Year Six: Using the Punctuation Pyramid & Varied Sentence Openings to Create 'Perfect Paragraphs'

1. Please write a second draft of your description of Oliver in the workhouse.

2. Please annotate the finished second draft with a gel pen, showing me where you have used different punctuation and sentence openers.

Feeling clever? Pay particular attention to the length of your paragraphs.

Due: Tomorrow

Year 6 Prose: Elegant Prose

Do you want to be elegant?

One of the clever tricks you can use in an 11+ exam is to make sure that you use an 'elegant' prose style in the first six-seven lines; the first paragraph or two is your opportunity to show the Grumpy Examiner that you can use a variety of different sentence types and forms of punctuation.

Optional Homework Task: Please complete the 'Elegant Prose' homework task. Download a copy from my box at box.net.

(Image by art_es_anna; used under Creative Commons agreement)

Year Six Prose Style: Sentence Openings

We have been looking at varying our sentence openings in our quest for 'elegant prose'.

Task: Please write a paragraph - 10 sentence long - about an detective. The challenge? Every sentence should open in a different manner, e.g.

Slowly, the Great Detective rose to his feet. Moving like a cat, he made his way towards the kitchen. The Detective, who was still feeling sore from the gunshot wound, made himself a cup of tea. He winced.

Due: Wednesday

**Spellings**
Please learn the 'trans' spellings - click here for the Spelling City page - for our dictation test next Tuesday.

Year 6 Prose Style: Writing Elegant Prose

Your prose should be like Audrey Hepburn: elegant.

Task: Write an eight line of a description of a hansom cab - Sherlock Holmes' method for getting around Victorian London. Use this video, recorded in 1903, to help you:

Tick off the following as you include it in your description:
* Fragment sentence
* Impact sentence
* Compound sentence ( a sentence using the joining comma, and the word 'and', 'but' or 'or')
* Complex sentence (a sentence using the bracketing comma)

Please annotate your 'finished' work, showing me where you've used the different sentence structures.

Feeling clever? Try to include the following:
* Brackets
* A dash

Don't forget to complete the self-assessment when you've finished your work.

Feeling clever? Try to end your paragraph with an impact sentence.

Due: Wednesday

Spellings
Please learn the 'para' spellings at Spelling City. Dictation test next Tuesday.

Year 6 Prose - Complex Sentences

We've been looking at how important it is to include complex sentences in a story.

Homework: Plan a story for 'The Forest'. Write the first ten lines of your story, setting the scene (e.g. describe the forest), making sure that you include at least three complex sentences, and compound, simple, impact and fragment sentences

Feeling clever? Include a colon.

P.S. Why not try this 'parts of speech' revision game?



P.P.S. The Spelling City word list is here.

Year 6 - Redrafting Task

//L.O. To use a varied prose style when writing a short story//

You are going to redraft your 'Victorian carriage' story - and I want you to focus on making sure you have included at least one of the following:

* A fragment (1-2 word sentence)
* An impact sentence (3-4 word sentence)
* The listing comma
* The joining comma
* The bracketing comma
* Brackets
* A colon
* A semi-colon

If you manage to include all of the above then you are halfway to having an 'elegant' prose style.

Please annotate your 'finished' redraft with a gel pen, showing me where you have included each of the pieces of punctuation/sentence types listed above.

P.S. Don't forget to bring in on USB/send via email to baldworm@baldworm.co.uk/print out your homemade comprehension on Monday!

Due: Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Year 6 Revision - The 'Messi Wiggle'

L.O. To revise the importance of a varied prose style

In class, we've often talked about trying to fit in all our sentence types and forms of punctuation in the opening 6-7 lines of our stories:

Fragments
Impact sentences
Simple sentences
Compound sentences
Bracket
Dash
Semi-colon
Colon

Homework: The first six-seven lines of a short story entitled 'Down on the Farm'. Include all of the punctuation above! Then come onto the blog and type your work up in the comments section! Remember, only write six-seven lines!