Spelling Guidance for
Parents and Carers
2015-2016
Introduction
This booklet has been put together to provide parents and carers
with additional information on the way that spelling is taught at our
school and to give guidance for helping children learn spellings at
home.
At Barwell Academy, all children are taught year group spellings as
outlined in the 2014 National Curriculum. These spellings include
words that meet a particular spelling pattern or are taken from the
appropriate spelling lists for their year group. Some children may also
have additional spelling intervention where necessary.
Within lessons, children investigate spellings in a number of
different ways to deepen their understanding of both how to spell the
word and how to use it in context.
Strategies you could use at home
Learning spellings is about more than completing the spelling
sheet. At Barwell Academy, we provide children with a spelling sheet
that has the correct spelling on and space to practise their spellings.
However, many children will need to keep revisiting their spellings in
different ways over the week.
The following strategies are ideas you can use at home to practise
spellings in different ways over the week.
Look, say, cover, write, check
This is one of the most commonly known strategies for learning
spellings. First, children look at the correct spelling of the word
they are trying to learn. Then, they say the word out aloud. Next
they cover the word up and try to write it themselves. Once they
have done this, they then check their spelling against the original
word (some children may need an adult to help check). If they
have managed to spell it correctly, they could move onto another
spelling. If they made a mistake, they start the process again.
Imagery
For those who enjoy drawing, this is a fun
way to present their spellings in an
interesting and memorable way. It involves
writing the spelling out and decorating it
with different drawings or images that are associated with the
word itself. It is a good way to present any spellings that are
particularly difficult to learn.
Segmentation
This involves splitting up words to the sounds that can be heard.
Many words can be broken down into smaller more memorable
chunks that can be used to sound out the word as it is written.
continue
con-tin-ue
material
mat-er-ial
suppose
sup-pose
Tracing the word
This involves tracing over the spelling to get used to the shape of
the word. Children may want to first write the word using only
dots and then write over it or an adult can write the word out for
them to trace. This method helps put the word into muscle
memory.
library
thought
Boxing up the word
This is another useful strategy for
visual learners; it helps them to
see the shape of the word to
remember the spelling. In this strategy, you draw around the
word showing the differing size of the letters. It is important to
look for the different letter shapes including ascenders (tall
letters) and descenders (low letters). Afterwards, you try to write
the word and keep the same shape.
Silly sentences or mnemonics
This method involves making up silly sentences to remember the
letter order. You may have done something similar to learn the
planet names. Below are some examples…
Rhythm
Helps
Your
Two
Hips
Move
SIGNIFICANT=
SIGN IF I CAN’T
Big
Elephants
Can
Always
Understand
Small
Elephants
Speedwrite
This strategy is all about speed and you can have
lots of fun having competitions at home.
Speedwrite can be done in two ways: children
can write the particular word they are learning
or try to think of as many associated words as
possible in a given time (30 seconds works well). This is a good
strategy once children are more confident with the spelling.
Triangulation
This strategy involves writing out the word one letter
at a type to form a triangle. It helps children to break
the word down into the individual letters.
Pronunciation
scissors
Lots of us use silly ways of saying words to help us learn spellings.
This strategy works for the words that aren’t spelt how they
sound. It can be helpful to think of weird ways to say the word.
Bubble writing or colour writing
These strategies are about presenting the word in a different
way. That may be by using bubble writing to draw out the word or
using different colours to indicate different letter types, sounds or
areas of a word children find tricky to learn.
Here I have used two
different colours to
indicate the sounds.
special or therefore
I have used the colours
to show consonants
and vowels.
Statutory word list for Years 3 and 4
accident(ally)
actual(ly)
address
answer
appear
arrive
believe
bicycle
breath
breathe
build
busy/business
calendar
caught
centre
century
certain
circle
complete
consider
continue
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
early
earth
eight
enough
exercise
experience
experiment
extreme
famous
favourite
February
forward(s)
fruit
grammar
group
guard
guide
heard(h)
heart
height
history
imagine
increase
important
interest
island
knowledge
learn
length
library
material
medicine
mention
minute
natural
naughty
notice
occasion(ally)
often
opposite
ordinary
particular
peculiar
perhaps
This list contains
some words that
children should be
able to spell by the
end of year 4.
popular
position
possess(ion)
possible
potatoes
pressure
probably
promise
quarter
question
recent
regular
reign (h)
remember
sentence
separate
special
straight
strange
strength
suppose
surprise
therefore
though/although
thought
through (h)
various
weight (h)
woman/women
Please note:
Words with (h) are
homophones and
children should know
how to use in context.
eg: rain and reign
Statutory word list for Years 5 and 6
accommodate
accompany
according
achieve
aggressive
amateur
ancient
apparent
appreciate
attached
available
average
awkward
bargain
bruise
category
cemetery
committee
communicate
community
competition
conscience
conscious
controversy
convenience
correspond
criticise
curiosity
definite
desperate
determined
develop
dictionary
disastrous
embarrass
environment
equip (-ped, -ment)
especially
exaggerate
excellent
existence
explanation
familiar
foreign
forty
frequently
government
guarantee
harass
hindrance
identity
immediately
interfere
interrupt
language
leisure
lightning (h)
marvellous
mischievous
muscle (h)
necessary
neighbour
nuisance
occupy
occur
opportunity
parliament
persuade
This list contains
some words that
children should be
able to spell by the
end of year 6.
physical
prejudice
privilege
profession
programme
pronunciation
queue
recognise
recommend
restaurant
rhyme
rhythm
sacrifice
secretary
shoulder
signature
sincere(ly)
soldier
stomach
sufficient
suggest
symbol (h)
system
temperature
thorough
twelfth
variety
vegetable
vehicle
yacht
Please note:
Words with (h) are
homophones and
children should know
how to use in context.
eg: rain and reign