This card sorting activity works well with pairs of year 3 children. There are 18 cards; pupils need to decide which are simple past tense eg 'She finished' and which are present perfect tense eg 'She has finished'. There are heading cards for each of the tenses, and an overall title card for the activity, which is useful if you want to put a rubber band around each set. I have found that this works well in the early stages of learning about present perfect tense, when the pupils are not quite ready to do written activities. It can also be useful as a quick activity for older pupils to revisit the present perfect tense as revision, or for SEN groups working with a TA.

In KS1 and for SEN/EAL pupils in KS2, the concept of a sentence is often rather difficult. This activity is best done in a group with an adult, but it could be done independently in pairs. There are four pictures and for each one, there is a choice of sentences. Some are ungrammatical, or are phrases rather than complete sentences. The idea is to discuss and choose the best sentence for each picture. There is not always a clear winner, so pupils have to justify their choice. In addition, there are a few question, command or exclamation sentences alongside statements for children to notice. I found that this task really helps children clear up their misunderstandings and develop their confidence with this aspect of grammar. Once they have chosen the sentence, it can be copied into their book, but I then ask them to compose their own sentences as well. If you use it, I'd love feedback about it, as I hope to make more of these at different levels.