Make Spelling Fun! May 2016

Why learn to spell? Spelling plays a supporting role in reading and vice versa. It “forces” children to SLOW down and really focus on the letter combinations that make up words. Spelling takes words out of context and this means young readers have to stop and study the word. Spelling helps kids read with more fluency Spelling helps with comprehension of a text because if a child can read more accurately and fluently spending less time labouring through words, their minds can be freed up to focus on understanding the text (the ultimate purpose of reading).

To start off this process : In Early Years and KS1, children now need to be familiar with certain terms: Phoneme –this is the smallest unit of sound e.g the word boat is made up of three phonemes: /b/ at the start, /oa/ in the middle and /t/ at the end. Grapheme - this is a letter or a number of letters that represent a sound (phoneme) in a word. Another way to explain it is to say that a grapheme is a letter or letters that spell a sound in a word. An example of a one letter grapheme: c a t. The sounds /k/ is represented by the letter ‘c’. A two letter grapheme: leaf. The sound /ee/ is represented by the letters ‘e a’. Diagraph - A digraph is a phoneme (single sound) that is made up of two letters. The digraph above, /oa/, is a vowel digraph, because it is made up of two vowels. A split diagraph - When a digraph is split by a consonant it becomes a split digraph. For example: wrote – the 'oe' here make one sound. The 'oe' digraph is split by the 't' Trigraph - A trigraph is a single sound can also be made up of three letters. For example: light

Children learn these terms when they are taught Batty Phonics which is a phonic strategy that we follow at Usworth Colliery.

The new National Curriculum has placed greater emphasis on spelling and new guidance and word lists have been given to schools. The teaching of the phonics process continues in KS1. Once pupils have learnt more than one way of spelling particular sounds, choosing the right letter/letters depends on the children either having made a conscious effort to learn the words or having absorbed them less consciously through their reading. In order to support the process of spelling in KS1 the Government have now provided lists of words embodying each pattern which is taught. All the words in the lists are used frequently in pupils’ writing.

In Year 2 they are expected to know words like: bridge village happier Monday treasure enjoyment In year 1 they need to know words like: catch kitchen quickest brown unhappy

In KS2, phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling. The word lists for years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 are a mixture of words pupils frequently use in their writing and those which they often misspell.

Year 4 they are expected to know words like: hesitation favourite electrician occasion(ally) Year 3 they are expected to know words like: accept grown frantically completely

Year 6 they are expected to know words like: accommodate conscious ancient guarantee Year 5 they are expected to know words like: confidential disastrous embarrass suspicious

If children understand relationships between meaning of words and spelling it can help them to work out the correct spelling of words. For example, understanding the relationship between medical and medicine may help pupils to spell the /s/ sound in medicine with the letter ‘c’. Pupils can also be helped to spell words with prefixes and suffixes correctly if they understand some general principles for adding them.

How should we teach Spelling? We know that : Sending home spelling lists don’t work so we need to have a much more fun approach so that children want to learn about words. Spelling rules need to be explicitly taught; Rules and patterns should be investigated using a multi- sensory approach as spellings are rarely applied to independent writing unless they have been thoroughly taught and investigated.

What spelling strategies can we use? Root words To learn a word children can find the word root. They can see whether the root has been changed when new letters are added e.g. for a prefix, suffix or a tense change. e.g. smiling = smile + ing; smiles, smiled Signal =sign + al Faith =faithful, faithfully, unfaithfully, unfaithful Beauty = beautiful, Beautifully, beautician Use = useless, usable, used, using, user, misuse.

Syllables and Phonemes To learn a word children can listen to how many syllables there are so they can break it into smaller bits to remember. Then they can identify the phonemes in each syllable. e.g. Sep-tem-ber. Analogy To learn a word children can use words that they already know to help them e.g. could, would, should

Mnemonics To learn a word children can make up a sentence to help them remember it. e.g. could – o u lucky duck; people – people eat orange peel like elephants. Handwriting To learn a word children can remember and practise the direction and movement of their pencil when they am writing it.

So now it is over to you!

Vocabulary Bingo! Choose 6 words and write them on your bingo card. You will then listen to a clip from a film called ‘Pandora.’ You must listen carefully and cross off the words as you hear them. There is a prize for the winner. Exoticbeautyamazon creaturesstrangeanimals severalsystemsolardangerhunter moonPandoramountains orbitingworld mysterytropical canopylight scalefrighteningearth Yearsvarietypreymagnetic organismseveralrainforest

Joining Words Use this activity to explore compound words – how many words can your make? You’ll find this activity in your spelling booklet presented in a slightly different form so that it can be played as more of a game. senseproperimvinciblepopular placedislikebehavein misvisibleluckyfictionhonest kindnecessarynonbelieveappear unpossibledoagreeusual

Just to finish, we thought we would share how understanding our language and noticing patterns can improve spelling.

With thanks to: for the following ideashttp://.thespellingblog.blogspot.com

Spelling –el, -al, -le endings These 3 letter strings all make the same sound – so how do you know which one to use?

A huge factor in encouraging your child to investigate spellings is to: Make it fun Identify patterns in words Use highlighters, felt pens, coloured pencils to make words colourful

Let’s visit the website to show you where you can access important information