Spelling WorkshopMISS PARKmpark@stock.essexvle.com

Successful Spelling

with the new National

Curriculum

We want a school of excellent spellers! Why?

• It is important to learn how to spell in this age of texting!

• We need to raise standards. • New SPAG test (Spelling and Grammar Test) for

Year 6• End of year expectations from September 2014

We want a school of excellent spellers! How? • Building on excellent phonics teaching and raised

standards in the Foundation Stage and KS1 • Reviewed timetable for the teaching of spelling in

KS2 supported by regular homework• Investigation and fun! • Teaching spelling strategies• Marking • Competitions!

We aim to gradually build pupils’ spelling vocabulary by introducing patterns or conventions and continually practising those already introduced. Spelling strategies are taught explicitly and applied to high-frequency words, cross-curricular words and individual words that pupils find difficult. Pupils are encouraged to adopt the strategies that they find the most effective as they progress through the year.

2014 National Curriculum• Spelling is one element of writing• Specific knowledge outlined for all year

groups• Continued emphasis on phonic knowledge• Statutory word lists for Years 3/4 and 5/6

Why all the fuss about phonics?

Children should be taught urgently through a “rigorous and systematic phonics programme”

Stock School follows the ‘Letters and sounds’ programme to teach phonics.

Phonics is taught in 6 distinct phases

Phonics at a glancePhonics is

Skills ofSegmenting and blending

Knowledge of the alphabetic code

Phonics consists ofIdentifying sounds in spoken wordsRecognising the common spellings of each phonemeBlending phonemes into words for readingSegmenting words into phonemes for spelling

Most people read words more accurately than they spell them. The

younger pupils are, the truer this is.

A phonemeThis is the smallest Unit of sound you can hear in a word.

How many phonemes can you hear incat?

Some definitions

A graphemeThese are the lettersThat represent the phoneme

The grapheme can be 1 letter, 2 letters or more! t, ai, igh

A phoneme you hear

A grapheme you see

A word will always have the same number of phonemes and graphemes.

The Phases explained

The ‘Letters and sounds’ document follows 6 distinct

phases

Exploring and experimenting with sounds and words and discriminating speech sounds in words.

Introducing phonemes and graphemes, blending for reading and segmenting for spelling – simple CVC words

Knowing a grapheme for each of the 43 phonemes, reading and spelling range of CVC words

This is a consolidation unit with no new graphemes to learn, the reading and spelling of tricky words continues as well as segmenting for spelling and blending for reading.

Using alternative ways of pronouncing and spelling the graphemes corresponding to the long vowel phonemes

Apply phonic skills and knowledge to recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words, investigating and learning the rules of spelling

Phase 1 (pre-school)

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Phase 6

Letter setsSet 1 - s, a, t, p Set 2 - l, n, m, d Set 3 - g, o, c, k Set 4 - ck, e, u, r Set 5 - h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

Set 6 – j, v, w, x Set 7 – y, z, zz, qu Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng Graphemes:ear, air, ure, er, ar,or, ur, oi, ow, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo

Graphemes ay, ou, ie, ea, oy ir, ue, aw, wh, ph, ew, oe, au, u-ea-e, i-e, o-e, e-e Alternative graphemes for : i, o, c, g, u, ow, ie, ea, er, a, y, ch, ou

In addition to this, in all phases children will be

learning to read and spell ‘tricky words’ ( those which are not spelt phonetically) and key sight vocabulary.

Try these!

Try these!What knowledge/skills are you using as you write these words?

synaesthesia

desert

antidisestablishmentarianism

Good spellers:• Can segment and blend• Can divide words into syllables• Have a store of words they can spell automatically• Know many common letter patterns• Learn and apply rules • Use morphology to support attempts• Know what to do when they are stuck• Visualise• Care!

Building a bank of known words

• Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check

• Quickwrite

• Marking

• Frequent repetition and practice

• Looking for the tricky bit

• Multi-sensory activities

We teach children to know, learn and apply the rules

Examples:

• /o/ following /w/ usually spelt with an ‘a’

• English words do not end with ‘v’

• Double the consonant after a short vowel and before a suffix

Understanding morphology (how words work)Morphology includes root words, compound words, suffixes and prefixes.Research shows that improving children’s understanding of how words work had much greater impact on their ability than standard instruction (Nunes et al, 2006)

Morpheme – smallest unit of meaning in a wordeg appear appeared disappeared

What do lessons look like? During regular spelling lessons (5 lessons a fortnight) children are

given the opportunity to revisit, explain and use what they already know.

Reading extensively is of vital importance to developing spelling, however for the majority of children it is not sufficient to secure accurate spelling; spelling must be learnt explicitly and systematically.

In lessons, children are given the opportunity to work independently, in pairs or in small groups, using a range of strategies to practise and consolidate new learning.

Finally, children will be given opportunities for self, peer and teacher assessment to reflect on what they have learnt and to recognise their achievements.

They are encouraged to take responsibility for proofreading their own work in conjunction with targeted teacher feedback.

2014 National CurriculumYEAR 1• using the phonic knowledge and skills that they have already learnt, revise and

consolidate those learnt earlierYEAR 2• begin to meet extra challenges in terms of spelling, learn that there is not always an

obvious connection between the way a word is said and the way it is spelt, look at different ways of spelling the same sound

YEARS 3 and 4• Rules, and patterns will be investigated using a multi-sensory approach; • Rules will be sent home to investigate and practise• Pupils will learn common exception words YEARS 5 and 6Pupils’ spelling of most words taught so far should be accurate and they should be able to spell words that they have not yet been taught by using what they have learnt about how spelling works in English.

Word lists

Your child has a number of spellings to learn – this is composed of statutory words for their phase group (Y3/4 and Y5/6)

The number of words is determined by the individual spelling needs of each child.

A copy of this list is sent home to allow you to work with your child to practise spellings at home.

Peer and teacher tests are used to identify when children have secured each spelling.

Benefits of investigations

They appeal to problem-solving instincts Children have to be more active in deconstructing

words They model a self-help strategy An interesting way to learn They aid memory They are more likely to lead to children applying

correct spellings to their work than learning lists.

Roots To learn my word I can find the word root. I can see whether the root has been

changed when new letters are added e.g.

for a prefix, suffix or a tense change.” e.g.

smiling – root smile + ing;

Woman wo + men;

Signal sign + al

Analogy To learn my word I can use words that I already know to help me.” e.g. could, would,

should

Mnemonics To learn my word I can make up a sentence to help me remember it.” e.g. could – o u lucky duck; people – people eat orange peel like elephants.

Spelling strategies

How can you help your child?

• Help your child learn their phonics daily• Help your child with learning their rules

and key words.• Visit the websites and play games with

your child

• Have fun with words !

Spelling activities and strategiesThese are some of the techniques we use in school to support children’s spelling that can easily be tried at home – have fun with them! Look, say, cover, write, check strategy. Making posters - design the word in the style of its meaning; highlight tricky spelling patterns; design and decorate a tricky

word. Mnemonics, for example Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants. It is important that they are simple and easy

to remember though! It can help if the first word is the spelling word, for example Bored Of Resting Every Day. Use handwriting, including large scale writing, decorative writing and painted writing. Use poetry and performance: rhymes, nonsense poems and rhythms. Riddles and jokes, for example ‘What opens locks and is always found beside water? A key/quay’. Testing - this can be done informally, perhaps focusing on one word at a time. Use of Scrabble tiles or fridge magnets. Games - hangman; guess my word based on clues about the spelling; Kim’s game (memory game - remove one word);

treasure hunt to find the correct letters to make a word; matching pairs using homemade cards; dictionary challenge. Songs and chants - explore the sounds of the words and emphasise tricky letter strings. Collect examples, for example from signs, magazines, comics, packaging and / or using sticky notes.