1. Spelling and Grammar Parent/ Carer Workshop

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

6. 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.

7. Spelling Teaching Methods Key Stage Two
Word meaning
Dot-dash method
Visualisation
Dictionary skills
Thesaurus skills
Derivations
Word roots/suffixes/prefixes
Dictations
Anagrams
Gnilleps

8. 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.

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. What is the rule? dog fish poppy sheep
Word level Plurals
What is the rule?
dog
fish
poppy
sheep

15. sentence level Expanded noun phrase? The whale

16. The whale
The grey, sleek whale

17. Conjunctions?

18. 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?

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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?

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