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English · Ages 8–9 · 55 minutes

Fronted adverbials

Children identify adverbials that tell when, where or how something happens, move them to the front of a sentence, and use a comma after a fronted adverbial.

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Success criteria

  • I can find an adverbial that tells when or where or how
  • I can move it to the start of my sentence
  • I can put a comma after a fronted adverbial

Key vocabulary

  • adverbial
  • fronted
  • comma
  • when
  • where
  • how
  • sentence opener

You will need

  • sentence strips cut into parts
  • large comma cards
  • three hoops or boxes labelled When Where How
  • highlighters

Curriculum links

  • Year 4· England

Practice sheets

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The lesson at a glance

55 minutes in all. Timings are a guide: follow your class.

  1. Step 1: Starter

    Write: The cat slept.
    7 minutes

  2. Step 2: Teach

    Cut the sentence strip into its parts: The cat slept / after lunch / on the sunny windowsill.
    13 minutes

  3. Step 3: Guided practice

    Move it to the front: children rewrite each sentence on whiteboards with the adverbial fronted and the comma added: We put on our coats because it was cold.
    10 minutes

  4. Step 4: Independent practice

    Use the practice buttons.
    18 minutes

  5. Step 5: Plenary

    Opener swap: read a short paragraph where every sentence starts with The.
    7 minutes

  6. Step 6: Assessment for learning

    Check commas in children's own sentences, especially after longer adverbials like As the sun went down.

  7. Step 7: Differentiation

    Support: give a word bank of fronted adverbials sorted by type, and sentence frames with the comma already printed: , the dog ran away.

  8. Step 8: Common misconceptions

    Forgetting the comma: the most common error.

  9. Step 9: Home link

    Take turns describing your day where each sentence must start with a when, where or how opener: "After school, I..."

1.Starter

7 minutes

Write: The cat slept.

"That's a sentence, but it's a bit plain. I want to know more. When did the cat sleep?" Add children's ideas to the end: The cat slept after lunch.

"Where?" The cat slept after lunch on the sunny windowsill.

"How?" The cat slept peacefully after lunch on the sunny windowsill.

"Each of these chunks adds information about the action. They're called adverbials."

2.Teach

13 minutes

Cut the sentence strip into its parts: The cat slept / after lunch / on the sunny windowsill.

"Adverbials are movable. Watch." Move After lunch to the front.

"After lunch the cat slept on the sunny windowsill. When an adverbial moves to the front of a sentence, it's a fronted adverbial. And we need something extra..."

Place a large comma card after it. "After lunch, the cat slept... The comma tells the reader where the opener ends and the main part of the sentence begins."

Sort examples into the When, Where and How hoops:

  • When: Later that day, / Every morning, / Before breakfast,
  • Where: Under the bridge, / In the distance, / Across the field,
  • How: Slowly, / With a huge grin, / As quietly as possible,

"Why would a writer move it to the front?" To vary how sentences start. To set the scene first. To build suspense.

Read the opening of Lunch Cooked by the Sun aloud: In the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, it hardly ever rains...

"Where does this sentence start? With where. The author sets the scene before anything happens."

The rest of the plan

Guided and independent practice, the plenary, assessment for learning, differentiation, common misconceptions and the home link are free with a Crayonbird account.

  1. Guided practice10 minutes
  2. Independent practice18 minutes
  3. Plenary7 minutes
  4. Assessment for learning
  5. Differentiation
  6. Common misconceptions
  7. Home link
See the whole plan, free

Learning Wiki

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A fact is something that can be checked and proved true or false. An opinion is what someone thinks or feels, and other people may disagree.

Inference

Inference means working out something the writer has not said directly, using clues in the text plus what you already know. It is often called reading between the lines.

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Summarising means retelling the most important ideas of a text briefly, in your own words, leaving out small details and examples.

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