Help with Literacy

Scroll down this page to learn about:

The rules for making plurals

Homophones like

to, too and two
there, they’re and their
its and it’s

Doing the jumbled words questions in NWE.

The importance of context.

Silent letters.

Handwriting.

Contractions like ‘who’s’

The difference between ‘whose’ and ‘who’s’

The 8 parts of speech:
Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Pronouns, Interjections, Prepositions and Conjunctions

Brainteasers are available HERE and help with Maths can be found HERE.

Rules for Making Plurals

  1. A quick run through

2. Simple plurals: Adding -s and -es

Revision of this rule

3. Plurals: Words ending in -y and exceptions to this rule.

Revision of this rule

4. Rules for plurals – revision and words ending in -f

Revision of this rule

5.Rules for plurals – revision and words ending in -o

6.Rules for plurals – revision, irregular plurals and plurals that are the same as the singular.

Revision of plural rules

Homophones 1: to, too and two

Homophones are words that sound the same but that have different spellings and meanings.
These are tricky words like

to

too

two

Let’s put our learning into practice:

And here are some follow up videos so you can go back over what you have learned.

Remember don’t click on any ads or links.

And a little more revision

You might like to finish off with this catchy song about the Homophone Monkey.

Homophones 2: there, they’re and their

Homophones are words that sound the same but that have different spellings and meanings.
These are tricky words like

there

they’re

their

 

You Tube is a portal to the whole wide world.

Please supervise your children when they are online.

To finish I thought you would like this Go Noodle video clip

on the tricky words: by, buy and bye 🙂

New Wave English: Working out the jumbled up word questions: hints and practice.

One of the questions in New Wave English in practice that children can find challenging is where there are jumbled up words that they have to put in the correct order to make a word.

 

These words are in sentences. So putting the word in the context of the sentence is very helpful when trying to work out what the jumbled up word is.

 

Because of that I would like to recommend a number of short videos that teach what context is – and how one can guess the meaning of a word when reading.

But first here is an instructional video with some hints for working out jumbled up words.

Here are some videos about working out context when reading.

Remember, the internet is a portal to the world wide web.

Please supervise your children online.

Silent Letters

Do you know why some letters are silent in reading?

This is an interesting video that tells you why.

Learning about silent letters will help you with

your reading and writing,

and when you are doing your exercises in New Wave English.

Here is an instructional video about ‘silent letters’:

And here is a chance to practise what you have learned:

Finally a video about ‘silent e’.

Hints for even better handwriting

We are seeing great improvements in handwriting while you are working at home.

We think this is because of the encouragement you are getting from your teacher at home to write well.

Here is are some hints to make your handwriting even better.

Here is a handy checklist to help you improve your handwriting.

What do you do well? What could you improve?

Make a resolution that this term your writing is going to be

the best you possibly can make it!

 

Yes

No

Handwriting joined up

 

 

Writing all the same height

 

 

Equal spaces between words

 

 

Writing all sloping the same way

 

 

Writing looks grown up

 

 

Letters all formed the right way

 

 

Writing easy to read

 

 

Straight margins and lines. Ruler used

 

 

We hope you find this advice helpful. 

The handwriting in 3rd class is getting better and better.

Keep up the great work and avoid the rollercoaster

at least when you are handwriting.

Instructional Videos: Contractions and the difference between ‘whose’ and ‘who’s’

Repetition when teaching and learning helps.

Though 3rd class are finding

knowing difference between ‘whose’ and ‘who’s’ easier now,

after the midterm break it might be good to revise.

Here are some instructional videos that go back over what we learned before.

This one gives the opportunity to practice what we learned:

Here are the answers:

As well as these instructional videos,

there are other videos on You Tube that teach about
the difference between ‘who’s’ and whose,
and contractions like ‘who’s’.

Remember, the internet is a portal to the world wide web.

Please supervise your children online.

Some of these you may have seen before and some are new.


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And another short instructional video. 

Who’s or Whose: the answers

Is it who’s or whose?

1. Who’s a wise owl? (Who is …?)
2. Whose coat was left in the yard? (belonging to someone)
3. Who’s going to draw a picture today? (Who is …?)
4. Whose dog can do tricks? (belonging to someone)
5. Whose little sister is in preschool? (belonging to someone)
6. Who’s your favorite sports star? (Who is …?)
7. Who’s going to get exercise after school today? (Who is …?)
8. Who’s going to help at home today? (Who is …?)
9. Whose new shoes are those? (belonging to someone)
10. Who’s the best class ever? (Who is …?)

We hope you are beginning to find it easier to know the difference between whose and who’s.

Do let us know if you need more help with this.

Answers to the riddles 1

  1. Joe’s mother had five children. The first was named Jane, the second was named June, the third was named Jean, the fourth was named James. What was the fifth child named? Joe of course,
  2. The more there is, the less you see. What is it? Fog. Did you get this right?
  3. What colour are peacock’s eggs? Peacocks don’t lay eggs. Peahens do.
  4. What gets more wet while it dries? A towel.
  5. It’s as light as a feather, but the strongest person can’t hold it for more than five minutes. What is it? Your breath.

I hope these made you think 😉 

Free-Photos / Pixabay

Hints for even better handwriting.

We are seeing great improvements in handwriting while you are working at home. We think this is because of the encouragement you are getting from your teacher at home to write well.

Here are some hints to make your handwriting even better.

Sometimes handwriting can look like a bit of a roller coaster.

The letters are all different sizes, so that the line of the writing goes up and down, like a roller coaster.

Can you see in the next photo, the handwriting is a bit of a roller coaster.

The letters are different sizes.

The lines aren’t straight.

They go up and down like a roller coaster.

Sometimes handwriting can look like a slide.

MikeGoad / Pixabay

The line of the handwriting goes from tall to small, creating a line, like a slide.


Sometimes the letters look as if they are bouncing on a trampoline.

cotrim / Pixabay

The letters do not all start on the bottom line.

They look as if they are jumping up and down.


Can you see what has happened here?

This is Jane.

ThePixelman / Pixabay

Sometimes ‘a’s’ and ‘o’s can look like ‘u’s.

So this sentence says …

when it should read …

homework-study-girl.jpg
Photo Credit: r. nial bradshaw via Compfight

Here is a handy checklist to help you improve your handwriting.

What do you do well? What could you improve?

Make a resolution that this year your writing is going to be

the best you possibly can make it!

 

Yes

No

Handwriting joined up

 

 

Writing all the same height

 

 

Equal spaces between words

 

 

Writing all sloping the same way

 

 

Writing looks grown up

 

 

Letters all formed the right way

 

 

Writing easy to read

 

 

Straight margins and lines. Ruler used

 

 

We hope you find this advice helpful. 

The handwriting in 3rd class is getting better and better.

Keep up the great work and avoid the rollercoaster

at least when you are handwriting.