Ways to practise tricky spellings

The most important thing with spellings is little and often to get them into long term memory. We will have 5 spellings a week and will discuss and try out different strategies - different ones will work for different children. We will all recap spellings from previous weeks, trying to get them into long term memory.

• Check how they spell the word - highlight the letter/s that need to change and focus on that in a different colour.

• Make it multi sensory. A basic way to practice is Look, say, cover write, check. Saying the letter names out loud is really helpful.

• Magic writing: say the letter names as they write a word in joined up handwriting, do this four times. Then, close their eyes and write it again, saying the letter names out loud.

• Use a 'spelling voice' - say the letters that are in a word e.g. Wed-nes-day to remember letters that you cannot hear.

• Use mnemonics e.g. Big Elephants Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants (because)