Teaching spelling

Today’s post is all about the teaching of spelling. I’ve divided up the way that I would teach spelling into 5 chunks which I’ve explained fully below:

• Predict the rule
• Introduce the rule
• Investigate the rule
• Challenges with the rule
• Embed the rule

Hopefully, something in here may be useful to you! I’d love to hear from you with any thoughts, comments of suggestions 🙂

Predict the rule

Before teaching a spelling rule, I’ve found that giving children time to explore the words and try to find a rule themselves is a useful technique. After exploring several rules, the children will become better at looking for patterns in word endings, consonants, vowels, etc. and may begin to make their own theories about the spelling rules for themselves. I would introduce this in one of two ways: firstly, you could ask children to generate their own words within a criteria (e.g. words that end with a ‘shus’ sound); or secondly, you could provide children with a list of words that fit the criteria. It may be useful to give prompts for children to look at certain patterns, e.g. vowels/ consonants if they are not used to this.

Introduce the rule

Once they’ve had a go at predicting what the rule is, I would then introduce the rule by looking at two different examples (e.g. a word that ends with –cial and a word that end with –tial) and get the children to discuss what is different between the two words. If need be, I’d then explain the rule if it hadn’t been discovered already. At this stage, I would introduce the spelling poster along with a few examples of words which fit the rule. Here is the link to my Dropbox folder of spelling rule posters and an example: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e0v9cb82f2ni7nn/AAD5MOo4wYu_uH7w1FXlONfpa?dl=0

I would usually at this point give children the chance to have a go at explaining the rule in their own words using the poster as a starting point. I would also then explore the rule using whole-class challenges such as this:

Investigate the rule

Next, I would give the children time to independently complete activities to investigate the rule and related words further. The point of these activities is firstly to ensure that children know the rule, but also to make sure that they know what the words mean. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are some ideas:

• Provide the start of words for children to add the correct ending to
• Cloze procedure with a word bank for children to add the correct word to the correct space
• A sentence with a missing word and two or three potential spellings for the words to choose from (e.g. You should pay ______ when someone is speaking. attention   attenssion    attension   attencian
• A crossword where the children are given the definitions of words and they find the word that is being defined and add that to the crossword
• Writing own sentences using the words in context. This could be linked to a grammar activity by stipulating that the sentences should be questions, speech, exclamations, include a subordinating conjunction, etc.
• Providing sentences with some spelling mistakes relating to the spelling rule for the children to find and correct (although I do also add some other mistakes in to see if they notice them!)

Some examples of activities can be found in the Dropbox link below, which I’ll continue adding to over time.

Challenges with the rule

Next, I would give the children some challenges to complete independently, in small groups or as a whole class. These are all to do with explaining their learning, finding mistakes or finding exceptions to the rule but all require more depth of understanding. Here are some examples of the kind of challenges that I might give:   https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3lwckkik9wu4f0r/AADHrgg9rTg9icrR6mc0hFama?dl=0

Embed the rule:

It’s important to make sure that a spelling rule isn’t just taught once and then forgotten; therefore, I would revisit the spelling rule for a few minutes every day across a week after teaching it in order to make sure that it embedded. For this, I may use some similar activities to the ones already used, such as the challenges, but just use them as a warm-up to a literacy lesson or for a few moments after lunch or at the end of the day.

In terms of testing, I don’t personally think that sending home a list of words to learn is the most useful way of learning a rule. If testing was required, I would prefer to test knowledge of the rule by sending home the spelling rule poster and then testing how the rule is used. For example, if the spelling lesson had been about adding –ing to words, I might send home the relevant rule poster with examples and then the next week provide children with the words hop, poke, jump, skip, limp and hope to add the suffix to. By doing this, the knowledge of the rule is tested rather than whether children can learn a list of words.

Spelling challenges

I’ve done quite a lot of work recently on spelling rules and making them simple to access. The posters of these spelling rules can be found here: https://mrsfclassroom.wordpress.com/2019/02/22/spelling-rules-year-3-and-4/ and https://mrsfclassroom.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/spelling-rules-year-5-6-rules/

I’ve also been looking at using spelling challenges to help to deepen understanding around the spelling rules and to be able to explain their learning. To do that, I’ve used the challenge cards that I created for reading comprehension and altered the instruction slightly for each one. Here are the symbols and their meanings:

Each of the sets of spelling challenges links to one of the spelling posters that I’ve made, meaning that they can be used for prompts. Here are some examples of spelling challenges for the year 3 and 4 spelling rules:

And here are the some spelling challenges for the year 5 and 6 rules!

I hope something here will be useful to you! I’d love to hear how you might use the challenges and what you think of them.

Spelling rules- year 3 and 4

Off the back of my post a few days ago, I’ve made some more spelling posters. This time, I’ve made the year 3/4 spelling rules and a few other common ones, such as plurals. I would use these when introducing a new spelling rule in a spelling lesson as they give clear examples of when the rule applies. I also always make sure to say that there are many exceptions to the rules, but these are the best guesses!

As always, I’d love to hear what you think and how you might use them. Hope they’re useful!

Another thing that I’m also working on is a set of challenges for each spelling rule, which can be used in a spelling lesson. Each of these relate to the spelling poster for the same rule, so there is a prompt for solving the challenge. The aim for this is for children to really understand the rule, not just have a surface understanding. Also, as the questions are based on the posters, they are improving their reading comprehension!

Spelling rules- year 5/6 rules

English is a funny language! There are so many exceptions to all the rules that spelling is often a minefield, especially for those who find spelling a little more challenging. In this blog post, I thought I’d share some spelling rule posters that I’ve made for the year 5 and 6 spelling rules. I have them on display in my room to be constantly referred to and the way that they have been broken down makes it easy to be used by children as well as adults. Important note: I always make it clear that while these rules apply to MOST words, there are exceptions that just don’t fit.

Hope they’re useful! I’d love to hear what you think of them 🙂 Let me know if there are any spelling rule posters you’d like me to add!

Building words

I’ve put together a set of puzzle piece cards to help children to ‘build’ words and help them to get an better understanding of prefixes and suffixes. The main reason for this is that many children make the same mistakes of trying to sound words out phonetically rather than breaking the words down. Two examples that come to mind are spelling disappeared as ‘dissapeared’ and words that come up in spelling tests, such as spelling ‘disobeyed as ‘disobaide’.

Below, you can find some examples of the prefix and suffix puzzle pieces and blank copies too. What I’ve personally done is to laminate them so that I can cross out ‘e’, etc. at the end of the word if it is dropped. I’ve done a few examples of root words, but I tend to just have a blank laminated version that I write on in whiteboard pen when needed.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I will keep adding to it! Hopefully, it’ll be a useful resource to you. Please let me know if you’d like me to add in any prefixes or suffixes.

Gettin children too spel write

This term, my partner teacher and I have been thinking about ways to improve spelling and to embed spelling rules so that they stick, rather than just sending home lists of spellings that get chucked into bags and forgotten until the next spelling test!

Every day, we have a 15 minute SPAG meeting where we cover different aspects of grammar (capital letters, standard English, etc. https://mrsfclassroom.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/spag-meetings/) and we are now adding in a section on spellings. On a Monday, we introduce the rule and then in every SPAG meeting we will be doing an extra few minutes to work on the rule.

To start with, before we teach the rule on a Monday, we give them a selection of words and ask them to try to work out what the rule is.

Once they’ve had a go, we then teach them the rule and do some independent activities around the rules and the words, including a crossword with definitions and writing own sentences.

Over the next week, we will then do a different activity around the same rule to embed it. While we do still send home spellings to learn, we might vary the words that we use in the SPAG meetings so that the rule is learned rather than just the words.

Adding in words to the correct sentences

Giving both correct and incorrect options

Choosing the correct word ending (based on the spelling rule)

Matching the spellings to the letter frames.

Giving sentences with words spelled either correctly or incorrectly. Children correct the incorrect spelling.

Giving a list of spelling words and working out whether they fit the rule or whether they are exceptions to the rule.

In addition to this, when we do the spelling test we also include some mystery words that follow the rule but were not included in the list sent home. This then shows whether they have learned the rule or whether they have just committed the list to memory! I also award house points for children who can explain the rule and apply it to an example word.

Hopefully something here has been useful to you! If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them!

5 ideas for spelling games and activities

After posting about vocabulary recently, I thought that today I would write about spelling. There are so many different spelling games out there, on AND off the computer, but here are just a few that I LOVE using in my classroom.

If you use and like my resources, please consider buying a book for my school- it would be much appreciated! Link can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1SHNC70FLSPI8?ref_=wl_share

Typing to remember letter sequences
To help some children see the pattern in letter in spelling and to get practice instead of just writing out the word over again, I’ve found that this method has been useful. I have lots of these pictures of blank iPads that I’ve laminated, and I write the word (or the child will write it) in the space in whiteboard pen. Once they’ve done that, they can practice spelling the word by ‘typing’ on the letter keys. While this may not be useful for every child, I’ve found that some found it easier to learn their words.

Kaboom!
I’ve mentioned this on a post before, but a good game to use is Kaboom! I wrote out all of the year 3/4 and 5/6 spelling rule words and exception words on lollipop sticks and include some sticks that have the word KABOOM! written on them. One child takes a stick and reads the word written on it to another child, who has to spell it. If they get it right, they keep the stick. If they get it wrong, it’s opened up to the other children in the group. If they pick out a kaboom stick, the child they were going to ask has to put all their sticks back in the pot and start again! This is always a fun one because it is not guaranteed that the best speller will end up winning if they lose all their sticks. It has had surprising impact as even my lowest children think carefully about the spellings and pick up a lot of sticks from other children getting them wrong through carelessness.

Tray Trouble
You know that game where someone shows you a tray and you get 1 minute to try to remember everything on it, then it gets taken away and you have to write down everything? Well, this game is just like that! I show a selection of words (from the year 3/4 or 5/6 spelling lists, interesting new words or just words that they commonly misspell). I give them a minute or two and then take the tray away and they have to write down all the words, paying particular attention to the spelling. They then get a point for each word spelled correctly. This is particularly good for words that don’t follow a specific rule, as it means that they have to quickly come up with their own methods of remembering how to spell certain words.

I have now made a series of trays for all of the first 100 and next 200 HFW, year 3/4 and 5/6 spellings and some commonly misspelled words. They can all be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5rpuc9nxby9b1ml/AACyP_TnNOi2GcFeE7vEjnvca?dl=0

Prefix and Suffix Puzzles
This is one that is really good for teaching children about prefixes and suffixes, especially when it comes to having more than one. Sometimes, children heard a long word like ‘disinterestedly’, they panic and just write down any old combination of letters. With this activity, I would have several of the blank prefix (blue) and suffix (green) puzzle pieces cut out and laminated along with one of the root word pieces (pink) and have them stuck above the board or somewhere visible.

Then, every week you could have a new root word, such as interest, and alter the prefixes and suffixes across the week to create new words. This can be really powerful with suffixes like ‘ful’ and ‘ly’ to show that it would be careful and carefully, rather than carefull.

Memory Game
The last activity I’m going to talk about today is similar to the third, but is more of a team game. On the flipchart board, I’ll write down a selection of words (again, usually words that are commonly spelled wrong, words from the year 5/6 spelling words or more ambitious words) and turn the board around so it can’t be seen. The children then have 2 minutes to get all the words recorded in their groups but each person can only go up once. Because they have to remember the spellings, they tend to pay much more attention to the combination of letters and the rules that they know. One child in my class a few years ago mastered the spelling of ‘different’ through this game as he came back to his table muttering, “diff-E-rent, diff-E-rent.” He always remembered the spelling after that! You can alter the rules for this in many different ways: they could choose 1 child who can go back again; they could all go up twice or three times; they could only bring back one letter at a time; the child who brings back a word could have to spell it to a different child writing it down… so many possibilities!

Hopefully some of these ideas might be useful to you! Let me know if you try any of them out or have any other ideas 🙂