Moorlands Literacy Handbook 2015 Practical ways you can support your child’s developing Literacy skills at home

Part 1: Phonics & Reading

Guided Reading Story Time

Phonics

How do we teach reading at Moorlands?

Shared Reading

1 to 1 reading

Phonics Phonics is taught from Reception up to Year 3 + 4. It is also taught to older children who still need it. Children are grouped into similar ability groups across each Key Stage and work in smaller groups than their usual class. Phonics is learning the sounds letters make when they are written down. It is a strategy which helps children both read (blend) and spell (segment) words.

ch

i

p

Use this sound chart to practise key sounds with your child.

f

b

l

m

c k

d

a

e

oo

oo

n

g

h

i

ar

r

s

v

j

p

qu

o

or

u

air

z

t

ay

ir

ou

sh

th

w

x

ee

igh

oy

y

ure

ng nk ch

ow

ear

Remember ‘pure’ sounds – no ‘uh’!

This the order we teach sounds at Moorlands. We use pictures and the following phrases to help children remember the letter formation and sounds. s a t p i n m

Slither down the snake Round the apple, down the leaf Down the tower, across the tower Down the plait and over the pirate’s face Down the body, dot for the head Down Nobby and over his net Maisy, mountain, mountain

d

g o c k ck e

Round his bottom, up his tall neck, down his feet Round her face, down her hair and give her a curl All around the orange Curl around the caterpillar Down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg Curl around the caterpillar, down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg Lift the top and scoop out the egg

r h b u f l ss j v w x y z qu

ch

sh th

ng nk

Down his back, then curl over his arm Down the head to the hooves and over his back Down the laces to the heel, round the toe Down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle Down the stem and draw the leaves Down the long leg Slither down the snake, slither down the snake Down his body, curl and dot Down a wing, up a wing Down, up, down, up Down the arm and leg and repeat the other side Down a horn up a horn and under his head Zig-zag-zig Round her head, up past her earrings and down her hair, down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle Curl around the caterpillar, then go down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back Slither down the snake, down the head to the hooves and over his back Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back Thing on a string I think I stink

ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy ear air ure ire er ai oa oi wh ur ph ie ow ea ue aw ew a_e e_e i_e o_e u_e are

May I play? What can you see? Fly high Blow the snow Poo at the zoo Look at a book Start the car Shut the door That’s not fair Whirl and twirl Shout it out Toy for a boy Hear with your ear That’s not fair! Sure it’s pure Fire! Fire! Better letter Snail in the rain Goat in a boat Spoil the boy Which whip? Nurse with a purse Phonics is fun! His tie is in the pie Brown cow Cup of tea My glue is blue! Yawn at dawn Chew the stew Make a cake Nice Smile Phone Home Huge Brute Care and share

Green and Red words We learn to read and write green and red words. The green words are words we can use our phonics to sound out to read and spell. The red words are the ones we have to use other tricks to help us learn.

Phoneme – the smallest unit of sound within a word Grapheme – the written letters that represent a phoneme Digraph – 2 letters that are combined to make a single sound, e.g. sh or ay Trigraph – 3 letters that are combined to make a single sound, e.g. igh, ear Sound talk – saying each of the sounds in turn from a word, e.g. ch – i – p (we often call this robot talking in school) Blend – putting sounds together to read a word Segment – splitting a word into sounds to help with spelling

Revise/revisit – Practise sounds already taught Teach – New sound, blending and segmenting, tricky words, ditties Practise – Reading and/or spelling words containing the new sound Apply – Read or write a caption using the new sound and one or more tricky words Assess - How successful children have been with their learning

 All staff, including support staff, have been trained in the teaching of phonics  The children are grouped according to need  Sessions happen daily (about 20 minutes)  Direct link between phonics and other reading and writing activities  Assessment of progress, regular regrouping as necessary

1 to 1 reading 1 to 1 reading is when a child reads a book they have chosen themselves from the colour band they are working at. The adult reading with them uses this as an opportunity to reinforce reading strategies, including phonics and use questioning to check comprehension. With younger children especially, the adult may also read parts of the text aloud to the child. These are the book bands we use at Moorlands. Remember that many of the reading books we have in school have ideas to support your child’s reading and phonics development inside the front and back covers.

Lilac

Turquoise

Pink

Purple

Red

Gold

Yellow

White

Blue

Lime

Green

Ruby

Orange

Independent reading choices

How can you help at home? The Environment  Choose somewhere quiet and comfortable to read.  10 minute quality time is much better than half an hour whilst you or your child are distracted by other things!  Have plenty of books and reading material around. Let your child see you as a reader too.  Have an alphabet frieze or sound chart on the wall which your child can refer to if they need it.  Take control of the television (Hide the remote if needs be!) Strategies and Reading Behaviours  Phonics! Encourage children to sound out words using the sounds they know as their first strategy.  Encourage them to use the picture as a clue – this isn’t cheating!  Use the first sound in a word along with the picture to predict what unfamiliar words might be.  Use the context of the text to help – what word might make sense here?  Take turns reading – your child loves hearing you read too!

Reading with your child  Introduce the book  Strategy check – “What can we do if we get stuck on a word?”  Independent reading – try to encourage your child to work out a word using their strategies instead of giving them the word.  Return to the text and ask questions about what they’ve read.

Important points to remember  Allow your child to read to the end of a sentence without interrupting.  Share the title rather than asking them to read it if the words are unfamiliar.  Alternate saying well done or that was good by telling your child what was good “I like the way you….”  Remember not to expect your child to work out a word that is not in their vocabulary.  Alternate the strategies you suggest rather than giving the same strategy prompt e.g. sound it out.  Reading with your child should be enjoyable for both you and your child – choose a time when you both feel relaxed and the reading doesn’t feel like one more chore.

Useful questions to ask whilst your child is reading Before reading: Why did you choose this book? What’s the title? Look at the cover, what do you think the story might be about? Do you know any of the characters/people in this story? Can you think of any books you’ve read before that are like this one?

If already started reading: What has happened so far in the story? What do you think is going to happen next?

Decoding What sound does this letter/these letters make? (point to sounds within a word, working from left to right) What word do they make when you put them all together? Can you see any clues in the picture that can help you work out that word? (Cover up part of a word) What does this part on its own sound like? What word might it be?

Comprehension Why do you think [character name] did that? Why do you think [event] happened? How do you think [character name] is feeling at the moment? Why? What do you think happened next? I wonder why the author used (point at word) this word? Do you know what this word (point at a word) means? Can you make a sentence with the word in? Is it as good as [title of a book]? Why?

After Reading Do you like this book? Why? Which was your favourite bit? What was happening in this picture (point at picture)?

Games and Activities to Help Reading & Phonics Reception and Nursery Toy sounds – When your child is playing with their toys encourage them to make the right sounds. Farm animals, train sets, vehicles, dolls etc are great for this. Help your child to notice these sounds around and about.

moo!

Tap it out – Make a shaker or use drums (pots and pans and wooden spoons are perfect) to play along with songs, rhymes and the radio. Try making the loudest sounds that you can then the quietest sounds that you can. Tap out simple rhythms. Can your child repeat the rhythm back to you? Song time- Sing your child’s favourite songs, ones they have learnt at school, songs you remember from childhood or songs on CDs you have at home. Encourage children to use their bodies to make sounds to go along with their singing – stamping, clapping, patting knees etc.

Sound effects- Read stories and encourage children to make sound effects with their body – stomping, knocking, clapping, scratching etc. Rhyming books - When children are really familiar with a particular book, try pausing before the rhyming word. Encourage your child to fill in the missing word. Clap it out- Encourage children to think about the rhythms in words. Say simple nursery rhymes and clap along with one clap for each syllable. Repeat with knee taps, head pats or stamps.

ssssssss! Quick draw - When drawing together, try drawing a snake and a sock. Point out that these things both begin with a 's' sound. Make the hissing s sound. Add some more 's' pictures e.g. snail, spider etc. Your child may be able to suggest some ideas as well. Pulling faces - Play around with moving your mouth in different ways e.g waggling your tongue, opening as wide as possible, smiling wide, frowning, blowing lips etc. You may want to do this to music or it can be a fun bath time game. Make a range of sounds e.g oo, ee, sh, th. Exagge rate your mouth shape while you are doing this to encourage your child to copy your mouth shape. It can be fun to do this while you are both looking in a mirror.

Reception and KS1 Robotic talking - Words are made up from sounds and children f –r – o - g need to be able to hear these sounds individually. Sometimes when you are playing you can say words as if you were a robot (saying the sounds separately) and see if your child can work out what you are saying. Stick to short simple words that only have a few sounds in them. Make sure you are saying the letter so unds (p-i-g) not the letter names (peeeye-gee). E.g. Pass that p-i-g to me. Sit d-ow-n. Point to your t-ee-th. Hop like a f-r-o-g. As your child becomes familiar with this robot talking, see if they can say words in robot talk themselves? I spy – Say the rhyme ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with ______’ allow your child plenty of opportunities to guess what you have chosen, for example, ‘something beginning with t’ could be a tree, toy, tent or train. Try using the sound instead of a letter, for example “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ch” Point out text everywhere - Talk about the written words you see in the world around you. Ask your child to find familiar words on each outing such as ‘McDonalds’, ‘Coke’ or ‘Asda’.

My name is Zip Zap Zop Zup Zep

Playing with words – Encourage your child to sound out the word as you change it from mat to fat to sat; from sat to sag to sap; and from sap to sip. Try using made up words too!

Letter sound Bingo/Noughts and Crosses You will need:  3x3 grid for each player  counters or coins Write some letters into the spaces on each card, making each card slightly different. The ‘bingo caller’ says each letter in turn and the players cover the letter up. The winner is first to fill their board. To make this game easier for new readers, show them the letter for them to match. You could make it more challenging by using tricky words from your child’s reading book. Matching pairs/Snap – Choose several words your child is learning to read. Write each word twice on separate pieces of paper/card so you can search for a matching pair. Turn all the cards face down on the table and take turns to turn over two. When a matching pair is found that player can keep them. The winner is the person with the most pairs at the end of the game. You can use the same cards to play other games like snap.

Be your child's #1 fan - Ask your child to read aloud what he or she has written at school or for their homework. Be an enthusiastic listener. Create a book together - Fold pieces of paper in half and staple them to make a book. Ask your child to write sentences on each page and add his or her own illustrations. Make up stories on the go - Take turns adding to a story the two of you make up while in the car or bus. Try making the story funny or spooky. Stop, Banana! – Write out tricky words onto separate cards. Draw a banana on another card. Shuffle the pack and ask your child to guess how many words they will be able to read before the banana comes out. Keep trying to beat the record!

Word Racer! You will need:  a dice  coloured pencils  a race track (see attached) Take turns to roll a dice. Read the word that matches the number shown on the dice. If correct colour in a square next to the word. The first person to get to the end is the winner.

KS2 Secret Letter – Children cut out words from newspapers or magazines to write a new message. This encourages them to notice key words in non-fiction texts and develops sentence building. Quiz – Write 5 questions which can be answered using a newspaper/magazine/non-fiction text. Challenge your child to find the answer to win a prize. Turn it around and challenge children to write 5 questions they think you will never know the answer to from the same texts. Crossword - Give children crosswords to solve. This encourage children to think about the meanings of words and the contexts they can be used in. Google it! – When reading, find a word that the children are unsure of the meaning of. Children then Google the word to find the meaning.

Websites and mobile phone apps to support reading Phonics www.phonicsplay.co.uk – Lots of free games that will give your child opportunity to practise using their phonics to read and spell sounds, words and sentences. Suitable for children from Foundation to Year 4 and older children who are still learning phonics. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/ - Games to practise using vowel sounds. Suitable for children in upper KS1. http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/ - Useful games and resources for children learning all stages of phonics. There are some lovely colourful words and sounds that can be printed off and used at home too. http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/literacy_menu.html - Wide range of games. Also games are available to be downloaded so you don’t need to be online to play them. http://www.mrthorne.com/ - a series of videos featuring Geraldine the Giraffe introducing different phonemes. Also includes apps available for ipad/iphone and android. http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/reading-owl/expert-help/phonics-made-easy - Useful pronunciation guide as well as example words containing the sounds. http://www.readwritephonics.co.uk/phonics/ - A great app for android and apple devices. Chance to practise hearing sounds, blending to read words and segmenting for spelling. Also practise for letter formation. http://www.hairyphonics.com – some great free phonics games. Also available as an app for iphone and ipad, which includes letter formation. There is a charge of £1.99 for the app.

Reading Material http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Library/Index/?AgeGroup=1&Book=eBooks – Fantastic website where you can look at electronic versions of Oxford reading scheme books, including Magic Key, Project X and Snapdragons. There are complete books from all reading levels. It is possible to listen to the stories being read aloud and turn the pages yourself. There are also interactive activities to test comprehension. http://www.funbrain.com/brain/ReadingBrain/ReadingBrain.html - Fun reading games, mostly geared at KS2. Often includes extracts from children’s books. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/ - Lots of articles about science topics which are of interest to children, especially valuable for upper KS2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ - Newsround’s website has both video and news articles about issues that children want to know more about. Particularly suitable for KS2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/ - Great for children in Foundation Stage and lower KS1. Lots of bedtime stories read aloud with cartoons.

Please let us know if you find any other good reading websites!

Part 2: Writing

Handwriting In Moorlands, we follow the Nelson handwriting scheme. During Nursery and Reception many activities will help children to develop their fine motor skills in preparation for writing. An important part of this is pencil grip:

During Reception and Year 1, children are taught to form their letters correctly using the ditties from phonics to help them to do so.

abcdefghijk lmnopqrstu vwxyz The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. In Year 2, children will begin to join their letters using diagonal and horizontal joins. Once children are confident joining their handwriting, they will begin to be encouraged to develop their own fluent, joined handwriting style which may include joining break letters and may be slightly slanted.

ascender – A tall letter or a letter which goes up to the line above

t h k l b d f descender – a letter which hangs below the line

g q y p f j break letters – letters which finish on the right so don’t usually join

y p s g j b diagonal joins – letters which join with a diagonal line from the bottom

a q e t I a d h k l z c n m horizontal joins – letters which join from the top (washing line joins)

o w x v r f

Games and Activities to Help Handwriting Developing Fine-Motor control        

cutting and sticking peeling and chopping opening and closing bottles and jars Lego modelling dough threading beads sewing using tweezers to pick up small objects  using tools – e.g. hammers, pliers  fastenings – buttons, zips, bows, knots  painting – with paint or just water  squeezing cloths, washing up liquid bottles  colouring  paper mazes  dot to dot pictures  singing finger songs, e.g. incy wincy spider  scrunching paper using finger tips  jigsaw puzzles  using clothes pegs  finger painting  typing  popping bubbles/bubble wrap  stretching elastic bands

Remember developing fine motor skills can be as simple as teaching and encouraging your child to use their knife and fork when eating dinner or allowing them to get dressed for themselves in the morning!

During Key Stage 1, children are taught to spelling using the phonics they are learning in class. Teachers will expect them to make phonetically plausible attempts to spell based on their phonics learning so far. For example, a Year 1 child might spell ‘kite’ as ‘kight’. By the end of Key Stage 1, children that are ready to move away from phonics will start to learn spelling rules and also exceptions to these rules according to the National Curriculum.

Homework In Key Stage 1, children will be given a sound from their phonics teaching each week. They will use this sound to hunt for words and complete activities. After children have completed phonics, they will be given a spelling rule from their spelling lessons in class. They will hunt for words that use this rule, and then apply these words to create sentences.

Our aims for writing: At Moorlands our aims for writing are:  to foster the enjoyment of writing, and a recognition of its value;  to encourage accurate and meaningful writing, be it narrative or non-fiction (both within literacy and across the curriculum);  to improve the planning, drafting and editing of written work

Shared Writing - this will provide opportunities for children to learn, apply and reinforce skills in the context of a larger group with careful guidance from the teacher. It is also important that teachers model the process of writing. Teachers should use texts to provide ideas and structures for the writing and, in collaboration with the class, compose texts, teaching how they are planned and how ideas are sequenced, clarified and structured. It is also an opportunity to teach spelling and grammar, to demonstrate features of layout and presentation and to focus on editing and refining work. It is also used as a starting point for subsequent independent writing.

Guided Writing -These sessions will encourage children to write independently. The work will normally flow from whole class shared writing sessions. These should meet objectives and focus on specific aspects of the writing process rather than the completion of a single piece of work.

Independent Writing - Children are encouraged to work independently. There should be sufficient resources and strategies for children to fall back on if they experience problems

In Key Stage 1, children use story maps to help them to learn to imitate stories we have been studying in class off by heart. They then change the story map to make the story their own. We call this innovating. They then use their learning to help them invent their own texts.

Year first Grammar introduced term Reception Sentence

Definition

Example

A group of words that are put together to mean something – must include a verb.

The sky is blue. Today is Monday. Her dress looked beautiful.

Year 1

Name of a person, place or thing.

noun

Common - table, cat Proper – John, Sunday, England Collective – pride, gaggle, flock (3) abstract – love, fear, bravery (4)

The cat sat on the table. John lives in England. Lions live together in a pride. Can you feel the love?

adjective

A word that describes a noun.

the dog was enormous and very fierce.

verb

A word that describes an She waited patiently. action or state She has been waiting … She waits ..

singular

A single thing (noun)

plural

More than one thing (nouns) Plural usually marked by addition of - s, es Some plurals are irregular. Some nouns are mass nouns and do not change in the plural.

conjunction A word that is used to

child cat church tooth

cats, churches children, teeth fish, sheep

and, but, so, or, because,

join two ideas together within one sentence.

when, if, although, however, as,

coordinating I like apples but I don’t like conjunctions, e.g. for, pears. and, nor, but, or, yet, so – the two parts of the sentence joined with the conjunction can be separated and make sense. subordinating conjunctions – one clause depends on the other to make sense.

Year 2

My mum said I can go to the cinema if I do all my homework

preposition A word that describes the position of a noun

The cat sat on the mat. The book was under the table.

pronoun

A word in place of a noun. Avoids repetition.

He went to the park. It was at the top of the mountain.

adverb

Adverbs give extra meaning to a verb, an adjective or a whole sentence.

I really enjoyed the party. (adverb + verb) She’s really nice. (adverb + adjective) He works really slowly. (adverb + adverb) Really, he should know better. (adverb + sentence)

connectives Used to join a new We went to the park and sentence or paragraph to played on the swings. Next the previous one. we had ice-cream. present tense

Writing which describes something that is happening now.

I am watching television. She looks confused! He walks very slowly.

past tense

Writing about something I was watching TV last night. that has happened in the She looked confused. past. He walked very slowly.

Year 3

suffix

A group of letters added slow/slower/slowly/slowest at the end of a word quick/quicker/quickly/quickest that changes its grammatical use.

prefix

A group of letters added unbelieveable at the beginning of a dishonest word that changes its anticlockwise grammatical use.

noun phrase

A phrase which helps to give extra information about the noun

The bright red Ferrari flashed its lights. Almost all healthy adult foxes in this area can jump.

determiners Words used with nouns articles – a, an, the possessive pronouns – my, his, her, our, your, its demonstratives – this, that, these, those quantifiers – some, many, most clause

the house, an apple, a cat, my friend, our school this book, those children most teachers, some students

A group of words that contain a subject and a verb Independent clause (can make sense on its own)

Tara ate a cheese roll after she watched the news.

subordinate clause Tara ate a cheese roll after (needs another phrase to she watched the news. make sense on its own) phrase

A group of closely related words that don’t contain a verb

in the afternoon deep under the ocean at the bottom of the garden if you can out of there

Year 4

paragraph

A section of a piece of writing. A new paragraph marks a change of focus, change of time, change of place or change of speaker. Should be marked by a new line and a clear indent.

relative pronoun

A word which introduced a relative clause – who, which, whom, that

This is Sam, who lives down the road. The train broke down, which made me late.

subject

The noun or pronoun that a sentence is about.

The dog barked at the cat. The children ripped the paper.

object

The object in the sentence which has had the action done to it.

The dog barked at the cat. The children ripped the paper.

subordinate A group of words which clause contain a subject and verb but depends on another clause to make sense.

Even though she was exhausted, Sarah stayed up to watch the football. He can go and play football if he finishes his homework.

relative clause

A clause with a relative pronoun that relates it to the rest of the sentence.

That’s the boy who lives near the school. Tom broke the game, which annoyed Ali.

possessive pronoun

a word that shows whom something belongs to - my, mine, her, hers, his, our, ours, their, theirs Words that show how, when, where something happens/happened.

That’s my book! That book is mine!

Fronted adverbial – adverbial is moved to the start of the sentence

At the stroke of midnight, the mouse ran up the clock.

adverbial

He drove as fast as possible. The pirate hid the treasure on the island.

and marked with a comma. Year 5

Year 6

modal verb A word that shows how likely something is to happen can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would, must/ought

Perhaps I should stay behind. Can I get you a drink? Sam will be here soon. I must go now

cohesion

A text has cohesion if it is clear how the meanings of its parts fit together, e.g. through repeated reference to the same thing.

A visit has been arranged for Year 6, to the Mountain Peaks Field Study Centre, leaving school at 9.30am. This is an overnight visit. The centre has beautiful grounds and a nature trail. During the afternoon, the children will follow the trail.

ambiguity

Deliberate use of words with more than one possible meaning

The priest married my sister. The fisherman went to the bank. "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen; it said, 'Parking Fine." So that was nice."

active voice

Verbs can be active or The dog bit Ben. passive. (The subject is performing the In an active sentence the action) subject performs the action.

passive voice

In a passive sentence the subject is on the receiving end of the action.

Ben was bitten by the dog. (The subject is on the receiving end of the action)

Punctuation mark

.

full stop

?

question mark

Description

Example

Used at the end of a sentence. Also used to show aword has been abbreviated.

The cat sat on the mat. Mrs. Lettington

Used at the end of a question.

Do you know how to use question marks?

Used to separate items in a list. To help make the comma meaning of a sentence clear by providing pauses. To make a point/for emphasis, e.g. show exclamation when someone is mark shouting or angry.

,

!

…

ellipses

Used to build suspense.

I enjoy horse-riding, cycling, swimming and reading. The dog, which was naughty, chased the cat. Stop! Wow! Slowly, the old, wooden door creaked opened...

Used to show where two words have been put together and letters left out. Used to show ownership.

Frank’s book is better than Claire’s.

inverted commas or speech marks

Used to indicate words that have been actually said.

“Hurry up!” shouted Mum. “We’ll fight them on the beaches!” exclaimed Winston Churchill.

:

Used to provide extra information.

She was a great writer: she really made her characters come alive.

Used to separate two short similar points. To separate two independent clauses without using a conjunction.

He loves cooking; he’s got loads of recipes. The ice-cream van man drove past my house tonight; he had big hairy knuckles.

‘

apostrophe

“”

colon

;

semi colon

()

Add extra information for the reader. parentheses

-

hyphen

Used to separate words in compound words

Don’t worry we’ve got plenty for everyone.

She was really pretty (or so she thought). mother-in-law quick-thinking

How can you help at home?  Be a good model of writing. Let your child see you write and talk with them about how you use writing in your life.  Provide writing materials for your child- paper with lines and no lines, pencils and pens. Gifts such as shaped notebooks, journals, spirals, coloured pencils, felt-tip pens and rubbers are motivating.  Encourage your child to write books.  Help your child write letters and e-mails to relatives and friends.  Provide a journal or diary for your child to record his or her day.  Help your child brainstorm ideas and organize them.  Stress the importance of the writing process and not just the final product.  Do not write for your child.  Respond to WHAT your child writes rather than HOW they write it.  Praise your child’s writing. Ignore minor errors.  Help with spelling as needed, but do not expect your child to spell every word correctly.

Websites to support Writing http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/index.shtml Lots of simple grammar games based on the Magic Key adventures which many of our children have enjoyed reading. Ideal for KS1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/ Simple games to practise key skills. Suitable for KS1. http://www.funenglishgames.com/writinggames.html We especially liked the story writing activity but there are lots of good activities to practise all sorts of different writing genres. Particularly suited for KS2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/writing/ Especially good for upper key stage 2. Lots of chance to experiment with different types of text. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/spelling_grammar/ Chance to practise some of the grammar rules for sentences and spelling your children will have been looking at in school. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/penguinsonice.shtml Some great games (featuring penguins) which allow you to practise sentence building. Most suited to children from Year 2-4. http://www.eduplace.com/tales/ Allows children to create a silly story using their own word choices. Practises different parts of speech. Suitable for KS2. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/ Your child can add pictures, captions and speech bubbles to make their own comic strip. Suitable for children of all ages, although younger children would probably need their adult or older brothers or sisters to help them with this. http://myths.e2bn.org/create/ Let's children to combine pictures, sounds and sentences to create their own story book. Also fun to watch and read some of the other stories that have been created. Again, a great activity for children of all ages - younger children will need their adults or older brothers or sisters to help them. http://www.storyboardthat.com/ Children can produce their own comic strip style storyboards. They can choose from a variety of pictures for settings/backgrounds and characters (including a variety of historical figures). They can then add speech bubbles and text boxes to tell their story. http://www.sentenceplay.co.uk/sentenceGames.htm Simple games that develop children’s understanding of sentences and grammatical features. Most suitable for KS2.