In this blog, we will share some effective exercises that you can use in your primary school classrooms to support your pupils in constructing complex sentences. 

Exercise 1: Expanding Simple Sentences 

Start by providing your pupils with a simple sentence, such as "The cat sat on the mat." Ask them to add more information to make the sentence more interesting and detailed. For example, "The fluffy cat sat contentedly on the soft, colourful mat." 

Encourage your pupils to think about adding adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to expand the sentence. This exercise helps them understand how additional details enhance their writing. 

Exercise 2: Compound Sentences with Conjunctions 

Teach your pupils about conjunctions (words that join two independent clauses) such as "and," "but," and "or." Provide them with two simple sentences and ask them to combine them into a compound sentence using a conjunction. For example, "I like to read books. I also enjoy playing outside." can become "I like to read books and I also enjoy playing outside." 

This exercise helps children understand how to connect related ideas and create more sophisticated sentences. 

Exercise 3: Adding Dependent Clauses 

Show your pupils how to add dependent clauses (clauses that cannot stand alone) to their sentences. For instance, take the sentence "I ate an apple." and encourage them to add a dependent clause such as "after I finished my homework." The revised sentence would be "I ate an apple after I finished my homework." 

By incorporating dependent clauses, pupils learn how to provide additional context and information in their writing. 

Exercise 4: Using Relative Clauses 

Introduce your pupils to relative clauses (clauses that provide more information about a noun). Give them a sentence like "The girl is kind." and ask them to add a relative clause, such as "who always helps others." The revised sentence would be "The girl who always helps others is kind." 

By practicing with relative clauses, children learn how to add descriptive details and create more complex sentences. 

Exercise 5: Describing with Comparatives and Superlatives 

Teach your pupils about comparatives (used to compare two things) and superlatives (used to compare more than two things). Provide them with a sentence like "The elephant is big." and ask them to rewrite it using a comparative or superlative form. For example, "The elephant is bigger than the lion." 

This exercise helps pupils expand their vocabulary and learn how to make comparisons in their writing. 

Exercise 6: Combining Sentences with Appositives 

Show your pupils how to use appositives (phrases that provide additional information about a noun) to combine two sentences into one. For example, take the sentences "The dog is friendly. The dog has a wagging tail." and combine them into "The dog, with a wagging tail, is friendly." 

By practising with appositives, pupils learn how to add descriptive details and create more cohesive sentences. 

Exercise 7: Creating Sentences with Complex Sentence Starters 

Encourage your pupils to experiment with different ways to start a sentence. Provide them with a range of complex sentence starters such as "Although," "Because" "When," and "If." For example, with the sentence starter "Although it was raining," they can write "Although it was raining, we still went to the park." 

This exercise helps pupils vary their sentence structures and develop a more sophisticated writing style. 

Remember to provide plenty of opportunities for practice and reinforcement of these exercises. Engage your pupils in group activities and discussions to foster a deeper understanding of complex sentence construction. 

By incorporating these exercises into your teaching repertoire, you will help your Key Stage One children develop their sentence-building skills and become more confident writers.