update for Term 2

TEACHING specific uses for certain kinds of punctuation for example using big book, poem, guided readers and sunshine classics to find the focus punctuation. In these examples we have speech marks. When we identify the punctuation we have to then write it as a whole sentence. We used sentence buddies as the students enjoy making these to then display on the classroom wall.

In using these sentence buddies to identify punctuation the students have begun to use some of the practised punctuation in their own writing.
Another practice that I have been using during reading time is for the students to read in two's to a full stop before the next two carry on with the reading. This has had great results as all students have to be engaged with the text, as they don't know when it will be their turn to read. They can pick up when a group has added, or missed out words or read a word incorrectly making them manage their own learning, student led over teacher led.
I have also found the activities in sunshine classics very useful for example, from level 10+ students must add the correct punctuation or words to a page from the text. As an extra incentive we have a reading challenge each week. The top three students are presented with a bronze, silver or gold certificate on a Friday for reading the most set books but they must achieve 100% on all book activities. I now have students reading up to 12 books per week on top of the guided and independent books that they already read.