Years 3 and 4
What the national curriculum
requires in writing at Year 3 and Year 4
Writing - transcription
- use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (English Appendix 1)
- spell further homophones
- spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1)
- place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals [for example, girls’, boys’] and in words with irregular plurals [for example, children’s]
- use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
- write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far.
Handwriting
- use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
- increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting [for example, by ensuring that the downstrokes of letters are parallel and equidistant; that lines of writing are spaced sufficiently so that the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch].
Writing - composition
- plan their writing by:
- discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
- discussing and recording ideas
- draft and write by:
- composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures – see Appendix 2 of the National Curriculum
- organising paragraphs around a theme
- in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
- in non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings]
- evaluate and edit by:
- assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
- proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
- proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
- read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.
- develop their understanding of the concepts set out in Appendix 2 of the National Curriculum by:
- extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although
- using the present perfect form of verbs in contrast to the past tense
- choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
- using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause
- using fronted adverbials
- learning the grammar for years 3 and 4 in English Appendix 2
- indicate grammatical and other features by:
- using commas after fronted adverbials
- indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns
- using and punctuating direct speech
- use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading.