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Captivate Your KS1 Class with These Grammar Slammers!

Even for the most passionate of teachers, grammar doesn’t make for the most thrilling of dinner party conversations. If your KS1 class is starting to snooze over syntax, simply throw these grammar slammers into the mix and turn dull lessons into dazzlers! 

Good grammar underpins how we talk, write and read – and we can’t become a master of any these skills without it. However, if the subject incites groans so loud that the Head Teacher can hear them in their office, it’s time to act; just try our fun grammar tasks and see how quickly – and enthusiastically – your children pick up new skills.

 

1. Mobile Phone Madness

No matter how much we try to distract them with books, conversation or even outdoor games, mobile phones attract children like magnets; and although we wouldn’t encourage using the real deal in class, there are definitely ways to capture that enthusiasm in a helpful task.MightyWriter TileIllustrations RealLife 171

Try handing out some images of mobile phones, with the screen blank. Ask the children to write a text message about a given a subject, and then pass the phone to a friend who “receives” the message! 

Did the message make sense? Can the recipient write a reply?

For further focus, add your own grammar themes that the children should work in to their phone conversation; for example, using persuasive language to invite a friend on a day trip.

“It’s a sunny day. Should we go to the fun park and play on the big roundabout?”
 

2. Who Am I?

A fun task for learning adjectives, try asking the children to draw a picture of a friend in the class (try to keep who it is a secret!)MightyWriter TileIllustrations RealLife 78

Alongside the picture, the children should add adjectives to describe the friend they have drawn. Can the class guess who it is?

 

3. Touch the Sentence

We know that children often respond well to tactile learning activities. Grammar lessons don’t have to be any different!MightyWriter TileIllustrations LittleRedHen 13

Write the words noun, adjective and verb on the whiteboard, in separate columns. For extra emphasis, use a different colour for each part of the sentence. 

Select a child to pull a mystery item from a box of objects. Ask that child to then name the item (and then write that name under the ‘noun’ heading on the board), then describe what it feels like and what they can do with it; those words will be added under ‘adjective’ and ‘verb’, of course. 

After the sentences are on the board, it’s time to transcribe!

 

4. Sticker Stars

We all love a sticker (as long as they stay on jumpers, and not on desks!) and there are some handy ways you can work them into literacy tasks.Star

If your class’s sentences are turning into endless anacondas when you’d rather they were compact caterpillars, try a task where full stops are replaced with stickers. The positive reinforcement isn’t just enjoyable, but will make the children think more carefully about how sentences flow together.

 

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