Each of the five worksheets in this pack targets a specific problem children (and many adults) have in the use of spoken and written English. At the top of each worksheet, there is a brief explanation of the rules, and then there are 10 fill the gap sentences where pupils have to insert the correct word of a pair or a limited selection. Answer sheets are provided.
This worksheet could be used for classes from KS2 and beyond. Even more useful, perhaps, for staff training. The subjunctive appears on the curriculum nowadays, but there are few adults who are confident in recognising or using it.
The language level of this resource makes it suitable for able KS2 classes and KS3. It comprises an interactive presentation based on a specially written text themed on New Year resolutions. The text and presentation target the following SPaG areas:
SPELLING
-whose/who’s, loose/lose, choose/chose
silent g (gnome, consign, diaphragm )
PUNCTUATION
capital letters for festivals and religions
ellipsis
commas
brackets
GRAMMAR
simple, compound and complex sentences
elision of '‘that’ and ‘whom’ in some complex sentences
Two slides cover how structure can be manipulated to improve writing. There is an example of how the first paragraph of my New Year text moved from simple to compound and then complex sentences, and finally to ‘hidden’ complex sentences.
Plenty of written follow-up work is provided:
SPELLING CROSSWORD (silent g)
PUNCTUATION WORKSHEET (the unit text (stripped of commas and capital letters)
DICTATION : this is a supported activity, where pupils fill the gaps in the text. More able pupils should be expected to write the whole text without the help of the worksheet.
TEST (worth 30 marks. The final question is a writing assignment.)
The pack would be good to use over a whole week , using the spelling, punctuation and grammar sections over consecutive days (possibly as lesson starters), with the dictation on the fourth lesson, and the test taking up the whole of the final session.
If you find this works for you, look in my shop, where you will find several others text-based SPaG resources.
This resource has been written for KS2 and contains enough material for at least one lesson. It consists of a grammar exercise and a creative writing task.
On each of 10 slides of the PowerPoint, there is a Hallowe’en themed sentence with the verb in the present tense. The first task is for pupils to change the verb to the past tense and then write it out.
The sentences are sequential, and create the beginning of a Hallowe’en story. The writing task is simply to finish the story.
Follow-up work could consist of editing and improving the story.
Worksheet on using the past subjunctive and recognising the difference between subjunctive and indicative mood. It’s in the National Curriculum f or KS2 English, but would be equally useful for KS3/4 and for staff training. Linked presentation on the past subjunctive is available separately.
This a a lively look at three versions of the origins of panettone. The comprehension exercise is accompanied by a detailed mark scheme. It should provide enough material for a whole lesson.
It’s a great resource for English teachers looking for something that is Christmas themed, but still fits into the curriculum and provides an end of term challenge for pupils.
Five worksheets targeting words that children often spell or use incorrectly. Some (there,their, they’re) are homophones . Others (who,whom) are used incorrectly because of grammatical difficulties. Good for KS2 and KS3.
The text is the scene where the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to view the episode when his fiancee, Belle, tells him the relationship has to end. The comprehension exercise is accompanied by a mark scheme.
Teacher controlled PowerPoint for whole class Look Cover Write Check activity. Words are revealed for reading, then hidden while pupils write them on whiteboards or in books. There are 59 two syllable words in the presentation, including some with medial double letters.
The subjunctive is tricky to recognise and even trickier to use. These resources break down the topic into manageable chunks, each focussing on a different aspect of the topic and each comprising a presentation with an asssociated worksheet for student practice.
This resource contains a selection of engaging activities for Shrove Tuesday. The interactive quiz consists of a PowerPoint grid where 16 tiles are flipped one by one to reveal a pancake picture. To accompany it is a maths/general knowledge quiz. The answer to each question is a number between 1 and 16. Give out the quiz sheets and let the class work on them for a short time. Pupils then put their hands up to offer answers and come up to interactive board to flip the corresponding tile.
The reading text is a recipe for pancakes. This would be a great practical activity in the morning, with the opportunity to eat pancakes at break!
The accompanying comprehension questions, worth 20 marks, are accompanied by a mark scheme.
For English, there is a further activity - a pancake poem by Christina Rossetti, which can be exploited for teaching/revising imperative verbs. A follow up task could be to find out something about the poet.
The maths task consists of five word problems based on the recipe. Some are quite challenging (eg involving scaling the original recipe).
This resource has been updated and extended. There is now a 20 slide presentation (with teacher directed animation) which covers the various permutations of the basic Subject/Verb/Object sentence. It is constructed so that the teacher can work through the slides one by one while the pupils write down answers before they are displayed . The word ‘transitive’ is introduced and explained at the beginning of the presentation.
The display slide consists of simple sentences demonstrating how to colour code words and phrases into Subject - Verb - Object. On the accompanying worksheet, the task is to colour code sentences. There is also an extension activity for early finishers - adding subordinate clauses to sentences.
For KS2 classes. A spelling starter covering the rules governing spelling of adverbs ending in -ly. The presentation could be used a slide at a time as short starters over a week, or in one longer session.
These four texts are retellings in modern English of traditional Chinese folk tales. One - the story of the Nian - is specifically about the origins of Chinese New Year traditions. The other three could be used at any time of the year. These have several common themes (money, religion, magic, kindness, and more which could be suggested by pupils themselves), and would make a good starting point for textual comparison or cross-curricular work (eg RE, citizenship).
The texts all come with a set of 10 questions which could be used for discussion in assembly, or for formal written comprehension in the classroom.
The folk tale format makes the texts accessible to a wide age range, including KS1, whereas the themes broached in many of the questions make them more suitable for able KS2 or KS3 classes.
This is the first of a series of short texts for teaching SPaG. I was looking for material that I could use for teaching spelling, grammar and punctuation, and which could be used at the end of the week as a dictation assessment. Unable to find anything suitable, I ended up scribbling them myself on a Monday morning. Most of the themes are directed at the class I was teaching at the time, but some teachers may relate to them. I called them The Monday Nag, for obvious reasons!
The pack contains a PowerPoint presentation, and five activities. There is a spelling sheet covering the points highlighted in the text, a Cloze activity, a supported dictation worksheet for lower ability learners, a writing task, and a crossword on grammatical terms best suited for more able pupils.
I would suggest working through the PowerPoint on the first session of the week and leading up to the writing task and the dictation at the end of the week, by which time children should be thoroughly familiar with both text and SPaG content.
This is a PowerPoint game consisting of over 100 slides. It’s great for starting a lesson - played as a whole class vocabulary challenge. Good for plenaries too and as an occasional filler activity for any subject.
The teacher selects the initial category from the first slide without letting pupils see it. The go button on the on screen timer starts the clock, and a word is displayed. Pupils have a minute as the clock ticks to write as many words associated with the on screen word as they can. At the end of the minute, the word disappears, an alarm rings, and a link arrow to the next category appears at the bottom of the screen.
Alternatively, the resource could be used as a speaking activity on the lines of the Radio 4 Quiz show: pupils have one minute to talk (without hesitation, deviation etc) on the topic displayed.
It generates a lot of excitement in the classroom!
Good for adults too!