Welcome to Apple Class spelling Presentation Wednesday 8th March 8.25am

Early Marks Children’s early play experiences contribute hugely to their ability to write. For example, painting, colouring, scribbling, fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Their physical development has a huge impact on their ability to write, as muscle strength is important. Core strength also plays a huge part in a child’s ability to write. Children use these skills to create early marks on paper and this is the beginning of writing.

When a child lies on their tummy to draw, they are developing the muscles necessary for good handwriting later. They will also be using their shoulders to instigate the movement. Standing up to do activities develops the core muscles which also helps writing skills.

Children’s writing (and importantly their ‘Writing Confidence’) develops from their early mark making.

Spelling and writing are intrinsically linked as is the ability to learn phonemes and thus segment a word in order to spell it.

Key to spelling First develop the strength and motor skill through play Acquire the pincer grip Use phonemes to segment a word (break it down)

Confidence is very important – especially for boys who are generally less inclined to write

EYFS In Early Years we provide opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills through play e.g. threading, playdoh, painting, drawing, tracing, patterns and colouring. We encourage them to develop their gross motor skills through riding the bikes, climbing, ball skills and general P.E. lessons. This all leads to good handwriting and spelling.

However… We also want them to learn to write when they are ready. This may be early mark making which is completely acceptable and should always be praised to ensure a good self esteem about writing (poor self esteem can lead to writing reluctance).

Handwriting style Our school handwriting style is important as it involves entries and exits which quickly develop into joined (cursive) handwriting. Cursive is conducive to learning to spell as the action is held in their movement memory. Look say cover write and check is a good way to practise and get into movement memory – we will come back to this.

Knowing phonemes is a skill which is essential to be able to spell words. We would expect to see phonemes occurring in children’s writing as they begin to learn them. We don’t expect accurately spelled words initially, we love to see words which the children have created themselves by trying to put together the phonemes that they know. This is called emergent writing.

Tricky words When children are confident with the writing action we begin to ask them to use their phonemes to create words – not all words can be created using this skill however, These are words which the children cannot spell exactly by using their phonemes e.g. so was could These words just have to be learned by sight.

Year One In Year One the government have introduced the ‘Common Exception’ Words which do not feature for Early Years but we use the High Frequency Words and tricky words . Most of these will feature within the year one list so our children will have experienced them before year one.

Year one phonics assessment

Year one phonics assessment We don’t need to worry about this in EYFS but success next year depends upon how well the children know and use their phonemes to create words. It assesses spelling using nonsense (psuedo) words e.g. wert or gip etc.

High Frequency Words List Many of our class have already started on these words

Strategies to help Spelling Confidence gained from praise and early experiences Lots of opportunities to write and use lots of different writing materials Good pincer grip Use of handwriting style Correct sitting position Practice on a regular basis

Practise Writing the spelling in as many ways as possible and every day if possible e.g. Different colours Different medium eg playdoh, gel pens. Felt pens. Pencil. Paint, Writing in sand, Glue etc. Look say tap cover write and check Read the words before going to sleep Look for words within words going about

More ways?

Intervention If we feel a child may need additional help with spelling we may include them in a small group for some further work to close the gap. We also operate a programme called Fizzy for those who may need additional support with handwriting. This is a fun, physical programme aimed at improving physical strength, muscle tone, coordination and hand eye coordination.

Talk Boost We sometimes offer Talk Boost. This is a programme developed to improve vocabulary, sentence structure, taking turns and communication skills.

In addition… Although not necessarily related to spelling but will be related to confidence (which in itself can be linked to achievement academically) we offer nurturing. Our service children can access this at any time that a parent is away on tour if you inform us of the situation and will be invited to go along at other planned times . We also offer it to children who we feel would benefit from some extra small group activity for a variety of reasons. Also, if there is an emergency situation that you feel some nurturing could help with, please let us know.

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