How are the spellings chosen?

Children who have passed their phonic screening test in the Infants will take home spellings linked to the School's Read, Write Ink scheme as well as some words the Government expects al children of this age to learn. These are identified in grey.

Note: It is also helpful at the same time to learn the definition of the prefixes and suffixes as these are tested in year 4 as part of their ongoing reading assessment.

Children who are still developing their phonic skills still are given a range of words from the Infant curriculum and / or those that focus on a particular sound.

Learning my spellings:

Spellings are issued (generally) on a Friday and tested the following Friday.

Children are expected, as part of their homework, to complete the look cover, write, check sheet on Monday - this will then be returned so your child can practice over the week before their test. It is advisable to set some time each day to learn a few words (eg Friday - Tuesday) before trialling all the words together (Wednesday - Thursday). Some children learn best by practising them as part of handwriting, some like to learn short mnemonics (eg big elephants can't always use small exits = because) and some like to cut out individual letters and rebuild. 

Expectations:

Children are expected to obviously score all / most of the words correctly, in this test but also in future independent work. If any grey Government words are spelt incorrectly these are practised further in class. 

Oxford Owl: Read Write Ink Spelling Tips:

There are lots of simple and effective ways you can help your child with spelling. Here are a few  ideas.

1. Practise phonics

Phonics is the main way your child will learn to spell at the start of primary school. You can use phonics to help your child with spelling by encouraging them to break words they are unsure of into individual sounds, and then to match those sounds to the letters of the alphabet.

Reminding your child to segment like this (for example, splitting ‘frog’ into ‘f’, ‘r’, ‘o’, and ‘g’) sounds like a very basic way of supporting spelling, but practising like this helps spelling become second nature. Take a look at our phonics page to find out more.

2. Encourage your child to ‘have a go’

Making a first attempt is good for confidence, and it can reinforce spelling patterns and help identify any problem areas. Making mistakes is a natural part of learning, and if your child is comfortable knowing that they’re not going to get spellings right 100% of the time, then they will be more likely to try out more adventurous words.

3. Play ‘hidden words’

You can prepare this game yourself. Write the words on your child’s spelling list, hidden in a series of letters. Now that they are hidden, ask your child to find them. For example:

sfhplayknc – play

qrubitpdh – bit

nvzbikejfa – bike

Your child could circle the hidden words with coloured pens. To raise the challenge, you could set a time limit on the game. For example, how many words can you find in one minute?