Parents’ information evening: Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Changes in the new National Curriculum: • Each year group now has its own objectives rather than the Key Stage. • In order to achieve the year group’s standard, children must have mastered EVERY objective in the Key Performance Indicator (KPI). If there is an objective that hasn’t been mastered (including spelling), the child will be ‘Working Towards’ the standard. • Last year and this year, Year 2 and Year 6 have an Interim Framework of Assessment.

EYFS Writing: • • • • • • •

Letters and Sounds (phonics programme) Role play / puppets Orally rehearsing sentences (flip boards) Segmenting and blending words Rhyming strings Sequence stories Handwriting / emergent writing

• Early Learning Goals: • Write simple sentences that can be read by him/herself and others. • Spell some words correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

Foundation Stage emergent writing:

Foundation Stage writing: end of the year

Year 1 Writing Expectations (KPIs) : • Begins to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place • Writes sentences by: • 1. sequencing sentences to form short narratives; and • 2. re-reading what has been written to check that it makes sense. • Spells words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught • Names the letters of the alphabet in order • Writes from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs and common exception words taught so far • Introduces capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

Year 1 Phonics check:

Year 2 Writing Expectations: (interim) Working towards the expected standard The pupil can write sentences that are sequenced to form a short narrative, after discussion with the teacher: • demarcating some sentences with capital letters and full stops • segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling some correctly • spelling some common exception words* • forming lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place • forming lower-case letters of the correct

Working at the expected standard (Year 2) The pupil can write a narrative about their own and others’ experiences (real and fictional), after discussion with the teacher: • demarcating most sentences with capital letters and full stops and with some use of question marks and exclamation marks • using sentences with different forms in their writing (statements, questions, exclamations and commands) • using some expanded noun phrases to describe and specify • using present and past tense mostly correctly and consistently • using co-ordination (or / and / but) and some subordination (when / if / that / because) • segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly • spelling many common exception words* • spelling some words with contracted forms* • adding suffixes to spell some words correctly in their writing e.g. –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly* • using the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters in some of their writing • writing capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower case letters • using spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters.

Working at greater depth within the expected standard (Y2) The pupil can write for different purposes, after discussion with the teacher: • using the full range of punctuation taught at key stage 1 mostly correctly • spelling most common exception words* • spelling most words with contracted forms* • adding suffixes to spell most words correctly in their writing, e.g. –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly* • using the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters in most of their writing.

Class 2 sentence types: class

sentence type

class 2 BOYS 1A and 2A Simile All the Ws.

link to National Curriculum Y2: subordination and coordination. Y2: expanded noun phrases Y2: pupils can write a narrative.

Terminology for pupils Year 1: letter, capital letter, word, singular, plural, sentence , punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark. Year 2: noun, noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation, command compound, suffix, adjective, adverb, verb tense (past, present) , apostrophe, comma

Year 3 Writing Expectations (KPIs) : • • • • • • • •

Organises paragraphs around a theme In narratives, creates settings, characters and plot Proof-reads for spelling and punctuation errors Uses the forms ‘a’ or ‘an’ according to whether the next word begins with a consonant or a vowel eg a rock, an open box Expresses time, place and cause using conjunctions Introduces inverted commas to punctuate direct speech Uses headings and sub-headings to aid presentation Uses the present perfect form of verbs instead of the simple past eg ‘He has gone out to play’ in contrast to ‘He went out to play’

Year 4 Writing Expectations (KPIs) : • • • • • • • •

Organises paragraphs around a theme In narratives, creates settings, characters and plot Proof-reads for spelling and punctuation errors Writes from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far Uses standard English forms for verb inflections instead of local spoken forms Uses fronted adverbials Can choose an appropriate pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition Uses inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech

Class 3 sentence types: class sentence type class 3 2Ad 3_ed Verb, person Emotion word, comma personification of weather The more, the more Ad, same ad Short! If, if, if, then

link to National Curriculum Using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause. Extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although. In narratives, creates settings, character and plot.

Terminology for pupils Year 3: preposition, conjunction, word family, prefix, clause, subordinate clause, direct speech, consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowel letter, inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’) Year 4: determiner, pronoun, possessive pronoun, adverbial

Year 5 Writing Expectations (KPIs): • • • • • • • • • • •

Identifies the audience for, and purpose of, the writing. Selects the appropriate form and uses other similar writing as models for their own. Proof-reads for spelling and punctuation errors. Ensures the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing. Uses further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader (eg headings, bullet points, underlining). Describes settings, characters and atmosphere. SPaG Converts nouns or adjectives into verbs using suffixes (eg -ate; -ise; -ify). Indicates degrees of possibility using adverbs (eg perhaps, surely) or modal verbs (eg might, should, will, must). Uses devices to build cohesion within a paragraph (eg then, after that, this, firstly). Uses commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity.

Year 6 Writing Expectations: (Interim framework) Working towards the expected standard Criteria

• using paragraphs to organise ideas • describing settings and characters • using some cohesive devices* within and across sentences and paragraphs • using different verb forms mostly accurately • using co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions

• using mostly correctly:

capital letters full stops question marks exclamation marks commas for lists apostrophes for contraction

• spelling most words correctly* (year 3 and 4) • spelling some words correctly* (year 5 and 6) • producing legible joined handwriting.

Working at the expected standard Criteria

• creating atmosphere, and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action • selecting vocabulary and grammatical structures that reflect the level of formality required mostly correctly • using a range of cohesive devices*, including adverbials, within and across sentences and paragraphs sentences and paragraphs • using passive and modal verbs mostly appropriately • using a wide range of clause structures, sometimes varying their position within the sentence • using adverbs, preposition phrases and expanded noun phrases effectively to add detail, qualification and precision inverted commas • using mostly correctly: commas for clarity punctuation for parenthesis semi-colons dashes • making some correct use of: colons hyphens • spelling most words correctly* (year 5 and 6) • maintaining legibility, fluency and speed in handwriting through choosing whether or not to join specific letters.

Working at greater depth within the expected standard Criteria

• managing shifts between levels of formality through selecting vocabulary precisely and by manipulating grammatical structures • selecting verb forms for meaning and effect • using the full semi-colons to mark the boundary between range of independent clauses punctuation taught at key stage 2 colons to mark the boundary between independent mostly correctly, clauses including:

Class 4 sentence types: class sentence type class 4 Noun, which/who/where 2 pairs ing, ed 3 bad – (dash) question? Some; others imagine 3 examples double ly ending irony sentence De:de

link to National Curriculum Using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun. Using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity. Use brackets, dashes and commas to indicate parenthesis. Using semi-colons and colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses. Using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely. To create character, setting and atmosphere.

Terminology for pupils Year 5: modal verb, relative pronoun, relative clause, parenthesis, bracket, dash cohesion, ambiguity Year 6: subject, object, active, passive synonym, antonym, ellipsis, hyphen, colon, semi-colon, bullet points

Spelling: •Ways to support your child at home:

Look, say, cover, write, check

This is probably the most common strategy used to learn spellings. Look: first look at the whole word carefully and if there is one part of the word that is difficult, look at that part in more detail. Say: say the word as you look at it, using different ways of pronouncing it if that will make it more memorable. Cover: cover the word. Write: write the word from memory, saying the word as you do so. Check: Have you got it right? If yes, try writing it again and again! If not, start again – look, say, cover, write, check.

This is a similar learning process to ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ but is about developing automaticity and muscle Trace, copy memory. and replicate Write the word out on a sheet of paper ensuring that it is spelt (and then check) correctly and it is large enough to trace over. Trace over the word and say it at the same time. Move next to the word you have just written and write it out as you say it. Turn the page over and write the word as you say it, and then check that you have spelt it correctly. If this is easy, do the same process for two different words at the same time. Once you have written all your words this way and feel confident, miss out the tracing and copying or the tracing alone and just write the words.

Segmentation The splitting of a word into its constituent phonemes in the correct order to support strategy spelling.

Writing the words linked to the teaching focus Quickwrite with speed and fluency. The aim is to write as many words as possible within a time constraint. Pupils can write words provided by the teacher or generate their own examples. This can be turned into a variety of competitive games including working in teams and developing relay race approaches.

Draw around the words making a clear distinction in size where there are ascenders and descenders. Look Drawing around the carefully at the shape of the word and the letters in word to show each box. Now try to write the word making sure that you get the same shape. the shape

This strategy is all about making a word memorable. It links to meaning in order to try to make the spelling noticeable. Drawing an image around the word

You can’t use this method as your main method of learning spellings, but it might work on those that are just a little more difficult to remember.

Words without vowels

This strategy is useful where the vowel choices are the challenge in the words. Write the words without the vowels and pupils have to choose the correct grapheme to put in the space. For example, for the word field:

F_____ld

Pyramid words

This method of learning words forces you to think of each letter separately. You can then reverse the process so that you end up with a diamond.

Other strategies

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Other methods can include: Rainbow writing. Using coloured pencils in different ways can help to make parts of words memorable. You could highlight the tricky parts of the word or write the tricky part in a different colour. You could also write each letter in a different colour, or write the word in red, then overlay in orange, yellow and so on. Making up memorable ‘silly sentences’ containing the word Saying the word in a funny way – for example, pronouncing the ‘silent’ letters in a word Clapping and counting to identify the syllables in a word.

Apps to support spelling: • Word juice • Anyword • Squeebles spelling (for individual spellings) • SpellFix • Phonics and letter formation apps e.g. Phonics Farm. • Downwords • Hex-A-Gone • Lipogram

Any questions?