Every week in Year 3, we have been working on dictation sentences as part of our daily handwriting practice. After practising how to form the letter ‘m’ correctly, we built on this by looking at words that contain the letter m. One of our favourites was mammals.
Dictation helps the children develop their spelling, handwriting, grammar and listening skills all at once. Here are the steps we follow:
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Say the sentence (more than once if needed)”All mammals have spines and fur.”
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Count the words together”All mammals have spines and fur. Six!”
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Read with expression (prosody)”All mammals have spines and fur.”
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I model the sentence – using sound buttons or highlighting grammar/punctuation features
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Say the sentence again”All mammals have spines and fur.”
- Cover it (still showing sound buttons and other grammar/ punctuation features) and the children write it
The children have been working brilliantly and are becoming much more confident at listening carefully and writing accurately.
Help at home: Write your own dictation sentences.