Connectives are used to join sentences together. Children are encouraged to use a wider range of connectives as they progress through the national curriculum levels: At level 1 they will start to join two sentences together using ‘and’, at level 2 they will start to use ‘but’, ‘so’, ‘then’ and also be introduced to and begin to experiment with a wider range of connectives; ‘because’ ‘if’ ‘when’. At level 3 they use a wider range of connectives which might include some of the following; because, before, after, when, if. Children also learn to use connectives to open sentences; Before, After, When. At level 4 children use a range of connectives, usually accurately and consistently. They experiment in the use of more ambitious connectives to open sentences e.g. Although, Having, Despite.
Openers do what they say- they open sentences. At level 1 they start sentences with words like The, My and I. At level 2 they can use openers to show a sequence; First, Then, Next. They begin to use connectives to start sentences. At level 3 they start to use more sophisticated openers; Although, After a while…, The golden sun shone, The little, old man…. At level 4 they use ambitious connectives to open sentences Having, Despite, and phrases such as ‘Due to the lack of..’, Before the audience left….’