Years 3 & 4

Outcomes

Reading
- Word Reading
  At this stage, teaching comprehension should be taking precedence over teaching word reading directly. Any focus on word reading should support the development of vocabulary. When pupils are taught to read longer words, they should be supported to test out different pronunciations. They will attempt to match what they decode to words they may have already heard but may not have seen in print [for example, in reading 'technical', the pronunciation /tɛtʃnɪkəl/ ('tetchnical') might not sound familiar, but /tɛknɪkəl/ ('teknical') should].
  - Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology) as listed in English Appendix 1, both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words they meet
    
    Play Activities 12
    
    Examples
- Comprehension
  The focus should continue to be on pupils' comprehension as a primary element in reading. The knowledge and skills that pupils need in order to comprehend are very similar at different ages. This is why the programmes of study for comprehension in years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6 are similar: the complexity of the writing increases the level of challenge. Pupils should be taught to recognise themes in what they read, such as the triumph of good over evil or the use of magical devices in fairy stories and folk tales. They should also learn the conventions of different types of writing (for example, the greeting in letters, a diary written in the first person or the use of presentational devices such as numbering and headings in instructions). Pupils should be taught to use the skills they have learnt earlier and continue to apply these skills to read for different reasons, including for pleasure, or to find out information and the meaning of new words. Pupils should continue to have opportunities to listen frequently to stories, poems, non-fiction and other writing, including whole books and not just extracts, so that they build on what was taught previously. In this way, they also meet books and authors that they might not choose themselves. Pupils should also have opportunities to exercise choice in selecting books and be taught how to do so, with teachers making use of any library services and expertise to support this. Reading, re-reading, and rehearsing poems and plays for presentation and performance give pupils opportunities to discuss language, including vocabulary, extending their interest in the meaning and origin of words. Pupils should be encouraged to use drama approaches to understand how to perform plays and poems to support their understanding of the meaning. These activities also provide them with an incentive to find out what expression is required, so feeding into comprehension. In using non-fiction, pupils should know what information they need to look for before they begin and be clear about the task. They should be shown how to use contents pages and indexes to locate information. Pupils should have guidance about the kinds of explanations and questions that are expected from them. They should help to develop, agree on, and evaluate rules for effective discussion. The expectation should be that all pupils take part.
Writing
- Transcription
  - Spelling
    Pupils should learn to spell new words correctly and have plenty of practice in spelling them. As in years 1 and 2, pupils should continue to be supported in understanding and applying the concepts of word structure (see English Appendix 2). Pupils need sufficient knowledge of spelling in order to use dictionaries efficiently.
    - Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (English Appendix 1)
      
      Play Activities 10
      
      Examples
    - Spell further homophones
      
      Play Activities 18
      
      Examples
    - Spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1)
      
      Play Activities 7
      
      Examples
- Composition
  Pupils should continue to have opportunities to write for a range of real purposes and audiences as part of their work across the curriculum. These purposes and audiences should underpin the decisions about the form the writing should take, such as a narrative, an explanation or a description. Pupils should understand, through being shown these, the skills and processes that are essential for writing: that is, thinking aloud to explore and collect ideas, drafting, and re-reading to check their meaning is clear, including doing so as the writing develops. Pupils should be taught to monitor whether their own writing makes sense in the same way that they monitor their reading, checking at different levels.
  - Evaluate and edit by:
    - Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others' writing and suggesting improvements
      
      Play Activities 9
      
      Examples
    - Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
      
      Play Activities 88
      
      Examples
  - Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
    
    Play Activities 43
    
    Examples
- Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation
  Grammar should be taught explicitly: pupils should be taught the terminology and concepts set out in English Appendix 2, and be able to apply them correctly to examples of real language, such as their own writing or books that they have read. At this stage, pupils should start to learn about some of the differences between Standard English and non-Standard English and begin to apply what they have learnt [for example, in writing dialogue for characters]
  - Develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
  - Indicate grammatical and other features by:
    - Using and punctuating direct speech
      
      Play Activities 11
      
      Examples
Spelling
- New Work for Years 3 & 4
  Teachers should continue to emphasise to pupils the relationships between sounds and letters, even when the relationships are unusual. Once root words are learnt in this way, longer words can be spelt correctly, if the rules and guidance for adding prefixes and suffixes are also known.
  - The suffix -ly
    The suffix -ly is added to an adjective to form an adverb. The rules already learnt still apply. The suffix -ly starts with a consonant letter, so it is added straight on to most root words. Example words: adly, completely, usually (usual + ly), finally (final + ly), comically (comical + ly) Exceptions: (1) If the root word ends in -y with a consonant letter before it, the y is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable. Example words: happily, angrily (2) If the root word ends with -le, the -le is changed to -ly. Example words: gently, simply, humbly, nobly (3) If the root word ends with -ic, -ally is added rather than just -ly, except in the word publicly. Example words: basically, frantically, dramatically (4) The words truly, duly, wholly.
    
    Play Activities 6
    
    Examples
  - Endings which sound like /ʒən/
    If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as -sion. Example words: division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television
    
    Play Activities 4
    
    Examples
  - Endings which sound like /ʃən/, spelt -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian
    Strictly speaking, the suffixes are -ion and -ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or c before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word. -tion is the most common spelling. It is used if the root word ends in t or te. Example words: invention, injection, action, hesitation, completion -ssion is used if the root word ends in ss or -mit.Example words: expression, discussion, confession, permission, admission -sion is used if the root word ends in d or se.Example words: expansion, extension, comprehension, tension Exceptions: attend - attention, intend - intention. -cian is used if the root word ends in c or cs. Example words: musician, electrician, magician, politician, mathematician
    
    Play Activities 2
    
    Examples
  - Words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey
    Example words: vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey
    
    Play Activities 4
    
    Examples
  - Homophones and near-homophones
    Example words: accept/except, affect/effect, ball/bawl, berry/bury, brake/break, fair/fare, grate/great, groan/grown, here/hear, heel/heal/he'll, knot/not, mail/male, main/mane, meat/meet, medal/meddle, missed/mist, peace/piece, plain/plane, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/whether, whose/who's
    
    Play Activities 9
    
    Examples
Year 3 - Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation
- Sentence
  Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions [for example, when, before, after, while, so, because], adverbs [for example, then, next, soon, therefore], or prepositions [for example, before, after, during, in, because of]
  
  Play Activities 10
  
  Examples
- Punctuation
  Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech
  
  Play Activities 3
  
  Examples
- Terminology for Pupils
  Preposition conjunction Word family, prefix Clause, subordinate clause Direct speech Consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowel letter Inverted commas (or 'speech marks')
  
  Play Activities 16
  
  Examples
Year 4 - Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation
- Sentence
  Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair) Fronted adverbials [for example, Later that day, I heard the bad news.]
  
  Play Activities 7
  
  Examples
- Terminology for Pupils
  Determiner Pronoun, possessive pronoun Adverbial
  
  Play Activities 5
  
  Examples