Colourful semantics is a fantastic tool to support children in forming appropriate sentence structures (both spoken and written) as well as helping them to develop more interesting/complex sentences and increase their vocabulary. It breaks sentence elements up into colours – with each colour representing a different element. This helps children to learn what is important to include in their writing (to ensure it makes sense to readers, and that it is interesting), as well as a useful way to learn to self-check their work.

At St George Preca, we use colourful semantics as a whole class approach to writing, as well as an individualised literacy intervention to support the specific needs of our students. The presentation below provides an overview of colourful semantics and how it can be used, with some examples and tips to remember. Under the ‘Colourful Semantics’ tab on this page, you will also find tabs linking you to printable versions of the coloured cue cards, images for writing prompt/idea generation, as well as extra games/activities to support your child’s learning and understanding of each colourful semantic element.

Miss Walker, SP 🙂