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Girraween Primary School Spelling-

The work of the 2017 teaching staff to develop this document is acknowledged and appreciated.

Learning to spell needs to be part of the overall literacy program to ensure students make links and transfer their developing knowledge of words to their
writing and reading. At Girraween we promote the establishment of WORD CONSCIOUS CLASSROOMS.

The following principles are essential to help students learning to spell: We explicitly teach students to use the following spelling strategies:
1. Start with Meaning 1. Sound
2. Teach spelling explicitly 2. Visual
3. Teach a repertoire of spelling knowledge 3. Meaning
4. Integrate spelling instruction across all subject areas. 4. Connecting
5. Checking
It is recommended that teachers read ‘Spelling It Out’ by Misty Adoniou to Recommended Resources:
gain a greater understanding of words, their history and the logic behind the ‘Guided Thinking for Effective Spelling’ by Christine Topfer and Deirdre
way they are spelled. This will increase confidence and knowledge to Arendt. Effective Spelling Teaching Guides -Topfer
enhance your spelling program. The Phonics Handbook
Words Their Way by Beare et al
In every classroom we expect to:

Notice Links with

See Hear Reading and Writing
 Relevant Environmental Print  Do we hear this? Phonemic Awareness  Quality texts displayed in an appealing
 Collections of authors’ gifts activities – students voicing phonics and manner
 Word walls connected to the current parts of words  Use of Writer’s Notebooks- class and
inquiry unit  Discussions about word meanings and individual
 High frequency words on placemats and origins.  Resources to support editing
wall displays  Rhymes  Modelled, guided and shared writing and
 Word Investigation Charts  Alliteration editing processes using student generated
 Dictionaries and word books  Talk about word families text and ideas (k)

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  Literature. A rich variety of quality texts  Writing conferences
for learning, pleasure and information to  Teachers enjoying, sharing, exploring and
support the connection between reading modelling a love of language (k)
and writing/ spelling (k)  Think alouds by teachers when attempting
to spell with reference to the spelling
strategies
EARLY YEARS
ENVIRONMENT A comfortable book corner valued & kept presented nicely, a range
of quality literature presented in a variety of ways, class books, big
books, tags and labels around room, names of students presented in
a range of ways, alphabet posters, sound cards, accessible word
walls created with the students, bump it up writing wall created with
the students, common word lists, sight word cards, text rich play
centres with opportunities for writing and oral language, books
related to topics, anchor charts
EQUIPMENT Access to alphabet charts and posters, writing stations/resources,
play based settings with rich literature and opportunities to write,
home learning folders updated regularly, magnetic letters, white
boards, blackboards, Ipads, rice, paint, gel, beanbags, collage,
various writing materials, sensory letters, quality literature, big
books, smart board, magnifying glass, playdough, clay, sand, sticky
notes, pencil grips, pens, a variety of writing tools eg cotton buds,
large and small paintbrushes, crayons, fine liners, pens, pencils,
alphaboxes to collect words
SIGHT WORDS A small number of sight words to be sent home at a time, new
words to be added when student is ready. If a student has been on
the same list for a long period, they may start a new list and then go
back and revise previous list. A record/checklist of known sight
words to be kept in Evidence of Learning Folder.
READING Throughout the year self-selected cosy readers and library books
T-2 Levelled texts and a record book for home reading. Teachers are
to monitor student selection of texts and ensure they are practising
regularly and moving through levels at an appropriate rate.
WRITING ‘Have a go writing’ every day.
Student choice and ownership of writing
Class writer’s notebook
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 Anchor charts to support alignment
between what is read and how to use that
information to spell
PRIMARY YEARS
Book corner, quality literature, class created books, big books, alphabet posters,
accessible sound cards, desk charts with blends, digraphs, vowel sounds, sight
words, accessible word walls created with students, bump it up wall created with
students, labels around the room, books related to topics, word noticing boards,
common word lists in alphabetical order, word investigation board created by
students, anchor charts- eg compound words, punctuation, homophones,
contractions, regularly updated homework, dictionaries, have a go books, student
with access to spelling conventions, whole class word lists.
Writers’ notebooks (to build identity as a writer), have a go book
(individual), access to dictionaries and thesaurus, editing tools,
spelling strategy posters, anchor charts with word investigations
and spelling generalisations to draw from, most common used
words charts, various writing material, access to writer’s guide by
Rodney Martin, writing process charts.
Sight words to be sent home to students at risk. Spelling homework to be revision
that connects to class work with parent instructions/ suggestions to assist in
completion of homework. Homework will be updated regularly.
Students to read at home each night and record reading in diary. Books should be
self-selected and could be levelled texts or library books.
Teachers should monitor student reading through regular conferences and
introduce students to a range of authors and genres.
Individual Writers’ Notebooks – Student ownership of writing: voice and choice.
Writing as a tool of thinking, learning and problem solving as well as to
communicate.
 Writing built into play. Writers’ Workshops- Mini lesson, student writing, sharing.
Writing as a process- Plan, Draft, Conference, Edit, Publish.
Writing that is conferenced to assist the writer to explore and improve writing.
ASSESSMENT How do we track sight word learning to ensure we do not repeat learning for all students?
Alphabet Letter Sound Assessments
Oxford sight word checklist, with read/ spell column, updated continuously from student writing and then copied and saved in evidence of learning folder
at the end of the year
Words Their Way monitoring, ensuring students are not “stuck” at one stage
Spelling Inventories/ analysis taken from student writing
How do we assess our whole class focus?
Writing samples, spelling interviews, dictation, student reflections, checklists, spelling inventories of generalisations/ investigations covered
When do we use analysis of spelling as assessment?
Through confirming and moderation, to work out where to next in teaching and to diagnose additional needs/ support required

– how often (needs to be included) for each assessment. Are these assessments differentiated?

Preschool
Students need to learn: Intentional Teaching
Develop a sensitivity to sound including rhyme, alliteration and Play listening and auditory discrimination games.
sound manipulation through playing games, singing songs and Encourage ‘have a go’ writing’
reciting rhymes. Write for real purposes in dramatic play centres.
Clap syllables, such as in names.
Focus on speech and how sounds are made in the mouth. Share big books, environmental print and rhymes focusing on letters,
sounds and words.
Recognise that print carries a message. Use mirrors to focus on how to make different sounds.
Create a wall of student’s names and play games with them.
At the end of preschool students will:
 Attempt to write their own names
 Put random marks and some symbols on paper as their ‘have a go’
writing.
 Hear some sounds but may not be able to match the symbols.
 Have a bank of known rhymes, songs and repetitive stories that
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 they are familiar with.
Assessment

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Transition
Students need to learn: Intentional Teaching
 Develop phonemic awareness- interest in and ability to hear sounds in words in Talk about words, letters and writing throughout the day. Spelling is not an
their correct sequence isolated subject and building word consciousness needs to be on-going.
 Know that spoken sounds and words can be written down using letters of the  Play listening and auditory discrimination games
alphabet  Play with student’s names and teach about letters through the games
 Recognise, name and use the most common sounds for each letter (graphemes)  Cement the understanding that print carries a message and the
of the alphabet concept of a word
 Combine three letters to make CVC words  Writing across the curriculum- modelled, shared, guided and
 To correctly spell some commonly used sight words independent
Content  Give students a voice and choice in their writing
 Establish left to right direction through play based experiences
Phonemic awareness (aural- what can they hear?)
 Build fine motor skills
 Rhyming words, alliteration, number of sounds in a word, clear articulation of
 Teach correct pencil grip and letter formation
sounds, clapping syllables
 Teach sounds of letters, use language of consonants and vowels
Sound:
 Teach students that c and g are consonants with two sounds
Segment words into individual sounds
Match the common sound of letters to the symbol.  Once initial sounds are recognised expose students to blending
Attempting to sound out as they write, hearing the most pronounced sounds in the sounds into two and then three letter words
initial, medial and final position of the word.  Identify onset and rime in words
h-a-t, m-u-m.  Common sounds of all letters and how to build CVC words
Move on to using onset rimes to make CVC word lists. At the end of transition students will:
as, ad, ag, am, eg, ed, en, em, id, im, ig, ip, in, od, ob, og, op, ub, ud, ug, ut,  Have a go at writing
an, ap, et, ix, it ot, ox un.  Represent most sounds with symbols
 Spell some commonly used words. Eg said, they
Visual:  Begin to use some sound and visual strategies when spelling words
Learn to read/recognise the sight words before being able to spell them. Common sight  Use environmental print to find words they need to write
words: to, the, went, they, have, said, mum, dad, in, he, she, in,
Generalisation – Q is always followed by a u Assessment
Meaning:
FELA
Word exploration as relevant to environment, inquiry unit and texts.
SA Spelling Test in term three
Talk about and play with words recognise some words come from other countries,
represent sounds (meow)
WTW diagnostic assessment- as required
Talk about suffixes and prefixes, eg un+happy =unhappy. Car+s= cars or a plural.

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 Connecting:
Use onset and rime to create word families, explicitly showing how knowing how to
spell one word helps you to spell another.

Year One
Students need to learn: Intentional Teaching
 To identify sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words Revise content in transition as required. (some children will be ready to
 To identify the letters used to represent sounds move forward and should not be held back, others will need to revisit
 That a letter may represent more than one sound, that a sound can be some letters and sounds.)
represented by more than one letter and that letters can combine to  Daily writing to build stamina and ‘have a go’ attitude
form a single sound  Opportunity to choose what and when to write
 Initial and final consonant clusters  Create a class culture of noticing words- how to investigate and
 Consonant digraphs celebrate words
 Simple contractions  Build class posters of word noticing’s- eg words that have ‘s’ in
 Onset and rimes to create four letter words them- beginning, middle, end. Words with br or bl at the start of
 Some vowel digraphs the word
 Understand that vowels make long and short sounds  Modelled writing and think alouds
 C and G make two sounds. When they make their soft sound as in
Content cycle and giraffe. The letter c or g is usually followed by I, y or e
 Teach consonant blends- two letters go together and retain
their original sound
 Teach three letter rimes
 Teach common consonant digraphs
 Use of environmental print to find, check or correct words
 Play with words, swapping initial, final and middle sounds to
create new words, becoming aware of medial sounds
 Segment works into syllables by clapping, tapping etc
 Capital letters for proper nouns
 Handwriting skills to ensure letter formation is correct

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 Phonemic awareness (aural- what can they hear?) At the end of year one students will:
Rhyming words, alliteration, number of sounds in a word, clear articulation of sounds,
 Write simple sentences with some correctly spelt words
clapping syllables.
 Represent all sounds with symbols
Sound:
 Spell commonly used words correctly. E.g. said, they
Onset and rime for more complex phonically regular rime patterns:
Rimes  Begin to use some sound, visual and checking strategies when spelling
words
and est if Old Ump
 Use environmental print to find words they need to write and to edit
ate ell ill uff
their work
eat ink

Onset could be a consonant blend Assessment

bl cl dr fl gl pl sc tr SA Spelling Test in term one and three
br cr dw fr gr pr sk tw WTW diagnostic assessment- as required
sl
sm
sn
sp
st
sw

Common consonant digraphs:

sh th ch ck ph
Simple contractions: I’m, I’ve, We’re.
Changing short vowels to long vowels by adding ‘e’. mad- made.
Visual:
Use visual memory to check phonically irregular words.
Use knowledge of onset and rime to spell words with short or common long vowel
patterns.
Revisit generalisation: q is always followed by a u
Meaning:
Word exploration as relevant to environment, inquiry unit and texts.
Understand that the word is written the same regardless of the pronunciation eg
jumped, laughed.
Break words into meaningful parts, walk, - walks.
Talk about workds from other countries, onomatopoeia, combining two words to make
one.

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 Connecting:
Begins to Identify words that may be spelt incorrectly, use word walls and charts to
check some words.
Generalisation: The letter c before e, I or y says /s/ (cent, city, cycle) but followed by
any other letter says /k/ (cat, cot, cuff). (Hard and soft c)
Generalisation: the letter g before e, I or y may say /j/ (page, giant, gym) but followed
by any other letter says /g/ (gate, go, gust). The letter e and I following a g do not
always make the g say /g/ (get, girl, give). (Hard and soft g)

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 Year Two
Students need to learn: Intentional Teaching
 To represent all sound in words including vowel sounds Throughout the day, words should be discussed and analysed so students do
 Understand that letter names remain constant but the sound they not see correct spelling as just something you do in a spelling lesson. Revise
represent may vary earlier content as required.
 Develop knowledge of vowel digraphs  Daily writing is essential to build ‘writing miles’ Students should have
 Represent most initial and final consonant blends time to choose what they write; choosing text form and topic
 Different letter combinations to make vowel sounds
 Every syllable has a vowel
 Begin to spell some compound words, contractions and plurals correctly.  Word investigations: using prefixes, suffixes, writing sentences,
 Adding s to a word is the simplest form of creating plurals word building, word ladders, noticing wall charts
 Rhyming games, proof reading checklists, big books, rhyming
Content dictionaries
Phonemic awareness (aural- what can they hear?)
 Word sorts, games, bingo, manipulation of words, pneumatic
Rhyming words, alliteration, number of sounds in a word, clear articulation of sounds,
clapping syllables. Identify letters in a word. devices
Sound:  Multi sensory approach to learning words
Different combination to make long vowel sounds and vowel digraphs:  Final ‘e’ when we see ‘e’ at the end of a word it is usually silent and
Long A Long E Long I Long O Long U often means that the preceding vowel is long, particularly in one
Say Sea Ride Oval Push syllable words. (There are exceptions eg have)
Cake See High Boat Tune  Explore and expand knowledge and ability to spell words with
Pain Eve Sky Bone Spoon long vowel sounds. ‘When two vowels go walking
Eight Key Buy Bow Blew  The first one does the talking.’ Oa in boat, ai in pain, ue in blue
Break Happy Pie Toe Blue  Continue building lists of word families using onset and rimes
prey ski eye sew suit and vowel patterns
 Use of a dictionary to find and check words
far For Her Boil Out
Four Bird boy cow
Saw Burp
haunt Earth At the end of year two students will:
word  Spell 150-200 commonly used words correctly
 Write a series of linked sentences with many correctly spelt words
Further explore consonant blends and digraphs. and approximations will have symbols to represent all sounds
ph squ spl str scr  Use a range of different letter combinations to represent vowel
sounds showing they are using visual and sound strategies
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 Visual:  Begin to have a ‘spelling conscience’ ensuring
Understands alphabetic order
Recognises that some letters are silent.
Writes an increasing number (150-200) high frequency words
Meaning:
Begins to use contractions: he’d, we’d, we’ve, we’re, I’ll, didn’t, can’t Assessment
Begin to use compound words Guided dictation to assess generalisations, word families and prefixes and
Understands the concept of plural forms suffixes known.
Uses common prefixes and suffixes SA Spelling Test in term one and three
WTW diagnostic or spelling anaylsis as required
Connecting:
Uses rime analogy to spell new words, e.g. s-eat, b-eat
Proof reads own writing and attempts to correct some misspelt words using word wall,
charts, personal list, dictionary.

Term 1, 2020
 Year Three
Students need to learn:
 To represent all vowel and consonant sounds in a word placing vowels in every
syllable
 More complex vowel combinations
 Use of two and three letter blends
 Use consonant digraphs
 To generate alternative spellings in order to select the right one
 Rules for turning words into plurals
o Add ‘s’ to a singular noun
o Add ‘es’ to words ending in s, x, o, ch, sh, z, and zz
o Add ‘s’ to words that end in a y which is preceded by a vowel. E.g.
valleys
o Change ‘y’ to ‘I’ and add ‘es’ when words end in a consonant and then y
o Some words do not change when making plurals eg sheep
o Change f or fe to v and add es, eg knife=knives
o Some words change their form mouse=mice
o Some words add en or ren to make plurals eg child=children, o =oxen
Content
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Intentional Teaching
Use material read by children to conduct word searches for letter
patterns. Sort words according to sound and visual patterns, make
charts to display findings. Explore word groups through investigations
and provide opportunities for students to blend and segment orally and
in written form. Analyse words throughout the day so spelling is seen as
important at all times not just in spelling lessons. Revise content from
previous years as required. Spelling lessons can be a whole class focus,
especially when honing in on ‘meaning’ strategies.
 Students need to write daily, lightning or buzz writing should
happen daily to help build writing miles and confidence in
spelling
 Conference spelling during writing process
 The writing program should include the teaching of text forms
and time for students to write about their interests and in their
preferred text form
 Build on previous learning and discuss unusual letter
 Phonemic awareness (aural- what can they hear?) combinations that make that sound. E.g: igh, i-e, y
Rhyming words, alliteration, number of sounds in a word, clear articulation of sounds,  Build word families including prefixes and suffixes
clapping syllables.  Continue to build grapho-phonic knowledge such as:
Sound: o The same sound can be represented with different
Consonant digraphs at beginning and end of words
letters or letter combinations, eg. Receive, busy, niece.
ph gh Wh _ beginning only
o The same letters can represent different sounds, eg
Three letter blends
str spl spr squ shr thr cough, enough, through.
Unusual letter patterns  Focus on the critical features of a word and their meaning
dge tch nch  Opportunities to blend and segment multisyllabic words with
common letter patterns
Undertake word investigations to find different ways to make the same sounds, for  Teach strategies for remembering tricky words. Mnemonics.
example:  How to spell plural forms of words.
S Ou Oo Ar E Strategies to support progression
Sit Loud Cook Car Pet  Investigations
Kiss Cow Put Bath Bread  Words sorts and searches
City drought could laugh Any
 Syllabication of words
scissors Said
heifer
 Dictionary meanings/Thesaurus word building (meaning) – oral
and written – putting words into sentences/ identifying words in
Word investigations to see how R-influences vowel patterns (within patterns) sentences with different meanings
Example  Mnemonics
Are,are,air Er,ear,eer Ir,ire,ier Or,oar,ore Ur,ure,ur-e  Guided dictation
 Cross words/ word ladders
The three sounds of past tense – ed, d, t  Word building from base word (prefixes/suffixes)
The hard and soft sounds – C/G  Word family building
Continue working on different vowel patterns from year 2.  Word books – have a go and vocab extension
Visual:
 Morning message – ‘caught ya’ (proofreading and editing small
Writes an increasing number of high frequency Oxford words.
Uses visual patterns in single syllable words, silent letters and double letters.
segments of work)
Meaning:  Peer editing/assessment in writing process
Explore homophones – same sound, different spelling and meaning. E.g.Sail, sale  Making Big words – using letters to make sounds
Explore homonyms – same spelling but different meaning. E.g. tea- drink or meal  Word clozes – homophones/homonyms
Contractions: they’ve, they’re, you’re, what’s, won’t At the end of year three students will:
Compound words
 Write several paragraphs with correct use of capital letters and full
Extend knowledge of plurals and rules associated with them.
stops. Evidence of using visual, sound and meaning strategies will be
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 Teach prefixes and suffixes: un, tri, pre, dis,, over, in, sub, bi, re/ ly, est, er, ed, y, less,
ness, ing.
Connecting:
Proof read and edit own writing and attempts to correct misspelt words using
classroom resources: editor’s marks, proof reading bookmarks and fans.
Year Four
Students need to learn:
 Continue to develop ability to write words with less common vowel sounds
 I before e except after c or when sounds like a as in neighbour or eight
 Doubling consonants occurs after a short vowel eg happy, sunny
 Some letters are silent in words: K –know, G- gnaw, L half, N- hymn, U- guess,
W- write
 Begin to use apostrophes for possession
 Adding suffixes
o Words ending in a consonant and y- change the y to I and add the
suffix. eg try, tries, tried trying
o Words ending in a vowel +y, just add the suffix. eg played
o Word ends in a silent e. Drop the e when adding an ending that begins
with a vowel race =racing
o Word ends with a single vowel and a consonant, e.g hop you double
the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Eg
hop=hopping
 Spelling of some frequently misspelt words, eg friend, tomorrow. (Blake’s
spelling guide page 72)
 Common homonyms, contractions, more complex letter combinations
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seen
 Spell most simple and some difficult words correctly
 Segment words into phonemes and syllables
Assessment
Sight words – writing analysis
Word Investigations/sorts – guided dictation/ word list drill
Strategy/ metalanguage – self-reflection and sorts
Caught Ya – editing and proofreading
SA Spelling Test in term one and three
WTW diagnostic
Intentional Teaching
We often wonder why students can spell words correctly in a spelling
lesson but not in their writing. We need students to see spelling as
something that goes beyond the spelling lesson so it is important to
discuss words across the day in all subjects. If students are getting
words incorrect in their writing, they will need some work on editing
not necessarily to learn the word again. Whole class spelling foci and
sessions with an emphasis on ‘meaning’ are a must.
o The writing program needs to give student the chance to write
daily, lightning or buzz writing can build writing stamina and
ownership
 Revise and build on knowledge of vowel combinations
 Explicitly teach common homophones: there/they’re/their; to/
too/two; right/write; hear/here
 Undertake word investigations of etymology, morphology. Eg-
words that are related based on meaning. Medical, medicine,
medic
 Content  Conference spelling during writing process
Sound:  Continue to revise and practise using the rules for plurals. (Year
Continue to explore less common vowel patterns. 3)
A sound E sound I sound O sound U sound  Teach rules/generalisations for adding suffixes to base words
Eigh- eight eo-people Eigh- height Ough- dough Ough- through  Apostrophes are used to indicate ownership. Henry’s dog
Ei- rein Igh- high Ew- sew Ui-juice  Teach compound words and unpack the meaning of the words.
Ai- aisle Eau- beau  Use of editing checklists and proof reading skills
Undertake word investigations to find different ways to make the same sounds, for
example: At the end of year four students will:
Sh U Ch Er Air  Write extended texts with several paragraphs with stamina
Shop Cut Chocolate Her Fair  Spell most common words and many difficult words correctly.
Schedule Come cello learn Care  Use simple punctuation correctly
Sugar Flood Bird Heir  Be able to apply proof reading skills to correct some spelling errors
Tissue Trouble Curl Aeroplane using a range of resources
Luscious Tough Word bear  Spell common homophones, homonyms, contractions correctly
Machine Away journal  Work through the writing process to produce several texts
Ocean aurora  Use the metalanguage of spelling strategies and common
motion generalisations to explain their writing

Visual: Assessment
Writes an increasing number of high frequency Oxford words. (400-600)  Guided dictation to assess generalisations
Uses visual patterns in multi syllable words, silent letters and double letters.
 SA Spelling Test in term one and three
 WTW diagnostic or spelling anaylsis as required
Word investigations to see how R-influences vowel patterns (within patterns) –
reiterate from year 3
Example
Are,are,air Er,ear,eer Ir,ire,ier Or,oar,ore Ur,ure,ur-e

Meaning:
Continue using contractions, compound words, homophones, homonyms.
Continue developing knowledge of prefixes and suffixes: bi, tri, miss, over, mid, circum,
under, out, un, ful, hood, ship, let, able, ible
Use apostrophes in contractions and for possession.
Use the context of the word to determine correct spelling of some uncommon words
Term 1, 2020
 i.e historical
Connecting:
Begins to use knowledge of word parts to create new words. Sprinkle.= spray and
twinkle.
Checking:
Proof read and edit own writing using a range of resources, including print and
electronic, editor’s marks, proof reading bookmarks and fans.

Term 1, 2020
 Year Five
Students need to learn:
o To consolidate the use of the spelling rules to add suffixes and to turn words into
plurals
o To spell a bank of tricky words. Blake’s spelling guide page 73
o Word origins and meanings
o Use of prefixes and suffixes
o Adding prefixes and suffixes can change the words meaning, eg – ful and less create
words of opposite meaning, eg doubtful, doubtless
o You can add more than one suffix to a word eg form, formal, formally
o Prefixes are often used to create an antonym (opposite) unhappy, disagree
o Apostrophes are used to indicate letters are missing in a contraction or to indicate
possession. Apostrophes are NOT used in plurals
o Use of acronyms and abbreviations
o How to use their vocabulary to express precision of meaning and know that words
can have different meaning in different contexts i.e reuse/resuse
o Learn less common plurals
Content
Revise and revisit content from previous years- letter combinations and spelling rules.
Sound:
Continue to break words into syllables and use knowledge of meaning to work out the correct
letters to make the sounds required.
Visual:
Writes an increasing number of high frequency Oxford words. (400-600)
Writes an increasing number of tricky or commonly misspelt words Blakes’ spelling Guide
page 72-77)
Uses visual patterns in multi syllable words, silent letters and double letters
Meaning:
Spell and use homophones and homonyms correctly
idioms
Term 1, 2020
Intentional Teaching
We want students to have a spelling conscious(conscience?) and to
be word aware. Students should have opportunities to talk about
words throughout the day and time to investigate letter patterns
and spelling rules. This can be done as a whole class focus.
o Students need time to write daily, lightning or buzz writing
is a great way to give students the chance to write for
themselves and to practise their spelling skills in a non-
threatening manner
o When to use apostrophes correctly
o Use of prefixes and suffixes to change word meaning and
the way a word is used
o Unpack unknown words using knowledge of patterns,
prefixes, suffixes and base words.
o Conference spelling as part of the writing process
o Use the metalanguage of spelling strategies and common
generalisations to explain their writing
At the end of year five students will:
 Write extended texts with all common words spelt correctly and
an increasing bank of difficult words. They will select the correct
homophones and use their knowledge of spelling rules to spell
multi syllable words with prefixes and suffixes correctly. They will
refer to resources at all stages of the writing process to ensure
their spelling is correct. They will be able to articulate and use
the metalanguage of spelling.
Assessment
 Investigate the history of words, exploring how words have been changed over time and
come to be.  Guided dictation to assess generalisations, word families and
Contractions- the apostrophe is used to mark shortened phrases. It shows where letters are prefixes and suffixes known.
let out. Increase the number of contractions used correctly. Blake’s Spelling Guide Page 57  SA Spelling Test in term one and three
Stem  WTW diagnostic or spelling analysis as required
I you it that she we let could shoul here there he she
d
the where what who shall will can do does did is has hav
y e
had was wer are
e
Ending – some of these letters will be replaced by the apostrophe when adding to the stem.
Am Have Had Would Will Are Is Has are Us Not
‘m ‘ve ‘d ‘d ‘ll ‘re ‘s ‘s ‘re ‘s n’t

Build understanding of the use of apostrophe for possession: Joe’s book.

Highlight that apostrophes are not used to make words into plurals.

Continue developing knowledge of prefixes and suffixes

Suffixes that change words into adjectives -able, -al, -ive,-ful, -ous,-y
Suffixes that change words into nouns -ance, -dom,-ence,-ment,--ness, -th, -tion
Suffixes that change words into adverbs -ly
Suffixes that are used to compare -er,-est

Use knowledge of word origins and roots and related words to interpret and spell unfamiliar
words, and learn how these roots impact on plurals, for example ‘cactus’ and ‘cacti’, ‘louse’
and ‘lice’.
Expand prefixes and suffixes: semi, up, pro, miss, ex, anti/ an, ic, man, ish, al, ate, ling
Connecting:
Recognise when a word does not look right and is able to generate alternative spellings.
Uses a range of strategies to recall and attempt to spell new words.
Recognise and write less familiar words that share common letter patterns but have different
pronunciations, for e.g journey, your, tour and sour.

Checking:
Term 1, 2020
 Proof read and edit own writing using a range of resources, including print and
electronic, editor’s marks, proof reading bookmarks and fans.

Term 1, 2020
Year Six
Students need to learn: Intentional Teaching
o To combine spelling strategies to spell unknown words Students need to write daily and to be encouraged to edit their own
o How to break words down to discover meaning and word usage word during and after the drafting stage.
o Word origins  Word origins through investigations and word webs/sorts
o Generalisations connected to writing plurals and adding suffixes  Use of prefixes and suffixes to create words that give more
o How to use apostrophes correctly detail in writing
o How to independently edit their writing to correct spelling  Undertake investigations to build knowledge of word groups
E.g. find all words with a common meaning source, eg aero
Investigate what happens to a word when a certain suffixes is
Content added, e.g. adding ly turns a word into an adjective
Sound  Investigate Portmanteaus – words created by blending two or
Uses syllabification as a spelling strategy eg resuscitate, guarantee
Visual
more other words and their meanings i.e aero + solution
Spells high-frequency words fluently and with accuracy (spelling list and word study resource book)
Accurately spells a number of words with uncommon spelling patterns eg yacht, vacuum, ratio,  Investigate word history – spelling list and word study resource
synthesis book
Writes multisyllabic words ending letter patterns; ent, (confident) ant, (effluent), ture.  Explicitly teach prefixes: ill, ir, inter, mini, co, con, com, ac, ad
(adventure)
Meaning  Explicitly teach suffixes: en, ion, tion, ism, ist, ee, ise, ous, fy,
Understands the structure of words, including prefix, suffix, word derivatives and compound age, ant, ent
words and can utilise these meaningful parts when spelling new words
Adds suffixes to base words applying spelling generalisations eg (reliability; poisonous) and
At the end of year six students will:
understand how the meaning of the word is changed  Demonstrate a spelling conscience, use a range of multi syllable and
Expand suffixes and prefixes: ill, ir, inter, mini, co, con, com, ac, ad, en, ion, tion, ism, ist, ee, ise, subject specific words to enhance their writing
ous, fy, age,ant,ent  Be interested in vocabulary and how the English language is made up
Uses contractions for (will, have, not, would, have, are, am, is) and homophones correctly eg of words from many different countries
(practice, practise)  Be able to justify how words are spelt, referring to different strategies
Uses superlatives and comparatives (e.g. good, better, best) and the metalanguage of spelling
Learns about words from other languages  Sort words according to meaning, visual, sound, connecting strategies
Develops morphemic word families for technical words (eg experiment, experimented,
experimentation)
Uses word origins to find meaning and spell other words eg Latin root ‘fract’ means break –
fracture Assessment
Further investigate the history of words and investigate how words were created and changed  Guided dictation to assess generalisations, word families and prefixes
over time.
Term 1, 2020
 Connecting and suffixes known.
Recognises when a word doesn’t look right and is able to generate alternative spellings  SA Spelling Test in term one and three
Is aware of the patterns of English spelling  WTW diagnostic or spelling anaylsis as required
Uses a range of spelling strategies to recall and attempt to spell new words
Use metalanguage of spelling to justify how words are spelt
Checking
Proofreads own writing, making use of a variety of resources, including print, live and electronic

Term 1, 2020
 Glossary
Blend: A consonant blend is when two or more consonants are blended together, but each sound may be heard in the blend. Eg bl, br, cr, cl

Connecting Strategy: you can use what you know about one word to work out another word eg I know how to spell come so I can spell came

Contractions: a shortened form of a word that keeps the last letter of the full word. An apostrophe is used to show that letters have been left out.

CVC: Consonant vowel consonant

Digraph: a grapheme made of two letters representing one sound eg: consonant digraphs sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck and vowel digraphs ea, ee, ei, ou, oo etc

Differentiation: the action or process of differentiating or distinguishing between two or more things or people.

Dipthong: sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (as in coin, loud)

Etymology: the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

Grapheme: The written representation of a phoneme (sound); it can be a single letter or a group of letters eg:

Term 1, 2020
Homographs: words that are spelt the same but are pronounced and have different meanings.

Homonyms: words that sound the same but have different meanings

Homophones: words that sound the same but have different spellings and different meanings.

Meaning Strategy: you can spell words by thinking about the structure of words and their meaning eg tri- triangle, triceratops, tricycle

Morpheme: The smallest meaning unit within a word eg dogs has two morphemes; ‘dog’ and ‘s’

Onset and rime: Onset is the consonant phoneme or blend at the beginning of the syllable, the rime is in the remainder of the syllable. Eg: w-in, gr-in, f-in, sk-in (in is the
word family or rime).

Othography: the conventional spelling system of a language.

Phoneme: Is a speech sound. It is the smallest unit of sound in a word and can change the words meaning eg: cat, cot, cut

Phonology: the system of contrastive relationships among the speech sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language.

Prefixes: added to the front of a word eg un, re, anti

Sound Strategy: spelling using the sounds you can hear in the word

Suffixes: added at the of a word eg ant, ent, ful, ed, ing

Syllables: a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; for example, there are two
syllables in water and three in inferno.

Visual Strategy: spelling using the way that words look by looking for predictable patterns in words eg we, be, she, he

Term 1, 2020
 Recommended Teacher References and Resources
A Sound Way- Tippy Tongue story

Resource Books for Parents

Daniella Curtano’s Speech

Docking station, star jack, CD player

Audio books

Listening Lotto – MTA

Animal Sound tracks (auditory discrimination)

Images of words that rhyme.

Effective Spelling – Christine Topher & Deidre Arendt

Teaching Phonics in Context- David Hornsby & Lorraine Wilson

Spelling It Out- Misty Adoniou

Words Their Way- Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, Johnston

Daily Word Ladders, Scholastic

The Complete Phonic Handbook, Diana Hope

Teaching and Assessing Spelling, Mary Jo Fresch and Aileen Wheaton

Caught Ya, Grammar with Giggle, Jane Kiester.

Blake’s Spelling guide for primary school Del Merrick

Sheena Cameron – The writing book, The oral language book

Term 1, 2020
‘Making More Big Words’ Years 3-6 intervention – hands on phonics and spelling investigations

Term 1, 2020