10 March 2017
This week, in preparation for an end of term spelling test next week, children have been given a copy of the Year 5/6 statutory word list (taken from the Primary National Curriculum).
Children should practise spelling these words as they are likely to be tested on similar words during the test.
Children know lots of ways to practise their spellings so they should choose a method that they think will work for them. One way to get yourself involved would be to say a sentence with the word and ask children to spell the word correctly. It is important that children know how to use the words and not just how to spell them.
03 March 2017
| Word Families
This week’s spellings activity is to explore some common word families. Words we use every day but might not stop to think about. Children will not be given a list to learn but should explore the following word families: |
| graph |
| phone |
| auto |
| micro |
| tele |
24 February 2017
Double up for a short vowel sound
This week, we have focussed on a spelling rule that we have previously learned but still make mistakes with.
The ‘double up for a short vowel’ sound is very common in the English language although, as we have found, there are exceptions to the rule.
Here are a list of words that double up for a short vowel sound. You should familiarise yourself with the rule and learn how to spell these words. You will be tested on ten of these words on Friday 03 March.
| accommodate
|
necessary
|
planning |
| beginning
|
communicate
|
exaggerate |
| difficult
|
preferred
|
beginning |
| successfully
|
occurred
|
challenge |
| immediate
|
interrupt
|
addition |
03 February 2017
| Homophones
This week’s spellings are all homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings. Children should practise spelling these words in preparation for a test on Friday 10 February. Words in bold are words that we commonly make mistakes with in our writing – and really shouldn’t. Words in italics are previous spellings that we still find tricky. |
| cereal – serial |
| profit – prophet |
| affect – effect |
| compliment – complement |
| shore – sure |
| root – route |
| weather – whether |
| grate – great |
| to – too – two |
| practise – practice |
27 January 2017
Homophones
This year, we’ve already had a two-week spelling focus on ‘homophones’ (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings). However, because homophones can be really confusing we’ll be practising (or should it be practicing?) these words again. Also, as a class, we often choose the wrong homophone in our writing.
For this week’s spelling activity, children should choose three homophones. They could choose homophones that they know they often get wrong, ones they find tricky or words that we have not focussed on yet this year.
For each homophone they should do the following:
- Give a definition of each meaning.
- Use both words in a sentence.
- Practise spelling each one in two different ways (use the sheet in your book for inspiration)
- Come up with a method for remembering witch won is witch which one is which that might help someone else remember.
They should use the spelling page of their (or there?) homework book to record their (or they’re?) practice.
*Disclaimer: any incorrect uses of homophones throughout this post are intentional.
20 January 2017
| ‘ably’ or ‘ibly’ words
We have been focusing on learning how to spell words ending in ‘ably’ or ‘ibly’. Here is a list of words that can be changed to end in ‘ably’ or ‘ibly’. Children should learn how to spell these words and be comfortable choosing and spelling the correct word ending. eg For the word possible children will be asked to spell possibly in the test. |
| possible |
| sensible |
| reliable |
| incredible |
| respectable |
| agreeable |
| adorable |
| comfortable |
| preferable |
| visible |
13 January 2016
For the next two weeks, we will focus on the ‘ably’ and ‘ibly’ word endings. To help them learn when to use the correct ending, children should complete the following activity by Thursday 20 January.
Earlier in the year, we learnt about the able and ible word endings and identified some rules and conventions to help us spell these words correctly. Children should reflect on this learning and investigate the following questions:
- True or false…all words that end in ‘able’ can be changed to end in ‘ably’?
- True or false…all words that end in ‘ible’ can be changed to end in ‘ibly’?
- Can you spot a pattern, rule or convention when changing words to end in ‘ably’ or ‘ibly’?
- Is it always, sometimes or never true that words ending in ‘ably’ or ‘ibly’ are adverbs? Prove it.
06 January 2016
| ‘Rare GPCs’
We have been focusing on strategies to help you remember how to spell words with an usual grapheme-phoneme correspondence (words that are tricky to spell because they don’t follow more conventional rules/patterns). Children should learn how to spell these words in preparation for a test on Friday 13 January. |
| wrapper |
| guard |
| guide |
| receive |
| guarantee |
| bruise |
| queue |
| vehicle |
| yacht |
| immediately |
09 December 2016
For our spelling test next week, children will be asked to spell a selection of words that they have previously learnt this year. Children should briefly recap each spelling focus and spend time consolidating their learning around these words. They may choose to focus on the words they spelt incorrectly when they were tested on them previously.
Our spelling test will be on Friday 16 December 2016.
02 December 2016
Hyphens
This week’s spelling activity focuses on the use of hyphens. Children should sort the compound adjectives below in to words that need a hyphen and those that don’t. They need to be careful though – I’ve tried to catch them out.
| Hyphen | No hyphen |
man-eating actionpacked heavy-metal good-luck
hand-picked over-sleep mine-field tip-toed
state-of-the-art under-whelmed re-organise re-do
reignite cooperate coown foot-ball
Next, children should add two more of their own to each column.
