25 November 2016
Next we’ll, we’ll be focussing on word endings in …tious and …cious. Here are some words which end in these sounds. Work out the root word for each of them and think about how this can help you to decide whether the spelling is with a ‘t’ or a ‘c’.
vicious, precious, conscious, delicious, malicious, suspicious, ambitious, cautious, fictitious, infectious, nutritious
18 November 2016
Our spelling list leads on from our spelling activity from last week. These are the homophones that Year 6 need to learn – remember it’s not the spellings that are tricky but knowing when to use them so you need to practise using them in sentences correctly.
| practice / to practise
advice / to advise device / to devise licence / to license heard / to herd or a herd (of cows) guessed / guest passed / past father / further led / lead morning / mourning |
11 November 2016
This week’s spelling activity is all about homonyms.
Read the chapter from Ann M. Martin’s ‘How to look for a lost dog’ which is all about homonyms. Rose (the main character) loves homonyms which include homophones and homographs.
- Homophones are words which sound (hence, ‘phone’) the same but are spelt differently: their, there, they’re.
- Homographs are words that are spelt the same (hence, ‘graph’, as in autograph) but sound different: to bow, the bow and arrow.
Rose creates lists of homonyms because she really likes them. How many groups of homonyms can you (ewe) create and can you (yew) then use them correctly in (inn) sentences. I wonder whether you can write a sentence with the whole (hole) group of homonyms in it?
Challenge – Rose can only think of one group of four homonyms. Can you think what that is? (Check Rose’s rules for homonyms in the chapter.)
4 November 2016
This week, we’ve been looking at the Year 5/6 spelling list from the National Curriculum and finding spellings that we can think of tricks and tips for remembering them. The children have chosen their own ten spellings to practise and will be tested on them on Friday 11 November.
Look at the full list of National Curriculum Year 5/6 spellings (page 23).
21 October 2016
It’s half-term, so there’s no homework. Enjoy the holiday instead: hunt down a collection of chestnuts on a walk at Roundhay Park, enjoy a cinema trip on a damp day, go further afield and visit somewhere new…
Whatever you do, have a good break.
14 October 2016
This week, we’re going to recap some old spelling rules which we learnt many years ago as people are making silly errors in their writing. Here are some key spelling rules. In your book, practise adding suffixes to words (and not just simple ones) and there will be a test next week. The example words below are not a spelling list; the words tested will require these rules to be applied. Remember, you need to think about how to spell the root word (eg hurry) before you then think about how to change it for adding the suffix (change the y to an i).
drop the y for an i
- countries
- diaries
- hurried
double up for a short vowel sound
- accommodate
- immediately
- embarrass
drop the e
- advising
- evaporating
- practising
i before e, except after c
- ceiling
- receive
- believe
07 October 2016
This week’s spellings lead on from our spelling activity from last week. We’re adding suffixes to words ending in …fer.
On Friday, your child will be tested on ten of these spellings but needs to know when to double the ‘r’ and when to just have one when a suffix is added.
All children should be practising their spellings in their homework book using the techniques we’ve discussed in class.
| prefer | transfer | refer |
| preferring
preferred preference |
transferring
transferred transference transferal |
referring
referred reference referral referee |
On Thursday 13 October, children should have spelling practice in their homework book for us to look at; they will then be tested on Friday 14 October.
30 September 2016
This week, your spelling activity is to explore what happens to the following words when you add a suffix. See how many suffixes you can add and find out what it does to the spelling – it’s not always the same pattern.
- refer
- transfer
- prefer
Don’t forget, the research you do and words you find must be recorded in your homework book on your spellings page.
23 September 2016
Our spelling list leads on from the spelling activity last week. All of the spellings have -ible or -able endings. For Friday’s test, I’ll test some of these words but will also test words from their word families or even words that have the same spelling pattern but weren’t on the spelling list.
All children should be practising their spellings in their homework book using the techniques we’ve discussed in class.
- tolerable
- edible
- admirable
- horrible
- sensible
- breakable
- applicable
- incredible
- considerable
- terrible
16 September 2016
This week’s spelling activity focuses on words ending in ‘-ible‘ and ‘-able‘ and being able to recognise which one to use.
The children need to find out words with these endings and create the word families for them.
adorable – adorably – adoration – adore – adored – adoring
There will be not test on Friday 23 September as we’ll be learning about these words throughout the week. Next week, the children will be given a list of words with these spelling patterns and they’ll be tested on them on Friday 30 September.
