Halstow Primary School
Whole School Approach to the
Teaching and Learning of
Spelling
‘The most significant kinds of teaching that helps
children move on in spelling moves the culture of
spelling away from right and wrong’
Olivia O’Sullivan and Anne Thomas – CLPE
Learning walls should be purposeful with interactive areas for children to
capture, engage with and explore exciting and unusual vocabulary.
Display new vocabulary allowing children opportunities to explore the
etymology of the word, study the word and patterns in its spelling.
Common Exception words and words associated with the current topic
matter should be displayed around the room at all times.
Developing the Teaching of Spelling Most people read words more accurately than they spell them. The younger pupils are, the truer
this is. This protocol is designed to support professionals in creating vocabulary rich environments
which can be used alongside efficient spelling techniques to best support our children.
Parental
Involvement
Classroom
Environment
Assessment
Opportunities
Teaching and
Learning
Policy
Planning
Spellings Homework to be set and sent home regularly.
Words set should be challenging and based on current contexts or
learning.
Through parent leaflets and workshops ensure parents are aware of the
investigative process that supports spelling
Tasks should be varied and encourage children to learn meanings
alongside structure; learning how words can be modified and adapted.
Introduce initiatives such as a word/spellings pot so new vocabulary, its
spelling and its meanings can be revised quickly and frequently.
Encourage discussion about spelling. Use talking partners allowing
children to verbalise opinions, ask questions and give recommendations.
Promote the use of dictionaries, thesauruses and spelling journals to
support investigations in lessons to extend the range of words used within
the lesson.
Take the time to explore new vocabulary. Discuss the etymology and
morphology of new words. Demonstrate how new and different words
can be derived from new vocabulary learnt.
Model and explore specific spelling strategies to develop spelling skills
Implement the whole-school policy and approach to spelling for direct
and indirect teaching of spelling in your school.
Ensure there is consistency of practice in correcting spellings in pupils’
work and how are pupils expected to follow up mistakes.
When planning a new unit, consider the terminology that children will use
most frequently and which of these they will find most difficult to use and
spell independently.
Plan in discrete opportunities to discuss new vocabulary and
opportunities for the children to try using and spelling the words correctly
and independently.
Plan in pre-teaching sessions to support language acquisition and to
develop knowledge around a word for those that need it.
Whole school approach
Spelling is actively taught rather than simply tested. Fast and accurate spelling
of an extensive vocabulary is vital to writing fluency. Teachers plan
approaches that support children, to not only improve the spelling of individual
words, but lead to confident spelling in the context of children’s composition
of full texts. Phonics is used as a foundation for effective spelling alongside the
teaching and practising of word patterns such as morphemes, analogical and
exception words.
As spelling can be viewed as ‘problem solving’, we expect and encourage
investigation and trying out. We recognise that spelling is not easy for everyone
and is often harder for children than reading. Therefore, we encourage
investigation of spelling methods, as no one scheme will suit all.We aim to
establish an understanding about ‘good mistakes’ and how mistakes are to be
expected and are part of the exploration (as opposed to children feeling
fixated with how many spellings they got right or wrong). Sometimes child’s self-
esteem is tied up with correctness of spelling, so it’s important for children to
understand that it’s okay to make mistakes, as this is how we learn.
The role of the teacher
• Teachers understand that the teaching of spelling involves direct
teaching (beyond giving spelling lists and correcting spelling in writing)
• Teachers recognise that although many children take a mainly auditory
route to spelling, some attend more closely to visual features and how a
word looks and plan experiences that support both
• Teachers promote the active involvement of children in their own
learning through spelling partnerships, investigation and word study
Children’s spelling is closely monitored to ensure children are making good
progress and applying spelling skills. Some children find spelling more difficult
than others and where a child’s spelling progression is cause for concern, the
class teacher will discuss this with the school’s SENCO and further support and
actions will be agreed. This can vary from additional practice, small group
focused work and or professional assessments and a programme of agreed
support.
Progression in spelling
Early Spellers
• Encountering a text rich environment and experience shared writing,
rhymes, songs, word study, word games and writing opportunities
• Phonological awareness and its use for spelling (children learn spelling
better by writing than reading ensure phonics sessions include a good
amount of writing)
• Knowledge of the alphabet, letter names and letter formation
• To draw on what they know as they learn to link sounds with letters and
combinations of letters
• To develop a sense of pattern and begin to make analogies, e.g. mouse,
house
• Scribing for a child
• Writing under children’s letter strings
• Writing standard spellings over selected words
• Identifying good attempts
• Teachers discourage children from simply copying writing and instead
encourage independence and ‘Have a Go’ as the key skill that supports
confidence and self esteem
Later Spellers (upper KS1 and KS2 - although not limited to this)
• Spelling patterns - a sense of pattern and knowledge of which pattern
was most likely ie main and mane
• Structural and semantic aspects of spellings e.g verb endings such as
’ed’ suffixes’ ly’ prefixes’ inter’
• Linking the teaching of spellings to an individual’s writing and spelling
needs, e.g identifying consonant doubling shopping/hopping and
encouraging work on this
• Developing an interest in words (usually encountered through reading)
• Reading and making links between words they read and the way these
words are spelt
• Shared writing – teaching how spelling works in a high interest context
• Opportunities to write at length (some studies show that spelling falters
or regresses if writing is narrowly focused)
• Guided groups allows for spelling discussion to be strongly
contextualised
• ‘Having a Go’ a classroom ethos where children are encouraged to
attempt unfamiliar words, using what they can here or remember visually
• Building ‘word banks’ for ‘tricky words’ or ‘topics’
• The direct teaching of self-supporting and monitoring systems using
spelling partners, personal spelling journals (rather than worksheets) and
methods such as ‘look, say, cover, write, check’
• The direct teaching of the skills required for dictionary use, proof reading
and editing process
• Use of AFL when marking children’s writing including identification of
commonly occurring misspelt words in writing and spelling patterns,
grammatical features or specific topic words
• The most effective marking for spelling looks for strengths considering
how to move the child on rather than simply marking right or wrong.
• Effective testing included – word lists with familiar features, spelling
partner work perhaps using ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ or topic lists
• Word Study and getting children interested in words and how they’re
spelling them – Photograph/Photosynthesis and using thesauruses
Key contexts for teaching spelling
Discrete teaching:
• Initially, children should have the opportunity to explore and investigate
spelling patterns before they are then given the opportunity to think
about strategies to remember them
• Shared writing, reading and group reading
• Planned writing sessions at class, group and individual level
• Teachers interventions at the point of learning –‘Model Writing’
• Routines that encourage independence at spelling, e.g. ‘Look, Say,
Cover, Write, Check’
• Use of dictionaries, and thesauruses
• Stand-alone spelling lessons to be taught 1-2 times a week
• Regular word study. Children to be given the opportunity to apply
strategies to remember these spellings. These need to be explicitly
taught and modelled with the children.
• Spelling home learning provided for every child, to match their specific
ability. These spellings are then regularly explored and practised in class
and progression monitored by the class teacher.
Indiscrete teaching
• Teaching of spelling should be integrated throughout the curriculum.
• Spelling errors in children’s English books should be highlighted in
accordance with the marking policy and practiced in their spelling
books
• Record commonly misspelled words in the children’s books (and high
frequency words) on the English Learning Wall - make reference to these
spellings during shared and modelled writing
• When carrying out shared writing, demonstrate how to apply spelling
strategies, use of suffixes, prefixes and other spelling conventions you
have covered in spelling lessons
• Whilst writing model proofreading skills and the editing process
• Early Morning Work (registration time) to develop spelling, e.g.:
o have words displayed on with letters missing- admiss _ _ _
o have correct version and incorrect version on board
o Children work with a partner on a spelling method of their choice.
o Children test their partner on their individual spelling list.
The role of parents
Most people can read words more accurately than they can spell them. The
younger the pupils are, the truer this is. Children become more confident with
spelling at their own pace and almost all will struggle at some point. However,
as children grow older, they develop more capacity to develop self-help
strategies that work for them. Much of our spelling system follows rules and
patterns; supporting children to identify these helps them to learn spellings. The
end game may be to produce accurate spellers, but the journey is to nurture
spellers with good self-esteem and with a range of self-help strategies.
Helping at the point of writing
Always ask your child to have a go. Support them through questions such as
What do you know about the word? What is the first sound? Can we break it
down into sounds or syllables? Which bit in the word is hard? Do we know any
other words like this? If there is an error in your child’s attempt – talk about why
this bit in the word is hard, and how it could be remembered. Come back to
the spelling of this word – or words like it – at other times in the day.
Helping through games and play
• Noticing language around you - making up words from letters on
number plates, noticing words that are deliberately misspelt by
newspapers, advertisers and shop keepers (Krispy Kreme donuts), or
not deliberately!
• Play games such as hangman, crosswords, word searches, jumbled
words and anagrams.
• Play commercial games like Scrabble, Boggle, Pass the bomb.
• Learn about etymology (word derivations). Find out where oddly
spelt words come from (where did the ‘ph’ sound come from? So
what kinds of words use these letters?) If your child is keen, create
word webs to explore how morphemes – the chunks of meaning in
words – jigsaw together to create word families.
• Look at word roots (e.g. two is a number like twelve and twenty)
• Explore word families (e.g. would, could, should) and spelling rules
(e.g. writing, written).
Some useful methods to support children’s investigations and learning of
spellings are outlined below.
Look, say, cover, write, check
Look at the whole word carefully and if there is one part of the
word that is difficult, look at the part in more detail. Say the word
as you look at it, using different ways of pronouncing it if that will
make it more memorable. Cover the word up. Write the word from
memory, saying the word as you do so. Check if you have spelt it
correctly. If yes, try writing it again and again! If not, start again –
look, say, cover, write, check.
Roll and Spell
Roll a die and complete the activity that matches the number you
roll. Ideas for activities could be: Spell the word in your ‘grumpy
voice’. Spell the word in your ‘baby voice’; ‘low voice’; ‘robot
voice’; ‘monster voice’; ‘alien voice’; ‘opera voice’; ‘whispering
voice’ etc. Draw a picture of your word; write a synonym of your
word; write an antonym; write a definition; write the word 5 times;
write in bubble letters; in dotty letters; write two times really fast;
write two time s l o w l y; write teeny tiny; write the word forwards and
backwards; with your other hand; in a fancy way; with your eyes
closed; in a sentence; in capital letters; in pyramid style; circle all
the consonants; underline all the vowels.
Rolling a Rainbow
Roll a die. Then write one of your spelling words that number of
times, using the colour listed next to the number you just rolled.
For example, if I roll a two and one of my spelling words is people,
I’d write it like this:
people
people
For even more of a challenge, why not try colouring the vowels
(a, e, i, o, u) a different colour each time you spot one!
Break it up
Break the spelling into sounds (d-i-a-r-y)
Break the spelling into syllables (re-mem-ber)
Break the spelling into root words and affixes (un-necess-ary)
Make it memorable
Try splitting the word up in to sections, to remember is better. For
example conscience can be con-science, bicycle can be bi-
cycle, business can be bus-i-ness and Wednesday wed-nes-day.
Slide and reveal
Ask someone to gradually slide a large copy of a word from behind
a book or sheet of card. See how long it takes for you to recognise
the word.
__ o u l d What’s my letter?
Cover up the first letter on a set of words. Ask what the first letter
might be and what the word would then be. Use words which have
more than one possibility. As an alternative, cover up the last letter.
What word am I?
Write parts of a word, e.g. ab_ _ e. Then try to complete the word
(The example is above).
Right and wrong
Which word is spelt correctly? Write 3-4 versions of a word (e.g.
woz, was, wos) and decide which is correct. How can you
recognise the correct spelling and what will help you remember it?
Spot and say
Lay a set of spellings out. Ask someone to read one of the spellings.
You look for the word and then when found, put your finger on it.
Now say the spelling.
Spot and draw
Lay a set of spelling out and images related to the words. Now
match the image to the spelling. Alternatively, choose a spelling
and draw an image to explain the meaning of the word.
Sort and say
Sort words according to how many letters they have got and then
read and say them.
Memory game
Ask someone to lay a small number of words on a table. Have a
look for a while before turning around and closing your eyes. The
person removes a card and asks if you can tell them which card
they removed. (This can also be played using a whiteboard and
rubbing the word away).
Spelling Scribble
Create a scribble shape and fill it with words.
Try different colours.
Try different directions.
How many words can you fit in the space?
Speed write
The aim is to write one of your spelling words as many times as
possible in 1 minute. Begin by carefully copying the spelling once
at the top of your page. Then off you go! How many times did you
write in 1 minute? If you can’t read the word, it doesn’t count!
What’s in the word?
Can you spot a way of remembering trickier words? For example,
friend (friend til the end) and what (what has hat in it).
Mnemonic
Explore strategies which can help you remember words, e.g.
mnemonics, such as
because - big elephants can always understand small elephants
necessary – one collar and two sleeves)
Rainbow Write
First, write the words in pencil. Then trace over them in different
colours. Use colours to pick out patterns in the way the words are
spelt.
Sand spelling
Look at your spelling. Carefully copy it as you write it in sand. Rub it
out and try again, this time without looking.
Spot the spelling
When you read, how many of your focus spellings can you spot?
Draw an image
To help make the word more memorable, thing of a pictures that
links to the meaning of the word, one that might make the spelling
more recognisable. This isn’t a main method for learning all
spellings, but can be good for tricky words that are proving difficult
to remember.
Pyramid words
Create a pyramid of a word, building the pyramid shape from the
first letter, then one letter at a time until the whole world is
completed.
c ca cat catc catch
Waterfall words
Create a cascading waterfall of the word, adding one letter at a
time until the whole word is written.
Spot the vowels
Write the vowels in a different colour to the rest of the word.
accidentaccidentallyactualactuallyaddress
answerappear
Choo Choo words
Write a long list of your spelling words end-to-end as one long word.
Write each new word in a different colour.
f _ _ l d
Words without vowels
Ask someone to write a word without the vowels and tell you the
word. Choose the correct grapheme to put in the space. (The
example is field).
_ t h _ r _ n s w _ r
What’s the vowel?
Write all of your words replacing vowels with a line. Go back and
see if you can fill in the vowels. (Examples are other and answer).
Word shape
Draw around the words making a clear distinction in size where
they are ascenders and descenders. Look carefully at the shape
of the word and the letters in each box. Now try to write making
sure you get the same shape.
Word search
Create a word search containing focus spelling words.
Alternative – create a crossword.
d l c u o
Unjumble the jumbled
Ask a friend to say the letters you need, but jumbled up, e.g. dlcuo,
then they say the spelling you need to create, e.g. ‘could’. You
then unjumble the letters and put them in the correct order.
Rhyming spellings
Which of your spellings rhyme? If you know how to spell ‘could’,
can you write ‘would’ and ‘should’? Other examples include
’other’, ‘brother’ and ‘another’, quiver, river, shiver and light, fright,
fight, might, sight. Can you think of more?
Rhyming words
Write each of your spelling words with a rhyming word next to
them, e.g. cut shut
catch
cat hat
Words within words
Write each spelling word and then look for words within your
spelling words. Write at least two words made from the spelling.
How many hidden words can you make?
Trace and copy
Write the word ensuring that it is spelt correctly and it is large
enough to trace over. Trace over the word and say it as 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’ve spelt it correctly. If this is easy, do the
same process for two different words at the same time. Once you
have written all the word this way and feel confident, miss out the
tracing and copying or the tracing alone and just write the words.
Hangman letters
Play Shannon’s game (a version of hangman) where the letters
have to be guessed in the right order, developing a sense of which
letter/letter combination is most likely next. Draw a set of dashes to
represent the letters in the word. Take it in turns to suggest the next
letter. As the word emerges, letter-by-letter, the number of choices
narrows. (To help the first letter can be given).
See the spelling
Write a word. Look at the word and chant the letters, trying to
remember what the word LOOKS like and how it is spelt. Take a
‘photo’ in your head of the word by looking then closing your eyes
– can you see the word in your mind? Practise a few times before
eventually covering the word completely. Then write the word
down and check if you’ve written carefully. Does it look right? Does
it read back correctly? If not, which part appears wrong?
Spot the syllables
Say the word aloud, then break it up into syllables.
Clap the syllables as you say them.
Pattern post its
Using post-it notes, write down the spellings. Assemble the notes on
the wall, grouping any similar patterns/sounds together.
Alternatively, create root words and then look at prefixes and
suffixes that could be added to change the word.
Highlight what’s tricky
Use a highlighter to highlight any letters of the main word that you
have difficulty remembering.
Finger spelling
Spell out the word, writing it in the air with your hand. As you do
this, say the letters out loud. Alternatively, try counting the number
of letters in the word. Then hold up that number of fingers as you
spell out the word. This will help you check you have included the
right number of letters in your spelling.
accident bicycle calender
ABC order
Write your spelling words in ABC order. If words start with the same
letter, look at the next letter.
Guess the spelling
Take it in turns to write the spelling of the word on your partner’s
back using your finger. Make sure you write slowly and clearly! Your
partner has to guess what word you have written.
Segmentation
Split the word into its phonemes, then spell the word aloud as you
write it down.
Let’s play letters
Play letter based games (such as Scrabble, Boggle, Anagrams and
Banagrams) and together explore the words made.
Spelling story
Write a story using ALL of your spelling words. Be sure to underline
your spelling words in the paragraph.
pressure assume usually
Odd one out
Which is the odd one out and why? (Could be linked to suffix,
prefix, number of vowels, consonants, letter pattern etc.).
answer answer answer
Three times
First, write each word in pencil. Then, write each word in crayon.
Finally, write each word in a marker!
Riddle: I am cute. I am young. I wear nappies. Answer: baby.
Riddles
Write a riddle for each of your spelling words. Don’t forget to
answer them.
Magazine words
Use an old magazine or newspaper and find your words or letters
that make up your words. Cut and glue them down.
Prefixes and Suffixes
Look at the prefix or suffix and try to change the word. E.g. –igh, -
ack, un-. Example: ous- dangerous, courageous, ravenous.
Word webs
Build a word web around a word. Generate as many words as
possible for the same prefix, suffix or the word meaning. How many
words can you make?
Pairs and Snap
Play spelling games such as snap and pairs, using spellings written
on card. This is a great way to spot spelling patterns, as well as
being fun!
Homophones
Which word fits the sentence?
ear– ould- -other
learn could bother
near would brother
tear shoulder another
Are they alike?
Sort your spellings into which words sound alike and which words
look alike, but may sound different. What words can you make
from the following? –ate, -ack, -all, -ame, -ook, -ink, -ick.
Word bank
Create a spelling log/word bank of words you use a lot. This can
be added to week by week. It’s particularly helpful for tricky words
and for new topic words.
Word ladder
Choose one of your spelling words to start with. Then try to change
one letter to make a new word. Continue until you can’t go any
further. Alternatively, fill in the gaps on a word ladder already
created.
Moveable letters
Use magnetic letters, letter shapes or letters on individual cards to
build words. For example, if you begin with in, you might be able
to make sin, then sing, sting, string etc. Or, try to spell one of your
spelling words for the letters you have.
Tricky work post its
Make a poster, or display post it notes, of your tricky words. Put
them somewhere you will see it regularly, so you can keep
practising them.
Not noughts and crosses
On the theme of noughts and crosses, choose one of your spelling
words and ask a friend to choose one of theirs. Take turns to write
your word in a 3x3 grid. The aim is to complete a whole line of your
word, vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The winner is the first
person to complete a line and spell their word correctly.