Developing Literacy - Blake Education

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Developing Literacy

SENTENCE ACTIVITIES

book

Thi s bo r s. u o y s ok i

C Christine Moorcroft

Ph ot oc op ia bl e

Series consultant Ray Barker

Developing Literacy SENTENCE ACTIVITIES

book

C

Christine Moorcroft Series consultant: Ray Barker

Published in 2001 by Blake Education Locked Bag 2022 Glebe NSW 2037 www.askblake.com.au This edition of Developing Literacy is published by arrangement with A&C Black (Publishers) Ltd., London 978 1 86509 80192 ISBN 1 86509 801

Copyright text © Christine Moorcroft, 1999 Copyright illustrations © Michael Evans, 1999 Copyright cover illustration © Alison Dexter, 1999 The authors and publisher would like to thank Ray Barker and the following teachers for their advice in producing this series of books: Tracy Adam; Hardip Channa; Lydia Hunt; Madeleine Madden; Helen Mason; Judith Metcalfe; Heather Morrealy; Yvonne Newman; Hilary Walden; Fleur Whatley; Annette Wilson. All rights reserved. This book may be photocopied, for use in the school or educational establishment for which it was purchased, but may not be reproduced in any other form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical, including recording, taping or information retrieval systems—without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

Contents Introduction Grammatical awareness Sentence pencils Names of things Words for doing Words for describing ‘Where’ words 1 ‘Where’ words 2 ‘When’ words Word sacks Word spinners Spin a word Sentence sense Joining with ‘and’ Joining with ‘but’ Before and after Meanwhile Sentence links Sentence stepping-stones Sentence wall Word choice 1 Word choice 2 Today and yesterday Past words Words for names Name game 1 Name game 2 Belonging words 1 Belonging words 2 Find the mistakes

4

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Sentence construction and punctuation

Sentence boxes Names and signs Titles Titles and headings Stressed words: CAPITALS Stressed words: italics Bold print Lists Commas 1 Commas 2 Exclamation marks! Arrows Lines Boxes Beach key Pets key The ‘take-away’ What did they say? Speech marks 1 Speech marks 2 The question-finder Asking questions Quentin Question Annabel Answer Question words Question screens Scrambled sentences Punctuation check

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

3 © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Introduction Developing Literacy: Sentence Activities supports the teaching of reading and writing by providing a series of activities to

develop children’s understanding of the way in which the structure of sentences conveys meaning. The activities help the children to understand that a sentence can be grammatically correct even if its meaning is nonsense; for example, ‘The cat sat on the mat’ and ‘The mat sat on the cat’ are both grammatically correct, but the latter does not make sense because mats do not sit. The activities help to show the children the importance of the order of words in a sentence, and to examine the effect of changing it. The children also learn to examine the effect of their choice of words and to question whether it communicates what they intend. They find out how their choices affect the listener or reader. The activities are designed to be carried out in the time allocated to independent work and therefore should be relatively ‘teacher-free’; an adult will need to read some of the instructions with the children in the youngest age-groups, but many of the activity sheets have similar formats and instructions with which the children will soon become familiar. The activities presented in Developing Literacy: Sentence Activities support learning objectives.

Book C helps children to develop: • an understanding of elements of grammar introduced in Book A and Book B and – an awareness of grammar which they use to decipher new or unknown words; skills in predicting words; agreement between nouns and pronouns; the correct and consistent use of verb tenses; the correct forms of the past tense; • sentence-construction and punctuation introduced in Book A and Book B and – the recognition and use of commas; the use of organisational devices such as arrows, lines, boxes and keys; speech marks and speech bubbles; capital letters and italics for emphasis; bold print; commas; awareness of different types of question; how to turn statements into questions; words commonly used in questions. These activities also provide practice in high-frequency words, including words for numbers, days and months. The activities include different text types.

Book C promotes the development of children’s understanding of the ways in which sentences are constructed for meaning and the roles of the words and punctuation marks in them (and the effects they have). The children learn, for example, the effect of highlighting different words in a sentence using italics, bold type or capital letters. They are encouraged to investigate the effects of changing the word-order of a sentence, for example, to form questions. To help pupils to work independently, the activities are presented in ways which are consistent so that even the youngest children will recognise what they have to do. They incorporate strategies which encourage independent learning – for example, ways in which children can check their own work or that of a partner. Investigation is given greater emphasis as the series progresses towards Book G.

Extension Most of the activity sheets end with a challenge (Now try this!) which reinforces and extends the children’s learning and provides the teacher with an opportunity for assessment. These more challenging activities might be appropriate for only a few children; it is not expected that the whole class should complete them. On some pages there is space for the children to complete the extension activities, but for others they will need a notebook or separate sheet of paper.

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Organisation For many of the activities it will be useful to have available scissors, glue, wooden blocks (with which to make large dice), word-banks and a variety of dictionaries and reference books. Several activities can be re-used to provide more practice in sentence-construction, by masking words and replacing them with others. To help teachers to select appropriate learning experiences for their pupils, the activities are grouped into sections within each book. The pages are not intended to be presented in the order in which they appear in the books unless otherwise stated.

Teachers’ notes Brief notes are provided at the bottom of most pages. They give ideas and suggestions for making the most of the activity sheet. They sometimes make suggestions for the whole-class introduction, the plenary session or, possibly, for follow-up work using an adapted version of the activity sheet. These notes could be masked before copying.

Structure of the literacy lesson The following chart shows an example of the way in which an activity from this book can be used within a literacy lesson.

‘Where’ words 1 (page 13) Whole class introduction

15 min

Whole class activity

15 min

Read a shared text in which there are ‘where’ words, for example Once Upon a Picnic by John Prater, and ask the children to look and listen for ‘where’ words: for example, ‘Is that a troll beside the stream?’, ‘The kite’s above the ground’ and ‘Mr Wolf is by the trees’. They could change the ‘where’ words and talk about the ways in which the pictures would have to be changed if the story were altered in this way.

Provide a model animal, such as a bear, and a bag into which it will fit. Place the bear in the bag and ask the children to give a sentence which says where the bear is (‘The bear is in the bag.’). Ask them which word says where the bear is (‘in’). Write this word on the board. Put the bear under the bag, and repeat the process, modelling different positions for the bear.

Group work

20 min

Provide the children with cards on which are written ‘behind’, ‘by’, ‘in’, ‘on’ and ‘under’, and ask them to show a card to a partner who has to position a model animal in relation to a bag.

Independent work

20 min

The others work independently from the activity ‘Where’ words 1 (page 13, Developing Literacy: Sentence Activities Book C)

Whole class plenary session

10 min

The children could take turns to read out their answers. The others listen and compare them with their own answers.

Using the activity sheets Grammatical awareness This section provides activities which develop the children’s grammatical awareness by drawing attention to the different types of words and their roles in a sentence: words for doing and describing, names of things, words for ‘where’ and ‘when’. It shows the children how to make pronouns agree with nouns and verbs with subjects (although those terms are not used) and it develops their understanding of the use of the past tense and of the correct forms of verbs in the past tense. In Sentence pencils (page 9) the children are asked to identify groups of words which are sentences and to add words to other groups of words to form sentences.

Names of things (page 10) develops the children’s understanding of nouns (the word ‘noun’ is not yet used on the activity sheets because the emphasis is on understanding the nature of words and their roles in sentences rather than on learning new vocabulary, but it can be introduced into discussions with the children).

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Words for doing (page 11) develops the children’s ability to recognise and use verbs (this term is not used on the activity sheets but, like ‘noun’, it can be introduced into discussions with the children). Words for describing (page 12) introduces adjectives. The children could draw pictures of things and then label them with words which describe and name them, underlining the words which describe the things. They could play a game in which they describe, but do not name, an object from a collection provided by the teacher – the others try to guess what it is after each sentence: for example (a key), ‘It feels cold. It is a gold colour. It is smooth. It is shiny.’ ‘Where’ words 1 (page 13) is about simple prepositions; it develops the children’s ability to recognise and use words for the positions of things. ‘Where’ words 2 (page 14) is about simple prepositions which show both the place and direction in which something moves.

In ‘When’ words (page 15) the children learn to recognise and use words which tell the reader when something happens or happened. Most of the example words are simple prepositions (after, as, before, during, when and while) but ‘afterwards’ is a time connective. (It can be seen that ‘afterwards’ is not interchangeable with the other words in the word-bank.)

Word sacks (page 16) asks the children to recognise the different kinds of words about which they have learned on pages 10–15. It draws their attention to the roles of these words in sentences. In Word spinners and Spin a word (pages 17–18) the children can have fun while deciding what kind of word would make sense in each gap in the sentences. They select the appropriate spinner for each gap, spin the word and, if it makes sense, write it in the gap. (Not all the ‘when’ words are interchangeable.) They should read each sentence they make, perhaps aloud to a partner, and check that it really is a sentence. This is an opportunity to discuss sentences which make sense grammatically and those which make sense logically.

Sentence sense (page 19) helps the children to develop a strategy for approaching difficult words: they first decide, by

reading the rest of the sentence, what kind of words they are. It can also be used to assess the children’s learning about different kinds of words: it asks them to recognise different kinds of words as they are used in sentences.

Joining with ‘and’ (page 20) introduces the use of conjunctions to join sentences, making them into one sentence. The

teacher should show the children that ‘and’ is used to link sentences which are about the same thing. They can compare this with ‘but’, which is used to connect one sentence to another and signals unexpected information (see page 21).

Joining with ‘but’ (page 21) introduces the use of the conjunction ‘but’ to link contrasting sentences. Some children might be able to appreciate the difference between joining with ‘and’, and joining with ‘but’.

In Before and after (page 22) the children learn to use the prepositions ‘before’ and ‘after’ correctly. Discuss the differences in meaning which arise from using different words to join the sentences.

Meanwhile (page 23) introduces the use of a time connective (‘when’ word) which might be new to many of the children.

The teacher could reinforce the children’s understanding by using it when talking to them, for example, ‘This group will … Meanwhile, that group will…’

In Sentence links (page 24) the children learn to use words which link a sentence to others in a text. They could compile a word-bank of these words and use them in their writing. In Sentence stepping-stones (page 25) the children look for sentences among the words on the stepping-stones. There is more than one possible correct answer. This is an opportunity to revise full stops and capital letters.

Sentence wall (page 26) is an extension of Sentence stepping-stones: in addition to looking for sentences, the children have choices of verbs which do or do not agree with their subjects and words which can or can not make sense when they follow those they have already chosen. Word choice 1 and 2 (pages 27–28) are about agreement between subject and verb (although those terms are not used). The children decide which form of a verb matches the name which appears with it. Today and yesterday (page 29) introduces the present and past tenses (although those terms are not used). Past words (page 30) is about the past tense forms of verbs. The children could compile lists of those which are formed by adding ‘ed’ and those in which a vowel is changed. Words for names (page 31) introduces personal pronouns (although the term is not used). The children could revise the use of

a capital ‘I’ to replace their own names before learning the words used instead of other people’s names and the names of things.

Name game (pages 32-33) consolidates the learning of personal pronouns in a game which makes use of the names of nursery rhyme characters. The children learn the different pronouns which are used for the subject and object of a verb.

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Belonging words 1 and 2 (pages 34–35) introduce possessive pronouns. The children learn to match them to nouns. They could look for the use of possessive pronouns in a shared text and use them in their own writing. Find the mistakes (page 36) encourages careful reading and writing. The children check that the verbs agree with their subjects, that their tenses are right and that the correct pronouns are used. This activity provides an opportunity to assess the children’s learning. They should be encouraged to read their own writing, looking for and marking mistakes (perhaps in a different colour for clarity) before correcting them.

Sentence construction and punctuation Sentence boxes (page 37) This activity provides consolidation of the children’s understanding of the use of capital letters and full stops to demarcate sentences. The children may need to be reminded that a sentence is not always the same length as a line of text; for example, the first sentence extends beyond the first line of text. Names and signs (page 38) revises the use of initial capital letters for the names of places, people and headings (see Books A and B); it also revises personal titles (see Book B). Ask the children if they know who might use each of the titles. Do they know why there are three commonly-used titles for women? It has become acceptable to omit full stops after titles which are abbreviations (see Glossary on page 8), but some people prefer to use full stops. Titles (page 39) consolidates the children’s understanding of how to write book titles. It shows the conventional way of writing book titles: the first word and the main words have capital letters. In Titles and headings (page 40) the children are reminded how headings are used in information books. It introduces the word ‘chapter’ and the use of chapter and page headings. The children could also look for headings in other texts such as leaflets and notices. The modern convention of beginning only the first word of the heading with a capital letter is used, as it was in Book B, but the children could look at other ways in which headings can be written.

Stressed words: CAPITALS (page 41) consolidates the use of capital letters for emphasis by asking the children to identify them in two examples. They then decide which of the words in the example sentences should be written in capital letters. The activity develops skills in reading as well as writing by drawing attention to the expression with which print is read. Stressed words: italics (page 42) introduces the use of italics for stress. Like the previous activity, it helps to develop the children’s sensitivity to expression in reading.

Bold print (page 43) is about some of the use of bold print for emphasis. Lists (page 44) introduces the comma; it shows the shape of it and its position on a line (on lined paper). This activity shows

how commas are used to separate items in a list (apart from the last item, which is separated from the one before with ‘and’ but no comma). The children can use commas in lists they write themselves.

Commas 1 (page 45) shows how commas are used to separate parts of a sentence. At this stage, the children should be encouraged to notice commas in their reading and to take account of them in the expression with which they read. Commas 2 (page 46) consolidates the children’s understanding of the use of commas to separate items in a list and to separate parts of a sentence, this time including sentences with three or more parts. Show the children that, in a sentence which has two or more commas, the parts between the commas can usually be taken out and leave a sentence. Exclamation marks! (page 47) introduces a punctuation mark which the children will have often seen in their reading. Encourage them to look for exclamation marks and to say why they are used in particular places. Point out that exclamation marks are often used after just one or two words (not a complete sentence), for example: ‘Wow!’, ‘Eeek!’, ‘Help!’ Arrows (page 48) is about the use of arrows in instructions and information texts to show sequences. Lines (page 49) develops the children’s skills in using and labelling diagrams in information texts. Boxes (page 50) asks the children to use a convention with which they might be familiar from reading cartoon strips in comics – boxed drawings and their accompanying text. They can use boxes to organise their own stories, perhaps drawing and writing parts of a story and then cutting out the boxes and rearranging them to adjust the order in which they tell the story. This activity could be linked with work on speech bubbles and speech marks. Beach key (page 51) introduces the concept of keys with a simple pictorial key. After completing this activity the children could think of other information which people might need about beaches, and make up extra symbols for the key. Pets key (page 52) links work in mathematics with literacy skills, as the children consider ways in which information can be recorded and interpreted: they interpret symbols on a graph and write the information from them in sentences. The ‘take-away’ (page 53) asks the children to read and understand a paragraph and to use the information from it to

complete a chart which, in turn, could be interpreted by others who could record the information in sentences. The children could make their own charts of this type to record information they find during their work in other subjects, for example: (science) information about animals or materials; (society and environment) details about local supermarkets or the different things which their great-grandparents used instead of present-day household equipment. What did they say? (page 54) introduces the use of speech bubbles. It helps the children to distinguish between the words

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spoken and the words which tell the reader that they were spoken (for example ‘he said’, ‘she asked’, ‘she cried’). The children could re-write other familiar stories as picture stories with speech bubbles, or they could collaborate to make a display-sized story in which each scene is painted and the characters’ words are written on large cut-out speech bubbles.

Speech marks 1 (page 55) shows the children how to write speech marks and helps them to incorporate the words in speech bubbles into narrative text. Speech marks 2 (page 56) is about the other punctuation used with speech marks. The children learn that full stops, commas, exclamation marks and full stops in speech are placed inside the speech marks. To draw attention to this, an extra step (Copy) is introduced into the usual ‘Look – Say – Cover – Write – Check’ procedure.

The question-finder (page 57) is about recognising questions. The children have to read with understanding to decide which sentences are questions and to match them to their answers. Asking questions (page 58) is about turning sentences into questions by altering the word-order and replacing the full stop with a question mark. The extension activity shows that this does not work for every question. The children could work with other examples of this kind of question, and identify the words which have to be changed in the same way. Quentin Question (page 59) consolidates and extends the children’s learning from page 57 and incorporates the use of a key (they write their answers on a chart and they write other questions of the same kind and alternative answers for some of them). Annabel Answer (page 60) extends the children’s understanding of sentences and questions by asking them to write questions

for the answers which are provided, to make the one-word answers into sentences and to write alternative questions for some of the answers. They also practise using the correct punctuation with which to end sentences and questions: full stops and question marks.

Question words (page 61) is about the words which are often used in questions, especially those which can not be made by

changing the order of words in a sentence. As an extension activity, the children could use information from reference books to make up a quiz; ask them to write the questions and answers on cards.

Question screens (page 62) is about different kinds of questions: asking for help, asking someone to do something and

asking for information. The children could compile ‘question-banks’ for each type of question, adding to them any questions which they come across in their reading or which they hear.

Scrambled sentences (page 63) provides an opportunity to assess the children’s understanding of sentence-construction. Punctuation check (page 64) provides an opportunity to assess the children’s understanding of punctuation.

Glossary of terms used abbreviation A word which is shortened. Sometimes an apostrophe is used to denote letters which are omitted; for example, can’t, doesn’t and don’t. adjective A word which describes a noun; for example, big, sweet and soft. agreement This describes the way in which linked words agree with one another in terms of gender, singular or plural, and tense. Examples: (gender) his, her, she, he; (singular/plural) The boys put on their coats; (tense) come (present), came (past). character A person or animal in, for example, a story, poem, play or television or radio programme. comma (,) A punctuation mark which is used to separate parts of a sentence and items in a list. connective A word (or phrase) which makes a connection between one phrase, clause, sentence or paragraph and another. Time connectives include meanwhile, next, then and afterwards. Place connectives include here and there. exclamation A word or sentence which expresses emotion such as surprise, shock, pain, pleasure, anger or humour. exclamation mark (!) A punctuation mark used after an exclamation. object The recipient of an action; for example, Mum read the newspaper. preposition A word which describes the relationship between two nouns, pronouns, or a noun and a pronoun; for example, beside, between, by, on, under. pronoun A word used instead of a noun; for example: (personal pronouns) I, you, he, she, it, we, they; (dependent possessive pronouns) my, your, her, his, its, our, their; (independent possessive pronouns) mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs. sentence A unit of written language which makes sense on its own. It begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. It always contains a verb. subject The subject of a verb is the person or thing which does it; for example, Mum read the newspaper. text type A specific type of writing or other medium of communication; for example, information report or recount. title The name of a book, play, poem, etc, but also part of a person’s name; for example, Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms. A person’s title always begins with a capital letter. Mr and Mrs are abbreviations of Mister and Mistress (which has become corrupted to Missus or Missis). Ms is a modern abbreviation of a woman’s title (Mrs and/or Miss), by analogy with Mr.

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Sentence pencils Devil Literacy • Colour the pencils which have sentences. • Read the sentences again.

I am drawing a picture. Paul his name. The pencil is. Osman has ten coloured pencils. I keep my pencils in a pencil-case. Twelve crayons in the. • Read the words from the pencils which do NOT have sentences. • Add words to make them sentences.

Teachers’ note The children could listen to strings of words which you read aloud, and identify any which are sentences; for example, ‘A car’, ‘I have a car’, ‘Books’ and ‘Red books’. They could add words to make the non-sentences into sentences.

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Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

9

Devil Literacy Names of things Some words are the names of things. • Read about the heron. • In each space write the name of a thing.

The

Word-bank water feathers beak eggs heron legs chicks fish nest

has long

has a long

. It which

it uses to catch The

.

builds its

near

.

The female lays in the

. When the hatch their bodies are bare. They

have no stay in the

. They can not see and they for a month.

• Read about another bird. • Write six names of things which are to do with this bird. 10

Teachers’ note Read a shared text about birds and ask the children to give the names of things connected with birds. They could try putting ‘the’, ‘a’ or ‘some’ before a word to check that it is a noun, for example ‘the wing’, but not ‘the see’.

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Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Devil Literacy Words for doing Doing words are about things we do. What can you do to a ball? • Write the words. • Read the sentences.

I can

a ball.

I can

a ball. I can

Word-bank juggle kick throw hit catch

a ball.

I can three balls! I can

a ball.

What can you do with paper? • Write four sentences. • Underline the words for doing. Teachers’ note Ask the children to listen to a list of words and to decide if any of them are things which people (or animals or other things) do. They could try putting ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or ‘they’ before a word to check that it is a verb; for example, ‘I see’ but not ‘I hat’.

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Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

11

Words for describing Some words describe things and people. They say what they are like. • Write the words. Word-bank • Read the sentences. small long big The tower is . tall sore heavy The giraffe has a

neck. Dad’s f inger is

.

Mum lif ted the bag. The

elephant ran

away from the mouse. • Write sentences which have words to describe

a car 12

a f lower

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity by holding up objects, one at a time, and asking the children to give a word which is not the name of the thing but says what it is like; for example, shoe (black, old, new, dirty, clean).

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

a ball Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

‘Where’ words 1 Some words tell us where people or things are.

Where is the snail? • Write a word in each space. • Read the sentences.

The snail is

The snail is

Word-bank behind on beside under in

The snail is

the bag.

the bag.

the bag.

The snail is

The snail is

the bag.

the bag.

• Write five other sentences using behind

beside

in

on

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity using a small model animal and a bag into which it fits. Place the model animal behind the bag and ask the children to give a sentence to say where it is. Ask them which word tells them where the animal is. Repeat with the model in different positions.

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under Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

13

‘Where’ words 2 Some words tell us where people or things are going.

Word-bank along down into

Where is the mouse going? • Write a word in each space. • Read the sentences.

The mouse creeps

The mouse climbs

The mouse goes

the stairs.

the hole.

the window.

The mouse goes

over through up

The mouse runs

The mouse goes

the wall.

the stone.

the stairs.

• Write six other sentences using along

14

down

into

over

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity using a small model animal and a box. Move the animal along the box and ask the children to give a sentence to say where it is going. Ask them which word tells them where the animal is moving. Repeat with the model moving in different ways.

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through

up

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

‘When’ words Some words tell you when things happen. When did it happen? • Write a word in each space. • Read the sentences.

1. We heard a bang 2.

after then before as

when during while afterwards

the night.

school I went to a party.

3. They washed their hands 4. I drew a picture and 5. We sang 6.

Word-bank

dinner. I coloured it.

we walked. I was one I learned to walk.

7. The boy hit his friend but he was sorry. 8.

I was playing I lost my ring. • Write six other sentences. Use six of the words in the word-bank.

Teachers’ note Read a shared text which contains words which say when things happen or happened; for example, Mrs Wobble the Waitress (Allan and Janet Ahlberg). After enjoying the story, the children could point out the words which say when things happened.

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Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

15

Word sacks • Read the sentences.

1. The hens cluck in the farmyard . 2. The cat creeps along the wall . 3. After lunch Grandpa sleeps . 4. I smile when I am happy . 5. Mum has a blue car . What kinds of words are in the boxes? • Write them in the sacks. Words for doing

Words for things

Words for describing

‘When’ words

‘Where’ words

• Think of two other words for each word sack. • Write them in the sacks.

16

Teachers’ note The children should complete pages 10–15 before this activity. Ask them to name some of the different kinds of words they know, then show them a sentence in which they can identify, in turn, the different types of word.

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Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Word spinners

dir

ty

lay

bes

ear

ore

ide

n

behind

u

‘When’ words ile h w

as

Teachers’ note Use these spinners with page 18. Photocopy the page onto card and cut out the spinners. Push a cocktail stick through the centre of each spinner. Discuss the types of words on each spinner. New spinners can be made by masking the words and replacing them with others.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

when

r er d n

white

elephant e

k a n s

bef

che

st

after

in on

cat

tea

things

t

led

chicken

Words for

gho

words

red

e

c

hen

igg

hid

hug

t rep

‘Where’

g

wr

sat

describing

doing slid

rea t

Words for

old

Words for

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Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

17

Spin a word What kind of word makes sense in each gap? • Choose the correct word spinner. • Spin a word. • Write the word in the gap.

1. The plate is 2. The

the sang

table. he lay in the sun.

3. The children 4.

the tree.

the wall there is a

5. I had lunch,

I played

6. They talked

the

7.

. the tent. bridge.

dinner, Mum

8. He on the he fell asleep.

the chair. carpet,

• Read the sentences to a partner. • Write the sentences again but with other words in the gaps.

18

Teachers’ note Use the spinners on page 17 with this activity. It could be introduced using sentences which have only one word missing. Ask the children which spinner they will use to spin a word which will make grammatical sense. (Note that not all the ‘when’ words are interchangeable.) © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Sentence sense • Read the sentences. The underlined word is not easy to read. • In the box write the kind of word it is. Doing

Describing

Thing

When?

Where?

The horse galloped past the gate. Weeds grew between the roses. A nightingale sang in the tree. It sang throughout the night. She held a delicate f lower. • • • •

With a partner, find out what the words say. Read the sentences. Write them again. Use other words instead of those underlined.

Teachers’ note The children should complete pages 10–18 before this activity. Show them a sentence which contains a difficult word. Can they read it? If not, can they say what kind of word it is? Encourage them to find clues in the rest of the sentence (and to use this strategy in their reading). © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

19

Joining with ‘and’ • Read the pairs of sentences. • Join them with and . • Write the new sentence.

My eyes are blue.

My tail is long.

I drink water.

I eat carrots.

I chase mice.

Dogs chase me.

I live on a farm.

I like it there.

• Look in books for a sentence which has and in it. • With a partner, see if you can make it into two sentences. • Write the sentences. Teachers’ note In a shared text, ask the children to find the word ‘and’ and to decide whether it joins two words or two sentences.

20 © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Joining with ‘but’ • • • •

Read the pairs of sentences. Join them with but . Write the new sentence. Read the sentence.

He r d r ess is new. Jam

re old. a s He r s h o e

es lik es potatoes.

s. a e n o p s t e like He d o

There are bushes in the garden. ees. r t There are no cat. t s o l e h t d for . t i We l o o k e We c o u d ld not fin

ll. We walked up the hi the top. o t o t n g e t d i We d • Look in books for a sentence which has but in it. • Copy it without but . Make it into two sentences. Teachers’ note On strips of paper, write pairs of sentences which can be joined with ‘but’ or ‘and’ and talk about the difference made by using a different connective.You could introduce a comma before the word ‘but’ to give children a feel for the use of commas.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

21

Before and after • Look at the picture story about Geeta. • Write before or after in the sentences. • Read the sentences.

1. Geeta ate breakfast her teeth. 2. She rode her bike television.

brushing watching

3. She watched television

breakfast.

4. She brushed her teeth

breakfast.

5. She ate breakfast

riding her bike.

• Write three sentences about things you have done today. • Use before or after in each sentence.

22

Teachers’ note Write sentences which have spaces instead of the words ‘before’ and ‘after’. Write ‘before’ and ‘after’ on strips of paper which will fit in the spaces. Ask the children to read each sentence, say which word is missing, put it in the space, read the sentence and decide if it makes sense. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Meanwhile Meanwhile means at the same time . • Read the sentences. • Copy them, but begin the second one with Meanwhile .

Pam skips. Rani and Clare play chess. Alan was at school. There was a storm. Darren gets dressed. Mum makes his breakfast. The cat sleeps. The mice play.

• Write two sentences about what you and a friend are doing. • Use meanwhile . Teachers’ note To introduce this activity, use a shared text which has pictures in which a lot is happening; for example, Once Upon a Picnic by John Prater. Ask the children what people in the picture are doing and introduce the word ‘meanwhile’; for example, ‘Mum and Dad are sitting near the river. Meanwhile a troll is sleeping near the bridge.’ © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

23

Sentence links These words can link one sentence to another:

afterwards before later meanwhile

then next

soon

• Read the story. • Underline the words which link the sentences.

Katy woke up and looked out of the window. The garden was white with snow. Soon her brother was awake. Meanwhile their father was making breakfast. Afterwards they put on the ir c o a t s a n d b oots. Next they put on gloves. T h e n th e y r a n o utsi de. La te r it b e g a n t o rai n. Be fore the snow melted, K a ty to o k a p h o t o of the garden. • Learn how to spell the words which link sentences. • Look

24

• Say

• Cover

• Write

• Check

Teachers’ note After asking the children to notice, but not to say, the missing words, read an extract from a shared text, omitting the words which link sentences. Read the same extract without omitting the words. What difference do the children think they make?

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

C LS

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

W

Ch

Sentence stepping-stones • Play with a partner. Take turns to colour a steppingstone. It must be next to the last one you chose. The winner is the first to cross the river with a sentence.

over

run I

river.

across the

swim go

You

down

crawl He

up

the

beside walks

She

stairs.

behind

wall. the

skips

door.

• Copy four of the sentences you made. • Read them again and check that they make sense. Teachers’ note As the children colour the stepping-stones, they should check that the words they have chosen can make grammatical sense. The words could be masked before copying, and replaced with others of your choice.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

25

26

Teachers’ note The children should do the activity on page 25 before this. As they colour the bricks they should check that the words they have chosen can make grammatical sense. You could encourage the children to make longer sentences by giving points for each word.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

He

We

• ••

likes

ride

likes

like

and

creep

to

her

the

sing

go

ball

bikes

brother

wall

and

garden

play

and

horses

along

across

with

to

over

under

the

but

the

the

Some four text of can gosentences here. Copy the you made. Here as well. Read them and check that they make sense.

Liam

I

skip

creeps

Jenny

They

It

I

his

you

deep

wet

dog

like

lake

sisters

cricket

farm

rocks

leaves

Someintext canTake go here. • Play pairs. turns to colour a brick. It must be next to the last • brick Here as youwell. chose. The winner is the first to cross the wall with a sentence.

a Sentence sideways wall page

Word choice 1 • Underline the correct word in each box. • Copy the sentence. • Read the sentence to make sure it sounds right.

The children go, goes, going to school.

We liking, like, likes reading.

Thomas live, living, lives in Perth.

You are, is, am a good reader.

Cows eating, eats, eat grass. • Choose the correct words. I He

has, have, having has, have, having

• Use them in a sentence. Teachers’ note Begin by asking the children to listen to sentences in which one word (the verb) is wrong. Can they spot the mistake and correct it?

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

27

Devil choice Literacy2 Word • Underline the correct word in each box. • Copy the sentence. • Read the sentence to make sure it sounds right.

Sita do, does, doing the washing-up.

We buy, buying, buys some fruit.

They tries, try, trying to open the door.

The baby crying, cries, cry .

I wishes, wishing, wish I could swim. • Copy the sentences.

Mike catch a fish. I watching television.

We rings the bell. You plays chess.

• Correct the words which are wrong. Teachers’ note Begin by asking the children to listen to sentences in which one word (the verb) is wrong. Can they spot the mistake and correct it?

28 © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Devil Literacy Today and yesterday • Read the words for doing. • Look at the ways they change. Yesterday

Today

I walk

I am walking

I walked

I jump

I am jumping

I jumped

I do

I am doing

I did

I say

I am saying

I said

I come

I am coming

I came

• Write the missing words.

Today I am walking to school. Yesterday I to school. Today they are coming to my house. Yesterday they to my house. Today we are doing our work. Yesterday we our work. Today we are jumping high. Yesterday we high. • Copy the sentence and change the doing word which is wrong.

Yesterday Mum takes us swimming. Teachers’ note Introduce the activity by giving the children examples of sentences which are changed from the present to the past tense and ask them which word or words have been changed: ‘The birds sit in the tree. The birds sat in the tree’; ‘Today I am running. Yesterday I ran.’

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

29

Past words • Underline the correct word in each box. • Copy the sentence. • Read the sentence to make sure it sounds right.

The boys was, were reading.

I went, goed to the park.

You sended, sent a letter to me.

She eated, ate an apple.

We writed, written, wrote a letter.

• Write sentences using

sang slid 30

sent

Teachers’ note Talk about the ways in which verbs change when they are happening now and when they have already happened. In a shared text, the children could look for examples of verbs for things which have already happened.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Words for names You can use these words instead of names.

he she

her them

Word-bank him I they us

it we

me you

• Which two words can you call yourself? • Which two words can you call yourself and your friends? • Which word can you call another person or a group of people to whom you are speaking? • Write the words you can use when you talk about: a boy a girl a cat two boys, two girls or two cats

• Write sentences using four of the words from the word-bank. Teachers’ note Ask the children which words they would use instead of their own names when they are talking about themselves. They could write their names, and then ‘I’ or ‘me’ in simple sentences. Give the children personal pronouns and words for people for them to match.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

31

Name game 1 Jack and Jill went up the hill. A spider sat down beside Miss Muffet . The cow jumped over the Moon. Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard. Little Boy Blue looked after the sheep . Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Mary’s lamb made the children laugh. Simple Simon met a pieman. Three blind mice ran after the farmer’s wife . The king’s men tried to put Humpty together again. Lucy Locket lost her pocket. The pieman asked Simple Simon for a penny. 32

Teachers’ note Use this page with page 33. Photocopy both pages, glue them onto card and cut out the sentence strips and words. Turn them face down. The children take turns to reveal a sentence strip and a word card. If the word on the word card can be used instead of the boxed words on the sentence strip, they keep both as a ‘pair’; if not, they turn them both face-down. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Name game 2 Jack Sprat could eat no fat. The owl and the pussycat went to sea. The clock struck one. The mouse ran up the clock . I saw three ships come sailing by. The sheep came back to Little Bo Peep . they

her

it

she

them

he

them

he

her

him

she

him

he

they

it

it

them

her

Teachers’ note (Continued from page 32.) The winner is the one with the most ‘pairs’ when all the cards have been paired. The children should then read to one another the sentences they can make by replacing the boxed word in the sentence with the one on the card with which they paired it. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

33

Belonging words 1 • In the spaces, write words for belonging. • Read the new sentences.

Word-bank my his their your its her our

This is a book which belongs to me. This is

This is Jenny’s t-shirt. book.

t-shirt.

This is the ball belonging to my brother and me.

These are John’s new shoes. These are shoes.

This is

new

This is

Here is Jim and Pat’s new car.

These pencils belong to you.

Here is new car.

These are pencils.

ball. There is water in the cat’s bowl. There is water in bowl.

• Write the words for belonging to

a boy 34

a bird

two men

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity orally with sentences and demonstration: for example; (pointing to your feet) ‘This is my shoe’; (pointing to something belonging to a child and addressing him or her) ‘This is your book’; and (pointing to something belonging to a child and addressing the others) ‘This is his (or her) chair’. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

a woman Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Belonging words 2 • In the spaces, write words for belonging. • Read the new sentences.

Word-bank mine hers yours ours his theirs

This is his pencil. It is my yoyo. The yoyo is

.

The pencil is

The house belongs to you and your family.

They are her socks.

The house is

.

The socks are

.

The present is

.

These are their cases.

This is your present.

This is our cat.

The cat is

.

.

The cases are .

• Write the words for belonging to

you and your friend

a girl

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity orally with sentences and demonstration: for example, ‘This shoe is mine; ‘This book is yours’; and ‘This chair is his (or hers)’.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

two boys Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

35

Find the mistakes • Help Lisa to correct her writing. • Underline the mistakes. Yesterday it were my brother’s birthday. She had a party. We all playing games. Then we have tea. We eaten pizza and drinked orange juice. My brother opening her presents. After that he blowed out the candles. His friends sing “Happy birthday to you”.

• Write Lisa’s story correctly.

Teachers’ note The children should have completed pages 10–35 before they attempt this activity. It can be used to assess the children’s learning.

36 © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Sentence boxes • Read the words in the boxes. • Find the sentences and write them out. • Put in the capital letters and full stops.

the

Sun

is

a

star

it

is

a

ball

of

burning

gases

the

Sun

keeps

the

Earth

warm

and

gives

it

light

the

Earth

moves

round

the

Sun

the

Earth

spins

when

our

part

of

the

Earth

faces

the

Sun

it

is

day

at

night

our

part

of

the

Earth

faces

away

from

the

Sun

• Find out more about the Sun. • Write another sentence about it. Teachers’ note Use an information book about the Earth, the Sun and space as a shared text and ask the children to look for the beginnings and endings of sentences. The children could complete the activity sheet with a partner – one reading aloud, while the other listens and says where there should be a full stop. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

37

Names and signs • Look for the names of people and places. • Look for signs and headings. • Circle the letters which should be capitals. d h p

a o e

arrivals r w i b a r r t h

n t

platforms 1–6

s g w

y e h

departures d n e y e l o n y aa al al

g aa

tickets

taxis buses • Copy the words correctly on to this picture.

• Write the names of six other people, using their titles. • Write the names of six other towns or cities. 38

Teachers’ note Use photographs and posters in which there are signs, and other texts which include names and people’s titles. Help the children to read them, and ask them to pay particular attention to the first letters of names and signs. They could copy and display signs they see when they are out and about. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Titles The Fluffbabies copied the titles of the books. They mixed up the words. They forgot the capital letters. • Help the Fluffbabies to write the titles properly.

• Write the titles on the books:

• Write the titles of six other books. Teachers’ note Introduce the activity by reading with the children the front covers and title pages of books whose titles are written with initial capitals for each main word. As an extension activity the children could find other ways in which the titles of books are written. They could make ‘mixed-up titles’ for others to sort out. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

39

Titles and headings 1. This book is about pond and creek animals.

Make the title short.

• Write a title on the cover. 2. The book has chapters about insects, fish, birds, frogs and toads, mammals and snails. • Write the headings for the chapters.

Contents

Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Chapter 5

Chapter 2

Chapter 6

Chapter 3 3. Chapter 1 has pages about the damselfly, the water strider, the diving beetle and the dragonfly. • Write the headings for the pages.

40

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity with a shared text which has chapter and page headings. The children could use what they have learned when they make books on topics from other subjects.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Stressed words: CAPITALS You can write a whole word in CAPITAL LETTERS to stress it. • Copy the words which are stressed. It’s a MONSTER!

He would tell you if he KNEW.

That isn’t a mouse it’s a RAT.

• Read the sentences. • Write the sentences. • Use capital letters to stress one word.

I CAN’T go to town - I’m going to a PARTY.

Think which word should be STRESSED.

1. “No!” shouted Aysha. 2. I asked Jim for a lolly and he gave me ten! 3. Adam opened the box and saw a snake. 4. “You can’t have it - it’s mine!” said Emma. • Read the sentences to a partner. Can he or she tell which words are in capital letters? Teachers’ note Read a shared text in which capital letters are used for emphasis and ask the children to listen to the way in which your voice changes at different points. Introduce the word ‘stress’. Read sentences which the children can not see and ask them which words they think are printed in capital letters. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

41

Stressed words: italics In books stressed words are printed in italics. • Copy the stressed words. I wanted a not a melon.

,

• Read the sentences. • Circle the stressed words. 1. “I can’t eat that,” said Zoë. 2. It was a very cold day.

Get

I can’t use that pencil—it’s

Which words do think should be in italics?

3. It was so cold that the pipes froze. 4. “Jill won’t walk,” said Jack. “She hates walking.” 5. “Please let me go to town, Mum,” said Laura. 6. He opened the can of beans, but in it were peas. 7. “You’re soaked!” cried Mum when she opened the door. 8. “Keep out of my garden,” shouted the angry man. • Take turns with a partner to read the sentences out loud. • Guess which words your partner has stressed. • Are they the same as the words you chose? 42

Teachers’ note Read a shared text in which italics are used for emphasis and ask the children to listen to the way in which your voice changes at different points. Ask them how you know which words to stress. Read sentences which the children cannot see and ask them which words they think are printed in italics. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Bold print normal print

bold print

• Read the sentences aloud. • Write the sentences making a different word bold. I’m a fairy godmother.

There is a monster in there!

I can run there in half the time you take.

I knew they would be late.

There is no milk in here.

You can’t go to town dressed like that.

• Read your sentences to a partner. • Your partner has to guess which words are bold. Teachers’ note Ask the children to take turns to read aloud texts which have some words in bold print, while the others listen for words which are stressed.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

43

Lists We can use commas to separate things in a list. • Read this sentence. • Circle the commas.

,

A comma

At the supermarket I bought

, six eggs ,

two tins of beans

and a melon

a loaf

• Write the lists. a snake In the outback I saw

a crocodile

a lizard We went to

Italy

France

a sandwich For lunch I ate

Spain

a banana

an apple

• Write sentences which list: – people in your family. – some of your toys. 44

What separates the last two things in a list?

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity by making lists of everyday objects. The children can put large commas (cut from black paper) between the objects. Point out that there is no comma before the last thing in a list – instead, the word ‘and’ is used. Provide ‘and’ and ‘full stop’ cards.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

a cake

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

.

Commas 1 Commas can separate parts of a sentence. stopping to smell th d e f low ke l a ers. w e She walked slowly, stopping to Sh smell the flowers.

y slowl

,

• Write the sentences using commas. r. e th hoping to be ly k c i o u q r n a home before his b He r

She shouted as loudly as she could but no one could hear her.

on to the beach The roc d e k roll whe

een. s e b re it can still

• Copy these two sentences and put in the commas: She skipped through the rain splashing as she went. We went to town where we met Gran. Teachers’ note Introduce the activity with sentences written on large strips of paper, cut into two sections where there should be a comma, like those on the activity sheet. With the children, reassemble the sentences, putting a comma between the two sections.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

45

Commas 2 • Write the sentences. • Put in the commas.

shed e h t behind a strange red box. s a w

garden In the

the tree r a e N

ot up She g

ome leaves buried under s w as

washed

dressed

and b rushed her hair.

two dresses

a skirt a nd a p

r of shorts.

ai

a t-shirt e packed a swim h suit S

an echidna.

• Copy these sentences and put in the commas: She ran down the path jumped over the gate and climbed the hill. In his bedroom under a chair Andrew found his pen. 46

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity with sentences written on large strips of paper, cut into three or more sections where there should be a comma, like those on the activity sheet. With the children, reassemble the sentences, putting a comma between each section.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Exclamation marks!

!

An exclamation mark can show: - something loud

- being pleased How lovely!

- a suprise or fright

An exclamation mark

- something funny How can you tell when an elephant is in your bed? Look for the ‘E’ on his pyjamas!

• Write what the people are saying. • Put in exclamation marks.

What can go up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up? HOLIDAY

HOTEL

• Draw someone who has won a prize. • Write what he or she is saying. • Use exclamation marks. Teachers’ note Read shared texts in which there are exclamation marks. Point out the exclamation marks and ask the children to say why they think they are used.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

!

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

47

Arrows Arrows help to show the order of things.

Boil the water.

Put in the egg.

• Cut out the pictures of the life-cycle of a tomato. • Put them in the correct order. • Draw arrows to join them. • Write a sentence to say what happens in each picture.

48

Boil for 3 minutes. Word-bank sprouts grows taller bigger roots

plant

shoot

f lowers

sprouting seed

seeds

fruit

Teachers’ note Show the children examples of texts in information books which are linked in a linear format by arrows (like the recipe for boiling eggs) and others which are arranged in a circle (like the life-cycles of animals and plants).

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Lines Lines are used on diagrams. • Draw lines to join the Use a ruler. labels to the correct parts of the diagrams. skull f lower

neck shoulder

stem

ribs elbow hip

leaves

wrist fingers knee

bulb

ankle

roots

toes • Draw a car. • Label as many parts as you can.

Use a dictionary.

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity using posters which show animals, plants or machines with their parts labelled, and ask the children how they can tell which word belongs to which part. They could make their own labelled drawings of things they have observed during science lessons.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

49

Boxes In a picture story you can put the writing and the pictures in boxes. • Draw the missing picture and write the missing words.

Jack’s mother sent him to the market to sell the cow.

Jack gave the cow to a man. The man gave him some beans.

Jack’s mother was angry. She threw the beans out of the window.

A green shoot grew from one of the beans.

• Re-tell another story using boxes.

50

Teachers’ note Read shared texts which make use of boxes, such as Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs, cartoon strips and comics. The children could re-write other stories they have read, using boxes.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Beach key • Read the key. Key lifeguard

shark

safe for swimming

toilets

not safe for swimming

drinks

no dogs allowed

snacks

• Write sentences about the beaches. Sunsea

Sea Bay

Gull Bay

Teachers’ note Show the children photographs of some of the symbols used in everyday situations, for example ‘Ladies’ and ‘Gents’ symbols, the symbols used near escalators which indicate ‘no prams or strollers’, and those used on road signs. Ask them why they think symbols are used instead of words. © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

51

Pets key • Look at the graph. • Read the key.

Key

Our class pets

dog cat rabbit fish horse hamster mouse

• Complete the sentences.

1. In our class eight children have 2.

.

children have hamsters.

3. Seven

.

4. The same number of children have and 5. The favourite pet is a

. .

• Write two other sentences about our class pets. • Draw a graph to show your group’s pets. • Make a key. Teachers’ note This could be linked with work the children have done in mathematics; they could look at graphs they have made and keys they have used in them.

52 © Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

The ‘take-away’ • Read the story. Mum and Dad took the children to the ‘take-away’. Mum asked them to choose a meal. “Ribs please,” said Michael, “and rice.” Jane and Ella both wanted fish - Jane’s with chips and Ella’s with salad. Ben could not read the menu but he could smell pizza - “Pizza and chips,” he said. “PLEASE!” said Mum. Dad chose crispy duck with rice, and so did Mum. • Complete the chart. Tick the things they ate. ribs

rice

fish

chips

salad

Mum Dad

3

pizza crispy duck

Michael Jane Ella Ben • Make a chart to show which take-away meals the children in your group like. Teachers’ note Once they have completed the chart, the children could find out from it how many people ate each kind of food. They could make charts like this to record information from other books they read, including those from reading schemes.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

53

What did they say? • Read the story.

“Let’s roller-blade up the hill,” said Jill. “It will be fun coming down.” “No, thank you,” said Jack. “I cracked my skull last time.” “That’s because you didn’t have your safety hat on,” said Jill. • In the speech bubbles, write what Jack and Jill said.

• Draw Jack and Jill and some speech bubbles. • Write other things they might have said. 54

Teachers’ note Introduce the activity using a shared text which includes speech, and ask the children what the characters say. Write this in speech bubbles. Remind them not to include the words ‘said’, ‘asked’, ‘cried’ and so on.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Speech marks 1 Speech marks show the words people say. My name is Dan.

“”

Speech marks

“My name is Dan,” said Dan.

• Between the speech marks, write what they said. I wish I could fly.



,”

cheeped the baby bird. Ouch!



!” yelled Dad,

as he fell on his nose. Happy birthday to you!

Mrs Jones sang, “ !”

• From a comic, cut out two pictures which have speech bubbles. • Use speech marks to write what the people are saying. Teachers’ note Let the children practise making speech marks. Say things to them and ask them what you said and how they would write it. Do not be too concerned with punctuation yet – the emphasis is on getting the right words between the speech marks.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

55

Speech marks 2 • Look

• Say

“No,” she said.

“Help!” he cried.

Joe said, “Yes.”

• Copy

• Cover • Check

• Write 3 or

7

• Use speech marks to write what they said: It’s Rani’s birthday on Tuesday.

Meera

56

Let’s buy her some books.

Yes - she likes reading.

Raj

Teachers’ note The children should have completed pages 54 and 55 before attempting this one. Point out that the full stops, commas and exclamation marks which follow the words someone says are placed before the final speech marks.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Meera

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

The question-finder • Help the question-finder to catch all the questions. • Read the sentences. • Write the questions in the brief-case. Would you like a biscuit?

I have a new coat.

Did you buy it in the sale? I think it is going to snow.

Yes please - I’d like a chocolate biscuit.

Do you think it will rain today?

Who is going to make the tea?

What time is it?

Polly will put the kettle on.

It is eight o’clock.

• Write four questions which you have heard at school. • Put a question mark at the end of each question.

?

Teachers’ note Ask the children how they can tell when a sentence is a question. Can they tell without seeing the question mark? How? Say some sentences and ask the children to indicate when they hear a question.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

57

Asking questions • Read the sentence:

• Read the question:

That is a good book.

Is that a good book?

• Make the sentences into questions. • Write the questions in the long balloons. You have a sister.

She is the new teacher.

It is six o’clock.

?

It is cold outside.

Ken can run fast. Mum’s dress is blue.

• Make this sentence into a question:

Remember the question mark.

She won a hundred dollars. 58

Teachers’ note Ask the children, in turn, to say a sentence about themselves and then to change the order of their words to make it into a question. Discuss the way in which the order of words in a sentence can be changed to make a question.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Quentin Question Quentin Question asks questions all day long. • Match Quentin’s questions to their answers. • Complete the chart. It is Mount Everest. a

What time is it? Why did the apple turn over?

Where do plants sleep? 3

1

2

It saw the jam roll! c

It is twelve o’clock. b

They sleep in f lower-beds! d

Which is the highest mountain in the world? 4

When is your birthday? 5

Who sat on a tuffet? 7 It is on the 11th of November. f

Little Miss Muffet sat on it. e

What do elephants take on holiday? 6

They take trunks! g

question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

answer • Copy questions 1 and 5. • Write the answers you would give. • Write two other questions for a partner to answer. Teachers’ note Ask the children questions which you have written on a large sheet of paper. Write the answers they give, but mix them up. Can they match the questions to the answers?

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

59

Annabel Answer • Annabel Answer has made a computer program. It answers questions, but it loses the questions. • Write a question for each answer. Questions

Answers

1.

1. Six

2.

2. 25th December

3.

3. Brown

4.

4. Annabel

5.

5. A lamb

6.

6. January

7.

7. Tuesday

• Write the answers as sentences. • Write a different question for four of the answers. 60

Teachers’ note Prepare some simple questions and one-word answers and read out the answers. Ask the children to think of a question which could give that answer. Invite one of them to write it for the others to see: did he or she include a question mark?

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Question words • Read the question words. • Write a question word in each gap. • Put in the question marks. Remember the capital letters.

Question words when what why where who how which

1.

is the oldest of the three brothers

2.

will it be time for the party

3.

do you know that

4.

is the date

5.

do you live

6.

did the chicken cross the road

7.

of these would you like – a sandwich or a cake • Write questions which begin with each of the question words.

Teachers’ note Ask the children to think of words which are often used to begin a question. Write them and compare them with the list on this page.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

61

Question screens • Read the questions. • Write them in the correct screen. Can you help me to find the bank?

There are different kinds of question. Asking for help

Will you be quiet?

Asking for information Who lives here?

What is the time please?

Asking someone to do something May I borrow your pen?

Will you help me to carry my things?

What is the capital of France? • Write another question for each screen.

62

Teachers’ note Ask the children to give examples of questions. Write them in groups according to the type of question they are (see the headings used on this page). If there are no examples of certain types of question, supply some. Talk about the different types of question people ask.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Scrambled sentences Pilar sends e-mail messages to Tim. She scrambles them so that no one else can read them. • Unscramble the sentences for Tim. holiday from have just we back come

Florida to went we plane a in

did you where go

saw sharks we pelicans alligators and

• Unscramble this sentence: messages I read sending you cannot the to are me. • Write the sentence. • Write two scrambled sentences for a partner. Teachers’ note Write a scrambled sentence for the children to read (without capital letters and full stops). Can they make sense of it? If not, add a capital letter, so that they can identify the first word.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

63

Punctuation check • Put punctuation marks in the letter.

, “” !

.

?

• Copy the sentence. Put in the punctuation marks and capital letters. auntie jane came by train there’s the train cried sara is it the right one asked her mum looking at the clock 64

Teachers’ note Remind the children about the different punctuation marks they have learned. Punctuation of the address on the letter is optional – modern practice is to omit punctuation in addresses, especially if they are word-processed.

© Blake Education ISBN 978 1 86509 801 2

Developing Literacy Sentence Activities © Blake Education 2001

Developing Literacy - Sentence Activities - Book C - Middle Primary

Developing Literacy: Sentence Activities A STRUCTURED SENTENCE SKILLS PROGRAM book

A B C D E F G book

book

book

Seven photocopiable sentence activity books for the seven years of primary school. Each book l develops children’s grammatical awareness l includes activities which focus on sentence construction, the roles of different kinds of words and punctuation l promotes independent work l has extension activities which reinforce and develop what the children have learned l includes notes for teachers. Also available! Developing Literacy: Word Activities Coming soon! Developing Literacy: Text Activities

book

book

book

Cover illustrations by Alison Dexter