Did you leave school many years before the current grammar curriculum was introduced in 2013? Does supporting grammar as a TA seem like a daunting task? Here, our education consultant Susie Spolander outlines her top five approaches to helping KS2 children grasp the basics of grammar in the classroom.
Supporting Grammar in KS2: Five Top Tips!
1. Read and Learn: Immerse in real-life texts to discover grammar in action. Engage in discussions about writers’ choices and their impact on the reader. Explore how alternative choices lead to different outcomes.
2. Talk to Prepare: Tap into the power of speech to lay the groundwork for writing. Encourage oral rehearsal of sentences, sections, or whole texts to build confidence and fluency before putting pencil to paper.
3. Make it Purposeful: Emphasise the principle of grammar features – their purpose and function for the reader. Explore how paragraphing defines sections, punctuation brings clarity, adverbials guide, and formality shapes the register.
4. Go Back a Step: If challenges arise, reinforce prior knowledge to establish solid foundations. Strengthen essential sentence work to prepare for more complex structures, automatise basic sentence punctuation and support paragraphing with section headings or writing frames.
5. Read to Evaluate: Support pupils to read their writing with a critical eye, evaluating whether their grammatical choices contribute to the piece’s purpose and impact.
For more information and support, teachers and TAs can sign up for our regular newsletter here. We also run regular online CPD sessions.
