Writing
It is important for pupils to develop as independent, enthusiastic and expressive writers, who are able to write in a meaningful way.
They should be able to use a range of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences. They should be confident in their choice of genre and language style for a specific purpose.
Pupils should also regard themselves as writers and value their own work and that of others.
Year 6 worked on some poetry with Year 1
Handwriting
By Year 1 children should be able to sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly. They begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place, form capital letters and digits 0-9.
By Year 2, a child should be able to form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another and write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower case letters. They should use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters. They will be beginning to be taught joined writing techniques.
By Year 3 children should be joining their writing and in upper Ks2 pupils should be able to write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed.
Many people think that being a ‘good writer’ simply means that you are able to write neatly or being able to spell words correctly. However there are many skills involved in writing in terms of the content that children include as well as their choice of words, use of sentence structure and how they organise the information.
To see a list of the assessment focuses for writing click here
Modelled Writing
The teacher talks aloud the thought processes as a writer. They have complete control over the writing and make explicit the structure, language features, spelling and punctuation of the text type as appropriate.
Guided Writing
Pupils are grouped by writing ability. The task is carefully selected to provide an appropriate level of challenge and will focus on a particular aspect of the writing process as opposed to writing a complete piece. Tasks may include the processes of planning, drafting and editing pieces of writing.
Shared Writing
This is a collaborative approach; pupils contribute their ideas and thoughts for the teacher to select the most appropriate. The teacher needs to give reasons for the choices made.
Supported Composition
The pupils work in pairs to provide the next sentence of the text. This may follow from either modelled or the shared writing process.
Independent Writing
Pupils are given opportunities to apply their understanding of the text type in their own writing. This is vitally important if pupils are to develop their skills as writers within different genres.
Want some examples? Here you will find success criteria and examples for some different text types for each year group. Click here
For information and games on different text types go to the Bitesize website
More links to games and activities which might help your writing can be found here:
Writing whole texts
During their time at St Teresa's the children will write a range of narrative and non-narrative texts. It is important that they know the difference between text types.
Explanation: Explains how or why something happens
Non-chronological report: Describes what things are like
Instructions: Tells somebody how to do or make something
Discussion: Presents a balanced "for and against" argument
Persuasion: Tries to persuade the reader to share your opinion
Recount: Retells an event
Narrative: Tells a story
Poetry
Play script: Presents a narrative for performance
Journalistic: Writes in the form of a newspaper
Diary: Shares personal views and opinions on events
Biography/Autobiography: Gives information about own or others' lives
Spelling
Children will be learning important keywords and words with regular spelling patterns as part of their Language and Literacy/English lessons.
In Reception spelling is part of the progression in learning phonics and therefore links closely to learning to read.These pupils are engaged in a number of activities including puzzles and games and early writing activities matching sound to letter shape. Early high frequency words are also taught.
In KS1 the learning of high frequency words continues and pupils begin to learn how to spell simple CVC words (cat, pot, cup etc), spell simple words starting with initial consonant clusters (br, bl, cr, cl etc) and words following spelling patterns for vowel phonemes (ee, ea ie, oo etc)
In KS2 pupils progress to learn letter strings, word families, root words, suffixes, prefixes and words relating to subject topics.
Children in all classes are taught strategies to help them to learn independently. These involve learning by sight, sound, movement, making trials and using the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check method. Word cards, spelling mats, word walls and lines are also used containing high frequency words.
Children’s written work is sensitively marked to enable all aspects of their writing to be appraised including punctuation, content, structure and use of interesting vocabulary along with spelling. We recognise that children pass through a series of stages in learning to spell and teachers’ assessment of individuals’ work including spelling inaccuracies are addressed accordingly.
Tests may take place within the classroom as a form of on-going assessment to inform future planning.
You can find lots of spelling activities on the Woodlands's site - click here
The new National Curriculum (statutory from Sept 2014) has spelling lists for each year group or phase. Click the links below to see these spelling patterns and word lists.
Spelling lists - years 3 and 4
Spelling lists - years 5 and 6
The Words and Pictures website has some excellent games for practicing phonic skills.
Not sure about your punctuation marks? Download a set of 10 posters for your bedroom wall explaining each of them!
Want to practice your punctuation? Try this game!
Punctuation
As the children's writing progresses they will be expected to use a greater range of punctuation marks.
Sentence Construction and Grammar
Sentences
In Year 1 children are only expected to write using simple sentences.
In Year 2, they will be encouraged to start connecting two simple sentences together with the use of the connective 'and'. For example: I am on the beach. The beach is hot. A teacher would encourage a child to join these sentences like this: I am on the beach and it is hot.
By Year 3, teachers start encouraging children to use the connectives 'but' and 'so' in their writing. This means children will start using complex sentences (although they do not need to know that is what the sentences are called). For example:I like ice-cream but it can make me feel sick. I am learning my spellings so that I get better at them.
In Years 4, 5 and 6, children are expected to use compound and complex sentences in their writing.
- Teachers often put lists of connectives up around the classroom to encourage children to remember to use them in their writing.
- They may also play classroom games, saying sentences out loud using connectives. An example of this is to give children the half-sentence: 'I would like to get a dog, however' and then ask them to repeat it, adding their own half of the sentence, for example: 'I would like to get a dog, however my mum won't let me', etc.
- Teachers will also model the use of compound and complex sentences on the board when they are drafting example text for the children.
Grammar
As well as being able to construct effective sentences, the children also need also need a technical understanding of how the English language works. We teach the children the meaning of grammatical terms such as noun, verb, adjective, prefix, pronoun and adverb.
Play grammar and sentences games here
Practice your grammar here
For definitions of all the grammar terms that we use, see: Grammar Jargon Buster
For some super tips on helping your child with grammar, punctuation and spelling, see: Oxford Owl Grammar
Handwriting
By Year 1 children should be able to sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly. They begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place, form capital letters and digits 0-9.
By Year 2 a child should be able to form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another and write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower case letters. They should use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters. They will be beginning to be taught joined writing techniques
By Year 3 children should be joining their writing and in upper Ks2 pupils should be able to write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed.
Butlers Road, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, B20 2NY
0121 554 9581
enquiry@stteresa.bham.sch.uk