Effective Spelling Learning Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide, Lecture notes of English Language

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Supporting Learning

Helping with Spellings

At North Nibley C of E Primary we are always looking for ways to help you help your children. This booklet contains a number ideas, previously shared in newsletters, which support the learning of spellings.

It helps a word 'stick' if children use a range of methods that tie together the way it looks, sounds and feels. So if your child uses eyes, ears and hands he/she will stand a very good chance of learning spellings for good! Also, by using a range of methods your child will enjoy the activity more. Staying interested and rising to the challenge counts a lot too!

Please remember that practise tests are very ineffective methods of learning. You have to put new spellings in before you can expect the knowledge to come out in a test.

Don’t try all the methods with all the words a child has been asked to learn. Concentrate only on the words that he or she finds tricky, and no more than one or two of the methods per week. You may find that one method is particularly successful for your child. Great! Stay with it and celebrate success!

Rainbow writing (1).

Write each letter in a different colour. (Where a letter crops up more than once you could use the same colour.)

You could say the letter names as each one is written. Then say the word aloud when it's complete.

Getting the feel of a word (1).

Put a layer of sand in a tray. Trace the shape of each word (nice and big) in the sand. You can say the letters and read the word aloud too.

Bubble letters. Write out a word you are learning, using hollow ‘bubble letters’. After you write your words in bubble letters, colour your words with a crayon or coloured pencil.

21 Crosswords can link the longer words ‘crossword’ style. Try to remember. Take a number of your spellings and see if you

the linking letters.

Getting the feel of a word (2).

Choose a word from your spelling list and write it, a letter at a time, on a partner's back. Your partner must identify the word from the feel alone. Swap places and choose another 'mystery word' from the list.

Flash cards.

Write out each word on a piece of paper. Ask someone to hold it in front of you and stare at it for 10 seconds. Turn the paper over and repeat it out loud from memory. Better still write it down. Then check it – and take note of any mistakes.

Anagrams.

Ask someone to give you all the right letters to spell a word – written down, fridge magnets or torn from newspapers – but muddled up. Announce the word and time how long it takes to rearrange the letters to give the correct spelling.

I’m convinced there are other ways of learning spellings. If you know some that really work for you, let us know and we can add it to the list.

15 Blue vowels. You will need a blue coloured pencil. Trace over the^ Write EACH of your spelling words.

vowels (a, e, i, o + u) in each word with your blue coloured pencil.

Syllables (good for learning longer words). Write each spelling word and then divide the word into syllables. Write the number of syllables (sounds) each word has. Example: Sep/tem/ber (3) (Nearly all syllables are ‘clustered’ around an important vowel. Combine this technique with one of the earlier techniques which focuses on the vowels.

Word scores. For each word work out a score, as follows. Vowels (a, e, i, o + u) are worth 5 points, consonants are worth 10 points. Example: said = 10

• 5 + 5 + 10 = 30 Remembering the score might help you remember the spelling!

18 Going dotty!^ Write your spelling words using dots.

Then connect the dots by tracing over them with a coloured pencil.

Acrostic poems. Create an acrostic poem for five of your words. Example: For the word “Snow”

S oft and fluffy N ever warm O pen the door W ade into the cold.

Now learn your new poem!

Speed Spell.

Write a few of the words you are learning as many times as you can in, say, 30 seconds. Say the word aloud each time.

Use a joined style if you can. Don't let your writing get untidy even though you're writing at speed. Check every quickly written word is correct!

Spelling staircase.

Concentrate hard on a tricky word by building it up bit by bit, a line at a time (say the letters and read the word to make it stick):

Say the word out loud at the end.

Rainbow writing (2).

Use a sharp pencil crayon. Write the word in a single colour. (Use a joined up style if you can.) Write it quite big. Say the letters aloud as you go. Read the word when it's done. Then go over the word in a second colour. Then in other colours too. Do this with each word in turn.