1. Primary spelling training for parents
Help your child to spell

2. 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).]

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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!

9. 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

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

11. Resources and Questions…