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

Say It Once

Nouns and pronouns for cohesion

Lesson 12 of 17
Year 4 45 min

Objective

Choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion, replacing repetition with he, she, it, him, her, them, and keeping the noun when a pronoun would be ambiguous.

Board title: Swapping names for pronouns  ·  Say it: “Today we're swapping a repeated name for a little word like he or them, and keeping the name whenever the little word could mean two people.”

Curriculum

  • Y4: choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
  • Y2: subordination and coordination (revisited, the sentences being joined)
  • Terminology: pronoun · noun · cohesion
  • STA domain: G1.5a

Success criteria

  • spot the name a story keeps repeating
  • choose he, she, it or they for the doer
  • choose him, her, it or them for the done-to
  • keep the name when the little word could mean two people

Key vocabulary

pronoun · noun · point back · echo · doer · done-to · clear

Run of the lesson

5 min
Starter: read the echo card flat, twice, Polpetta opened the café. Polpetta made the soup. How does it sound? Don't name the pronoun yet.
10 min
Model the swap on three pairs, always asking who the little word points back to. Then the two teams, doer in front of the verb (he, she, they), done-to after it (him, her, them), chanted with the chips. Finish with the trap: Mia and Nonna both in view, and one She.
8 min
Don't Say It Twice, Mild band, it highlights the repeated words, so it does half the modelling for you. Class votes before you tap; someone says who the word points back to each round. The keep-the-name traps stay on the slides today.
5 min
Vote pairs: a child says WHO the little word points to before each reveal; in d, with two people in view, the name is the clearer choice, and the game plays it the same way (answers: a-left, b-right, c-left, d-right).
14 min
Worksheet, independent. Circulate on Task 3: make them touch the name each pronoun replaces; the things to catch are a pronoun that points at nothing and a them doing a doer's job.
3 min
Plenary: read Mia told Nonna the news. She was pleased. She hugged her. and let them argue who hugged whom, nobody can know, that is the point. Mend it together for the class quiz, keeping one name.
On screenSPAGhetti → Don't Say It Twice → Mild. One screen only; no pupil devices needed. Mild is the swap and the two teams, today's content exactly. The keep-the-name traps live on the Spicy band; today they stay on the slides, so do not chase them in the game. ~8 items in 10 minutes with discussion.
SPAGhetti · Grammar sequence · Lesson 12 of 17  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils Say It Once · 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. Then one echoing paragraph on the board, mended line by line. The lesson still works.
If they're on devicesLesson code GLUED (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

Them started the bread. The done-to team used as a doer. Chant the teams: he, she, they in front of the verb; him, her, them after it. Hearing the wrong one aloud usually fixes it.

Swapping every single repeat. Once taught, they hunt every echo, and produce She was pleased with two women in view. Keeping the name is sometimes the better writing. This is the lesson's real prize, and the Spicy sheet leans into it.

A pronoun that points at nothing. A story that opens He was hungry, who is? Every pronoun must point back at a name already on the page. Ask 'who?' and make them touch the name.

It for a plural. Leo washed the pans and stacked it up. One thing → it; more than one → them. Quick to fix once the child says the sentence aloud.

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: he, she and it only, doers only. Task 1, then Task 3 orally with a scribe. Game stays on Mild level 1.
  • SEN: gentle mode on; read Task 2 aloud and let them point at who each word means before they edit.
  • Stretch: Task 3 extension, a three-sentence story where a pronoun would confuse, and a line saying why the name stayed.
  • EAL: many first languages drop pronouns entirely or use one word for he and she. Drill point-back aloud, say the name, then the little word, then the name again.

Play it

Lesson code GLUED 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 · Grammar sequence · Lesson 12 of 17  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora