Year 4 Building fluency in the four joins, suffixes and common exception words worksheet

“The four joins” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 English unit “Building fluency in the four joins, suffixes and common exception words”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 11 to 12 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

The four joins

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can name each of the four joins and choose the right one for a pair of letters.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which word means full of hope?
hopefulhopelesshoping
2.
Which ending makes kind into a naming word for being kind?
-ness-ful-less
3.
Which spelling is right for hop with -ing added?
hoppinghopinghopeing

B Watch me, then you4 min

Here is how to find the join between a and r in the word art.

Watch me

The a sits on the baseline.

The join rises to the x-height line.

So the join from a to r is the 1st join.

Now you

1.
Which join goes from o to b?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join
2.
Which join goes from v to i?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join

C Your turn7 min

Look at each pair of letters. Circle the join that connects them.

1.
Which join goes from a to n?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join
2.
Which join goes from o to l?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join
3.
Which join goes from o to n?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join
4.
Which join goes from i to l?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join

Say it out loud: Where does the join leave the first letter, and where does it land on the next? What changes from one row to the next?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Ravi says: “The join from o to w is the 2nd join, because it goes up high.”

1.
Which join really joins o to w?
1st join2nd join3rd join4th join

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Write one pair of letters that uses the 4th join. Explain how you know.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

The four joins · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. hopeful

2. -ness

3. hopping

B

1. 4th join If your child says 2nd join, they think the join leaves the o from the baseline. Ask: does the join leave the o at the top or the bottom, and where does it land on the b?

2. 3rd join

C

1. 1st join If your child says 3rd join, they may be looking at the shape of the letters, not the lines. Ask: where does the join leave the a, and where does it land on the n?

2. 4th join

3. 3rd join If your child says 1st join, they think the join starts on the baseline. Ask: does the o finish at the bottom or at the top, and where does the join land on the n?

4. 2nd join

D

1. 3rd join If your child still says 2nd join, they are thinking of a join that goes up high. Ask: does the o to w join climb to the ascender line, or dip and come back to the x-height line?

E

1. Look for: A pair such as o then h, with an explanation that the join leaves the x-height line and lands on the ascender line.

Words to use

Say“Where does this join leave the first letter, and where does it land? Which line is it touching?”

Instead of“Tell them the join number straight away, or ask them to copy the letters out again.”

After the sheet

Write the pairs oh and ow on a ruled sheet. Draw a pencil line showing where each join leaves and lands, then say which join it is.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Four shun endings(with a plan)
Homophones in cursive(with a plan)
Smooth writing to the last letter(with a plan)
Quotations with care(with a plan)
Copying a Joined Poem(with a plan)

Every Year 4 English worksheet

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