regular Plural Noun Suffixes

• Suffixes and Prefixes

• Verbs

• Adjectives

• Conjunctions ‘and’

• Singular and Plural

• Capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks

Grammar and Punctuation in Year Two

• New Curriculum Expectations– Year 2 • Nouns using suffixes • Adjectives using suffixes • Adverbs • Subordination and coordination • Expanded Noun Phrases • Sentences with different forms • Present/Past/Continuous Tense • Capital letters, full stops, question marks,

exclamation marks, commas and apostrophes

Word level

Plurals

What is the rule?

dog

fish

poppy

sheep

sentence level Expanded noun phrase?

The whale

The whale

The grey, sleek whale

Conjunctions?

Co-ordination (using or, and, but)

I like Maltesers and Mars bars.

I like Maltesers but you like Mars bars.

Do you like Maltesers or Mars bars?

Subordination

(using when, if, that, because)

I eat Maltesers when I am hungry. I eat Mars bars if I have run out of

Mars bars. I eat Mars bars because I have a sweet

tooth

Grammar and Punctuation Key Stage Two

• The end of year expectations for punctuation and grammar make up the majority of statements of writing.

• The children need to develop their complex sentences, so that the links between ideas become more sophisticated.

Paragraphing

• By KS2, children need to set their work out in paragraphs.

• The core structure of any piece of writing is: introduction, series of paragraphs (on single themes) and a short conclusion.

• This helps: prioritise ideas, develop points and avoid repletion.

• We encourage many children to miss a line between paragraphs.

Main Clauses

• Also described as independent clauses.

• These must contain a subject and predicate, i.e., a person, place or thing doing something.

• Without a main clause the words are not a sentence.

• Father was snoring.

• The dog was playing.

• London was suffering.

Longer Main Clauses

• Often the main clause is extended with additional words to make it more interesting and informative.

• Our father was snoring loudly.

• The young dog was playing in the garden.

• London was suffering power cuts.

Subordinate Clauses

• Also described as dependent clauses. • These contain a conjunction, subject and predicate (and

may contain an object). They need to be linked to a main clause.

• Our father was snoring loudly, while he slept in his chair.

• Because it escaped, the dog was playing in the garden.

• London was suffering power cuts, until the main power supply was restored.

Embedded Clauses

• Also described as drop in clauses. • The main clause is “interrupted” as an additional piece

of information is parachuted into the sentence. • Our father, who lay collapsed in his chair, was snoring

loudly.

• The dog, which was having the time of its life, was playing in the garden.

• London, which was dark, was suffering power cuts.

Openers

• Often the main clause is extended with additional words to make it more interesting and informative.

• Sounding like a tractor, our father was snoring loudly.

• Delighted, the dog was playing in the garden.

• All at once, London was suffering power cuts.

Fronted Adverbials

• The adverb is moved to the front of the sentence to give it greater emphasis.

• This is often developed into a phrase. • Loudly, our father was snoring.

• Happily wagging her tail, the dog was playing in

the garden.

• Alarmingly, London was suffering power cuts.

Semi-colons

• Link two main clauses that are closely related. • Typically, one might expect the two parts to have equal

significance.

• Our father was snoring loudly; it was most irritating.

• The dog was playing in the garden; my baby brother giggled in delight

• London was suffering power cuts; the Prime Minister said it was a state of emergency.

Model verbs

• This is an auxiliary verb that indicates the likelihood of something happening.

• Father might be snoring.

• The dog will play.

• London could suffer.

Active and Passive Voice

• In the active voice, the subject in the sentence is active. This is easier to understand.

• The boy broke the greenhouse window.

• In the passive voice, the object is acted on instead (becoming the subject). This emphasises the effect and can hide the

• The greenhouse window was broken by the boy.

How can you help at home?

• When reading, talk about grammatical features used in books.

• Support the development of punctuation and sentences when writing in learning logs.

How could you develop/ extend that sentence?

What punctuation could you add there?

Websites

• The School Run Website gives a clear explanation of key terms, examples and describes how and why they should be taught.

• http://www.theschoolrun.com