Kingstone and Thruxton Primary School

Spelling is very important and helps with reading and writing

across the curriculum.

If your child finds it difficult to learn their spellings, here are a few ways for you to help at home.

 

        Look, Cover, Write, Check

This is the method that we encourage at school.

The spelling words are written down clearly and the child

·      Looks carefully at the word

·      Covers it and writes it from memory

·       Checks the spelling to see if it is correct

 

   Words Within Words

Sometimes longer words contain smaller words:

believe - never believe a lie ;   hear - you hear with your ear ;  

route - this is the route out of the town

Help your child look for recognisable, small words to help remember the whole word

 

         Tricks of Pronunciation

island  - an island is land

Wednesday -Wed NES day

February - Feb RU ary

people - pe - OPLE

 

         Listening for the hidden sounds

Help your child listen for sounds that may not be immediately obvious like:

·     'r' in train, grow, bark, corn etc.

·     'l' in chalk, talk, rattle, bottle etc.

·     'm' in lamp, swamp, temper etc.

·     'h' in where, what, which, who etc

 

  Mnemonics - tricks to help remember tricky words

 Help your child make up  their own mnemonics so they are personal.

any - Aunty Nora Yelled "Anyone there?"    

because - Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

rough - Ride On U Good Horse      could - Come On U Lucky Duck

 

        Syllables

Help your child pronounce and learn long words by splitting them up into syllables:

remember - re-mem-ber

interested - in-ter-est-ed

properly - prop-er-ly

unexpected - un-ex-pect-ed

 

        Check that b and d are correctly written

If your child confuses 'b' and 'd' remind them to use the 'clues' they have been taught:

 

Encourage them to check that they have not used capital letters in the wrong places.

 

        Practice

It is much more valuable to help your child practise for a short while ( 5-10 minutes) each day than to try to learn all the words the day before the test !

Here are some ways to practice:

·     Dictate the words for your child to write them

·     Ask your child to spell each word out loud

·     Help your child to remember the difficult words using some of the methods above

·     Encourage your child to close their eyes and try to picture the word before writing it down