Cross-Curricular Literacy at John Cabot Academy Spelling Strategies 1 LO To learn some strategies to help with tricky spellings

Vowels It is important to know about vowels The vowels are: a, e, i, o and u Vowel sounds can be made by combinations of letters, not just by the vowels themselves eg failed - the a sound is made is made by ai moat - the o sound is made by oa leak – the e sound is made by ea All other letters in the alphabet are consonants

All vowel sounds are either short or long Short vowel sounds: a = mat, anachronism e = egg, edge i = inside, coincide o = honest, allotment u = umbrella, anachronism

All vowel sounds are either short or long Long vowel sounds: a = mason, deflated, laid, lay e = defeated, meeting, relieved i = inside, coincide o = floated u = chewing, blue

Spelling Strategy 1 Doubling up Consonants When adding to the end of a word which has a short vowel before the final consonant, you need to double up the final consonant: flap - flapping excel - excelled sin -sinned hop - hopped drum – drummer If there are already two consonants after the short vowel, do not add any more consonants eg muck - mucking

Spelling Strategy 2 Adding –ing and -ed If you add –ing or –ed to the end of a base word ending in –e, you should lose the final –e make - making tease - teased freeze - freezing move - moving

Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals Most singular nouns (naming words) usually just add –s to their endings to make plurals (more than one) dog – dogs shed – sheds car - cars

Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals Most nouns ending in hissing, shushing or buzzing sounds add –es in the plural ash - ashes buzz - buzzes watch – watches sandwich - sandwiches witch – witches bus - buses glass – glasses inch - inches fax – faxes fish - fishes/fish kiss - kisses brush – brushes Try saying “ashs” or “kisss” and you will hear why we need the bridge of the “e” between the sounds at the end of words.

Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals Most words ending in –f or –fe change to –ves in the plural scarf – scarves wife – wives thief – thieves knife - knives half – halves leaf - leaves loaf – loaves wolf - wolves elf – elves calf – calves Try saying “thiefs” and you will hear the logic behind this spelling strategy.