N:\2013-14\Teacherweb\Level 3 Big Writing Objectives Help for Parents.docx
Big Writing Level 3
How You Can Help Your Child
1. Your child can write in a variety of genres (teacher assessed).
Teacher assessment from class work
2. Your child can write with an awareness of the reader.
Look at a variety of different written material e.g. a menu, a child’s book, a leaflet. Talk about
how they are different and why. Look at main headings, subtitles, use of Font size and colour.
3. Your child can use a range of ‘wow’ words.
 Show your child some interesting scenery or story characters, e.g. a forest,
mountains, desert, a giant, a wizard etc. Ask them to describe the pictures using ‘wow’
words. Use the ‘Level 3 Healthy Writing 5 a day’ leaflet and a thesaurus to help.
 Play the Tennis Game. Decide on a boring word like ‘nice’. Take it in turns to
say a better word for nice eg, delicious, beautiful, sunny etc... Whoever runs out of a
word or repeats one that has been said, loses the game! A thesaurus will help with this
game. Have a look at some new words one night and play the game the next.
4. Your child can develop and extend ideas in sequenced sentences.
As your child is retelling a story or event, ask questions such as, “Why did that
happen? “Or “How did he feel? “ to encourage more detail from your child.
5. Your child can extend sentences using a wider range of connectives (e.g. when, because, if, after,
while, also, as well).
Make a bank of connective cards such as when, because, if, after, while, also, as well. Put them
face down on the desk. Write the beginning of a sentence on a small whiteboard. Ask your child
to pick a card and complete the sentence using the connective. You can take it in turns to write
the beginning and end of sentences. Decide who has written the most interesting ending and who
has remembered to add a ‘wow’ word!
6. Your child can usually use correct grammatical structures in sentences (nouns and verbs agree
generally).
When your child has written homework, ask them to point out the verbs and ensure that they
agree with the nouns e.g. Was
he/she/it
Were
they/we/you
7. Your child can use sentence punctuation accurately; full stops, capital letters and question marks.
When your child has written homework, ask them to check for capital letters, full stops and ‘?’.
N:\2013-14\Teacherweb\Level 3 Big Writing Objectives Help for Parents.docx
8. Your child can structure and organise work clearly (e.g. three paragraphs showing the beginning,
middle and end.)
While reading with your child, point out the use of paragraphs. Make sure
their story has at least three clear paragraphs to show the beginning, middle
and end.
9. Your child can organise their writing based on the genre (e.g. clear difference between formal and
informal letters; abbreviated sentences in notes and diaries).
Teacher assessment from class work
10. Your child can experimenting with a wide range of punctuation, (e.g.
commas, inverted commas, exclamation marks, apostrophes).
Point out how and where e.g. Speech marks are used while reading a story. Look at comic strips
and try to replace speech bubbles with speech marks. Have fun making comic strips if they are
unsure of what is actually being said before replacing these with speech marks. Microsoft Excel is
good for making comic strips if your child enjoys the computer. Encourage your child to use ‘!’ in
exciting or noisy parts of the story and ‘s to show possession. Don’t worry at this point if they are
not correct.
11. Your child can use neat, accurate and joined writing.
Use the handwriting booklet to practise joined writing. If your child is reluctant, ask for just two
sentences to be joined and then expand as their confidence and speed increases.
12. Your child can use adjectives and adverbs for description.
Open the ‘Level 3 Healthy Writing 5 a day’ leaflets at the adverbs page (power openers) use a few
each day to think of exiting sentences using these words. Alternatively play an “acting” game –
give your child a simple task e.g. Driving a car. Then add an adverb to help them act it out e.g.
drive carefully, drive angrily, drive happily….. etc.
N:\2013-14\Teacherweb\Level 3 Big Writing Objectives Help for Parents.docx
13. Your child can spell more difficult, unknown words accurately using phonic patterns (e. g. fright,
frightened).
If your child is stuck on a new, more difficult word ask them to think of a word they know that
sounds like it, or part of it, and build it up from there.
E.g. : unhappily =
happy
unhappy
unhappily
14. Your child can develop characters and describe settings, feelings and emotions.
Show your child some interesting scenery or story characters, e.g. a forest, mountains, desert, a
giant, a wizard etc. Ask them to describe the pictures using ‘wow’ words. Use the ‘Level 3 Healthy
Writing 5 a day’ leaflet and a thesaurus to help. Prompt your child for more in-depth description
by asking questions e.g. “Why do you feel the forest is scary? “, “What made the giant so mean?”
15. Your child can use time connectives to link and relate events sensibly (e.g. afterwards, before,
also, after a while, eventually…).
Ask your child to retell an event or story using after words, before, also ….. etc. . Write the words
on cards then use them to retell events.
16. Your child can attempt to give opinion, interest or humour through description or dialogue
While writing a story or reading one you child has written, ask them to add some speech
to help the characters interact to show how they are feeling. Can your child describe
characters in a humorous way e.g. the dragon’s breath was like mouldy cheese in hot,
dirty socks.
17. Your child can use generalising words in their writing (e.g. sometimes, never, always, often, in
addition).
Think of events that happen at home at a variety of intervals. e.g. Leave food on my plate, brush
my teeth, fight with my brother
Ask your child to add the words always, sometimes, never,often and put them into a sentence.
e.g. Sometimes I leave food on my plate. I never fight with my brother
18. Your child can use a mix of description of action, setting and dialogue to move their writing
forward.
Look at a story your child is reading or has written. Point out the characters’ actions or the story
setting. Add some description to the story to improve it.