Use this building a sentence game to develop Y1 pupils’ formation of simple sentences and develop and improve their understanding of how you structure sentences.
Building a sentence
Children can use the Who?, What? and Where? cards to form simple sentences, rehearsing them orally before writing.
You can play this sentence game for KS1 as a whole class as a fun English lesson starter activity or as the main focus of the lesson. You can also use it as a writing intervention in KS1 or KS2 for pupils who may need support to form sentences.
To play the game, pupils will need:
Sentence Builder game board (version one or two)
Who?, What? and Where cards (or Who? and What? cards)
Something to write on (paper, writing book or whiteboard)
How to play the game
You can play this game individually, in pairs or small groups. Pupils (or an adult) should choose a card from each pile and place them on the game board. Pupils orally rehearse forming a sentence using the cards chosen.
Write the sentences that you’ve created (if appropriate for the pupils playing the game). Discuss the punctuation you should use and remind pupils that they should leave spaces between words.
This download contains
Two sentence builder game boards Teacher notes 18 What, where and who cards Blank cards for teachers or pupils to add their own words
What is a sentence?
A sentence is a group of words which are connected to each other and complete in itself. A simple sentence consists of a main clause and are sometimes referred to as single-clause sentences.
National Curriculum English programme of study links
- Teach pupils to write sentences by composing sentences orally before writing it.
- Teach pupils how words can combine to create sentences.