The Icknield Primary School
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Spelling
Spelling
National Curriculum Objectives
The following document outlines the main objectives taught in each year group for spelling:
At Icknield, we use both the Letters and Sounds curriculum to teach spelling (see Phonics page) and, from Year 1 and above, the Assertive Mentoring framework. Please go to our 'Spelling Gallery' for resources which show the coverage for Assertive Mentoring. These are not timetabled specifically as they will link to different topics in the class. They do, however, show what will be taught throughout the year and give you the opportunity to practise these spellings at home.
Supporting Your Child
Here are some tips or activities to do with your child to support him or her with spelling:
1. Get to grips with what is being taught in your child's year group.
Have a look at our spelling scheme above to see what is being taught in each year group. You can practice these spellings in any order. The words the children are learning every week are recorded in their homework so please look at the class pages for more specific information and to help your child with what is being taught that week in lessons.
2. Play games and have fun!
Spelling can be practised using a look/say/cover/write/check approach but can also be fun and interactive. 'Spelling bees,' flashcards, games of hangman and scrabble, and electronic apps are just some ways in which spellings can be practised. Another good idea is 'rainbow writing' when children can write out spellings using different colours for the different parts of the word. It has been claimed that many people memorise colour well so alternating colours for key things that need to be remembered is crucial. e.g. pear, earn, learned
3. Practice makes perfect!
As with everything, practice really does make perfect when it comes to spelling. This is because the motion of writing the words has got to become part of the working and longer-term memory and without practice, words can't embed fully. A good idea is to come back to words again even once they have been worked on.
4. Reward effort not results
It's easy to reward 10/10 spellings but for some children, getting a perfect 10 is a challenging task. When we learn, we make mistakes and therefore expecting full marks can sometimes affect children's confidence. Instead, try rewarding improvement, progress or effort when your child tells you how s/he is getting on with the weekly test. Showing an interest in the results and practicing words which went wrong is a great way of supporting your child.
5. Expect good handwriting all the time
Children should be encouraged to use their best handwriting for spelling practice as the brain forms a connection with the movement of the hand, engraining the spelling into the memory. This is why learning spellings on a computer is not as good as learning them by hand.