Spelling
Getting it write, wright, right!
Claire Ridsdale, Teaching & Learning Adviser (English)
Aims
 To know the implications for spelling within the new
primary curriculum
 To understand how spelling is being taught in school
and what is considered to be good practise
 To have the opportunity to ask questions
 To know how you can support spelling at home
Task
In a puiltacibon of teh New Scnieitst it siad you
cuold jublme all teh letetrs in a wrod adn as lnog
as teh frist adn lsat were the smae, reibadailty
wolud hadrly be aftcfeed. My ansaylis did not
cmoe to mcuh beucase of teh thoery at the tmie
but raserceh sugsegts we may hvae smoe
pofrweul palrlael prsooscers at wrok, which seepd
up regnicoiton. We olny need the frist and lsat
letetrs to spot chganes in meniang.
Spelling is a mental process
To support children well, we need to be
aware of the mental processes involved
Say the
word
Visual
memory of
the word
The feeling
of
correctness
Correct
spelling
New Curriculum Expectations
 Significant increase in expectations across all year
groups
 Greater focus on spelling rules and conventions
 Greater focus on word roots and origins
 Word lists are particularly demanding
 Skills need to be embedded
Spelling Test!
accommodate
desiccated
gauge
zoology
committee
battalion
privilege
fuchsia
GHOWBTAPTEAU spells..?
GH is P, as in hiccough
OW is O, as in bow
BT is T, as in doubt
A is A, as in acorn
PT is T, as in pterodactyl
EAU is O, as in beau
GH OW BT A PT EAU
Spelling Tests: Problems
 Children rarely commit spellings learnt for a test to their
long-term memory
 Some get 10/10 but then fail to spell these words correctly
in their writing
 Can lead to poor self-esteem for children who practice but
then don’t get many correct
 Can create an unhealthy competition
 Gives teachers little information about the spelling skills
children need to develop
What Does The Research Say?
 Teaching children strategies for correcting spelling is far more
important than giving them the correct spelling of a word
 Spelling strategies and major spelling patterns are taught much
more effectively through lessons than through workbooks or
spelling tests
 If children learn spellings for tests and don’t use those words in
their own writing, they will forget them within days
 Individualised spelling dictionaries are useful as children are
trying to get a grasp of new spellings
 Children often get key rules wrong. The top 12 misspelt words
were the same for the 7-10 age group as for children aged 1114
 There’s a need for both schools and parents to spend more time
on the basics
What Does The Research Say?
 We often wrongly assume that if children read widely they will
be good spellers. This presupposes they are understanding and
processing every word
 Children need to be taught why words are spelt as they are.
They love to hear where words come from e.g. ‘ghost’ has an ‘h’
because Flemish typesetters brought it over here used the
Flemish word, which was ‘gheest.’
What Are Effective Schools Doing?
 Arranging training for all staff
 Structuring spelling so that it is taught across several sessions
each week
 Using the teaching sequence:
Revisit - Teach - Practice - Apply
 Providing opportunities for children to investigate, make
generalisations, discover rules and embed their learning
 Supporting the use of individual spelling logs
 Using a range of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approaches
 Assessing spelling termly through children's writing and activities
(e.g. cloze procedures)
 Building the word list words into teaching as appropriate
 Keeping parents informed
What we will do at FCCE:
 In Reception
Blending books and Bug Club
Assessed at the end of each phase (Phase 2,3 and 4 assessment
will be sent home)
 In Key Stage One
Teach National Curriculum spelling objectives
Teach phonics 4x per week in ability sets (parents informed on
termly newsletter of what each set is covering each week)
Blending books for identified children
Termly test of phonemes, selected HFW and spelling rules
(completed termly test will be sent home)
What we will do at FCCE:
 In Year 3 and 4
Teach National Curriculum spelling objectives
Word books to come home with misspelt words in to practise
Termly spelling test covering spelling rules taught and a selection
of the Year 3 and 4 New Curriculum spelling list (completed termly
test will be sent home)
 In Year 5 and 6
Same as Year 3 and 4 but using Year 5 and 6 New Curriculum
spelling list
Discussion
Discuss these points as a table
Capture any questions on the post-it notes
Q&A
APPS and Resources
Website Resources
http://www.spellingcity.com/
www.nessy.com/uk/
www.phonicsplay.co.uk
Nessy
A Reading and Spelling Program for Key
Stage One and Key Stage Two
The Purpose of using ‘Nessy’

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It’s fun!
It’s interactive!
It cleverly disguises learning as a series of games.
The phonics rules are very funny and memorable.
Tricky spellings can be practised again and again...
Until they get them right!
How do you play?
 The aim is to visit an island at a time.
 Each island will give you different types of spellings for the
children to practise.
 Every spelling game allows you the opportunity to win
‘nuggets’.
 You can trade ‘nuggets’ in at the fair where you can
unlock and play new games.
 During the games, clues can be given so that children can
play the games completely independent from adult help (if
you wish).
What makes it so good?
 You can set children specific spellings or get them to work
on ‘tricky’ words that they often struggle with.
 You can track your child’s progress and set learning at an
appropriate level.
 Children can complete reading activities as well as
spellings.
 Children can practise their phonics at home with the
animated cartoons and spelling patterns.
 You can record your own voice and word lists... Or even
get the children to do it for themselves!
What next?
 The children will be given time, either as individuals
or as a whole class, to play ‘Nessy’ and learn their
spellings.
 A trial version of ‘Nessy’ can be found at
www.nessy.com/uk
 If you like it enough you can also buy a copy of the
program (Nessy gamesplayer) from the same
website for £15! The perfect Christmas present!
Recommend Apps
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Squeebles
Vocabulary Spelling City
Spell with Pip
Abc pocket phonics
Spelling Monster
Pirate Phonics
Final Thought…
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and
dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, tough and
through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like
bird,
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead –
For goodness sake don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and
debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s dose and rose and
lose –
Just look them up – and goose and
choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and
sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart –
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five!