Spelling, punctuation and
grammar information
Lower School – March 2016
Aims of meeting
New requirements for teaching SPaG
in KS1 (Year 1 and Year 2)
How we support at school
How you can support at home
What is SPaG?
•Spelling
•Punctuation
•Grammar
KS1 SPaG - background
• Most people read words more accurately than they spell them
(particularly the case for younger children)
• At school we teach different ways of spelling a particular sound.
Choosing the correct spelling depends on learning the words (to a
lesser extent having absorbed them less consciously through
reading)
• Challenge for young children - not had enough time to absorb the
accurate spelling of all the words they need for writing
• We have seen that lots of children do well in spelling tests, but find it
a challenge to spell correctly in their creative writing.
KS1 SPaG – background
• Knowledge of grammar (rules for a language) is important as it gives
us the skills to write
• We learn about the rules of grammar through reading, writing and
speaking/listening.
• Young children use more complex language in speech than in
writing, so writing the correct grammar is a challenge
• Lots of terms to remember!
Spelling – by the end of Year 1
Spell:
• words containing each of the 40+ phonemes
• common exception words
• days of the week
Letters:
• know the letters of the alphabet
• know the letters of the alphabet in order
• using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound
Add prefixes and suffixes:
• adding –s or –es for plurals
• using the prefixes; un–, –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the
spelling of root words
Sentence work:
Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher.
SPaG Year 1
Spelling – by the end of Year 2
•
Segment spoken words into phonemes and spell correctly
•
Learn alternative ways of spelling phonemes and words that contain them
•
Spell common exception words
•
Spell words with contracted forms; eg: hasn’t, isn’t, couldn’t
•
Spell words with the possessive apostrophe (singular); eg: Lucy’s cat
•
Distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones – their/there/they’re,
further/farther
•
Add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
•
Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher.
SPaG Year 2
SPaG Year 2
How we support at school
•
We teach SPaG within the teaching of reading, writing and speaking/listening.
•
We have discrete lessons once a week on grammar – identifying particular word
types, eg; verbs, nouns, adverbs
•
Year 2 do SPaG work in phonics time
•
Spelling tests
•
ICT games – Education City, TES SPaG games
•
Common exception words displayed in the class/words of the week
•
Guided reading sessions
How can you help at home?
Useful games and resources
Education City - English - Year 1 - Letters and Sounds – Phase 4/5 phonics games
Education City – English – KS1 – Writing - punctuation and grammar games
www.PhonicsPlay.co.uk – has some useful games (plurals, tenses, compound words) (Phase 6)
www.topicresources.com/ Topic resources website – booklets to download (£1.90)
www.tesspag.com/ TES teaching website –games for SPaG (free 30 day trial yearly
subscription £24.99, see Mrs Culham for further information)
Help your kids with spelling and grammar – a unique step-by-step visual guide.
Carol Vorderman
Remember good readers become good writers (look at vocabulary, sentence structure and
punctuation)
Summer term – KS1 testing
requirements
Parents information session
Tuesday 19th April