A practical professional learning resource for primary teachers wanting to teach sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and sentence writing in fun and effective ways.

This downloadable teacher resource has been developed to help Years 0–8 teachers build confidence when teaching sentence structure and grammar. It includes a clear breakdown of teacher knowledge, sentence combining strategies, and best-practice writing instruction methods supported by research.

Whether you are new to teaching grammar, unsure how to teach sentences explicitly, or simply looking for more engaging sentence structure activities, this resource is designed to make sentence teaching easier, clearer, and more effective.

You will receive:

• A set of 16 short professional learning videos, in which I explain key sentence structure concepts and model effective classroom strategies;

• Written summaries of each video, followed by sentence study activities for teachers;

• A comprehensive teacher guide to sentence structure knowledge;

• A tricky punctuation guide for teachers;

• A practical guide to the sentence combining method.

In the past, teaching sentence structure and grammar has often relied on formal approaches and complicated terminology. However, research shows that heavily label-focused grammar instruction is often not the most effective way to improve writing outcomes for students.

Instead, grammar and sentence knowledge are best taught through meaningful reading, writing, discussion, and carefully designed sentence activities.

With this in mind, I present sentence structure knowledge in friendly, functional, and accessible ways, without oversimplifying the content. You will learn everything you need to know, including the meanings of those intimidating grammar terms, while also gaining practical teaching strategies you can use immediately in the classroom.

The teaching approaches I recommend have been demonstrated to improve writing quality, sentence control, revising skills, and student confidence. Most importantly, they help make teaching grammar and sentence writing more enjoyable for both teachers and students.

So join me, colleagues, to “make friends with sentences” and gain the confidence to teach sentence structure in engaging, research-informed, and effective ways.

About This Resource

These resources have been developed to help teachers to:

(i) make informed judgements about whether students are achieving the objectives contained in the Writing strand of the new, New Zealand Curriculum;

(ii) consider draft writing and decide on the most relevant and helpful next learning step.

What’s Included:

A Teacher’s Companion to Writing in the NZC

This is my version of the Writing strand, revised to make it more user-friendly. In this, I have endeavoured to maintain the essence of the Ministry’s mandated teaching objectives, but have revised the Ministry’s wording in the name of ‘plain language’ and to avoid unnecessary repetition.

Informal Assessment of Writing Progress - Years 0-6

This is a summative tool, to assist teachers in making overall judgements about whether their students are meeting the curriculum expectations for their year level. The tool includes checklists for each level (from Year 1-6), as well as writing samples to illustrate what ‘at’ writing may look like, as well as writing which is not yet ‘at’. Teachers will colour code the skills on each checklist, to show whether the student is able to do these things independently and consistently, with support, or not yet.

Informal Assessment of Writing Progress - Years 7 and 8

This is an extension to the IAWP for Years 0-6. It includes checklists for each year level, and writing samples to illustrate what ‘at’ writing may look like, as well as writing which is not yet ‘at’. These checklists are intended to be used just as the earlier year level checklists are, following the colour coding system.

The Scope and Sequence of Compositional Goals

This is for formative purposes. It lists critical goals, across four stages of writing development, in child-friendly language. It also includes advice for the level of support to give at each stage, and assessment checkpoints to help judge when the student has moved to a new stage.

A copy with pictures, for students, has also been provided.

Note that, while these goals will support progress towards the objectives of the NZC:

(i) The stages reflect broad stages in writing development, and have nothing to do with curriculum phases.

(ii) There are fewer goals in this document than in the NZC, because some objectives will not require explicit teaching - to the same extent as others will.

(iii) These goals are broken-down versions of the larger curriculum objectives.

(iv) These goals are learning objectives, while our current curriculum contains teaching objectives.

How to Slideshow

This may assist you to better understand how to use the three assessment tools.

How to Webinar video

This will also assist you to use the tools. Note that it is a live recording, and includes some diversions to topics such as how to sequence handwriting instruction in the early years. The tone is informal, but hopefully still engaging and helpful.

Note also, that Year 7-8 writing is not discussed in the webinar.

This is a scope and sequence of compositional goals for primary (elementary) students, aligned with approximate spelling stages (from Spelling Made Simple) and suggested year levels. These are intended to be taught and practised with close support from the teacher, and in the context of meaningful writing tasks. The goals reflect current research in writing development and have been trialed in the NZ context (Walls & Johnston, 2021). Use this document to select goals which are relevant and powerful. Provide targeted teaching with greater confidence and clarity of purpose.

Spelling Made Simple is an evidence-based programme for the teaching of spelling. It is presented as eight easy-to-follow units, with assessment checkpoints, making it straightforward to pinpoint student needs and provide targeted teaching.

If you are new to teaching spelling, this programme will support you to upskill in your knowledge of content and teaching methods. Explanations are provided for all of the spelling patterns and rules that you need to teach. Routine lesson plans are provided too - so there’s no need for guesswork.

Spelling Made Simple was developed with busy classroom teachers in mind. It will support you to provide high quality instruction, and save you hours of planning time.