Teaching Grammer

In our 3 class space we switch around learning groups depending on student needs, teacher needs and relationships. Currently I am teaching a group comprising 10 kids who are reading between 1 - 2years behind their chronological age and who are struggling to write complete sentences with sufficient detail.

An activity that I have tried in the past introduces the language of words and sentence structure and then encourages the children to play with the words to create different sentences which still hold essentially the same meaning.

10 years ago, PLD with Jannie van Hees introduced me to English grammar (despite 13years of schooling in NZ) and the importance of explicitly teaching grammar to ESOL students to enhance understanding of how words can be put together to create powerful sentences.
I made word packs with verbs, adjectives and adverbs - individually laminated and colour coded. Added to this are a small set of prepositions and blank cards for writing nouns.


To start with I'd give each group individually selected words that would make sentences - simply. The idea was to have the children be successful in putting the words together. Once the sentences were put together, we discussed the role of each word in the sentence and the power that they hold.
We spoke about verbs and how adverbs come in to play to modify the verb or to add more detail which gives the audience a greater understanding. We talked about nouns and how adjectives play a role in adding detail. We also looked at how prepositions can be used to add further context to a sentence. We played around with the order of the words and looked at how a sentence can still share the same message and use the same words - even if put in a different order.

The most powerful part of this activity is listening to the groups discuss and work through each set of words as they attempt to make the most detailed and powerful sentence. They argue with each other, back themselves and yet still listen when faced with a different point of view. We found that on most occasions, once the sentence is said out loud, the children were very quickly able to ascertain the validity of what they had constructed.




There is always great enjoyment in this particular activity and as we become more practiced at the grammar and structure, we are starting to choose the words blindly from the packs and are taking the opportunity to learn new vocabulary.

Argumentation, Justification and Using Scissors

We noticed in our cohort this year that most of the children struggled to use scissors, use glue "sparingly" and have those constructive learning conversations with their peers. Using a device meant that we could complete these sorts of "cut and paste" activities with less mess and less fuss, but the children were missing the vital fine motor skills and the art of argumentation and justification.

We hypothesised that by having the activity printed and in hard copy in front of the group, we would illicit argumentative discussions that would encourage the children to justify their points of view more readily and more strongly.
We set the context around punctuation as this was the main area in our E-Asttle testing that was letting this group down.
Our groups were friendship based in the hope to encourage the conversation.
The task involved scissors, glue, crayons and lots of talk.



Initial excitement was high as we explained the activity to the class. They were excited to work with friends and excited to rotate round different activities, to complete a variety of tasks.
We were fortunate to have a third year student teacher in class, which meant that we could have slightly smaller group sizes at each station which made some of the management slightly easier.





The activities that the children completed in rotation were

• Organising sentences into simple and complex sentences.
• Constructing complex sentences from dependent and independent clauses.
• Punctuating simple and complex sentences
• Punctuating a complete paragraph.

Each group had to work together, justify and explain before cutting, pasting and taking a photo to insert onto their Google slides.

We noticed as we introduced our activity and supported the kids through the learning, that while not all the children completely grasped the concept being taught- every child embraced the idea of team work and discussion. The students who lacked the initial knowledge, thrived on listening to their peers and offering input when they felt confident. The students who went into the activity with more confidence, learnt to assist their friends and to listen to others points of view and to build new knowledge of their own. This discussion and listening built well on what we have been practicing during DMiC this year.

The fine motor skills were definitely challenged with many groups cutting through work instead of neatly around it, too much glue being used and not being able to glue papers to fit in correct spaces. However each student could use an iPad effectively to take photos and upload their work to the right folder. I'm not sure we should be sacrificing one skill for another - so more work to be done on the more analogue tasks.

The children loved being more active in their learning and the classroom was a buzz with that fine line between chaos and lively discussion. As teachers, we enjoyed listening to the children talk and argue, as well as problem solve and work through issues and differing points of view.



We endeavour to do an activity such as this involving groups, discussion and analogue processes at least once a week. We owe our kids the best of both worlds to ensure they develop a range of essential learning tools.

Computational Thinking

The new digital technologies curriculum is not simply about screens and being digital. One of the strands - computational thinking, can be tackled in a very analogue fashion.
We've decided as a school that Scratch will be our coding "mother tongue". It is cross platform and simple enough even for our New Entrants. (and their teachers)
In DaBlock this term, a group of 30 year 4s and 1 year 3 are learning all about coding using Scratch.

We started the session signing into our classroom group and creating some simple avatars. We then began looking at the blocks and using them to control the cat sprite using our mouse and arrow keys. Some students even went ahead to learn about costumes and costume changes. Great self directed learning.

The next step was to introduce angles and turns. None of the students had heard about angles, degrees or knew much difference between left or right. A quick whiteboard lesson introducing the missing pieces and a quick game of Simon Says involving angle turns and degree turns, quickly filled in some missing gaps.
We then took chalk outside to draw their own circles and label the degrees, where the children then played their own Simon Says games with their friends.

Once the kids were back inside with their Chromebooks, Scratch angle turns made sense and heaps of quick knowledge learning could be applied to some fun animations.

2018 Focus

After such a different year in 2017, I am back working in an ILE of 90 children and 2 other teachers.

My plan is to bring my learnings and findings from 2017 in to this different environment and to adapt them to suit the wider range of children in the space.

I am fortunate to be working alongside colleagues that I have taught with before and respect their creativity, flexibility and enthusiasm. - We will make a great team as we bring a variety of strengths to the space.

My learnings in 2017 highlighted the need for #DaBoyz to be hands on, to feel respected, to know who they are and to be loved. These important key competencies contributed to the very successful year that we experienced. 5 of the lads from 2017 are in the class for 2018.

How can those findings be implemented in a large class with a wide, wide range of learning styles and children?