Page 46 - Ziptales Program Manual - AU

Skill Builders (Extending
Literacy 3-6)

Grammar
Nouns: What are nouns? Common nouns, proper nouns and those difficult to remember irregular plurals are
covered. (491 words) (Flesch 4.0)
Pronouns: Subject pronouns (eg I), object pronouns (eg me), possessive pronouns (eg yours) and
emphatic pronouns (eg myself). (888 words) (Flesch 3.9)
Verbs: Why use verbs? The lesson covers finite verbs (eg ran), infinitives (eg to run), auxiliary verbs (eg have),
participles (eg running) and tense. (638 words) (Flesch 3.4)
Adverbs: What are adverbs? The differences between adverbs of manner (eg angrily), time (eg now) and place
(eg here). (460 words) (Flesch 3.8)
Adjectives: Common adjectives (eg beautiful), adjectives of quantity (eg whole), distinction (eg this) and
question adjectives (eg which). (598 words) (Flesch 4.2)
Prepositions: Prepositions of time, place, direction and other variations are explained, together with
common mistakes (to avoid). (706 words) (Flesch 3)
Sentences: What is a predicate? How do you make a ‘simple’ sentence into a ‘complex’ sentence
(conjunctions and other devices). (1000 words) (Flesch 4.2)

Punctuation
Capital letters: Why we need capitals: beginning sentences, marking proper nouns and the special case of ‘I’.
Common mistakes are reviewed. (810 words) (Flesch 4.9)
Full stops: Uses of the full stop - to end a sentence, as well as abbreviations, question marks, exclamation
marks and ellipsis. (556 words) (Flesch 3.6)
Commas: The major uses of commas are explained: for lists, adjectives, clauses, to separate out a name and
for quotations. (414 words) (Flesch 4.8)
Quotation marks: This lesson explains marks for direct speech. How they are dealt with inside sentences
is described in detail. (872 words) (Flesch 4.2)
Apostrophes: Apostrophes of contraction (eg don’t) and of possession (eg Jane’s), as well the most
common mistakes. (750 words) (Flesch 5.7)

Comprehension
Text Types: a series of lessons about key text types
Reading about facts: Two text examples are analysed - using six common questions to sift the key facts out
of all the detail. (1372 words) (Flesch 6.2)
Reading narratives: How to break narratives down into the basics? This unit explains how, with two
complex examples. (1931 words) (Flesch 3.3)
Reading arguments: This lesson breaks argument down into its essentials, and offers clues for analysing what
a writer or speaker is saying. (1585 words) (Flesch 5.6)

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