Spelling
Supporting Spelling at Home
Learning to spell correctly is a crucial skill for life. Children begin to learn the basics of the language as soon as they start school, and their skills and knowledge build as they progress. However, the English language is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn to spell, as there are so many different ways of spelling the same sounds, and different sounds represented by the same letter strings!
Many words in the English language follow specific rules, and children will be taught these spelling rules at school. However, some words don’t fit in the spelling rules. These are called ‘common exception words’. The National Curriculum highlights a number of common exception words in each Year group that children are expected to be able to spell.
Learning to spell correctly is a crucial skill for life. Children begin to learn the basics of the language as soon as they start school, and their skills and knowledge build as they progress. However, the English language is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn to spell, as there are so many different ways of spelling the same sounds, and different sounds represented by the same letter strings!
Many words in the English language follow specific rules, and children will be taught these spelling rules at school. However, some words don’t fit in the spelling rules. These are called ‘common exception words’. The National Curriculum highlights a number of common exception words in each Year group that children are expected to be able to spell.
The traditional way to learn spellings is to write them out several times using the ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’ method. Although this can be an effective way to learn spellings it can be quite tedious for children, especially after a long day at school. Making spelling more multisensory and active can be an engaging way to help learn their spellings.
Remember to keep going back over spellings/ common exception words for the children to revisit and embed the spelling patterns.
If you have any questions please speak to your child’s class teacher.
If you and your child are looking for some new and fun ways to get the spellings of words learnt, try these:
