SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR IN YEAR 6A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE YEAR 6 EXPECTATIONS IN ENGLISH

ENGLISH

• Spoken Language• Reading (Word-reading, comprehension)• Writing (Transcription, Composition and ‘Spelling, Punctuation

and Grammar’)

NATIONAL CURRICULUM

“Pupils should be taught to control their speaking and writing consciously and to use Standard English. They should be taught to use the elements of spelling, grammar, punctuation and ‘language about language’ listed.”

SPAG TEST

Please see examples on tables

TIMETABLE

SPELLINGPupils should be taught to:• use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidance for adding them• spell some words with ‘silent’ letters [for example, knight, psalm, solemn]• continue to distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused• use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the

spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically• use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words• use the first three or four letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in

a dictionary• use a thesaurus.

PHONEME SPOTTERSThere must be a knight wearing knickers in a tomb. Surely that must be wrong, so I asked the whale, he was honest, he answered only half my question, then knocked me over with the splash of his tail. Shall I wait until Christmas? No, I’ll ask the folk with the lambs and the wriggling swords. They were useless, they pointed me in the direction of the gnomes. The gnomes, who waited in the garden, fishing by the pond, whispered the answered in my ear.

PHONEME SPOTTERS

There must be a knight wearing knickers in a tomb. Surely that must be wrong, so I asked the whale, he was honest, he answered only half my question, then knocked me over with the splash of his tail. Shall I wait until Christmas? No, I’ll ask the folk with the lambs and the wriggling swords. They were useless, they pointed me in the direction of the gnomes. The gnomes, who waited in the garden, fishing by the pond, whispered the answered in my ear.

STATUTORY SPELLING LIST

• Words that are taught through spelling lessons, writing lessons and other lessons across the curriculum• Used as a measure of proficiency in spelling, in line with age-

related expectations

PUNCTUATIONindicate grammatical and other features by:• using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing• using hyphens to avoid ambiguity• using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis• using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between

independent clauses• using a colon to introduce a list• punctuating bullet points consistently

USING COMMAS TO CLARIFY MEANING OR AVOID AMBIGUITY IN WRITINGCan you add a comma in different places to show different meanings in this sentence?The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver paper hats clocks and tablecloths.The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver paper hats clocks and tablecloths.The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver paper hats clocks and tablecloths.

The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver, paper, hats, clocks and tablecloths.The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver paper, hats, clocks and tablecloths.The old lady collected all sorts of things: silver, paper hats, clocks and tablecloths.

USING COMMAS TO CLARIFY MEANING OR AVOID AMBIGUITY IN WRITING

Paul Mann, our star player, broke his leg in the match on Saturday.The man, who was wearing a blue hat, slid silently into the room.

GRAMMARPupils should be taught to:• recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal

speech and writing, including subjunctive forms• using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence• using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause• using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely• using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility• using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that

or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun

RELATIVE CLAUSESUse the words who, whose, which and where to add relative clausesDemetrius was a fisherman. He was 18 years old.Demetrius was desperately sad. His parents had disappeared. His home was the island of Kos. It was peaceful and beautiful.His mother had been taken by Poseidon, God of the sea. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Now you have a go…

RECAP THE TERMINOLOGY

How did you do?

QUESTIONS