Download Spelling booklet handout

Helping your child
with spelling...
When we write we have lots of skills to remember.
• We need to know what the purpose of our writing is and who will be
reading it.
• We need to think about the content and what form our writing will
take, for example, is it a shopping list, a report, a letter to a friend,
an email?
• We then need to think about the structure and form of our writing
– the use of sentences, paragraphs and punctuation.
• We then select the vocabulary that will best convey our meaning.
• And finally we think about how to spell the words we write.
Children can find writing a real challenge; they need encouragement,
support and praise for their efforts. You can best support them by
encouraging them to write on every possible occasion, praising their
efforts and, importantly, by letting them see you writing whenever
possible. You can play word games with them (e.g. I spy, Find the word
puzzles), you can point to interesting or new words as you read to your
child (without interrupting the flow of the story) and you can compose
emails together.
Most of us, even if we consider ourselves to be good spellers, make
spelling mistakes at some point. What is important is that we know
what to do when we get stuck and we know how to correct our
mistakes.
The English language is a rich but difficult language but, despite this,
85% of the English spelling system is predictable. Your child will learn
the rules and conventions of the system and the spelling strategies
needed to become a confident speller.
Here are some of the strategies that will help your child become a
confident and accurate speller:
• sounding words out: breaking the word down into phonemes (e.g. ca-t, sh-e-ll) – many words cannot be sounded out so other
strategies are needed;
• dividing the word into syllables, say each syllable as they write the
word (e.g. re-mem-ber);
• using the Look, say, cover, write, check strategy: look at the word
and say it out aloud, then cover it, write it and check to see if it is
correct. If not, highlight or underline the incorrect part and repeat
the process;
• using mnemonics as an aid to memorising a tricky word (e.g. people:
people eat orange peel like elephants; could: O U Lucky Duck);
• finding words within words (e.g. a rat in separate);
• making links between the meaning of words and their spelling (e.g.
sign, signal, signature) – this strategy is used at a later stage than
others;
• working out spelling rules for themselves – a later strategy;
• using a dictionary as soon as they know how to.
To Sum Up…
Praise your child for their writing and remember that children develop
these skills at different rates. When checking spellings, go through
letter by letter to show your child how much they know, as well as the
things they don’t. Have fun and thanks for your support!
Spot the Word
Challenge your child to find their target words in other places around them, for
example:

On a road sign
 In a magazine or newspaper
 On television
 On the side of a cereal box
Make the Word
Encourage younger children to make their target words out
of different materials. These could include:
 Magnetic letters
 Large letters from magazines or newspapers
 Pipe cleaners
 Plasticine
 Jumble the letters up for your child to
rearrange
Word Posters
Encourage your child to write their target words using different
writing materials, such as:
 Felt tip pens
 Paints
 Chalks
 Sticks in sand

Different coloured pens joined together to create rainbow letters
Alphabetical Order
Ask your child to write their target words in alphabetical order. You can help
them by providing a copy of the alphabet or a simple dictionary. Increase the
challenge by setting a time limit!
Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check



Your child should:
 Look at the new word closely, spotting the shape of the word, the
order of letters, any smaller words contained within a larger word,
familiar letter patterns etc

Say the word quietly to themselves while they look at it
Cover the word or fold the paper back so the word cannot be seen
Write the word from memory
Check answer, repeat if necessary
Mnemonics
Mnemonics are silly sentences that your child can make up and then learn. By
thinking of the sentence, they’ll remember how to spell a difficult word. Here are
some examples:

BECAUSE – Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

NECESSARY/SUCCESSFUL – if your child cannot remember
how many Cs or Ss to use, remember this saying: One collar and
two socks are NECESSARY but you will need two collars and two
socks to be SUCCESSFUL
 ‘No English word can end in ‘j’, this is a rule you must obey.’
Help your child to make up mnemonics for any target words that they
are struggling with. They could draw pictures to go with them.
Finding Words within Words
Your child can remember to spell tricky words by spotting smaller words within
them. Encourage them to mark the smaller words with bright pens. This can be
even more helpful by making up a short sentence to help your child remember the
spelling. For example:
island
is land
– an island is land surrounded by water
Hidden Words
This is a game that you can prepare yourself. Write your child’s target
words, hidden in a series of letters. Once they are hidden, ask your
child to find them. For example:
 shflplayknw
 gartwantlaj
You could circle the hidden words with coloured pens. To raise the
challenge, you could set a time limit e.g how many words can you find in a minute?
Word Snap
Help your child to write each of their target words onto a small piece of coloured
card or paper. Make two sets of the words. Shuffle them up and then deal
between the players. Keeping the words face down, take in turns to deal one card
at a time and place it on the table. When two of the same words are
turned over, one after the other, the player who spots this shouts
‘snap’ and wins the two cards. At the end of the game, the player
with the most pairs of matching words is the winner.
An alternative to this game is to place both sets of cards out on the
table face down. Take it in turns to choose two cards to
turn over. If the pair matches you can keep it, if not place the
cards back down on the table and the next player chooses two
cards. (This is also a very good memory game as the players must
try to remember which words they have already seen and placed
back down).
Silly Sentences
This activity can be great fun. Talk to your child about what a sentence
is and then challenge them to write a sentence using as many of the
words from a spelling list as possible.
Crosswords
Challenge children to produce a crossword puzzle, using their target
words. Provide them with a blank grid and a dictionary. This will help
them to write the clues. You can then answer the crossword, and check it
together.
Shannon’s Game
This is a step up from a game of hangman. Without telling your child
which one, choose one of the words from the spelling list. Draw
dashes on to a piece of paper, one dash for every letter in the
word. (To make it easier you could add the first letter to help).
Your child then has to guess the next letter – without looking at
their list. If they are correct you write in the next letter. If they are
incorrect, you draw the first part of the hangman (as an alternative you could
draw a flower). Your child has to guess the whole word before the drawing is
completed.
Syllabification
This will help your child’s spelling by teaching them a strategy to use. It
works by splitting the words into parts, called syllables. Every syllable
must have a vowel in it. You can check how many syllables a word
has by clapping it out. Here are some examples:
 Four-teen
 Card-i-gan

Be-cause
Scrambled Words
Fold a piece of paper three times. Write your words in the first column.
Then write them again with the letters all mixed up (scrambled) in the
second column. Come back later to unscramble your words. Write the
unscrambled words in the third column.
Air Write!
Write your spelling words in the air using your finger. Ask someone to
read your words as you write them OR have them air write and you
read them.
Secret Agent
Number the alphabet from 1-26. Example: a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4, etc.
Then convert your words to a number code.
You must write the actual spelling word next to the “code word.”
Make a Wordsearch
Make a wordsearch using a grid of all your spelling words.
Come back and find your words.
Words within words
Write each spelling word and then write at least two words made from the same
letters that is hidden inside the word.
Example: slide
Words without consonants
Write your spelling words on a list, but replace all the consonants with a
line. Then go back to the beginning of your list and see if you can fill in
the correct missing consonants.
Spelling Flashcards
Make a set of flashcards to practice your spelling words. When you look at your
flashcard, read the word and then spell it out loud.
*Examplethere t-h-e-r-e.
Headlines
Cut letters out of magazines and newspapers
to spell your words. Paste them onto a piece of
paper.
That’s an order!
Write your words out in alphabetical order.
Rainbow words
Write your spelling word and trace over it 5 times
using a different colour each time.
Bubble Letters
Write each of your spelling words in bubble letters. Then,
colour them in.
Pyramid Writing
Pyramid write your spelling words. Example: home
h
ho
hom
home
Acrostic Poems
Create an acrostic poem for 5 of your words.
Example: snow
Soft and fluffy
Never warm
Open the door
Wade into the cold
Backwards Words
Write each of your words forwards and backwards.
Example:
Where erehW
Adding my words
Write each of your spelling words out. Add up the value of each letter.
Consonants = 10 Vowels = 5
E.g. said
10 + 5 + 5 + 10 = 30