Download pathways for teaching spelling Y2 - 6

Pathways for
teaching
SPELLING
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
Early spelling
Learning to spell is a cumulative activity and children generally demonstrate
proficient word recognition skills before they secure comparable accuracy in spelling.
Before learning spelling rules and conventions, it is imperative that children have a
sound understanding of phonemes and graphemes and how to use these
correspondences to blend and segment in order to read and spell words.
‘In Phase 6, reading for the great majority of children should become automatic.
However, proficiency with spelling usually lags behind proficiency with reading. This
is because spelling requires recalling and composing the word from memory without
seeing it. Reading and spelling become less easily reversible as children start
working with words containing sounds (particularly vowel sounds), which can be
spelled in more than one way. Phase 6 is a good time to focus more sharply on wordspecific spellings and broad guidelines for making choices between spelling
alternatives.’
Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics, Notes of Guidance for Practitioners and
Teachers, P12.
It is not enough for children to learn and know how to spell words out of context.
They need to transfer their knowledge successfully to their independent writing.
Teachers can support this process through:
•
•
•
introducing new words and conventions in a real context.
modelling how to apply spelling strategies during shared writing
expressing high expectations that children will apply the conventions in their
own work
Beyond phonics – later spelling
There are over 800,000 words in the English language and it is impossible for many
children to learn each of these by sight. It is therefore important that children are
taught the rules, strategies and conventions of spelling in order to be able to word
build and be confident of their ‘best guesses’.
Eg. to spell the word unhelpful children need to know that:
a) the root or base word is help
b) help is phonically regular and can be blended.
c) Un- is a prefix and when added to the front of a root or base word, makes it
negative
d) Full, when added as a suffix to the end of a root or base word, loses an l. It
changes the meaning of the word to ‘full of unhelp’.
Or to spell the word hopping
a) the root or base word is hop
b) hop contains a short (rap) vowel.
c) The short vowel requires the last consonant to be doubled before the –ing
suffix is added.
It is therefore crucial that renewed literacy framework strand 6 (word structure and
spelling) is taught
• regularly
• discretely
• thoroughly
and is applied in a range of contexts through shared, guided and independent writing,
improvement marking and target setting.
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
What to teach
The grids contained within this document can be used as a guide for teachers to
decide what aspects of Strand 6 should be taught to their class. Objectives are
not given for each aspect of spelling for each year group – it is important that
teachers :
a) use their APP writing assessments (AF8) to inform their next steps in teaching
for groups of children in their class and choose the appropriate objectives;
b) continue with the teaching of phonics phases, particularly in Years 3 and 4, to
groups of children whose knowledge of the advanced code is not secure.
Note: While Spelling Bank is a useful publication to use to support the teaching of
spelling, it is important that teachers do not expect to teach objectives to the year
groups shown. Expectations for spelling have changed considerably with the
implementation of the renewed framework for Literacy and the introduction of
synthetic phonics. To teach the objectives within Spelling Bank to the year groups
shown will result in lower expectations than those nationally.
When to teach and reinforce
There are a number of ways that spelling objectives can be taught:
a) discrete teaching of rules, strategies conventions and irregularities during the
literacy lesson or at other times of the day for 10 – 15 minutes.
b) application by the teacher of spelling objectives during shared and guided
writing.
c) application by the children of spelling knowledge and skills during guided,
independent and cross curricular writing.
d) target setting where individual or group targets are short term (2 – 3 weeks)
and relate to recent teaching. These targets need to be specific (eg. Use
plural endings correctly) and not large and vague (Improve your spelling).
e) Inclusion of recently taught aspects of spelling in success criteria.
f) Modelling editing and proof reading of writing. This might include focussing
on one or two recently taught aspects of spelling, rather than correcting every
spelling.
How to teach
Once children are secure in phonics, the most effective teaching is through
investigations, sorting activities, identifying rules and spelling games, teacher
modelling and the expectation that children will apply these skills to all writing tasks.
Please refer to Spelling Bank and the Year 2 and Year 3 Planning Exemplification
and Spelling Programme for ideas.
Materials
• Spelling Bank (DfEE ISBN 0 19 312240 5)
• Year 2 and Year 3 planning exemplification and spelling programme (DfES
0493 – 2003)
• Letters and Sounds (DfES 00281-2007FLR-EN)
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
POSSIBLE PATHWAY FOR TEACHING SPELLING
Aspect of spelling
Verb tense
Phase 6 (Year 2)
Introducing and
teaching the past
tense
Year 3
Year 4
Spell irregular verbs
Year 5
Year 6
(KS2 Spelling Bank p24)
(Letters and Sounds
p170
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p58, 59)
Prefixes and suffixes
Investigating and
learning how to add
suffixes
(-ed, -ing, -er, -est, ful, -ly, -y, -ment, ness, -en –s)
(Letters and Sounds
p171, 189,
KS2 Spelling Bank p63
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p55, 56, 57,
60, 62, 67, 68)
Recognise a range of
prefixes
(un-, de-, dis-, re- pre-,
mis-, non-, ex-, co-,
anti,)
Revisit suffixes learnt
in Phase 6 and Year 3.
Recognise and spell
the suffixes –al, -ary, ic, -ship, -hood)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p6,
p17
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p62, 63, 67)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p25)
Know and use less
common prefixes and
suffixes (auto-, im-, ir-,
bi-, trans-, tele-,
circum-, il-, pro-, sus-,
-cian)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p43,
51, 56, 57)
Recognise a range of
suffixes -less, -able
(KS2 Spelling Bank p13)
Spelling patterns
Differentiating spelling
patterns (eg. the ‘w
special’)
(Knowledge of the
spelling system – Letters
and Sounds p187,
KS2 Spelling Bank p32
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p64)
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
Spell words with
common endings
(eg. –ight, -tion, -ious,
-ial, -ough)
Group and classify
words according to
their spelling patterns
and their meanings.
(KS2 Spelling Bank p29)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p48)
Investigate spelling
patterns of consonants
and formulate rules
(KS2 Spelling Bank p45,
46, 53)
Use word roots,
prefixes and suffixes
to support spelling
(KS2 Spelling Bank p58)
Aspect of spelling
Morphology and
etymology
Phase 6 (Year 2)
Teaching spelling long
words – investigate
how adding suffixes
and prefixes changes
words
Year 3
(Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p62, 63, 67
Letters and Sounds
p175)
Rules, conventions
and strategies
Providing a routine for
spelling long words
(Letters and Sounds
p175
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p62, 63, 67)
Year 4
Use knowledge of
phonics, morphology
and etymology to spell
new and unfamiliar
words
Spell unfamiliar words
using known
conventions (eg GPCs
and morphological
rules)
Know and apply
common spelling rules
eg. to explore the
occurrence of certain
letters within words
(KS2 Spelling Bank p12,
16)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p31)
(Letters and Sounds
p178)
Elisions and
contractions eg. I’m,
can’t, let’s
Learn the two forms of
its (possessive) and
it’s (contraction)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p15,
19
Y2 and 3 spelling
exemplification
programme p65, 66)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p37)
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
Year 6
Use root words,
prefixes and suffixes
to spell accurately.
(KS2 Spelling Bank p44,
67)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p58,
68)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p34)
Finding and learning
the difficult bits in
words (eg. the double t
in getting)
Elisions/contractions
Year 5
Identify word roots,
derivations and
spelling patterns
Devise strategies to
spell words with
unstressed vowels
(KS2 Spelling Bank p52)
Aspect of spelling
High and medium
frequency words
Phase 6 (Year 2)
Year 3
Spell high and medium
frequency words
(Word lists in Letters and
Sounds p193, 195)
Year 4
Teach further less
common grammatical
function words (there,
were, where)
Year 5
Year 6
Use a range of
strategies for learning
new and irregular
words, including
effective use of a
spelling log.
(Letters and Sounds
p175-185)
Spell familiar words
correctly and employ a
range of strategies to
spell difficult and
unfamiliar words,
including topic words
and use a spelling log
effectively.
Investigate the spelling
and meaning of
common connectives
Use a range of
appropriate strategies
to edit, proofread and
correct own spelling in
their own work, on
paper and on screen
Investigate the spelling
and meaning of less
common connectives
(KS2 Spelling Bank p59.
Also see Grammar for
Writing Year 6 Unit 46,
p130)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p59.
Also see Grammar for
Writing Year 6 Unit 46,
p130)
(Letters and Sounds
Phase 4 P118)
Homophones and
compound words
Distinguish the
spelling and meaning
of common
homophones
Investigate compound
words
(KS2 Spelling Bank p38)
(KS2 Spelling Bank p22,
49)
Personal spelling
strategies
(Letters and Sounds
p179, 180)
Develop a range of
personal strategies for
learning new and
irregular words
(Letters and Sounds
p175-185)
Connectives
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
Aspect of spelling
Plurals
Phase 6 (Year 2)
Year 3
Year 4
Investigate and
classify common
spelling patterns in
plurals
(KS2 Spelling Bank p41)
Year 5
Investigate and
classify spelling
patterns in less
common and irregular
plurals
(KS2 Spelling Bank p42
Glossary
Etymology – word origin eg. that the word choronological comes from the khrónos meaning time
GPCs – Grapheme Phoneme correspondance
Morphology – morphemes are units of meaning eg. unhelpful has 3 morphemes (un-help-ful); houses has two morphemes (house-s)
For further definitions, please see the APP Glossary of Terms for Writing on the Primary Team website APP page.
R. Ackroyd and A. Herrera, Dorset LA
Year 6