Teacher notes for this lesson. Two sides of A4, not for pupils.Mild sheetMedium sheetSpicy sheetAnswers
Teacher notes · not for pupils Punctuation sequence

Whose is it?

Apostrophes for possession

Lesson 6 of 14
Year 4 45 min

Objective

Use apostrophes for singular and plural possession, and tell possession apart from plurals and contractions.

Board title: Apostrophes for belonging  ·  Say it: “Today we're using apostrophes to show that something belongs to someone, and deciding whether it's one owner or more than one before we place the mark.”

Curriculum

  • Y4: apostrophes to mark plural possession
  • Y2: singular possession (revisited)
  • Terminology: apostrophe
  • STA domain: G5.6

Success criteria

  • put an apostrophe BEFORE the s for one owner
  • put an apostrophe AFTER the s for more than one
  • say why a plural needs no apostrophe
  • write my own sentences using both

Key vocabulary

apostrophe · possession · singular · plural · owner · contraction

Run of the lesson

5 min
Starter: recap can't → cannot on the board, then show Polpetta's hat. Ask: does an apostrophe always mean missing letters? Take answers, do not resolve it.
9 min
Model with the café: Polpetta's apron, one chef, apostrophe before the s; the chefs' aprons, many chefs, apostrophe after. Draw the owner first, then place the mark, asking 'how many owners?' three times.
8 min
Mind the Apostrophe, Medium band, on the whiteboard. Class votes before you tap; a child says the rule aloud each round, how many owners, before or after the s.
6 min
Trap and votes: Fresh tomato's! Name the greengrocer's apostrophe explicitly, nothing belongs to the tomato, and it largely goes. Then the four votes, a WHY before each reveal (answers: a-left, b-right, c-left, d-right).
14 min
Worksheet, independent. Circulate on Task 3: the tell is an apostrophe creeping into the plain-plural line (I ate three pizza's), so ask 'how many owners?' at every apostrophe and 'does anything belong to it?' wherever a plural has grown one.
3 min
Plenary: two children read a Task 3 sentence, class calls singular or plural. Then the class quiz: does anything belong to the pizza in Fresh pizza's for sale?
On screenSPAGhetti → Mind the Apostrophe → Medium. One screen only; no pupil devices needed. ~8 items in 10 minutes with discussion.
SPAGhetti · Punctuation sequence · Lesson 6 of 14  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils Whose is it? · side 2

On the day

If the tech failsSkip the game entirely. Task 1 is the same content on paper, read the four pairs aloud and vote with thumbs. The lesson still works.
If they're on devicesLesson code APOSD (on the worksheet footer) opens the right game, locks the café until 10 items are done, then unlocks it as the reward.

Misconceptions to watch for

The greengrocer's apostrophe. Fresh tomato's for sale. A plural is not a possession. Most children arrive with this, name it explicitly and it largely goes.

Apostrophe after every s. They over-apply the new rule: Polpetta's → Polpettas'. Ask "how many owners?" every single time.

its / it's. The one possessive with no apostrophe. A sentence now; taught properly in Lesson 9.

Irregular plurals. children's, men's, no s on the plural, so the apostrophe goes before. Task 2 has one deliberately.

The three sheets

Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.

Mild

Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.

Medium

The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.

Spicy

Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.

Adaptive teaching

  • Support: Task 1, then Task 3 orally with a scribe. Game on Mild.
  • SEN: gentle mode on; read Task 2 aloud before they edit.
  • Stretch: Task 3 extension, one sentence with a plural and a plural possessive.
  • EAL: pre-teach owner. No equivalent in many first languages, model twice.

Play it

Lesson code APOSD at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.

SPAGhetti · Punctuation sequence · Lesson 6 of 14  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora