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STRANDS
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LEVEL A
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LEVEL B
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LEVEL C
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LEVEL D
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LEVEL E
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Punctuation
and
structure
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In the context of their own reading pupils will learn that capitals
and full stops make the meaning clear to readers and listeners.
In the course of their own writing they will learn to use these
conventions helped by reading their own work aloud to others.
Such teaching should always be within a meaningful context.
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As pupils become more confident readers and writers, they will
begin to identify the need for capitals and full stops to establish
meaning. It is important that this is done through teacher support
and discussion about what they have written. Similarly, they will
be encouraged to link sentences with appropriate words already
familiar to them in their talking.
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Conventions, such as the simple use of comma and question mark,
will have already been discussed by the teacher in the course
of pupils' reading. These can now be mentioned in discussion of
what pupils have written. Paragraphing will be introduced at this
level through awareness built up in reading. Occasional co-operative
writing and discussion will reinforce the role of audience, and
motivate redrafting.
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Paragraphing can be developed by making clear the link with the
purpose of writing (eg 'The first paragraph of a ghost story is
where you make it feel like an eerie place.') Sentence structures
using good models from pupils' reading can be discussed in terms
of how they create meaning, mood and atmosphere. Direct speech
and ways of indicating it can be taught by looking at texts (stories,
comics, transcripts etc.) and dialogues in script form.
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Checking punctuation, linkage and organisation will be part of
the process of re-drafting at this stage. This will be aided by
discussion in pairs or small groups, with appropriate teacher
intervention. Models of correct practice, for example on posters,
can provide pupil reference. Explicit teaching to groups or class
will address the needs of pupils, but will be subordinate to actual
writing activities.
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Spelling
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From the start of P1, pupils should be given an interest in words,
how they sound, how they are made, and the patterns within them.
Emphasis will be on enjoyment, centred on their own writing and
reading. A bank of the most commonly used functional words should
be built for pupils to use for spelling, based on the reading
programme, story book or theme being developed. It should take
account of the Dolch list of the two hundred most commonly used
English words.
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The teaching of spelling should be part of an agreed scheme and
a whole-school policy. Supporting use should be made of a published
spelling scheme graduated according to pupils' progress. The school
should decide on one method of teaching pupils to deal with mistakes.
Look /cover /write /check is one example from several. The learning
of spelling rules should support this. The six most useful spelling
rules are set out in SCCC's Responding to Children's Writing,
page 60. Pupils should learn to spell words which they need to
use frequently in their own writing. A personal spelling book
for words causing difficulty becomes both a reference for the
pupil and a record for the teacher. After drafting, pupils should
mark possible errors, and check and correct spellings using word
bank, or dictionary.
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Across the curriculum ways of dealing with spelling, and rules
for spelling, should now be established. These should include
dealing with errors, self-correction techniques, and visual approaches.
Individuals should also be expected to compile their own lists,
including specialist vocabulary from different curricular areas.
The use of a dictionary and a thesaurus, and the routine checking
of spelling at the end of drafting, should be actively promoted.
Pupils should be helped to see themselves as self-supporting spellers.
Teaching about common prefixes, stems, suffixes, related to meanings,
will help in this. The use of a graduated spelling scheme should
continue where pupils' spelling needs regular reinforcement.
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Hand-
writing
and
presen-
tation
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Pupils will spend much time drawing and using material to develop
hand-eye co-ordination. Pupils will be introduced systematically
to letter formation and word spacing. Spacing will be reinforced
by reading and pupils will be shown how spacing helps the reader
and that it will help their own writing. At an appropriate stage,
linkage of letters will be taught.
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The process of development will continue, with the aim being to
help pupils build up an easy flow which will not hamper the train
of thought. The teacher will take time to ensure that pupils lay
out and present their writing in a neat, legible form which aids
the reader. The eventual outcome will be that the pupil can consistently
employ a fluent, legible style of hand-writing. Pupils with difficulties
in handwriting, arising, for example, from lack of motor control,
will produce attractive writing and gain in confidence through
the use of word-processing.
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As pupils acquire experience across a wide variety of forms, from
verse to scripts, from prose to diagrams, the teacher will point
out the positive effects of careful and imaginative layout and
presentation. This will be more significant if pupils are given
regular opportunities to publish and display completed work both
in and outwith the classroom. The microcomputer (especially with
desktop publishing) can be a valuable aid in providing formats
for attractive presentation.
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Knowledge
about
language
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The terms included in this strand will
enable pupils to discuss and understand aspects of the activities
in the strands above. They should be taught within the contexts
of such activities and reinforced through regular use. They may
be used earlier than the level at which they are assessed and
will continue to be applied, and extended, at later levels. Many
of the terms may also be applicable in other components of language.
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Letter, word, capital, full stop and sentence are
terms which pupils will encounter first in their reading, but
which will progressively be used in discussion of texts they have
written themselves,. Planning, drafting and redrafting
will describe the processes of writing in which pupils will regularly
engage.
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Noun and verb will describe categories of words
from which pupils make choices as they write. Comma and
question mark will be first encountered by pupils in their
reading, but will now be used and discussed in their own writing.
Purpose and audience will feature regularly when
pupils consider what they plan to write, or have written.
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Vowel and consonant will be used in talking about
the spelling of words. Adjective, adverb, pronoun and
conjunction are further categories of words which will be
used as pupils discuss with the teacher what they have written.
Masculine, feminine, singular, plural and tense
will be used when examining the relationships of words and meanings
within sentences. Paragraph is a further feature of textual
organisation which pupils will include in their own writing as
they develop as writers.
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Main point, topic sentence and evidence are aspects
of texts to which pupils will now give attention in their writing.
Subject, predicate and clause are elements which
will now feature in discussion of sentence structure. Quotation
marks and apostrophe extend pupils' awareness of punctuation.
Punctuation will give pupils a term for describing these
technical features of their writing.
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