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SavannahYear 8

Year 4 · Writing stories and reports

Checking and improving your own writing

Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors and propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors and propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency

Key learning points

  • • Read it out loud
  • • One job at a time
  • • Keep the tense the same
  • • Upgrade, do not just decorate

This lesson at a glance

  • 20 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

proof-readspellingpunctuationerrorspropose

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Checking and improving your own writing

Follow the steps that turn an idea into a finished story.

In a nutshell

Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors and propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You can plan and write a piece with paragraphs.

Recap: y4-english-4
3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

proof-read
Reading carefully to find mistakes in spelling and punctuation.
edit
Changing words and sentences to make the meaning better.
consistency
Keeping the same tense and the same voice all the way through.
tense
Whether the writing is in the past (walked) or the present (walks).
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Proof-reading

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Read it out loud

Your ear catches what your eye skips. Read your writing aloud, slowly. Wherever you naturally pause and there is no punctuation, you probably need a comma or a full stop. Wherever you run out of breath, the sentence is too long. Wherever you stumble, a reader will stumble too.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

One job at a time

Do not hunt for everything at once. Go through once for full stops and capital letters. Go through again for spellings you are unsure of — the ones that gave you a funny feeling as you wrote them. Then check speech punctuation if there is any. Separate passes catch far more than one big worried read.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Why read your work aloud?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Which sentence breaks the tense?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Making it better

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Keep the tense the same

This is the most common Year 4 slip: 'I walked into the cave. It is dark and cold. Then I heard a noise.' The middle sentence has jumped to the present. Pick past or present at the start and stay there: 'It was dark and cold.' Read only your verbs to check — walked, was, heard: all past, so it is consistent.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Upgrade, do not just decorate

Editing is not sprinkling adjectives. Look for a weak verb and replace it: 'went quickly' becomes 'darted'. Look for a sentence that repeats what the last one said and delete it. Look for 'nice', 'big' and 'got' and ask what you actually mean. Cutting a word is often a bigger improvement than adding one.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

The best way to proof-read is…

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Which is the strongest edit of 'He went quickly to the door'?

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Editing while you are still drafting, so nothing gets finished.
  • Swapping tenses halfway through without noticing.
  • Thinking more adjectives always means better writing.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Wherever you naturally pause and there is no ____, you probably need a comma or a full stop.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

The last bus

The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.

She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.

Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.

Original extract written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
  2. How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
  3. Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.

  • Reading response

    Reading

    Read the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.

    20 minutes' reading

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

Next

Back to your Year 4 units, or a few minutes of quick practice.

All Year 4 unitsSkills quest
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