Grammar work at Grade 6 level is mainly focussed on consolidation of skills learned during earlier grade levels. There are only a handful of new concepts that children are expected to learn at this stage. Most of their work this year will involve drafting articles that demonstrate an excellent understanding of the wide range of skills covered in grades 1-5. To help your child revise these learnings, you can work through this checklist with them. You can also find links to our detailed advice on what is covered in earlier grade levels, by using the above navigation.
New Skills
- Use subjective, objective and possessive pronouns
- Use intensive pronouns
- Recognize and change inappropriate shifts in pronoun use
- Vary sentence patterns and structure
- Maintain a consistency in style and tone of voice
Pronoun Case
There are three different cases of pronouns:
- Subjective pronouns are pronouns that are the subject of a sentence
- Objective pronouns are pronouns that are affected by the subject of the sentence
- Possessive pronouns show that something belongs to someone.
Subjective Pronouns
- I
- you
- he
- she
- it
- we
- you
- they
- who
Example:
I tell the funniest jokes.
- I = subjective pronoun
Objective Pronouns
- me
- you
- him
- her
- it
- us
- you
- them
- whom
Example:
Do we have to share the bananas with them?
- them = objective pronoun
Possessive Pronouns
- my
- your
- his
- her
- mine
- its
- their
- our
- yours
- his
- hers
- ours
- theirs
Example:
That’s my teleporting torch!
- my = possessive pronoun
Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are the same pronouns as reflexive pronouns, however their function within a sentence is different. A reflexive pronoun is essential to the meaning of a sentence. An intensive pronoun is not essential to the meaning of a sentence: it can be removed and the sentence will still make sense.
The following are all intensive pronouns:
- herself
- himself
- itself
- myself
- ourselves
- themselves
- yourself
- yourselves
Intensive pronouns are used for emphasis.
He himself rallied the animals.
Maji battled the Voids herself.
Tone and Consistency
When deciding on the tone of voice to use in a particular article or story, your child will need to answer the following questions before beginning their writing:
- What are you writing?
- Who is your audience?
- What are their expectations?
Practice Tip: Present your children with a topic and an audience demographic and challenge them to write a report with this group of people in mind. Ask them to annotate in the margins of their report and explain how they have directly addressed their audience and maintained this throughout their article.
Varying Sentence Structure
Children in Grade 6 will be expected to write articles and stories that display a wealth of variety in language and sentence structure in order to maintain the interest of their audience. There are many tools that children can use to help facilitate a high level of variety and pace in their writing.
Children can try to use a range of the following sentence types throughout their articles are stories:
- Simple Sentences
- Compound Sentences
- Complex Sentences
- Compound-Complex Sentences
They can also attempt to use a range of different clauses whilst writing, including:
- Independent Clauses
- Dependent / Subordinate Clauses
- Relative Clauses
- Noun / Pronoun Clauses
- Adjective Clauses
- Adverbial Clauses
Practice Tip: Your child can develop their writing craft by using nightzookeeper.com to post new articles and stories on a weekly basis. This will provide them with a space where they can write about whatever interests they have whilst at the same time, practising their basic writing skills that they have learned to date.
How Night Zookeeper can help
The Night Zookeeper program is packed full of opportunities for children to write. The many writing prompts provide a starting point for children that may sometimes struggle for ideas, whilst there are a wealth of opportunities to be fully creative, starting with a blank canvas. Nightzookeeper.com will also help your child to consolidate their learning from Grade 1 through to Grade 6.
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