Mather Street Primary School
Spelling Policy
Rationale
At Mather Street Primary School our intention is to create an environment where children are given opportunities to develop the ability to spell with accuracy and confidence. A multi-sensory approach to the teaching of spelling has been adopted to address different learning styles and provide pupils with a variety of learning experiences. We want our pupils to be equipped with the knowledge and range of strategies for learning spelling and to be able to apply these strategies when spelling words in their independent writing
Aims
• To give pupils the tools that are necessary for spelling accurately
• To enable all pupils to develop their own strategies for spelling confidently
•To encourage creativity and the use of ambitious vocabulary choices
• To give pupils a love of language.
Programme of study
EYFS and Year 1
Our pupils follow a high quality, systematic programme of phonics teaching following the Little Wandle teaching programme. Our phonics teaching makes strong links between blending for reading, segmenting for spelling, letter formation and handwriting. We encourage all of our pupils to apply their phonic knowledge when spelling. The children have a daily phonics lesson lasting up to 20 minutes. Within the session, the children are taught a new grapheme and tricky words or revisit ones that they have already learnt.
In Year 1, the children have additional sessions to focus on tricky words and the Year 1 common exception words. This is also incorporated into handwriting practice so correct letter formation is encouraged.
Year 2
In Year 2, the children move onto The Little Wandle Spelling Scheme. It provides a seamless link from the core Little Wandle programme to the teaching of spelling. During the autumn term, they revisit phase 5 phonics to secure their learning before they progress to the Bridge to Spelling Unit. This unit focuses on teaching the foundational skills for spelling before they move onto the Little Wandle Spelling Units which complete the coverage of the Year 2 spelling requirements.
They will also have a daily spelling session which focuses on High Frequency Words and the Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception Words. Again, this is also incorporated into handwriting practice so correct letter formation is encouraged.
Key Stage 2
The Twinkl PlanIt programme provides teachers with a sequenced outline to teach the age-related spelling content. This programme of study is a manageable tool so that the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum are met. A specific spelling rule is taught and then the children are given opportunities to practise spelling the words through a range of collaborative and independent activities so that they develop a range of spelling strategies they can use. Children usually have three spelling sessions a week in school and are then given the words to practise at home.
Supporting children with spelling when writing
Word mats are used to support children when producing pieces of writing. Depending on the age and ability of the child, they will have access to tricky words, common exception words and subject specific vocabulary so they have a point of reference to check the spelling of important words. In some instances, symbols, illustrations and photographs will support children to understand the meaning of words.
The success criteria for writing will include 5 spellings which are non-negotiable and must be spelt correctly when the children use them in their own writing. To develop the children’s use of subject-specific Tier 3 vocabulary, they will be given up to 5 words in Years 1 – 4 and up to 10 words in Year 5 and Year 6 as a bank of words to use in the appropriate subject lesson.
Expectations of adults
Staff will spell accurately in front of the children at all times, using opportunities to implement taught spellings rules and common exception words.
Word mats will be provided in every lesson to provide scaffolds for the children to use. These will be adapted for the age, ability and need of the individual child.
Teachers and support staff will address spelling errors in children’s work. The initial focus will be on the success criteria words/Tier 3 vocabulary for that lesson. Adults will adopt a zero tolerance to these spellings. Staff will spell the word correctly and pupils re-write it three times. The next stage will be a more individualised approach depending on the age, ability and need of the child.
Teaching sequence for spelling
A typical teaching sequence is as follows:
Revise
Activate prior knowledge
Ø Revisit previous linked learning
Teach: (When new strategies/activities are introduced, expectations will have to be modelled to pupils.)
Ø Introduce the new concept
Ø Explain
Ø Investigate
Ø Model
Practise
Ø Individual/group work
Ø Extend/explore the concept independently
Ø Investigate
Ø Generalise
Apply/Assess
Ø Assess through independent application in writing
Ø Opportunities to work in pairs to assess each other
Ø Explain and demonstrate understanding
Ø Individual testing through precision teaching when needed
Spelling Journals
All children will have a spelling journal to carry out spelling activities. Developing the use of spelling journals can support both teachers and pupils in many ways. They enable
• pupils to take responsibility for their spelling learning
• pupils to refer back to previous learning
• teachers to see how pupils are tackling tricky bits of spelling
• teachers and pupils to discuss spelling with parents and carers
Spelling journals can take many forms and are much more than just a word book. Spelling journals can be used for
• practising strategies
• learning words
• recording rules/conventions/generalisations as an aide-memoire
• word lists of really tricky words (spelling enemies)
• ‘Having a go’ at the point of writing
• ongoing record of statutory words learnt
• investigations
• recording spelling targets or goals
• spelling assessments
There is flexibility for journals to be set up in a variety of ways. Below are a few recommendations:
• Make sure that the journal can be used flexibly. A blank exercise book gives much more scope for pupils to try out ideas and organise their learning than a heavily structured format.
• Model different ways of using the journal. (A class spelling journal or examples from different pupils could be used to do this.)
• Give time for pupils to use their journals and to review them.
• Do the majority of spelling work in the journal.
‘Having a go’ at the point of writing
Introducing Have a Go:
1. Model writing a sentence and being unsure about how to spell a word. Talk about the tricky part in the word and some of the choices you might have for that part. You could refer to a GPC chart to find the choices if appropriate.
2. Model writing the word with two or three choices and then model choosing the one that you think looks right and using it in your sentence. It is important that pupils learn to ask themselves the question ‘Does it look right?’ or ‘Have I seen it like this in a book?’ to help them make their choices.
3. If you are still unsure of the spelling, put a wiggly line under it in the sentence to signal that this needs checking by the teacher, or the pupil if appropriate, during proofreading time.
4. Model continuing with writing and not checking the correct version of the spelling at this point. This is important so that the flow of writing is not unnecessarily slowed.
5. Make sure you model this process briefly in writing in all curriculum areas.
6. Remind them never to make more than three attempts at a word.
Misspelt words will need to be corrected in line with the school’s marking and feedback policy. Some of these words may be included in pupils’ individual word lists for learning.
The teaching of spelling complements the teaching of phonics. It is anticipated that school staff will draw upon the GPC charts used in their phonics programme to work alongside the teaching of spelling.
Individual whiteboards
Individual whiteboards can be used in a variety of ways to support lessons including checking spelling attempts,
Working wall
It is really useful to have a small area of display space in the classroom that can reflect current teaching focuses and provide support for pupils’ spelling as they write. GPC charts, reminders of common spelling patterns or conventions and tricky words to remember could be part of a working wall for spelling.
Learning spellings
Learning needs to happen in school and at home. There is little evidence, though, that the traditional practice of learning spellings (usually 10) at home and being tested on them (usually on a Friday) is effective. However, there is a high expectation within the 2014 National Curriculum that pupils will learn many increasingly complex words.
Each spelling unit is a six-week block. Within the sessions a range of strategies for learning spellings are introduced and practised. This enables pupils to choose the strategies they find most effective for learning different words.
Tips for learning spellings at home
Learning at home needs to be an extension of the practice in school. Consider
• making sure pupils and parents have access to the range of learning strategies which have been taught in school, to use in home learning
• assessing spellings in context, for example: learning spellings in a given sentence, generating sentences for each word, assessing through unseen dictated sentences
• keeping an ongoing record of words learnt and setting very high expectations of correct application in writing once a word has been learned.
The learning strategies below are suggestions that can be introduced incrementally and can then be used to support learning spellings at home.
Look, say, cover, write, check
This is probably the most common strategy used to learn spellings.
Look: first look at the whole word carefully and if there is one part of the word that is difficult, look at that part in more detail.
Say: say the word as you look at it, using different ways of pronouncing it if that will make it more memorable.
Cover: cover the word.
Write: write the word from memory, saying the word as you do so.
Check: Have you got it right? If yes, try writing it again and again! If not, start again – look, say, cover, write, check.
Trace, copy and replicate (and then check)
This is a similar learning process to ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ but is about developing automaticity and muscle memory.
- Write the word out on a sheet of paper ensuring that it is spelt correctly and it is large enough to trace over. Trace over the word and say it at the same time.
- Move next to the word you have just written and write it out as you say it. Turn the page over and write the word as you say it, and then check that you have spelt it correctly.
- If this is easy, do the same process for two different words at the same time.
- Once you have written all your words this way and feel confident, miss out the tracing and copying or the tracing alone and just write the words.
Segmentation strategy
The splitting of a word into its constituent phonemes in the correct order to support spelling.
Quickwrite
- Writing the words linked to the teaching focus with speed and fluency. The aim is to write as many words as possible within a time constraint.
- Pupils can write words provided by the teacher or generate their own examples. For example, in two minutes write as many words as possible with the /iː/ phoneme.
- This can be turned into a variety of competitive games including working in teams and developing relay race approaches.
Drawing around the word to show the shape
Draw around the words making a clear distinction in size where there are ascenders and descenders. Look carefully at the shape of the word and the letters in each box. Now try to write the word making sure that you get the same shape.
Drawing an image around the word
This strategy is all about making a word memorable. It links to meaning in order to try to make the spelling noticeable.
You can’t use this method as your main method of learning spellings, but it might work on those that are just a little more difficult to remember.
Words without vowels
This strategy is useful where the vowel choices are the challenge in the words. Write the words without the vowels and pupils have to choose the correct grapheme to put in the space. For example, for the word field:
Pyramid words
This method of learning words forces you to think of each letter separately.
You can then reverse the process so that you end up with a diamond.
Other strategies
Ø Rainbow writing - Using coloured pencils in different ways can help to make parts of words memorable. You could highlight the tricky parts of the word or write the tricky part in a different colour. You could also write each letter in a different colour, or write the word in red, then overlay in orange, yellow and so on.
Ø Making up memorable ‘silly sentences’ containing the word
Ø Saying the word in a funny way – for example, pronouncing the ‘silent’ letters in a word
Ø Clapping and counting to identify the syllables in a word.