SPaG – TheLiteracyLeader.

Grammar and spelling ideas to wake up writing…

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I recently delivered some SPaG training (Spelling, punctuation and grammar) for both NQTs and experienced staff, which was all too necessary due to the fact that in the UK the KS2 SPaG test has changed AGAIN to include far more complex objectives. In fact, as a child of the 70s grammar was something of a mystery to me…I seem to remember school was somewhere I enjoyed going to play, sing and make things. Recently I find myself constantly have to ‘up-skill’ just so I can keep teachers updated.

I am becoming more concerned that instead of us teaching grammar and punctuation to allow children to write more effectively we are simply preparing them for tests. This is really rather unavoidable when the subjunctive is on the list of things to learn….!!!!! So instead of delighting in the beauty of the language and playing and experimenting with words and phrases grammar can become dull, dry and time to turn off.

Some of the ideas I shared in my training sessions are, hopefully, a way to shake things up and embed and excite.

Image from http://properenglishusage.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/36a1e67c169cc8f7fcd0879a0e73e180.jpg?w=300&h=210.:

Would you pass your SATs in 2016?

http://www.sats2016.co.uk/think-youd-pass-your-sats-in-2016/

Go on, try it. The staff were shocked. Especially those who do not teach the top end of KS2.

Multi-sensory spelling…

When it comes to spelling make it multi-sensory. I have a box full of pipe-cleaners, glitter trays, play-dough, silver foil…anything that can be used to make or feel words. Repetition is also key.

Create a rainbow (use a different colour for each letter)
Drill across the page
Fill the page
Beat the clock

Always make the children say the letter name or sound as they write it out. Find words in words, emphasise it Wed -nes – day…use magnetic letters. The more active the more effective.

Investigate words…

word Alan Peat’s Word Games is really useful.

words Try ‘Teachers pay Teachers’ for some fantastic word investigation mats. They are free and created by Jen Bengel.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-Placemat-Printable-Graphic-Organizer-for-Learning-New-Words-329865

knowing

What about creating a display were children can place their spellings in the box that reflects their knowledge of the words….over the week they should gradually all move into the green zone!

I always find that the Babcock Consultants’ website has really good ideas for what spellings to teach, when to teach them and how. They also have links to old National Strategy resources such as Spelling Bank, that are really useful.

http://www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/v.asp?rootid=17&depth=3&level1=17&level2=391&level3=872&folderid=872&level2id=391

Grammar…

As a school we use Alan Peat’s ‘Exciting Sentences’ app and books. They are fantastically simple sentence types to introduce throughout school. It ensures that year after year there is consistency in language used to describe sentence types and that there is progress across the key stages. If you ever get chance to attend any of Alan’s training grab it with both hands. The man is hugely relevant and is a brilliant presenter.

There are Alan Peat sentence type posters on TES and videos on Youtube. His punctuation app is brilliant too.

I love using film extracts as a stimulus to model sentences. I always use The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to support teaching quest myths. I have used this clip for fronted adverbial sentences…’Gently cradling the ring, Bilbo wept.’

Again, I highly recommend using The Literacy Shed for hundreds of fantastic film clips.

http://www.literacyshed.com/

Pobble is another fantastic resource that has daily grammar activities to go with exciting pictures. The story ideas are brilliant for writing too.

http://pobble365.com/flying/

Grammar Puss for Parents has lovely explanations to support home learning, with some super activities.

http://grammarpussforparents.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/happy-families-present-and-past.html

The one above addresses the past progressive verb form.

I like to use music wherever possible…

This is a fun figurative language song.

Lots of songs have figurative language in them the fun is getting the children to listen and spot it! The one above contains hyperbole.

I also enjoy using TESSpag. This resource costs £9.99 for a year and has loads of interactive quizzes (great for up-skilling adults as it goes right up to Secondary level), plus explanatory powerpoints.

On the theme of tough concepts this is the best way I have found to explain the subjunctive. Basically, Skee-Lo got it wrong but Beyonce got it right…it should be ‘If I were…’ not ‘If I was…’!!!

The most important points I want to make are that grammar should be embedded and it should be exciting and playful…Enjoy!!

Playing with words.

I have started to collect together lots of different ideas for warming up words. My children have very limited vocabulary so it essential that new words are introduced and played with on a regular basis. Pie Corbett suggests 5 new words are introduced weekly. Even though my children mainly speak English as a second language I never set a ceiling on the words used as I want my children to become familiar with the nuances of the language.

See the Picture

This is an imaging game, designed to help children use the images in their own minds and attach words to them.

Ask all children to create an image in their heads. This might be a setting in a story they are writing, something that they are writing a poem about or an experience that the whole class have had on a trip. Ask them to hold the image in their head and then ask:

What can you see?
What colours stand out most?
How does it feel?
Walk around your image. What other things do you see?

Children then share with a partner their image and things that they noticed. Finally jot down a list of words and phrases form their image.

When children start this keep the walk around the image short and build up what they do over time.

How does it go together?

With the children generate a list of nouns and then a separate list of verbs and to put a noun and verb together in an unusual way. Looking out of my window I can see tree, grasses, street light, road sign and a randomly selected list of verbs rushed, slithered, dreamed, sat, wheeled…

Now I can start to put them together:

the streetlight dreamed, the grasses rushed etc.

The children can then go on to create sentences choosing the ones that most appeal to them. The sentences could be collected and made into poems.

You could play the same game with adjectives and nouns.

Chain Link

This game is based around vocabulary generation and using the vocabulary. It is a game that I first read about in What Rhymes with Secret by Sandy Brownjohn printed in 1982.. Start the children off with a statement such as:

The birds swooping in the clear blue sky.

Sky like an azure gem.

Gem of an idea in the air

Here, the children must take the last word and start off the next line/statement with it. It demands that children think and use words flexibly.

Using paint colour samples (just ask nicely at your local DIY store) children can write shades of meaning below a key word.

Clines is another activity where shades of meaning can be discussed and then ordered from least to most e.g. sad, morbid, gloomy, depressed…

A really handy list of feeling words can be downloaded from the Primary Resources website:

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/pshe/pshe.htm

Random words

Choose a book. Ask for a number – this gives you a page to turn to. Now ask for a number – this gives you the line. Then ask for a small number – this will select a word. The children then have 15 seconds to write a sentence using the selected word. Then use the same sort of process to randomly select two or three words – can they make a sentence using the words… Be ruthless on capital letter, sense and full stop.

Alliterate

Use the animal list to create alliterative sentences – one per animal, e.g. the tiny tiger tickled the terrified terrapin’s two toes with torn tinsel.

Ink Waster

To warm up the brain and get into a creative mood – give the children a topic and ask them to write as much as they can in say, one minute. Time them and ask them to count the number of words then try again with another topic. They should write as rapidly as possible. This limbers up and frees up the mind.

Poems and reading poetry is one of the best ways to play with words. Lots of ideas for playing with poems in the next blog!

Pobble!

This will be a really quick blog to point people in the direction of a brilliant website. It is a re-branded and re-named – it used to be ‘Lend Me Your Literacy’ – and is now called Pobble. My absolute favourite section, which is an essential for the busy teacher, is Pobble 365. It has a new picture to stimulate writing on a daily basis. These pictures are fantastic and they can’t help but get the creative juices of the children flowing.

This is support by a story starter for KS1 and KS2, including writing tick-lists, a set of questions to develop deeper thinking, a sentence challenge – brilliant for SPaG lessons, sick sentences – again great for SPaG and Picture Perfect which asks children to respond creatively either through drawing or words. Even better is it is completely free!

http://pobble365.com/the-time-traveller/

If you go on the main Pobble site you can look at children’s work that has been published and if you register you can publish your writing too. Great for motivating even the most reluctant writer, but it also great to use to critique a specific story type or to create a class WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) using the best elements of the published work.

In fact if you read the blog there is an almost endless number of uses for the site.

http://blog.pobble.com/

Really useful literacy resources…

I have listed below all the resources that over the years I have found have enhanced my teaching of literacy. I am pretty sure I have not remembered everything and I would love to hear your ideas too. Some of the resources are more important as ideas, like the box of fairies. A shoe box can be made into a magical box full of endless surprises that I will discuss more in a future blog post…

Sentence strips

http://www.hope-education.co.uk/products/curricular/english/teaching-resources/he316868_kaleidoscope-sentence-strips

24-Inch Multicolor Pack Wipe-Off® Sentence Strips By Trend

http://www.amazon.co.uk/24-Inch-Multicolor-Wipe-Off%C2%AE-Sentence-Strips/dp/B007BFSIBK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1441826852&sr=8-6&keywords=sentence+strips

For modelling sentence types and to display and share children’s ideas. Adult monitoring of handwriting.

Tell-a-story board

http://www.hope-education.co.uk/products/curricular/english/teaching-resources/he1000420_tell-a-story-boards-classpack

Encourages discussion of story structures and easily editable ideas.

Recordable Pegs

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1838921/

Great for instructions or challenges. Useful for children with EAL or SEN or young children.

Talking point

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1727226/

Useful to record sounds / phonemes

Big-Point

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1727031/

As above but has a space for an image

Talk-Time Postcards

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1727047/

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1721672/A3-Talk-time-Recordable-Postcards/?rguid=3ceb8f52-8176-4500-a0a5-4c3bcd5d6629

Various sizes and length of time available. Great for making the link between speaking and writing. Record, listen, write.

Box of fairies

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD3029805/Box-of-Fairies/?rguid=ae2cc5d4-56c0-41bf-ba87-7d5c2944089c

This can be made with various bits and pieces for less money but gives a good idea of what you could collect in a shoe-box

Writing tool belt

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1722204/Literacy-Toolbelt/?rguid=6baa8284-4112-462f-a45d-e25b351ab243

This could be made more cheaply using aprons or tool belts and resources added. Excellent for writing in areas of provision or just anywhere outside.

Pick-a-Question Comprehension Tub

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD3030069/

To challenge and develop comprehension strategies both in groups and individually

Re-tell A Story Cubes

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1722946/

As above.

Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD2394605/Talk-for-Writing-Across-the-Curriculum/?rguid=ef9773b4-6219-4b24-8998-a6b5436ee873

Brilliant book to guide you through using talk for writing in non-fiction writing.

Jumpstart! Grammar: Games and actvities for ages 6-14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jumpstart-Grammar-Games-activities-ages/dp/0415831105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441826164&sr=8-1&keywords=jumpstart

Vital book to support teaching of grammar!

Jumpstart!: Literacy – Games and Activities for Ages 7-14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jumpstart-Literacy-Games-Activities-Ages/dp/1843121026/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441826313&sr=8-2&keywords=jumpstart

Another hugely useful book for word and sentence level games and activities.

Post-its (of all shapes and sizes)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/deluxe-leather-sticky-arrow-bookmark/dp/B00CVY2A24/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1441827126&sr=8-12&keywords=post-its+notes

Many, many uses…see my previous blog psot!

Highlighter Pens

http://www.amazon.co.uk/325/dp/B0007OEDYS/ref=pd_sim_229_17?ie=UTF8&refRID=0JNTETPXDV8YHZ4XCDRD

Essential for text marking.

Descriptosaurus: Supporting Creative Writing for Ages 8-14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Descriptosaurus-Supporting-Creative-Writing-Ages/dp/0415640865/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441827444&sr=1-1&keywords=descriptosaurus

Fantastic book to develop the use of exciting and juicy vocabulary

Easi Speak® MP3 Recorder / Player

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1727034/Easi-Speak-MP3-Recorder-Player/

Encourages talk and oral rehearsal

Lego learning.

My son is obsessed with Lego. Lego everything…Harry Potter. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Marvel Superheroes, dinosaurs…the list is endless. This means he has boxes and boxes of it…this also means he doesn’t notice if I ‘borrow’ some of it (but never ever take Bilbo or Gandalf).

I have used some of this ‘borrowed’ Lego with great success in school.

You can buy Lego Education Story Starter kits and they have some fantastic ideas in the handbook that comes with the sets. Depending on your budget second-hand Lego from Ebay might be a better option.

I have used it in a variety of different ways, each time engaging and motivating children throughout the primary age range.

The most obvious way to use it is to create story settings which can be used to role play with, developing language and understanding of story structure. These scenes can be used as a stimulus for story writing or story telling, writing wanted posters for baddies, drawing treasure maps, creating scrolls with declarations of war, marriages, challenges or quests.

My son enjoys making machines and transportation devices with his Lego. He hates writing more than almost anything else ever. However, he made an inventor’s book of Lego creations where he documents his models through drawings which he labels and sometimes expands upon with explanations of how they work. He doesn’t see this as writing – nor will the children in your class!

I enjoy using the Lego faces with my children in Year 5 to expand their use of emotions words. I give them a selection of heads which they write an emotion sentence about. I then challenge them to use a thesaurus to improve their choice of word and to further develop their sentence. Sometimes they will continue to write a paragraph about their character. The heads can be bought as a job lot on Ebay – just check you get a variety of expressions! A similar activity can be done with the pictures of scenes off the front of Lego kit boxes – this time creating an atmosphere for a specific genre type.

Another grammar objective that can be taught through Lego is prepositions – The Literacy Shed blog talks more about this.

Children can say sentences containing prepositions about the Lego character e.g. ‘The man stood on the bridge’ ‘The orc is under the bridge’. These can be written and expanded into short action scenes or a comic creating app can be used to record and create a storyboard.

I stumbled across this website with some amazing photographs that can be used as a writing or discussion stimulus.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3026935/everything-about-these-pictures-of-a-tiny-adventurous-lego-photographer-is-awesome#11

Younger children can develop their fine motor skills by taking part in a race to build a mini figure. The different fiddly, little parts can be hidden in sand, water, lentils or something gooey. A variety of parts means an endless variety of Lego characters can be created.

Get some Lego and start playing…

I love Post-its!!!

All teachers love stationery – I get giddy at the thought of a visit to Staples. I seem to collect endless types of notebooks and I really, really do have a pencil case of favourite felt-tip pens that I refuse to lend to anyone. Sad, but true. However, the most useful and multifunctional of all this delicious stationery is the post-it note. It comes in an endless array of colours, shapes and sizes which merely adds to my love of it…Here are some of the ways in which I have used the beauties…

Summarising – starting with the largest post-it and gradually decreasing their size down the page. The children can fit less and less wordage in each one, ending up with a few key points.

Feedback – stick them in exercise books so they are poking out pointing out where pupils need to do corrections / feedback / wishes. It makes it easy for you to see who needs to do corrections. Pupils can remove the post-it when they have responded to feedback.

Guided Reading groups – I just use the sticky bits to write children’s names on and then laminate my group list. This means I can really easily move my groups around.

Story timelines – use post-its to sequence the key elements in a story. They can either be linked with arrows or stuck along a line. The children can then play around with the story sequence or structure very easily.

Mind-mapping – I like to use pictures to stimulate descriptive writing, creating word banks to describe the mood. I laminate my favourites and choose an appropriate one to stick in the middle of a large piece of sugar paper. In groups, children mind-map words and phrases on post-its and organise them around the image. I can then ask them to group their words and phrases under subheading. These might end up being used as the basis for sentences or paragraphs.

Prepositions – saw this anchor chart and thought it looked brilliantly simple!

I also like this idea for apostrophes…

And this noticing punctuation…

Teaching onomatopoeia with speech bubble shaped post-its…

Organising sentence types…

This could also be done to classify words.

Classification and organisation of information for scientific or topic writing, creating keys and food chains.

Explanation texts – organise life cycles into a circular flow chart using post-its for each key point, drawing arrows in between. Add notes on post-its at each key point. These notes can then be moved and organised into paragraphs where they can then be expanded into full sentences under sub-headings.

Text marking – this will encourage close reading of texts. It is really important to model how to do this first so children don’t spend too long sticking post-it notes in books.

AfL – use post-its to evidence learning in a lesson as an ‘exit slip’.

They make post-its in amazing shapes, sizes and colours…their uses are endless…and I love them!

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