8 of the best colons and semicolons KS2 worksheets and resources
Today's kids might use these important punctuation marks more for emojis than making a pause in a sentence – but these SPaG activities will help them get to grips with using them correctly in their writing…
- by Teachwire
1 | Colons and semicolons guide
This PowerPoint is a simple, easy-to-understand guide to how and when each of these punctuation marks are used, and the difference between them.
2 | Semicolons: where should they go?
This short PowerPoint is a good introduction to semicolons as it compares them with colons, commas and full stops in terms of their “strength” and tasks pupils with correctly placing them in sentences.
3 | Colons and semicolons worksheet
These KS2 grammar teaching sequences for colons and semicolons have been designed to help children revisit and remember a key grammatical concept from the National Curriculum programme of study.
Each session provides a motivating and memorable image to stimulate discussion, before introducing the grammar element. Children have time to practise using this feature, before undertaking a short writing task to apply what they have learnt in the context of creative writing.
Part one is ‘Baking Biscuits’ while part 2 is ‘Trainee Witch’, and each one includes teacher notes and a pupil worksheet.
You can download part 1 here and part 2 here.
4 | Semicolon worksheet
Whether it’s for a recap or plenary, this one-page PDF has a brief description of semicolon use and then nine sentences for students to add a semicolon in the right place.
It then asks them to pick any of the sentences and write a paragraph based on it, including at least two semicolons.
You can download and print here.
5 | Grammar and punctuation games
In this list of eight games to add sparkle to your literacy lessons you’ll find one called ‘Semicolon Pairs’.
Here, you give out an array of independent clauses which could be joined with a semicolon, then ask the children to get up and move around the classroom to find their partner.
Examples might include, ‘It was an incredibly hot day; our ice-creams melted within minutes’ or ‘The tiger escaped from the zoo; safety checks on the enclosures were poor’.
As a class you then make a list of pairings and write them on the board with a semicolon between.
Check out the full list here. You can also find more punctuation games here.
6 | Semicolons for clauses
This SPaG challenge mat is an excellent way to revise and practise using semi-colons for clauses.
The worksheets are divided into five different types of activity, including writing challenges and GPS sample test questions.
7 | Semicolons in lists
Of course, there’s more to semicolons that just marking a longer pause than a comma. This worksheet looks at using them in lists, and asks students to put them in the correct position in a range of list-based sentences.
8 | Colons in lists
Naturally, this brings us to colons in lists, and this interactive activity has 10 questions for children to try to get to grips with using them for this purpose.
