World Book Day 2016
We had a fantastic day turning Adel children into Adel readers! We started our day with an assembly with a surprise visit from an imaginary children's author, Tom Palmer! It really inspired the children to read and as a result, lots of boys came to my class and asked to take Tom Palmer books home; what an achievement as we've inspired them to read!
Children took part in many activities including:
Reading for Pleasure
With the holidays coming up, why not visit the Oxford Owl website and take advantage of the free ebooks available! Why not explore a variety of genres and formats, including fiction and non-fiction for a range of ages and abilities. If you wish to, you can write a book review about your favourite book; I will look forward to reading these.
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/
Happy reading!
Miss Beverley (Literacy Leader)
We want to improve our grammar at Adel Primary School!
In our new curriculum, children have a bank of terminology that they to understand through discussion and practice. You can find the 'terminology for pupils' below so you and your child/children can learn at home.
I've also uploaded the document if you wish to print it out.
Miss Beverley (Literacy Leader)
Grammar Terminology
Year 3 |
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Word |
Definition |
Example |
preposition |
A preposition links a following noun, pronoun or noun phrase to some other word in the sentence. Prepositions often describe locations or directions, but can describe other things, such as relations of time. They can often come at the beginning of a phrase.
These phrases often act as adverbials answering questions such as ‘when’.
These phrases often act as adverbials answering questions such as ‘where’.
These phrases often act as adverbials answering questions such as ‘how’. |
e.g. at, through, by, of, with etc
e.g. for ages, at midnight, before lunch, etc
e.g. in the kitchen, over the rainbow etc
e.g. without a care in the world, at top speed |
conjunction |
‘link ideas together’
Coordinating conjunctions, such as and, but, or and so, can link words, phrases or clauses.
Subordinating conjunctions (e.g. because, when, until, although) open subordinate clauses, linking them to a main clause
|
black and white (words) over the hills and far away (phrase) I like coffee but I hate tea (clause)
When she got home, she fell into bed because she was exhausted. (Since these are adverbials, they can be moved around the sentence). Because she was exhausted, when she got home she fell into bed. |
word family |
Word families are groups of words that are sufficiently closely related to each other to form a 'family'
Words can be grouped into families in two main ways: they are similar in form their meanings are related. |
Here are two examples of form-based word families:
word - wordy - word (verb) - wording - word-list … (but not: worth, worry)
family - familiar - unfamiliar - familiarity - familiarise … (but not: famine, famous) |
prefix |
A prefix is added at the beginning of a word in order to turn it into another word. |
overtake, disappear |
clause |
A clause that makes sense on its own is known as a main clause. With a capital letter and full stop, it can be a single-clause sentence. The accepted grammatical term is simple sentence, but when it involves expanded noun phrases and plenty of adverbial detail, a single-clause sentence can carry a lot of information. |
The monster was happy. |
subordinate clause |
Some clauses do not make sense on their own, so cannot stand as complete sentences; these are subordinate clauses. |
The monster was singing because it was happy. When the police arrived, the monster was singing. The monster was singing, although it was tone deaf. |
direct speech |
Direct speech is used to give the exact words used by another speaker. The words are given between inverted commas(" ") in writing.
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"I'm coming now," he said.
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consonant |
A sound which is produced when the speaker closes off or obstructs the flow of air through the vocal tract, usually using lips, tongue or teeth.
Most of the letters of the alphabet represent consonants. |
|
vowel letter |
a, e, i, o and u are vowel letters. |
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inverted commas |
Inverted commas are the punctuation marks (` ') or (" ") which are used in writing to show where speech or a quotation begins and ends.
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"I'm coming now," he said.
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Grammar Terminology
Year 4 |
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Word |
Definition |
Example |
determiner |
‘homes you in on a noun’ Most noun phrases begin with a determiner.
The most common determiners are the two articles: the definite article – the the indefinite article - a/an |
The lady with the lamp; his oldest friend; this question etc
The word begins with a consonant sound, e.g. a herd The word begins with a vowel sound, e.g. an enormous herd |
pronoun |
‘stand in place of a noun (or noun phrase)’
There are different types of pronouns (e.g. personal pronouns, singular, plural and relative pronouns)
Pronouns help avoid repetition, and therefore must agree (in terms of person, number and gender) with the noun or noun phrase to which they refer.
They are an important element in cohesion, since they make links between one part of a text and another. |
Personal pronouns can be first, second or third person. Singular pronouns ( I/you/he/she/it) Plural pronouns (we/you/they) Relative pronouns (who, which, whose, whom, that, where) refer back to the noun immediately before, e.g. The dog that saved its owner’s life is called Lassie.
I like Lassie. She is a good dog. |
possessive pronoun |
‘stand in place of a noun (or noun phrase)’
Possessive pronouns do not need apostrophes. |
The dog ate its dinner. This is hers. |
adverbial |
Adverbials can be added to a clause, and are mobile. |
On Sundays, we eat cake in the garden. We eat cake in the garden on Sundays. In the garden, on Sundays, we eat cake. |
Grammar Terminology
Year 5 |
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Word |
Definition |
Example |
modal verb |
Modal verbs are used to change the meaning of other verbs. They can express meanings such as certainty, ability, or obligation. |
will, would, shall, should, can, could, might, may, must |
relative pronoun |
Relative pronouns (who, which, whose, whom, that, where) refer back to the noun. |
The dog that saved its owner’s life is called Lassie.
|
parenthesis/brackets |
Brackets (also known as parenthesis) are often found in informal or technical writing. |
John and Jane (who were actually half brother and sister) both have red hair.
|
dash |
The dash signifies a sharp break in a sentence. As its name suggests, it’s a rather slipshod punctuation mark so should be used with discretion. |
She was really tired – the only thing to do was sleep. |
cohesion |
Cohesive texts (that is texts that hold together to make meaning) need to make links between sentences. Key ways in which this done are:
|
There was a man in a raincoat standing in doorway. He seemed to be watching us. Words such as: however, also, alternatively; phrases e.g. in addition, on the other hand |
ambiguity |
Something that does not have a single clear meaning. |
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Grammar Terminology
Year 6 |
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Word |
Definition |
Example |
subject |
The subject of a verb is normally the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that names the ‘do-er’ or ‘be-er’.
The subject’s normal position is: just before the verb in a statement just after the auxiliary verb, in a question.
|
Sam’s mother went out.
That is uncertain.
The children will study the animals.
Will the children study the animals?
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object |
An object is normally a noun, pronoun or noun phrase that comes straight after the verb, and shows what the verb is acting upon.
Objects can be turned into the subject of a passive verb, and cannot be adjectives. |
Year 2 designed puppets. [noun acting as object]
I like that. [pronoun acting as object]
Some people suggested a pretty display. [noun phrase acting as object]
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active |
Verbs can be active. In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.
|
The Romans invaded Britain; The sun warms the earth. |
passive |
The passive voice is often found in formal writing. |
Britain was invaded by the British; The earth is warmed by the sun. |
synonym |
Two words are synonyms if they have the same meaning, or similar meanings.
|
talk – speak old – elderly |
antonym |
Two words are antonyms if their meanings are opposites. |
hot – cold light – dark light – heavy |
ellipsis |
Ellipsis is the omission of a word or phrase which is expected and predictable. |
Frankie waved to Ivana and [she] watched her drive away. She did it because she wanted to. [do it]
|
hyphen |
A hyphen is half the length of a dash, and it helps the reader make sense of text by:
|
thirty-two, odd-looking, mother-in-law
re-cover as opp recover |
colon |
The colon suggests that the clauses ‘balance’ each other in some way: the second may explain or exemplify the first. |
She was really tired: the only thing to do was sleep. |
semi-colon |
The semi-colon is an extra strong comma. |
She was really tired; the only thing to do was sleep. |
bullet points |
Bullet points are used when listing complex information; a colon is used to introduce the bulleted list.
|
If the bullet points are not written as sentences, there’s no need for punctuation at the end of each bullet (just a full stop after the last one).
However, if written as sentences each requires full sentence punctuation. |
Why we can't live without books
At Adel Primary School, children love to read and as a result, the whole school took part in a competition to show just how important reading for pleasure is; they completed posters and these are now displayed in our library!
Reading for Pleasure
To promote 'Reading for Pleasure' we invited parents into school to read their favourite childhood book to groups of children. The children also read their favourite book to parents; they had a great afternoon!
In order to encourage your child to read at home, I've uploaded a set of questions that can help parents whilst listening to your child. These questions will undoubtedly help your child's reading comprehension skills. I hope they help!
Miss Beverley
Year 3 and 4 Word Lists
Children should know how to spell these words by the end of Year 4
Year 5 and 6 Word Lists
Children should know how to spell these words by the end of Year 6