This Real Grammar KS2 resources pack provides everything that you need to successfully explore using expanding noun phrases to describe things concisely with your pupils in Year 6 or to revisit this learning. Teaching slides, worksheets, games and an opportunity to apply the new learning in a writing task are all included to create a complete resource to teach using concise expanded noun phrases.
Pupils will need to be familiar with nouns, adjectives, determiners, and prepositional phrases and noun phrases to complete the activities. An understanding of synonyms would also be beneficial.
What are noun phrases?
A noun phrase is a noun with a word added before the noun.
These words are called determiners.
- noun: man
- noun phrase: the man/a man/this man etc
We can expand noun phrases by adding more information before or after the noun.
These could be adjectives, modifying nouns or a prepositional phrase.
How do we create expanded noun phrases?
In the examples below, the noun phrase the man has been expanded.
- the old man (an adjective has been added)
- the giant man (a modifying noun has been added)
- the man with the walking stick (a prepositional phrase has been added)
These are called expanded noun phrases.
What does the word ‘concise’ mean?
To be concise means to give information clearly in a few words. Using expanded noun phrases concisely means to choose the most appropriate vocabulary to create the expanded noun phrases, removing unnecessary words.
- A huge scary giant headed towards us.
In the expanded noun phrase in bold, we do not need the word ‘huge’ as we can assume that people know that giants are huge or tall. The word huge could be removed, or, the adjectives ‘huge’ and ‘scary’ could be changed to ‘monstrous’.
- A scary giant headed towards us.
- A monstrous giant headed towards us.
We can also use more precise nouns to make expanded noun phrases more concise.
- The red sports car won the race.
This could be changed to…
- The red Ferrari won the race.
We can assume that people know a Ferrari is a sports car.
What is included in this resource pack?
This pack is divided into five parts:
TEACH
This section includes PowerPoint teaching slides and teaching notes with an optional script to introduce expanded noun phrases. It can also be used to revisit this aspect of grammar with pupils.
PRACTISE
An independent activity for pupils to practise using what they have been taught, allowing teachers to assess understanding.
REVISIT
A series of short, 10-minute activities that can be used following the TEACH session to revisit and rehearse what has been taught. These may be short writing tasks, grammar games or editing/proofreading activities.
APPLY
A short writing task where pupils can use the grammar skills taught in context to produce independent writing.
REVISE
Five SATs style test questions, including cloze activities and multiple choice quiz questions, based on the grammar that has been taught.
Teachers can choose which section of the resource pack to use according to their pupils’ needs and could use the activities over a series of lessons or weeks
Teacher notes are provided to show how these quality resources could be used with pupils.
How is this resource differentiated?
The PRACTISE and REVISE sections include three activities differentiated for three levels of ability:
- Worksheet 1 for pupils who may need support. Questions will have a lower cognitive domain (what is being asked of pupils) and/or vocabulary used may be simplified where possible.
- Worksheet 2 for pupils working at age related expectations.
- Worksheet 3 for pupils who may need an additional challenge and may be working at a greater depth in this area. Questions will have a higher cognitive domain with more challenging vocabulary.
SUPPORT and CHALLENGE ideas are also included in the teacher notes of each section where relevant, with ideas of how to support pupils working towards the expected standard or at greater depth in this area.
What pupil-facing resources are included?
Answer sheets for all worksheets are provided, where appropriate.