Primary spelling training for parents Help your child to spell

What makes a good speller? Good spellers have a range of strategies and use them They use knowledge of letter patterns to spell new words ‘See’ words written in their head ‘Feel’ the correct spelling Break words down into units (syllables or onset and rime) rather than individual sounds – [The "onset" is the initial phonological unit of any word (eg c in cat) and the term "rime" refers to the string of letters that follow, usually a vowel and final consonants (eg at in cat).]

General tips to help your child Little and often works best Focus on what your child succeeds at Make it fun and use different ways Most of all PRAISE and ENCOURAGE

Help your child by using a multi-sensory approach… Kinaesthetic what we feel Visual what we see Auditory what we hear Multi sensory techniques feed the brain the information at the same time. This helps to practise, overlearn and retain the spellings.

Visual Flashcards used for reading and spelling Play snap or matching games Play noughts and crosses with tricky words Look say cover write check Use different colours for sound families eg light , high, sigh, tight Take turns to write/type next letter Use sound boxes Use analogy eg day way say Breaking words apart

Auditory I say it as whole word, I say each sound, I say whole word, they repeat and write it out Clapping sounds or syllables (c-a-t / fan-tas-tic) Close eyes and listen to you or themselves & write what they hear Pull the word out the mouth slowly and listen for each sound Say the sounds through all visual and kinaesthetic activities – repeat, repeat, repeat! Use a voice recorder- use silly voices

Kinaesthetic Use magnets on a fridge/coloured card Bath crayons Foam letters in the bath or paint Glitter, sand, foam Tin foil strips, feely bags PlayDoh or Lego blocks Look at their mouth in mirror feel and see what the mouth does to figure out the letter they need Draw on your back or their back-guess the word

Use mnemonics Some children still find spellings tricky even with a multi sensory approach Mnemonics can sometimes help as memory joggers with tricky high frequency words Take the first letter of each word and use them to make a phrase or a sentence eg: because= big elephants can always understand small elephants said= snakes attack injured dinosaurs Can you make one for was? What about were? Matching it with a picture that the child or you have drawn(or got off the internet or sticker book ) can help your child remember!

Have fun – play games Make it fun Confidence Get it right Be Happy At home - Hangman, Nab it , Scrabble, Snakes and ladders In the car - use letters on reg plates to try to make words On the internet – Galactic Phonics , Topmarks and many more App store – free games such as My High Frequency Words, Spellosaur, Twinkl spell and pop, 79p or Nessy Hairy words, £2.99 Google- 75 ways to practise spellings

Finally… Children learn best when the work they do in school is supported at home

Resources and Questions…