Download Year 4 - Writing - Spelling

Pupils should be encouraged to play games by adding root words to different prefixes and suffixes that
they already know as well as exploring new ones. Pupils should be able to determine that different
prefixes and suffixes mean different things and change meanings of words e.g. sub- means under,
added to words like way helps children to know that a subway is under the ground, anti means against
like in anti-climax. Pupils should have opportunities to investigate what happens to different words that
have prefixes and suffixes added to them and whether they can be used on all words, or if they notice
other rules apply.
Pupils should be encouraged to play games by adding root words to different prefixes and suffixes that
they already know as well as exploring new ones. Pupils should be able to determine that different
prefixes and suffixes mean different things and change meanings of words e.g. -ous means full of,
joyous full of joy e.g. Pupils should have opportunities to investigate what happens to different words
that have prefixes and suffixes added to them and whether they can be used on all words, or if they
notice other rules apply.
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Games such as writing as many words as possible with the same 'shun' sound help children to
investigate this and determine a way to remember the differences in spelling e.g. simply hear and here
can be remembered by noting hear has an -ear at the end.
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Games such as writing as many words as possible with the same 'shun' sound help children to
investigate this and determine a way to remember the differences in spelling e.g. simply hear and here
can be remembered by noting hear has an -ear at the end.
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EES for Schools is owned by Essex County Council
Games such as writing as many words as possible with the same sound help children to investigate
this and determine a way to remember the differences in spelling e.g. making humorous sentences that
contain some of these words like unique, antique, mystique.
Homophones (a type of homonym) are words that sound the same but have different meanings and
often different spellings e.g. his socks didn't match when he played at the football match, or she stood
on the stair so she could stare at the picture. Good opportunities for pupils to apply this learning are
through songs or reading of texts that have rhyme and double meanings, and for children to be
encouraged to use homophones and near homophones to write humorous sentences and poems.
For those that are tricky and commonly confused, pupils could identify rules and ways to remember the
differences, it is helpful for pupils to have visual representations of these also e.g. 'Which witch is
which?' or even acting like being an itchy witch, the witch has an itch in the spelling.
Pupils should be taught the different graphemes that could be used to spell the same phoneme and
that sometimes there are quite a few ways of spelling the same sound. In phonics and English
lessons, these phonemes should be made explicit when the adult models shared writing or spelling
words. Pupils should be reminded of this when reading and writing both in guided and independent
work e.g. for example the sound 's' can be written as 's' in words like sip, slice, but can also be
represented by 'sc' in words like 'science' and 'scene'. Pupils will need to be taught how to write these
from memory, and so games where they can take a mental picture and visualise before writing and
exploring the shape and environment of the word (visual, auditory, cognitive and kinaesthetic) should
be played in order to practise. Pupils could apply this by rhyming the word in pairs and producing as
many words with the same 'sounds' as possible, it would then be easier for pupils to compare the
words and look at the difference in spellings.
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Spelling rules for the words found in the English Appendix 1 should be taught to pupils, with
opportunities to explore them in games, songs and reading. Adults should model the rules in their own
shared writing and in the environment. For words that are commonly misspelt, games that teach pupils
to look for and explain mistakes will help pupils to learn the correct spellings. Some words will need
regular revision and practise through activities including, identifying the correct spelling in a range
spelled incorrectly and speedwriting.
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Adults should explain the rules for using apostrophes for possession and pupils should be encouraged
to investigate the difference apostrophes can make in a sentence depending on where they are placed.
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Pupils should be taught dictionary skills, applying their learning from Year 1 where they are expected to
know which letters represent sounds in the alphabet and for the 40+ phonemes. Pupils should play
games and be set challenges which require them to use the first two or three letters to find words,
knowing what letters come before or after others in the alphabet and what to do when they are faced
with lots of words with the same starting letters. Pupils should be able to apply this learning on a daily
basis by being allowed access to dictionaries. Other activities such as word searches will help pupils to
apply these skills.
Once words and rules have been taught to pupils they should be able to write these from memory
when dictated by an adult, or after rehearsing the sentences they wish to write independently. It is
important to teach the skills that will help pupils to remember spelling patterns using auditory,
kinaesthetic, cognitive and visual methods. Pupils should be taught not only the letters in these words
and to memorise them, but to learn the shape, environment and feel of these words and how to use
them correctly in sentences. Pupils should be expected to apply their learning of these skills
independently in all of their writing and encouraged to do so.
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