Grammar
Language is the fundamental literacy skill and language is how we exchange our thoughts with other human beings. The sentence is the basic unit of speech; it is the expression of a single thought and consequently has a definite structure. Every thought and therefore every sentence is built around an action. In the sentence 'I see you' the action is the act of 'seeing' The word in sentence which represents the action is called a verb and every sentence has one. It is not possible to have a sentence that does not include a verb. Around the verb are word associated with questions such as "Who or what performed the action of the verb?" The other words in a sentence also play an important role in determining the accuracy of the thought being communicated and each type of word has its own name and its own place in the sentence.
The types of word which occur commonly are verbs which reveal the action in the sentence, adverbs which modify or change the meaning of the verb a little, nouns which name things which might appear in a sentence and adjectives which describe the nouns. A basic understanding of grammar means having good knowledge of its technical terms such as verb, adverb, noun, adjective etc and The Literacy Toolbox includes lessons which teach their meaning, exercise their use and assess the extent of each child's understanding of the underlying concepts.
The formal study of grammar is an important part of education for children from a young age through advanced learning, though the rules taught in schools are often prescriptive rather than descriptive but it is only in the study of English at an advanced level that a detailed understanding of grammar is essential. The Literacy Toolbox covers little more that the basic concepts but it covers these quite comprehensively.
The formal study of grammar is an important part of education for children from a young age through advanced learning, though the rules taught in schools are often prescriptive rather than descriptive but it is only in the study of English at an advanced level that a detailed understanding of grammar is essential. The Literacy Toolbox covers little more that the basic concepts but it covers these quite comprehensively.
We recommend that the Grammar courses are introduced in the final term of Year/Grade 5 and completed on a weekly basis before the end of Year/Grade 6. The general Grammar test in Literacy Toolbox is randomly derived from a substantial database and can confidently be repeated at fairly regular intervals. The record keeping facility automatically tracks each child's progress. Every child that completes this programme as recommended here. assimilates a substantial understanding of the basics of grammar.