Spelling for Children

• An Individual Word Bank is a very useful tool. Use a small strong book with an alphabetic index and write in problematic words as they arise. Use colours to remember the “tricky bits” and include mnemonics (auditory devices to help remember words – for example “there is a rat in separate”) and diagrams if appropriate. Keep this book with you at all times.

• Focus on the teaching of Spelling Rules. This includes an understanding of syllables, base words, prefixes, suffixes and word families. Become a “word detective” looking for the consistencies in English spelling rules and then find the exceptions.

o    A good resource for the rules is Signposts for Correct Spelling by J Bullus and P Coles and it is part of the Smart Words Series. A book that is a reference for homophones (e.g. there/their/they’re) is Which Word is Witch? by Judy Frost (Key Publications)

• Increase general word knowledge as a way to improve spelling. This implies:

o    Expanding knowledge of word meanings (e.g. Use of prefixes and suffixes), word derivations (e.g. Chemist or Christmas is spelt with an initial ch because it comes from the Greek spelling of K); and grammatical function within a sentence (e.g. final-ly is an adverb, so ly is added to the root word “final” resulting in two l’s)

o    Expanding knowledge of different phonic combinations used for particular sounds at different times. For example, when writing the “k” sound, he needs to learn that: a c could be used at the beginning or middle of a word, (except if the next letter after c is an i or an e, e.g. cigar, cement, cell); a “ck” might be used, but only at the end of a word (never at the beginning); and, a “ch” might be used in cases where there is a foreign derivation (e.g. chemist) but otherwise it always says “tch”;

o    Expanding knowledge of homophones (i.e. words that sound the same but are written differently) – hear / here; there / their; sum / some etc.

o    Expanding knowledge of  grammatical function within a sentence (eg. final-ly is an adverb, so ly is added to the root word “final” resulting in two l’s);

o    Spelling, rules need to be systematically taught. For example, when to write (-s or – es or -ies).  Doubling l after the short vowel (tell, till, tall) but not after a long vowel.

• A good way of expanding this knowledge is word study, where a selected word is closely examined and investigated. For example, what sounds are in the word? What other words sound like that word?  See the attached Wonderful Words flyer for an example of how this can be done.
  
• Oz Mnemonics by Alison Rowe is a useful book containing rhymes and ways to remember the spelling of difficult or irregular words, (for example ‘beautiful’ = bears eat apples under trees).
  
• Kitehawk Learning Spelling Program series by Mark Nevill provides structured workbook type activities that may be useful for improving spelling skills.
  
• Blake’s Word Bank Graded Word Lists by Peter Clutterbuck is also a good guide to age appropriate language activities
  
•  A computer program developed by the British Dyslexia Association is WordShark. It focuses on the development of both reading and spelling skills using games involving phonics, onset and rime, homophones, spelling rules, common letter patterns, visual and auditory patterns and other aspects of literacy.