Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG)

Mrs Triglia and Miss O’Donnell

Friday 2nd October

What do SPAG lessons involve?

Talk amongst yourselves and add your ideas to the sugar paper

What do SPAG lessons involve?

• Spelling rules and exceptions

• Punctuation

• Grammar (Tenses)

• Vocabulary (adjectives, adverbs)

Aims of today…

• Explain the terminology used within SPAG lessons

• Explain what your child is expected to be able to do by the end of Year 6

• Support you in your own subject knowledge

• Provide you with ways that you can support your child at home

Punctuation Pit Stop

Grammar Gap

Common misconceptions

• Using standard English (text speak, writing how they speak.)

• Homophones (their, there, they’re)

• Children writing should of instead of should have

• Use of first person I in lower case

• Use of apostrophe – correct place for contracted words and possession

New Curriculum

• The importance of SPAG. There is a separate test to assess their knowledge

• Children are expected to be fluent in reading, writing and their spoken language.

• Editing and proofreading has a bigger focus so this year we are continuing to use independent writing books.

• Higher expectations for all year groups • All year groups using writing passports across

the curriculum

Writing Passport

Key Stage 2

• The new national curriculum will be assessed for the first time in May 2016

• The current Year 6 children will be the first to sit these papers

• The key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test is designed to assess grammar, punctuation, language strategies and spelling

Now you get to try a sample!

Here is an example of a SPAG progress test that the children complete at the end of

each half term.

Renewing our subject knowledge

The children will need to know 8 main word types:

• Nouns Determiners • Verbs Prepositions • Adjectives Pronouns • Adverbs Conjunctions

Some subject knowledge for yourselves…

The following slides will be on the website for you to refer to.

Nouns

Nouns are the biggest word class (everyone and everything needs a name!)

A noun is the name of a person, place, animal, thing or idea.

• Nouns can be singular or plural• They can be proper (Alsatian), common (dog), collective (team), or abstract (justice). Abstract nouns (Lv6) are

those that you cannot see/touch and can be emotions.• Noun phrases- a ‘phrase’ takes its name from the overall job that

this group of words is doing… So – ‘the big, blue, shiny bicycle’ – is a noun phrase

Pronouns

Pronouns stand in for a noun,

I, you, he, she, it, we, they,My, your, his, her, our, their.

Pronouns are important for ‘cohesion’. If children overuse them, the reader is not sure who is being discussed. If they underuse them, the writing can

sound very repetitive and boring.

Determiners

• Determiners … ‘home’ you in on the noun.The most common determiners are

‘the’ and ‘a’

Some more determiners:• this dog, that dog,• all dogs, every dog, some dogs, no dogs, each dog• one dog, two dogs• his dog, her dog, my dog ( what other category ?)

VerbsAction words?Find the action word in the following sentences• We are enthusiastic teachers• Many animals are endangered• The boys played football

A verb is a ‘doing’ or a ‘being’ word. It tells us what is happening in the sentence.

• The most common verb in the english language is the verb ‘to be’• A verb can be a single word or a group of words which together form the ‘verb

phrase’ The choir will be singing at the village hall.The choir has been singing at the village hall.The choir might be singing at the village hall.The choir would have been singing at the village hall.

Adverbs

The lion was staring.

How?

The lion was staring menacingly.

Adverbs modify the verb.

They tell us how (adverb of manner), when (adverb of

time), or where (adverb of place). Last Thursday, the lion was staring menacingly.

Last Thursday, at the Safari Park, the lion was staring menacingly out towards the keepers.

Adverbs can move about the sentence, affecting the emphasis, but not

the meaning.

Prepositions

Prepositions express a relationship of meaning between 2 parts of a sentence, usually to do with space or time.

Simple prepositions may include:about, across, after, at, before, behind, by, down, during, for, from, to, inside, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over, round, since, through, to, towards, under, up, with.

See how many of these words you can use, in sentences relating to your poster.

Adjectives

Describing words? How many adjectives can you find in this highly descriptive passage?

The storm had ripped violently through the village, uprooting houses and leaving possessions strewn across the valley. Pots, pans, tables, chairs, household items of all kinds had been abandoned in the mud. No children played in the playground, but a teddy –bear lay against the roundabout, staring blankly at the scene.

An adjective describes ( or modifies) the noun.

• It might nestle close to the noun- or be elsewhere in the sentence..

The silver car stood in the driveway.

The car in the driveway was silver.

Conjunctions (Connectives)

Sentences can be made longer by joining two clauses or parts of clauses together.

Words that link two parts of a sentence together are called conjunctions ( the word ‘connective’ is

used in the draft/sample test material).

For example …because, so, while, for, and, but, or, yet, even though, provided that….

Helpful websites and resources

CPG books

•KS2 English: Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Study Book

•KS2 English Targeted Question Book: Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling - Year 5

Helpful websites and resources for Year 6

CPG books

•KS2 English Targeted Question Book: Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling - Year 6

•KS2 English SAT Buster - Grammar

Helpful website

•http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/english/spelling_grammar/