Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Workshop – Brentwood Schools February 2013

A starting question

The semicolon

How often do you actually use it? What are the alternatives?Does it matter if you do not use it often?Can you give me a good example of the use of

semicolon where it is absolutely the best option to provide meaning in a sentence?

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (and vocabulary)AIMS

• Present an overview of the new test requirements for the end of key stage 2

• To make you realise that the SPAG requirements are not at all scary, except for one of the level 6 papers.

What Changes Are There To English Tests For KS2 In 2013?What Changes?• Writing will be assessed by teacher assessment. • Assessment will be of a range of Year 6 writing done as part of the normal

sequence of lessons.• Writing will be internally moderated. LA moderators will sample 15-25% of

schools.• There will no longer be a writing test or writing sample. This is replaced by a

test of English spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and grammar. • The SPAG test will take place on Tuesday 14th May a.m. • A level 6 SPAG test is available and will also take place on 14th May p.m.What Stays the Same?• Maths and Reading tests• Schools will submit teacher assessments by 28th June, i.e. before test papers

are returned.

Other SPAG impact......• The spelling, punctuation and grammar test will be

administered, externally marked and published (including in RaiseOnline),

• SPAG will not impact on the writing mark or the floor standard.

• There will be no overall English score, but a separate reading and writing score.

• The primary attainment floor standard will remain at 60% this year and not be increased to 65% as was originally planned.

• You will be above the floor if you achieve above 60% on Reading AND Writing AND Maths, OR above median for progress on Reading, OR above median for progress on Writing, OR above median for progress on Maths. 

• It is not known if the floor target will increase in 2014

Why Test SPAG?

• Because the DFE says so!• To close the gap between pupils from different backgrounds• To give all pupils greater access to “Standard English”• It fits nicely with the draft national curriculum

The SPaG test will assess level 3-5 of the current English curriculum.

• A separate level 6 test will be available for schools that wish to enter children who are expected to be working above level 5 at the time of the test.

Contexts

Ofsted: • Standards in English are not high enough and, since 2008,

there has been no overall improvement in primary pupil’s learning….Above all this means being passionate about high standards of literacy for every single pupil, and creating a no-excuses culture both for pupils and staff.

• Among the ten steps to raise literacy is the recommendation that government consider whether the target of level 4 is sufficiently high to provide an adequate foundation for success.

Michael Wilshaw March 2012

“Moving English Forward” Recommendations:

The Department for Education should:• provide support in order to increase the number of specialist English teachers in primary

schools and to improve the subject knowledge of existing English coordinators in primary schools.

All schools should: • develop policies to promote reading for enjoyment throughout the school• simplify lesson plans in English to concentrate on the key learning objectives and

encourage teachers to be more flexible in responding to pupils’ progress as lessons develop.

Nursery and primary schools should also:• develop a structured programme for improving children’s communication skills in the

Early Years Foundation Stage• secure pupils’ early reading skills by the end of Key Stage 1.

Spelling

• There are clear guidelines in the draft English curriculum about the development of spelling including lists of key words.

A question:• What has been the impact of phonics in

your school?

Spelling in Draft NC English Document

Year 2 Pupils should be taught to:* spell by: a. segmenting words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly b. learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which one or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones (e.g. two, to, too) c. learning to spell common exception words d. learning to spell more words with contracted forms, e.g. can’t, don’t e. distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones* add suffixes to spell longer words, e.g. –ment, –ness, –ful and –less * apply spelling rules and guidelines, as listed in Appendix 1 * write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that contain words and punctuation taught so far

Spelling in Draft NC English Document• Year 5 / 6 Pupils should be taught to: • a. use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidelines

for adding them • b. spell some words with ‘silent’ letters, e.g. knight, psalm, solemn • c. continue to distinguish between homophones and other words

which are often confused • d. use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and

understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically, as listed in Appendix 1

• e. use dictionaries to check spelling and meaning of words • f. use the first three or four letters of a word to look up words in a

dictionary to check spelling, meaning or both of these. • g. use a thesaurus

DefinitionsMorphology:• The branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of organisms without

consideration of functionOr in Linquistics, morphology is:• the study of the forms of words • the identification, analysis and description of the structure of a given language's

morphemes and other linguistic units, such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context

A morpheme is:• is the smallest semantic unit in a language • "Unbreakable" comprises three morphemes: un- (a bound morpheme signifying

"not"), -break- (the root, a free morpheme), and -able (a morpheme signifying "can be done").

Semantics: • is the study of meaning Etymology is:• the study of the history of words and come from the Greek word etymon which

mean “true sense” and if you add that to “ology” you get the study of true sense.

Spelling – A quick test

1. knowledge 2. accident..3. beginning.4. permanent.5. unnecessary6. catalogue7. biscuits8. leisure

9. preferred10. subtle11. jewellery12. foreign. 13. synchronised14. desperately15. vicious

“Moving English Forward” and Spelling• Pupils with a fluent cursive script are more likely to become

good spellers. • Inspectors observed spelling was rarely taught explicitly. • there is little consistency within schools about which

spelling mistakes to correct and how. • Pupils with particular special needs related to spelling,

and less regularly handwriting, often received good, targeted support.

• Teachers often felt that spelling and handwriting were important but most felt that they could not afford to spend much time teaching spelling and handwriting since they were allocated relatively few marks in national tests.

Good practice in improving handwriting and spelling

• There is a consistently applied policy for handwriting (when, how, frequency)

• There is a detailed progression chart for teachers giving examples of handwriting patterns, families of letters and so on.

• Guidance is also provided on how pupils should develop pencil grips, and how to teach single letters and joins.

• Sessions are to be linked to the spellings taught that week.

Handwriting In DRAFT NC English DocumentYear 1Pupils should be taught to: • sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly • begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right

place • form capital letters • form digits 0–9 • understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (i.e. letters that are

formed in similar ways) and to practise theseYears 5 / 6Pupils should be taught to:• write legibly, fluently, with increasing speed and personal style by: • a. choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding, as part of

their personal style, whether or not to join specific letters• b. choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task (e.g. quick notes, letters).

Marking Literacy Across The Curriculum

The most effective schools often have a whole-school marking policy which emphasises the importance of literacy and is applied consistently. However, in many primary schools, teachers’ marking in other subjects is less detailed than in English and rarely focuses on key basic errors. This can be most obvious in subjects like science where pupils often write one-sentence answers to questions or short paragraphs evaluating experiments. In humanities, pupils often write extended pieces in diary, news report or letter forms. All of these lend themselves well to marking for literacy but often this is not the case.

Ofsted Distance Learning for Inspectors

• It’s important• It’s not the most important aspect of writing• It needs to be taught explicitly• It is an active developmental process• Teach cursive handwriting to help with spelling• Be positive about spelling and about children• Teach strategies not spellings• Don’t avoid a word because it’s hard to spell• How words look is as important as how they sound• Words are often built up of units e.g. prefixes, suffixes, roots and

they have a history• Words are fun

• A key text is Support for Spelling.

Spelling, do you agree with these statements?

What Good Spellers Need 1.• Knowledge of word structures and meanings. An increasing linguistic knowledge

of word structures and meanings is essential and is evident in attention to:o Prefixeso Tenses o Words made up of smaller words (e.g football, birthday)o Word rootso Word origins ( e.g. photograph, photosynthesis) • Growing independence. Knowing how and where to get help, how to proof read and

check their own and others work is essential. In addition to self-monitoring children need to have effective ways of consciously learning new spellings

• To make analogies and deduce rules. These are fundamental processes that help

children make use of the spelling system. Much learning is implicit initially but as knowledge grows children need to become more reflective and able to make more explicit generalisations and deduce rules.

From: “Understanding Spelling” by Olivia O’Sullivan and Anne Thomas

What Good Spellers Need 2.• Extensive experience of written language

• Phonological awareness. (syllabification, onset, rime, phonemic awareness) children learn to attend more closely to increasingly detailed aspects of sound-letter relationships and to detect patterns of sound associated with patterns of letter.

· • Letter names and alphabetical knowledge – · • Known words. Children need to develop a lexicon of familiar words which are spelled

correctly and are a basis for analogy making· • Visual awareness, spellers need to know that spelling is as much to do with how

words look as with how they sound. Visual awareness includes a growing sense of the likely patterns of letters that occur in English and the habit of looking at words within words and noting how words are made up

· • Awareness of common letter strings and word patterns. Children need to become

familiar with common letter patterns ( e.g. –at, -ad, -ee, -ing, -one, -ough) including patterns in words which look alike but don’t sound alike.

How To Spell: Strategies• Break it into sounds

( d-i-a-r-y)• Break it into

syllables (re-mem-ber)

• Break it into affixes (dis + satisfy)

• Use a mnemonic (necessary has one collar and two sleeves)

• Refer to a word in the same family (muscle – muscular)

• Say it as it sounds (Wed-nes-day)

• Find words within words (I am in Parliament)

• Refer to etymology (bi+cycle = two + wheels)

• Use analogy (bright, light, night…)

• Use a key word (horrible/drinkable for able and ible)

• Apply spelling rules (writing, written)

• Learn by sight (look-cover-say-write-check)

• Create visual memory (LCWC or Handwriting)

Spelling in Draft NC English Documento Word List for Years 5 and 6 Accommodate, debate, favour, identify lawyer narrate qualify similar umpire affection deceive familiar illustrate lecture nation quench sincere unite analyse decimal festival investigate jealous juice junction jury knead knuckle magazine majesty majority manage manufacture marvellous medium military mineral minor miracle mischief mischievous modern modest moisture mosquito natural ninth nuisance persevere object reason observe occupy receive omit operate opinion organise origin parallel parliament permanent phrase popular prefer privilege pronunciation protect punctual query rapid realise receipt recent recommend refuse regret relevant imagine legend society utter ancient definite flavour imitate leisure solemn apparent demonstrate forbid immense length sphere vacant appreciate deprive foreign impress lenient statue variety atmosphere destroy forty imprison lightning stubborn attitude develop fruit include liquid style ventilate average index succeed villain awkward garage industry success virtue electric genuine inferior suggest vocabulary bargain embarrass germ influence suit volcano believe emigrate govern(ment) inhabitant superior volume blemish encounter gradual instrument surprise boundary encourage granite interfere remove syllable wardrobe bruise endure guarantee interrupt request sympathy whether engineer interview resemble syrup wisdom career enrol harass introduce resign wizard celebrate envelope haughty restore talent woollen century equator haunt revise telescope wrench challenge equip hearty rhyme tempt committee especially height rhythm terminate yacht convince estimate hinder ridiculous theatre yeast correspond Europe hindrance thorough coward European hoax sandwich tomorrow zero create evidence honour satisfy tremendous zone curious exaggerate horizon purpose saucepan triumph zoology excavate humility scheme twelfth exceed hurricane seize tyrant explanation severe sign

Think up unusual definitions for familiar words, e.g.bunny – a bit like a bunpiecrust – what happens if you don’t polish your pike Now you try......buffalo – malady –lightning -

Punctuation.

. ?. ? , !

. ? , … ! “”- ? , … ! ‘ “” : ; ()

How would you punctuate this sentence?

a woman without her man is nothing

Two possible ways to punctuate the sentence giving two different

meanings:

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Punctuation, has anything changed? Present expectations:National Curriculum Programmes of Study KS1Pupils should be taught:a. how punctuation helps a reader understand what is writtenb. the connections between punctuation and sentence structure, intonation and emphasisc. to use capital letters, full stops, question marks and to begin to use commas.

National Curriculum Programmes of Study KS2Pupils should be taught to use punctuation marks correctly in their writing, including full stops, question and exclamation marks, commas, inverted commas, and apostrophes to mark possession and omission.

Draft NC for English – Punctuation …Q15Year 2Pupils should be taught to:understand how spoken language can be represented in writing by: • a. learning how to use both familiar and new punctuation correctly, including full

stops, capital letters, exclamation marks, question marks, commas for lists and apostrophes for contracted forms

Years 5 / 6Pupils should be taught to:indicate grammatical and other features by: • a. using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing • b. using hyphens to avoid ambiguity • c. using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis • d. using semi-colons, colons or dashes to indicate a stronger sub-division of a

sentence than a comma • e. punctuating bullet points consistently

Give children the chance to punctuate silly sentences:

the pirate had a wooden leg on his head he wore a pirate hat over his left eye there was a black patch on his shoulder he had a bright green parrot instead of a hand he had a painted brass hook which glittered in his cruelly-shaped mouth he was smoking a pipe

Draft NC Framework for English: Grammar and Vocabulary

Year 1In writing, pupils should be taught to: understand how spoken language can be represented in writing by: • leaving spaces between words • using the word ‘and’ to join words and join sentences In reading pupils should be taught to:• recognise and join in with predictable phrases when listening to

stories and poems• learn by heart and recite rhymes and poems

Years 5 / 6

In writing pupils should be taught to::

• understand how spoken language can be represented in writing

Composition

• Pupils should be taught to draft and write by selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning Pupils should be taught to evaluate and edit by:

In reading pupils should be taught to:

• Learn a wider range of poetry by heart

• Prepare poems and play scripts to be read aloud and performed, using appropriate intonation and volume so that the meaning is clear

• Discuss how authors use language, including figurative language, in the books they read, and considering the impact on the reader

• Teachers should ensure that pupils are taught the technical and other terms needed for discussing what they hear and read, such as metaphor, simile, analogy, imagery, style, and effect.

Using Connectives

How many different ways can you find to connect these sentences?

Mum was happy. Dad did the washing-up.

Mum was happy because Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy although Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy whenever Dad did the washing up!

Mum was happy so Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy but Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy and Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy then Dad did the washing up…

Mum was happy until Dad did the washing up.

Mum was happy after Dad did the washing up?

Mum was happy if Dad did the washing up.

…and many more.........

How should we teach grammar?

• Embed it in lessons on writing or reading so that it is meaningful

• Encourage discussion, experimentation, choice and decision making rather than correctness

• Be explicit about it• See grammar as a creative tool• Enjoy difference and divergence

Does SPAG matter?

If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk it should be boiled.

We is going down town.